It's Elizabeth vs. Jessica in docudramatic battle

The two biggest ripped-from-the-headlines TV movies of the season will do battle in the November sweeps ratings war. NBC has scheduled "Saving Jessica Lynch" directly opposite CBS's "The Elizabeth Smart Story" on Sunday, Nov. 9.

For the record, CBS was there first, announcing its airdate several weeks ago. But nobody at that network is particularly surprised that NBC decided to create this confrontation by scheduling "Jessica" against "Elizabeth."

How does this serve the viewers? It doesn't. But serving viewers is not what the sweeps are all about. Those ratings periods are when the warfare among the networks becomes the most vicious.

But it's not like the production of either movie was an altruistic undertaking. In both cases, it's networks profiting from sensational headlines.

While both involve happy-ending rescues of teenagers, the two movies represent two ends of the spectrum — authorized and unauthorized docudramas.

In the case of CBS's "Elizabeth Smart Story," the network bought the rights to the book written by Elizabeth's parents, Ed and Lois, about their daughter's kidnapping and eventual return. This is very much an effort to tell their story.

That's the point in all such based-on-fact TV movies — it's one side of the story. It's not necessarily the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It's one point of view.

Which is not to say that there are any intentional attempts to mislead in an authorized docudrama. But there is always the temptation to put the best face on the facts — to tell the story the way those cooperating with the production want it to be told.

That's certainly understandable. But it doesn't necessarily make for a good TV movie, let alone one that's believable.

(Just to make it clear, that's true of authorized docudramas in general. At this point, neither "Jessica" nor "Elizabeth" has been shown to critics.)

At the same time, you can hardly blame the Smarts for wanting to be involved in the making of the TV movie. After all, one was going to get made with or without their cooperation. And it's easy to argue that it's better to cooperate and have some say in the project.

All you'll have to do is flip the channel on Nov. 9 to get the other side of the coin. NBC couldn't get Jessica Lynch to cooperate in the making of its movie, so it just went ahead and made it anyway.