Kevin Kline Does A Fine Hamlet In `Great Performances'

Shakespeare's ``Hamlet'' is the ultimate challenge for an actor. Kevin Kline gives an admirable performance as the Melancholy Dane in Joseph Papp's production of the play, first seen in New York and now airing on PBS' ``Great Performances'' at 10 p.m.tomorrow on

KCTS-TV.

Kline, who also directed the play, performs in modern dress. It's unsettling at first but soon seems natural because the actors are enough at ease with Shakespeare's language to make it seem contemporary.

Kline may overdo Hamlet's feigned madness a bit, but for the most part he makes a vital, angry-young-man Hamlet who holds your attention. He gets great support from Dana Ivey as Queen Gertrude, Brian Murray as Claudius, Josef Sommer (a standout as talkative old Polonius) and Diane Venora as Ophelia (although her mad scene seems a bit flat). Even the smaller roles - Peter Francis James as Horatio and Michael Cumpsty as Laertes, for instance - are dynamically cast and acted. One weak point: Hamlet's father's ghost seems too real, not a bit scary.

Kline won't make you forget Olivier's version, but his is a respectable, entertaining interpretation that makes the three hours fly by. It also reminds you again how the world has appropriated nearly every sentence in this great play.

Inspirational: ``The American Teacher Awards,'' at 7 p.m. Sunday on cable's Disney Channel, doesn't sound particularly interesting, but it's just as suspenseful as any awards show. And compared with such shows as the Grammys and Emmys, it's a great deal more important. If you've been depressed over the state of American education, this program is bound to give you a real boost. It certainly gives a boost to the role of teachers in our society.

Winners are selected in 12 categories (by subject), and there are three finalists in each one (including Loretta Kusak, who teaches kindergarten at Lakeridge Elementary School on Mercer Island). Film clips of the nominees at work - just like film clips for the Oscars - profile the contestants and make the contest that much more involving.

Veteran producers Gary Smith and Dwight Hemion have spared no expense. Production numbers, several stars as presenters and film clips from movies about education turn ``The American Teacher Awards'' into first-rate television. Bravo, all around.

Powerful: Cable's A&E channel airs a new British TV movie, ``Close Relations,'' at 6 and 10 tonight, a hard-edged little film about incest. It stars James Hazeldine and Clare Holman as a brother and sister who don't meet until they're grown up - and promptly fall violently, inevitably in love. It's an odd but compelling movie that doesn't pull any punches but never turns lip-smackingly salacious. Some of the same talents involved in this movie also created ``Sweet As You Are,'' an unforgettable British TV movie about AIDS that also aired on A&E.

Bummer: Joe Piscopo used to be funny, but his new HBO special, ``Joe Piscopo in Concert,'' which premieres at 10 p.m. Saturday on cable, is a major disappointment. Joe's so busy being impressed with himself as a sex symbol and body-builder that he forgets to be funny. It's an hourlong ego trip and little else. Piscopo is also a guest on NBC's ``Tonight'' at 11:30 p.m. tomorrow and appears in person at 8 p.m. Sunday at Tacoma's UPS Fieldhouse.

Video notes: CBS' ``Dallas'' begins its 13th season at 10 p.m. tomorrow on KIRO-TV. . . . NBC airs a special hourlong ``Cosby Show'' at 8 tonight on KING-TV. . . . Fox's ``Simpsons'' counters with a funny episode about Homer's boss, Burns, who wants to become governor, a story that involves a three-eyed fish. It all happens logically in the best ``Simpsons'' fashion, at 8 tonight on KCPQ-TV. . . . PBS' ``Mystery!'' airs the second part of the smashing ``Mother Love,'' starring Diana Rigg, tonight at 8 on KTPS-TV and 9 on KCTS-TV. . . . ABC preempts ``Prime Time Live'' for a Peter Jennings special report on abortion at 10 tonight on KOMO-TV. . . . Ken Burns, who created PBS' smash success, ``The Civil War,'' speaks at the National Press Club, and cable's C-SPAN will air the address at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. . . . KTPS-TV airs the Metropolitan Opera production of Mozart's' ``Don Giovanni'' at 8 p.m. Saturday. . . . NBC News is producing the two-hour special, ``The Tunnel Under the Wall,'' anchored by Tom Brokaw (and featuring an award-winning 1962 NBC documentary, ``The Tunnel''), airing at 5 and 9 p.m. tomorrow on cable's Arts & Entertainment channel.