CBS'S `THORN BIRDS' SEQUEL NOT MUCH DIFFERENT - JUST WORSE.(What's Happening)(Column)

From: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | Date: February 9, 1996 | Copyright information

One of the governing rules of network television is, ``Never leave well enough alone.'' At least, not when there's another nickel to be made from it.

That's why CBS has brought forth ``The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years,'' a cockamamie sequel of sorts to the hugely successful ABC miniseries of 1983.

CBS insists that the new four-hour opus, airing Sunday and Tuesday (9 p.m. on KSTW, Channel 11), fills in a crucial gap in the plot of the original film, but that's hooey.

Instead, the miniseries tells essentially the same story all over again, that of a priest who is ...

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