`Not Our Son' Fails To Focus Enough On Seattle Arsonist

----------------------------------------------------------------- "Not Our Son," "CBS Tuesday Movie," 9 p.m., KIRO-TV. ----------------------------------------------------------------- I don't recall anything in the infamous Contract with America that places a moratorium on docudramas but it's something Newt Gingrich might consider. There's something about the phrase "a fact-based movie" that causes one's heart to sink - and that's the phrase that precedes "Not Our Son."

Written by Scott Swanton, it purports to be about Paul Keller, the Seattle arsonist who was arrested in February 1993 after six months of fires which more or less terrorized Northwesterners and frustrated police and firemen.

Actually, however, the film is about the Keller family and its pain and anguish once it began to realize there was a strong possibility that Paul was the guilty party.

Thus, while the film has a few fire scenes - generally with big explosions - mostly it focuses on Keller's parents, played by Gerald McRaney and Cindy Pickett, and his sister, Ruth, played by Ari Myers, as they try to conceal their suspicions from Paul.

Why not addressed

But while family members, not to mention law-enforcement figures, express a desire to understand what caused Paul Keller to start a string of fires, we never learn much about why he did it. We see a couple of quick shots of Keller putting a cigarette lighter to flammable material but the film doesn't dwell on the fires. Swanton's script refers to problems that beset Keller before the film begins, but they're very hazy, and there's a scene at the finale where his parents learn of a traumatic occurrence in the hospital shortly after Paul was born, but any connection between any of this and Keller's behavior is never made explicit, nor even clear.

The film's best stroke of luck is in casting Neil Patrick Harris in the role of Paul Keller. Harris does a fine job of communicating the ambivalence of the character - one minute Harris plays Keller as Mr. Nice Guy, dutiful son and brother; the next he's in a rage over some fancied slight or other. Whether Paul Keller was actually like he's portrayed here or not, I have no way of knowing - but for purposes of the movie Harris portrays a character who seems perfectly capable of behaving as strangely as Keller.

As with most docudramas, the geography is mostly confused. One minute we seem to be in Seattle, the next in Everett. The formation of the Arson Task Force, which combined forces from both King and Snohomish Counties, is fuzzy and its members aren't clearly identified - they just seem to be figures of authority. One minute Keller is driving in snow near Seattle; a few minutes later a sign says "32 miles to Oregon." It doesn't matter - nothing is really identifiable. It all just looks vaguely Northwest.

McRaney is focus

McRaney is at the center of the film as the loving father who eventually comprehends his son's crimes - it's a role not unlike that played by Faye Dunaway in last week's "A Family Divided" in which her son was involved in a crime. McRaney gives a good performance that communicates the man's sorrow and grief. Pickett and Myers have less to do, as the women in Paul Keller's life.

But the center of the film should have been Paul Keller, a portrait of the man and what caused him to become an arsonist. That is not to be found here.

Going to `Extreme' ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Extreme," ABC series premiere, 7:15 p.m. Sunday, KOMO-TV. -----------------------------------------------------------------

ABC promises that "Extreme," the pilot of which will be aired immediately following Sunday's Super Bowl, will appear on the ABC schedule later this season.

I take that as a threat, since I can't imagine anything I'd rather not see than more episodes of this dreary series. (If viewers find "Extreme" at all interesting or exciting Sunday night it will only mean this was the dullest Super Bowl on record.) James Brolin stars as head of Steep Mountain Rescue, in charge of lots of noisy equipment and the usual contingent of attractive young Hollywood hopefuls whose job it is, every few minutes, to rescue someone who has usually behaved stupidly in the mountains.

This might be a more interesting if we hadn't already been exposed to this same plot and characters in a pilot starring Robert Conrad (which NBC also threatens to turn into a series this season.)

The young actors are all likable enough (except for Micah Dyer and Danny Masterson who play three-dimensional versions of Beavis and Butthead.) But keeping to the current mode, nearly all the characters are suffering personal demons of one sort or another, especially the one played by Cameron Bancroft, seen last week in "A Family Divided." This is the kind of movie about young people that makes MTV's "Real World" seem better than it is.

`Cinema' is uneven ----------------------------------------------------------------- "American Cinema: Romantic Comedy and the Studio System," 10 p.m. Friday, KCTS-TV. -----------------------------------------------------------------

PBS' new "American Cinema" series, which began on KCTS-TV last Friday night, is the sort of series that begs to have the adjective "ambitious" connected with it - but does it truly merit it?

The first two episodes, "Hollywood Style" and "The Star," had their entertaining and informative moments, especially the first program in which numerous contemporary directors offered thoughtful comments on what they perceived the "Hollywood style" to be and how their own directorial styles relate to it.

Star qualities missing

But it's been all downhill since . "The Star," as was to be expected, had many clips from the time when stars WERE stars - Crawford, Davis, Cooper, Stewart, Bogart, et al. But the most interesting aspect wasn't pursued - which is what makes a star today.

Julia Roberts kept reappearing as one of today's biggest stars. Excuse me, but she and most of today's "stars" are mainly competent journey persons, capable of getting through a movie without embarrassing themselves, but hardly of the same caliber as the true greats. The most interesting aspect of the hour was a look at how the studio publicity systems helped create stars - but even the greatest publicity machine can't make a star out of a nonstar.

This week the subjects on "American Cinema" are "Romantic Comedy" followed by "The Studio System." There are numerous examples of the romantic comedies from the 1930s and '40s but when films like "Look Who's Talking" are palmed off as "romantic comedies" of our times, I beg to differ. What the "experts" pontificating failed to note (or comprehend) was that the people who wrote, directed and starred in the romantic comedies of old were sophisticated, literate, often witty grown-ups. Today the industry and the audience consists of bean-counters and overgrown teenagers for whom a rock concert or shopping at Nike Town are the ultimate experiences.

"The Studio System" traces the ups and downs of Paramount Pictures, from the days when it was operated by Adolph Zukor as a one-man kingdom to today's Paramount which is part of a huge entertainment conglomerate.

This could have been a truly thoughtful episode but it, like the previous episodes, suffers from lack of focus. So far this series is so eclectic that it really doesn't have any specific point of view.

It's all over the place. With different writers and narrators for each episode, and constant interruptions by "experts," many of them unfamiliar, "American Cinema" seems to have little idea of what it wants to do.

Cries for more ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Upon Reflection," 12:30 p.m. Sunday, KCTS-TV. -----------------------------------------------------------------

William Bolcom may be one of the most productive and fascinating American composers at work, a man whose career draws upon all aspects of music. As he's interviewed by Marcia Alvar in this engaging half-hour, it becomes clear it would take an hour to do more than just skim the surface of his life, career and philosophy. It's a wonderful 30 minutes that leaves you wanting more, more, more!