TV Reviews : Alaska Adventure in ‘Rugged Gold’
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A refined widow remarries, moves to Alaska and braves grizzlies, earthquakes, injuries, unattended childbirth and outdoor plumbing. For all its eventfulness, however, the adventure never catches fire in “Rugged Gold,” a treacly, ‘50s-era Jill Eikenberry vehicle tonight on the Family Channel.
When socialite Martha (Eikenberry) marries gold prospector Don (Art Hindle), she and her young son Lloyd move with him to his no-frills cabin in the Alaskan wilderness. Challenges include Don’s rude-but-with-a-heart-of-gold partner Sam (Graham Greene), overcoming the shock of seeing animals killed for food, learning to shoot and Lloyd’s slow adjustment to his stepfather.
As Don, Hindle spends too much time looking amused at Martha’s expense, and Greene is a caricature grouch. Eikenberry, who brings a genuine sweetness to the role and admirably eschews vanity, is working against the show’s “Perils of Pauline” feel and the self-conscious heroism in Martha’s cloying, after-the-fact narrative.
Sarah James’ Harlequin romance-style script, directed by Michael Anderson, is based on Martha Martin’s autobiographical novel, “O Rugged Gold.”
* “Rugged Gold” premieres at 8 tonight on cable’s Family Channel.
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