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3 Friday DALLAS (CBS, 9-11 p.m.) Say good-bye to Southfork. The final episode of the 14-season series poses the question: What would the world have been like had J.R. never been born? (See story on p. 28.)
MOVIE-RED DRAGON: THE CURSE OF HANNIBAL LECTER (NBC, 9-11 p.m.) What did ''The Cannibal'' do before The Silence of the Lambs? This 1986 movie- originally titled Manhunter-shows what happened the first time Lecter helped the FBI. British actor Brian Cox (Hidden Agenda) stars as America's favorite psycho killer. A
5 Sunday
MOVIE: THE LITTLE MERMAID (Disney, 7- 8:30 p.m.) The cable premiere of the Oscar-winning 1989 animated musical. Totally delightful. A+
NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (ABC, 9-11 p.m.) Charles Laughton's 1955 version of Davis Grubb's novel, starring Robert Mitchum as a murderous backwoods preacher, was a dark, scary, impressionistic tale; this new TV version, starring Richard Chamberlain in Mitchum's role, is a brightly lit, ridiculous, literal-minded production. Grubb's story was about the way in which the minister insinuates himself into the home of a widow and her two children. The woman idolizes this stern, hymn-singing fraud, but the children recognize him for what he is-a heartless man out to rob them. Mitchum not only embodied such evil, he put a crazy spin on it, turning his preacher into a sexy sleaze. By contrast, Chamberlain is entirely too stiff and aloof in this role. He looks great, with his blond stubble and arching eyebrows, but looking great is exactly what works against the mood of Night of the Hunter. It requires a funkier, more desperate atmosphere; only Diana Scarwid (Inside Moves), as the wide-eyed yet despairing widow, seems aware of that. The original, with a script written by James Agee, was a commercial flop; although he had a great career as an actor, Laughton never directed another movie. These days, Night of the Hunter is often described as a cult classic, a term that belittles its artistic achievement. In this context, the TV movie is a bit worse than bad-it's a travesty. The original is on tape; rent it sometime. D- -KT
WHITE HOT: THE MYSTERIOUS MURDER OF THELMA TODD (NBC, 9-11 p.m.) ''I know this is Hollywood, but I still happen to find investigating the murder of any human being worth as much time and money as it takes.'' So says an investigator for the Los Angeles district attorney in this TV movie about the 1935 death of real-life actress Thelma Todd (Loni Anderson). It's a silly, portentous line in a silly, portentous movie. White Hot grafts a hard-boiled-detective narrative onto the usual rise-and- fall-of-a-star plot, as the investigator (Pump Up the Volume's Scott Paulin) tries to prove that Todd's death was the murder he suspects, not a suicide as officially ruled. In short blond hair and extremely tight dresses, Anderson breezes through the film as if she'd really rather not be around. ^ This has the effect of making her seem the most intelligent and likable character in the movie. D -KT
