TELEVISION . . . DON'T DRINK THE WATER

Woody Allen's appearance on television raises an interesting question: Will his brand of comedy -- intelligent, loquacious and sophisticated -- play well in a medium where silly gags are (still) the norm? Happily, says TIME movie critic Richard Zoglin, in Allen's latest effort -- a made for TV remake of his 1966 play -- "the old gags still work." Allen plays a New Jersey caterer on vacation in Eastern Europe with his wife and daughter. The gang is mistaken for team of spies and wind up taking refuge in an American embassy. "Allen is at home as the neurotic Jewish father, worried about indigestion, his daughter's boyfriends and escaping from the Reds on sore feet," Zoglin says. Click on to ABC-TV on Sunday December 18 from 9 to 11 p.m. ET