`O Pioneers!' Is Saved By Mary Mcdonnell's Performance

"O Pioneers!" is an American classic - a 1913 book about the settling of the West by Willa Cather, who based it on her own reminiscences of growing up in Nebraska in the closing years of the 19th century. Its central character is Alexandra Bergson, a young Swedish immigrant who takes over the family farm after the death of her father.

The interesting dramatization of "O Pioneers!" on PBS' "American Playhouse" at 10 p.m. tomorrow on KCTS-TV turns that character into a plum role for an actress - and the Boston University production is lucky in having Mary McDonnell (from "Dances With Wolves") portraying Alexandra.

The adaptation of the novel into a play was done by Darrah Cloud and in style it's rather like the recent, Tony-winning stage interpretation of "Grapes of Wrath" - a series of small vignettes played out on an almost bare stage, often accompanied by music. However, this production lacks the emotional dynamism Chicago's Steppenwolf Company brought to the Steinbeck novel.

While McDonnell is excellent, and makes this production worth watching, the rest of the company seldom achieves her level of emotional involvement. In addition, Kim Sherman's music is wholly unmemorable and often impedes the drama. You could leave it out and "O Pioneers!" would be greatly improved.

Short takes: PBS' "Mystery!" series ends its season with the return of Colin Dexter's "Inspector Morse," the mature detective who loves beer, classical music and crossword puzzles, whose territory is Oxford and is deftly portrayed by John Thaw. Three two-hour episodes of "Inspector Morse" will air, beginning with the first hour of "The Infernal Serpent" tonight at 8 on KTPS-TV and 9 on KCTS-TV. It's an involving, entertaining case about the death of an Oxford don who felt strongly about the environment. In addition to Thaw and Kevin Whately as Lester, his sometimes-exasperating sidekick, the cast includes such British favorites as Geoffrey Palmer and Cheryl Campbell.

"Jailbirds," CBS' new TV movie at 9 tonight on KIRO-TV, tries valiantly to whip up madcap fun but even though I'm fond of both stars, Phylicia Rashad and Dyan Cannon, it's hard to believe in this "buddy" movie. Rashad portrays a high-powered L.A. executive who decides to drive through the South on her way to a new job in New York City - a decision no one with her brains would ever have made. A series of catastrophes pairs her with Cannon, a cracker-esque woman being charged with the murder of her boyfriend. The two are handcuffed together - shades of "The Defiant Ones"! - for a series of misadventures and while they start out hating each other, eventually become friends.

Dennis Hopper is the subject of the latest edition of Cinemax's "Crazy About the Movies," which premieres at 8 p.m. tomorrow on cable - and never was a title more apt. While this hour has some interesting film clips, especially of the early days of Hopper's career, the bulk of it is an interview with Hopper, as he tells how close he came several times to destroying his life and career with drugs and alcohol. Hopper has turned into one of film's most interesting character actors but the tortuous journey from the kind of role he played in "Giant" to that in "Hoosiers," by way of "Easy Rider" and "The Last Movie," is fascinating in its destructiveness. Hopper's life is more like a movie than some of the movies in which he's appeared. Cinemax repeats it Tuesday and May 25, 30 and June 7. It will probably eventually turn up on PBS.

Video notes: NBC airs the season finale of "L.A. Law," unavailable for previewing, at 10 tonight on KING-TV. . . . Lesley Ann Warren, who stars in CBS' "Seduction in Travis County" Sunday at 9 p.m. on KIRO-TV, is interviewed on NBC's "Later with Bob Costas" at 1:30 a.m. tomorrow on KING-TV. . . . Larry King interviews best-selling author Jeffrey Archer at 6 p.m. tomorrow on cable's CNN, repeated at 1 a.m. Saturday. . . . KCTS-TV begins airing "Great Decisions 1991," an eight-part series on foreign policy, at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. . . . KOMO-TV airs the finals of "Star Search" at 11:30 p.m. Saturday, followed at 12:30 a.m. Sunday by the grand finals of "American Gladiators." . . . Jim Compton begins a three-part look at America's addiction to oil on the 5 p.m. edition of "King 5 News" tonight. . . . C-SPAN's "Road to the White House" series goes on location to New Hampshire, site of the first presidential primary, at 2 p.m. tomorrow on cable. . . .

John Voorhees' column appears Sunday, Monday and Thursday in The Times.