Television: Viewpoints: A Lot of Nerve

There is nerve—and then again there is nerve. The kind they have lots of —too much of—in television is exhibited in its ripest form this week (NBC, Wednesday, 9 p.m. E.S.T.) by Jack Lemmon, starring in a remake of John Osborne's The Entertainer. Archie Rice, that talentless, foul-spirited denizen of show biz's low depths, is, of course, the creation and sole property of Laurence Olivier—perhaps the greatest performance in a nonclassic role by the man who is our age's prince of players. There is no hope of duplicating what he did in that...