Few television projects come with the elite pedigree of the two-part drama “Empire Falls” (8 p.m. today and Sunday, HBO). Based on an acclaimed novel by Richard Russo and adapted for the screen by the author, “Empire” features a dream cast including Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Ed Harris, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Helen Hunt, Robin Penn Wright and Aidan Quinn. In short, “Empire Falls” can’t go wrong.

But it does. And how.

With its insipid score and cutesy narration, “Empire” quickly reminded me of a throwaway CBS movie, the old sentimental Sunday-night stinker – the kind that not even CBS can stand anymore.

Set in a time-weathered mill town in rural Maine, “Empire” concerns Miles Roby (Harris), the manager of the Empire Grill who has sacrificed much to stay in a hometown still very much under the thumb of the doomed Whiting family, who once owned the mills. Francine (Woodward), the widow Whiting, takes a maternal interest in Miles, a fact that has complicated his relationship with his drunkard father (Newman, of whom it must be said still looks like a Greek god as he approaches 80) and has perhaps doomed his marriage to the spunky Janine (Hunt) and driven her into the arms of the smarmy arriviste, Walt (Dennis Farina). The scenes between Harris and Hunt have a somber self-consciousness about them. The moments with Hunt and Farina could be the basis of a master class in overacting.

Much like “Peyton Place,” “Empire” trades in New England repression, simmering passions and class resentments. But unlike “Peyton,” it takes itself very seriously. “Peyton Place” was a trash novel and a guilty pleasure. “Empire” unfolds with the self-importance of assigned reading.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ The raft party receives a shock on the two-hour season finale of “Lost” (7 p.m., ABC).

¢ Comic Mario Cantone revisits material from his one-man Broadway show “Laugh Whore” (8 p.m., Showtime).

¢ Scheduled on “48 Hours Mystery” (9 p.m., CBS): circumstantial evidence that may link a husband to his wife’s murder.

Sunday’s highlights

¢ Brent Musburger is host to the Indianapolis 500 (11 a.m., ABC).

¢ Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds are host to NASCAR racing (4 p.m., Fox).

¢ Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Gloria Stuart, Billy Zane and Kathy Bates star in the 1997 iceberg epic “Titanic” (6 p.m., NBC).