‘Pandemic’ offers pretty view of crisis

Bird flu is no laughing matter, but “Pandemic” (7 p.m. today, Hallmark) is a hoot. It may be filled with scenes of death and disease plaguing man, bird and beast, but you won’t be able to take your eyes off the cast.

This is, after all, a film starring Tiffani Thiessen as Dr. Kayla Martin, an elite doctor in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The former star of “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Two Guys, A Girl and A Pizza Place” has to deliver a lot of very bad news when an airliner from Australia lands in Los Angeles carrying a surfer who appears to have died from bird flu.

Given the gravity of her tasks, can you blame her for wearing revealing tight sweaters?

Not since Lucy Lawless played the Undersecretary of Agriculture in those “Locust” movies has a U.S. government official sported more inappropriate attire.

Luckily, Martin is not alone. She has Troy Whitlock (Vincent Spano) and Dr. Carl Ratner (French Stewart) by her side. Fresh from “Heroes,” Eric Roberts plays the smarmy mayor of Los Angeles, a man who wields sunglasses like a weapon. When not browbeating the CDC, he’s battling with California’s Gov. Shaefer, played by Faye Dunaway, naturally.

A strangely cast thriller with a predictable plot, “Pandemic” is an oddly comforting movie. It’s reassuring that they still make TV movies this bad.

¢ Based on Dee Brown’s 1971 best-selling and influential book, “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” (8 p.m. Sunday, HBO) examines the end game in the wars between American Indian tribes and the U.S. government between the defeat of Gen. Custer at Little Big Horn in 1876 and the last of the battles in 1890.

A TV epic of both grand historical sweep and remarkably intimate focus, “Wounded Knee” shows how the efforts of benevolent white Americans to educate, assimilate and Christianize tribes were as damaging as military action.

¢ Gary Sinise (“CSI: New York”) and Joe Mantegna (“The Simpsons Movie”) return to co-host the 2007 National Memorial Day Concert (7 p.m. Sunday, PBS). Scheduled performers and presenters include Natalie Cole, Josh Turner, Dianne Wiest, Jimmy Smits and the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of maestro Erich Kunzel.

Today’s highlights

¢ Renee Zellweger, Catharine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere and Queen Latifah star in the 2002 musical “Chicago” (7 p.m., NBC).

¢ Stephen Baldwin stars in the 2006 thriller “Dark Storm” (8 p.m., Sci Fi). He’s not to be confused with Daniel Baldwin, who stars in “Cleaver,” the Mafia horror movie “written” by Christopher on “The Sopranos.”

Sunday’s highlights

¢ “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., CBS) will devote an hour to the 1st Battalion of the 133rd Infantry of the Iowa National Guard serving in Iraq.

¢ Scheduled on “Dateline” (6 p.m., NBC): orphaned Russian twins.

¢ Kitty (Calista Flockhart) tries to reconcile with her mother (Sally Field) on the pilot episode of “Brothers and Sisters” (9 p.m., ABC).