HBO Pictures presents "Weapons of Mass Distraction" on
Saturday at 8:00pm ET. The satire, written by executive
producer Larry Gelbart, who developed the TV series "MASH,"
chronicles the battle of two media moguls and their pursuit
of the same football franchise, the Titans. The film stars
Gabriel Byrne, Ben Kingsley and Mimi Rogers (HBO). Byrne
plays Lionel Powers who goes after the football Titans in a
league where he already owns one team -- proclaiming, "He
who controls sports, controls it all." Standing in the way
of his pursuit for the Titans is a Senate committee which
must decide on the legality of owning two teams in the same
league, and fellow media baron Julian Messenger, played by
Kingsley. In L.A., Howard Rosenberg calls the show "much
more than just fun. It launches messages like ballistic
missiles" (L.A. TIMES, 5/16). But USA TODAY's Matt Roush
gives the show one star, calling it "savage, but rarely
funny" (USA TODAY, 5/16). In N.Y., David Bianculli calls
its an "enjoyable comedy" but adds it "lacks both the strong
narrative and the credibly comic characters" of "Barbarians
at the Gate" (DAILY NEWS, 5/16).
