The second recent TV adaptation of a Jack London novel (last week Charles Bronson acted remarkably like Popeye in TNT's The Sea Wolf), Call of the Wild sports a damning directorial credit: Alan Smithee, the pseudonym traditionally used by an unhappy TV or film director who wants no blame for the mess that has resulted. Sure enough, this is a slow, lumpy production, starring Rick Schroder (Lonesome Dove) as a young prospector who — improbably, melodramatically — learns to be a man from a dog named Buck. Lacking convincing action scenes or London's rough-hewn emotionalism, this Call is an earnest but faint wimper. D+
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