Is the truth packaged as a lie still the truth, or merely advertising? This is the heady theme of the made-for-cable romantic comedy “Tom, Dick & Harriet” (8 p.m. Saturday, Hallmark). Borrowing themes from “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “The Front,” the film stars Steven Weber.
In “Harriet,” Weber (“Wings”) plays Tom Burns, a brilliant advertising copywriter fired because his agency considers him too old and unhip for their “edgy” image. Assured of his talent, Tom hires a young con artist named Dick Sweeney (Andrew Francis) to peddle his creative wares, and soon Tom/Dick are back on top of the advertising world.
This being a cable romance, subterfuge and sudden success bring Tom face-to-face with his feelings for the fetching art director, Harriet Fellows (Michelle Harrison, “Emily Owens, M.D.”), as well as his estranged daughter, Kelly (MacKenzie Porter). The question remains: Are these emotions strong enough to make him tell the truth?
• A young couple (Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow) meet at an art house cinema and assess their casual relationship in the talky 1969 romance “John and Mary” (12:30 a.m. Saturday, TCM).
This is the least-known film in a night of Hoffman movies, beginning with “Tootsie” (7 p.m.) and ending with “Kramer vs. Kramer” (3:15 a.m.).
It’s easy to forget how boyish Hoffman looked well into his 30s. In “John and Mary,” Olympia Dukakis plays his mother, despite the fact that the actress is only six years Hoffman’s senior. The same age difference separated him and Anne Bancroft, who played the memorable mother figure Mrs. Robinson in “The Graduate” (1:15 a.m.).
Saturday’s other highlights
• The 2012 sequel “Men in Black 3” (8 p.m., Starz) makes its cable debut.
• “The Graham Norton Show” (9 p.m., BBC America) glances back at its 12th season.
• Winter weather stalls a reseller’s renovations on “Flipping Boston” (9 p.m., A&E;).
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