<p> BLIND FAITH (NBC, Feb. 11, 13, 9 p.m. EST). A man whose wife
has been shot in their automobile later becomes the chief
suspect in her murder. Any resemblance between this two-part
docudrama, based on Joe McGinniss's book, and the Boston Stuart
case is coincidental--and lucky timing for NBC.
</p>
<p> CITY (CBS, Mondays, 8:30 p.m. EST). Valerie Harper's new
series is a pleasant surprise: a savvy comedy about a municipal
troubleshooter fighting city hall from the inside.
</p>
<p> THE LOVE BOAT: A VALENTINE VOYAGE (CBS, Feb. 12, 9 p.m.
EST). The show that once defined TV fluff sails again in a
two-hour movie. No copies of Proust on board.
</p>
<p>MOVIES
</p>
<p> TREMORS. Kevin Bacon fights off an attack of 30-ft.-long
earthworms in this crowd-pleasing sci-fi flick. Shrewdly
written, energetically directed and played with high comic
conviction, Tremors is bound to become a cult classic.
</p>
<p> STORY OF WOMEN. In 1943 the Vichy government of France
condemned Marie-Louise Giraud to the guillotine for the crime
of performing abortions. In this eloquent work, Marie (Isabelle
Huppert) is neither a monster nor a savior, but a microcosm of
her amoral country.
</p>
<p>BOOKS
</p>
<p> VINELAND by Thomas Pynchon (Little, Brown; $19.95). In his
first novel since Gravity's Rainbow (1973), a major writer
turns his attention to all manner of American zaniness and
produces a soaring, comic and visionary tale.
</p>
<p> THE QUINCUNX by Charles Palliser (Ballantine; $25). At 788
pages, this first novel seems designed for a more leisurely
age. It was. The author's faithful pastiche of Victorian
fiction--with its careful plotting and moral punctiliousness--miraculously springs to life.
</p>
<p>MUSIC
</p>
<p> UB40: LABOUR OF LOVE II (Virgin). Ten sweet covers of reggae
classics by a formidable British band whose respect for solid
island soul is surpassed only by its unique skill in
recapturing the magic of the originals.
</p>
<p> THE INNOCENCE MISSION: THE INNOCENCE MISSION (A&M).
Pleasing, slightly spacey sounds that are tinged with '60s folk
rock and psychedelia, then spruced up with shades of Joni
Mitchell ("I showed him my notebook/ The underside of my soul")
and a little jolt of feminism. Overwrought--but promising.
</p>
<p> BUNK JOHNSON: THE KING OF THE BLUES (American Music). For
New Orleans jazz purists, this may be the most eagerly awaited
reissue of the past three decades. These classic 1944 sides--first recorded on acetate and now available on compact disc--capture the remarkable tone and timing of the man who was Louis
Armstrong's early idol and whose comeback in the '40s helped
launch a traditional-jazz revival.
</p>
<p> KENNY DAVERN: I'LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS (Musicmasters). If
tone, swing and dexterity are the prime criteria for jazz
clarinet playing, color Kenny Davern a virtuoso. Hot (Royal
Garden Blues) or cool (My Melancholy Baby), Davern gives a
dazzling performance that shows why he's such a standout among
the post-Goodman generation.
</p>
<p>THEATER
</p>
<p> KING LEAR. Anglo-Irish wunderkind Kenneth Branagh, acclaimed
for his demythologizing film of Henry V, makes his U.S. stage
debut as director and co-star of a similarly populist Lear, at
Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum.
</p>
<p> UNCLE VANYA. San Diego's Old Globe Theater finds all the
humor and all the pain in a superb staging of Chekhov.
</p>
<p> THE ART OF SUCCESS. British playwright Nick Dear and a
top-notch off-Broadway cast find echoes of everything from
Thatcherism to the Mapplethorpe photo flap in a roistering
portrait of satirical 18th century artist William Hogarth.
</p>
<p>ART
</p>
<p> THE ART OF THOMAS ROWLANDSON, Frick Collection, New York
City. Imagine an 18th century English comic novel come to life,
and you have Rowlandson's watercolors and caricatures: rakish,
bemused, sharply wrought. Through April 8.
</p>
<p> MONET IN THE '90S: THE SERIES PAINTINGS, Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston. The impressionist's meditations on such emblems
of French landscape and culture as poplars, the cliffs at
Dieppe and Rouen Cathedral. Through April 29.
</p>
<p> THE AGE OF NAPOLEON. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
City. This extravagant effort, covering the period from 1789
until Napoleon's final defeat in 1815, is the best show the
Costume Institute has mounted in years. There are garlands of
lovely frocks, especially in high-waisted "Empire" style, but
the real fascination lies in the men's gear. The rude outfits
of the sans-culottes lasted only briefly. Soon the legendary
textile factories of Lyons disgorged the finest velvets and
silks to burnish triumphant commanders. Embroidered golden bees
turn upon practically everything--including stockings. But
the man responsible for all this luxe, the Emperor, had
relatively simple tastes. His famous plain gray overcoat, the
black bicorne (which he wore sideways, instead of front to
back) and even his field tent are on display. They are the
