Tubegazing: The Ten Commandments

In an overly earnest, high-gloss (for TV) production, ABC's "The Ten Commandments" is perilously close to Hollywood hokum, but manages to rise above it by featuring the ever-interesting Dougray Scott in the lead role of Moses (despite being yet another light-eyed Westerner playing one of history's most well-known Middle Eastern figures). In fact, the entire cast rescues the show from a mundane script, with Omar Sharif as Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, and Mia Maestro as Zipporah, as well as a slew of savvy international actors in supporting roles. It's hard to believe that there is room for yet another version of the story, but this four-hour Robert Halmi production offers a deeply conflicted religious figure struggling to find God in the midst of personal confusion and a people at war - a Bible story for our times. Grade: B