‘Forgotten’ Is Mostly Forgettable

With “Forgotten Sins,” TV is once again at war with itself. Just as “Indictment: The McMartin Trial” sent bombs into the camp of believers in the so-called recovered memory syndrome, so this new ABC movie, also based on an actual case, decries the syndrome’s destructive potential.

All of this while the afternoon chat shows continue to tout victims of long-forgotten abuses and trot out self-described experts on the syndrome. T.S. Cook’s teleplay even refers to “Geraldo” and how too much TV viewing by the teenage Bradshaw daughters, Rebecca (Lisa Dean Ryan) and Laura (T.C. Warner), may have pushed them to accuse their father, Matthew (John Shea) of horrendous sexual abuses.

This TV civil war is something to think about while watching “Forgotten Sins” blandly, mechanically unfold. Especially in the wake of “Indictment,” this is comparatively weak stuff, with even more weakly explained motives for the characters.

Why do Rebecca and Laura actually launch into accusations of abuse and worse, including satanic rituals? Cook provides two brief scenes where Matthew is stern with his daughters, yet kindly to his youngest son, Thomas (Scott Armstrong). Matthew then wonders if he’s too tough on his girls. If this is enough for the two teens to go hog wild with accusations, then Cook and director Dick Lowry haven’t thought long enough about their story.

The big wrinkle in all of this is that the Bradshaws are devout Christians, and a Christian girls’ retreat (seen here as a kind of re-education camp for feminist evangelicals) is the final trigger for tragedy to follow. But Matthew himself begins to believe that he must have done something, because “God wouldn’t let me confess falsely.” Shea is enough of an actor to make this paper-thin religiosity sound convincing.

But the biggest wrinkle of all is that the voice of sanity is Dr. Richard Ofshe, played by a bearded William Devane with his usual blend of sternness and gusto. Ofshe, not incidentally, is this film’s “production consultant,” so is it any surprise that he comes off as the hero, with the police and prosecuting attorneys and Christians as fantasizing goons?

The politics, and even the facts, behind “Forgotten Sins” may be accurate, but its mix of cookie-cutter dramatics and polemics are worse than forgettable.

* “Forgotten Sins” airs at 9 tonight on ABC (Channel 7, 3).