Produced for television in 1993 and with a dystopian storyline set in the then-"near future" of 2007, the mini-series Wild Palms looks even more ridiculous than it did at the time. Considered "event TV," the show followed the example of David Lynch's Twin Peaks in that it was designed as a primetime soap opera with a speculative fiction heart. The difference was that even though Twin Peaks was often hard to follow, it was always worth watching for its quirks and the mysticism that guided the story's hero, an FBI investigator. There's nothing like that to grab onto in Wild Palms, a silly tale about invisible conspiracies, authoritarian abuse of virtual reality technology, and a cascade of coincidences that troubles the story's protagonist, patent attorney Harry Wyckoff (Jim Belushi), leading him to realize everybody is in cahoots to control everything. The best reason to take a look at Wild Palms is its feverish production values: intense colors and strangely post-modern costuming and sets. And a remarkable cast sincerely throwing in its lot to make this self-serious project work: Angie Dickinson, Dana Delany, Kim Cattrall, Robert Loggia, Ernie Hudson, Nick Mancuso, Brad Dourif, Bebe Neuwirth, and even little, pre-Boy Meets World Ben Savage. Loggia plays the leader of a Scientology-like cult that has harnessed VR to push its messages to the public via innocuous-looking sitcoms. Behind the scenes, his organization chases down and murders wayward cult members, as directed by Dickinson's vicious security chief, who is also Harry's mother-in-law and has a role in a conspiracy to kidnap babies and...Zzzz. A touch of grownup sophistication and/or a bit of irony would have made all the difference here. Lightly recommended. (T. Keogh)