T V R e v i e w Based on the Hit Movie Over the years, some TV adaptations have failed to connect with viewers By George Eckart

Since early television, many successful Hollywood movies have been developed into sitcoms or dramas in an attempt to ride the intitial wave of popularity. "M*A*S*H," "AlienNation," and "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" are a few of these projects that became hits and even surpassed the popularity of the movies they adapted. However, not all shows based on films fare as well as their celluloid counterparts. Here are some of the lesser-known misfires: "Citizen Kane" (1953-54) Airing on the DuMont Network, Orson Welles' cinematic masterpiece about the life of newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane was adapted to a TV sitcom that featured Kane Ernest Borgnine played Charles Foster Kane in the "Citizen Kane" TV show. in a more easygoing, "Life Of Riley" mode. Every week, Kane (played by Ernest Borgnine) would hatch different schemes to make his wife Susan Alexander Kane (portrayed with comic brio by Barbara Billingsley) into a famous singer. Variety declared it "sort of a reverse 'I Love Lucy,' with Susan struggling to remain an anonymous housewife while Kane builds opera houses, creates record companies, and, in one episode, sneaks a camera crew around the house to film a movie starring his wife without her knowledge." EPISODES AIRED: 12 (including Christmas episode) QUALITY: ** 1/2 NOTEWORTHY: Welles had little to do with the production of the "Citizen Kane" program. Enraged upon seeing it, he snuck into the DuMont station and destroyed the kinescopes. No known copies of the show are in existence. "The Searchers" (1960) Picking up where the John Ford movie left off, this short-lived John Wayne vehicle dealt with life after he rescues his niece (a miscast Mamie Van Doren replacing Natalie Wood) from Comanche Indians. Where the movie was an unflinching look at obsession and racism, the TV show was more of a cultural-clash sitcom with the Indian-hating John Wayne and his niece (who was raised by Indians) attempting to coexist together in a log cabin. NBC conceived this vehicle to showcase John Wayne's little-used comedic talent. After a promising pilot, the scripts began to rely heavily on Indian-bashing one-liners and low-rent physical gags. EPISODES AIRED: 4 (2 episodes aired under name "The Searchers In Color") QUALITY: * NOTEWORTHY: A young Leonard Nimoy can be seen in Episode 3 as "Chief Pain-In-The-Grass." "Raging Bull's Place" (1981) Martin Scorsese's powerful biography of boxer Jake LaMotta is reconfigured into a "dramady" about the LaMotta brothers opening up a nightclub in Miami. The brutish Jake (Lou Ferrigno filling in for Robert DeNiro) and his wimpy brother Joey (Joe Pesci reprising his role) were mostly foils for a colorful cast of regulars at the bar that Publicity still from "Raging Bull's Place" with Jake LaMotta (Lou Ferrigno, left) having a chat with his brother Joey (Joe Pesci.) included Vincent Gardenia, Patrick McGoohan, and Pam Grier. An uneasy blend of broad comedy and subtle characterization, "Raging Bull's Place" was used only as a midseason replacement for "Flo" on CBS. EPISODES AIRED: 11 QUALITY: ** NOTEWORTHY: Robert DeNiro would occasionally make walk-on appearances as LaMotta's long-lost deaf cousin; "Blackjack" LaMotta. "The Quest for Fire Chronicles" (1988-89) Taking place eighty thousand years in the past, Rae Dawn Chong reprises her role as a cave-dwelling Ika Ivaka tribe member in search of a natural fire source. This ABC TV show managed to build a devoted cult following for its intelligent writing and sensitive portrayals of early man. Unfortunately, low ratings and complaints about the second season caused the show to spiral toward cancellation. People magazine wrote, "In the first season, Chong and her search for flame made for riveting television. However, the dramatic tension left the show after she found fire in the season finale,. (‘The Quest for Fire Chronicles’) wasn't the same as the writers concocted various scenarios to keep the show alive; including a time-machine episode, a guest spot by rock trio Rush, and the addition of a precocious ape-baby named 'Nook-Nook.'" EPISODES AIRED: 28 (First Season) / 6 (Second Season) QUALITY: **** (First Season) / * (Second Season) NOTEWORTHY: A box of "Quaker's Quest For Fire Chronicles Crunch Cereal" recently sold on eBay for $3,400. Indecent Proposals (1994) Mark Harmon stars as billionaire John Gage (Robert Redford declined to be involved) in this hour-long TV drama about a man who offers husbands $1 million to sleep with their wives. Every week, Gage would travel to a new exotic locale and proposition different couples. "Proposals" got fine early reviews but was hurt programmed opposite "Seinfeld." Eventually CBS executives pulled the plug after a controversial episode where a bored Gage offers $2 million to sleep with both the wife and the husband. EPISODES AIRED: 11 (Including 2-hour pilot that was a shot-by-shot remake of the motion picture) QUALITY: ** NOTEWORTHY: During filming, Mark Harmon broke his hip in a pick-up basketball game. The directors adjusted by filming a few episodes with Harmon mostly making phone calls from his desk--thus effectively concealing his lower body cast.