Family Sins , airing tonight on television, is based on the story of Frances Burt, convicted in 1994 on 24 counts of arson, sexual assault, kidnapping and other charges.

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, March 14, 2004

HOLLYWOOD -- It seems those Pier 1 commercials have paid off for Kirstie Alley. In the CBS Sunday night movie, Family Sins, she once again plays a regressive, self-centered, antisocial and merchandise-mad weirdo just like the one in the ads, only this time, she's not as well-groomed.

Family Sins is based on the story of Frances Burt, a Rhode Island mother of 11 who was convicted in 1994 on 24 counts of arson, sexual assault, kidnapping, extortion, racketeering and welfare and disability fraud. Karin Failla, a spokesman for CBS, said the network based the program on the Burt story, but added that the names and locations have been changed.

Why Graeme Clifford, who also directed Alley in the 2003 made-for-TV movie Profoundly Normal, has chosen to tell the story now is unclear; Family Sins hasn't been ripped from the headlines so much as it has been carefully exhumed.

The real-life scandal that inspired it is pure 1980s: dark, lurid, pouffy and oversized, and seemingly scripted by V.C. Andrews.

Nothing says Reagan-era suburban gothic like a bad mommy with a plate of cookies in one hand, a live electric wire in another and a crucifix glinting on her neck. And needless to say, Brenda Geck -- PTA mom, friend of the mayor and the local clergy, aggressive cookie-pusher and sadistic crime boss -- is a role Alley was born to play.

Brenda's misdeeds are rolled out slowly -- the story grotesquely unfolds like a rotting tulip -- and in ever-increasing degrees of improbability. (Incidentally, CBS touts the movie's true-story bona fides -- otherwise, it would be, you know, completely implausible -- but coyly declines to name names.) We watch as Brenda instructs her children and foster children in shoplifting and fraud, but it's not until after her arrest that we learn that, when not burglarizing her tenants' apartments and setting them on fire, Brenda enjoys torturing her sons-in-law, threatening her maintenance lady and keeping a former deadbeat tenant locked up in her basement for 18 years with little to eat. The basement-dweller is Nadine (Kathleen Wilhoite), who signs over her daughter Marie (Deanna Milligan) to Brenda in exchange for dessert. Brenda's husband, Ken (Kevin McNulty), natch, molests them both. Son Joey (David Richmond-Peck) sticks to Marie.

Eventually, Marie manages to run away with her small son and lay the suburban gothic horror story on the local authorities; but neither the police, nor the Justice Department, nor child services believe her. (Her hair is just too stringy.) When she manages to spark the interest of a local newsman, however, all that changes. The brilliant D.A. Phillip Rothman (Will Patton) springs into action, and Marie finally succeeds in dragging her addled mother out of the basement and the Gecks into court.

Family Sins, in other words, is a story of faith and redemption and believing in yourself and weirdos and the incalculable value of some well-timed publicity. But what really counts is that it's the most sensationalistic schlock-athon starring Kirstie Alley you're likely to catch tonight, and is best enjoyed with something cheesy.

Members of real-life Burt family spent time in prison

At the end of Family Sins, members of the Geck family are sent to prison for a very long time.

In the real-life case of the Burt family, lengthy sentences were also handed down, in 1994, but substantial portions of those sentences were suspended, reducing the amount of time they were required to serve in prison. All members of the Burt family have since been released, though some returned to prison for violating terms of their probation.

Matriarch Frances Burt, described by the police as the "Ma Barker" of the family, was sentenced to 30 years, with 11 years to serve and 19 years suspended. She was released from the Adult Correctional Institutions in June 2001 and is serving 19 years of probation.

Her husband, Walter Burt, was sentenced to 25 years, with 7 to serve and 18 suspended. He was released from the ACI in November 1998 and is serving 18 years of probation.

Their son, Dennis Burt, was sentenced to 12 years, with 4 1/2 to serve and 7 1/2 suspended. He was released from the ACI in August 1997, but sent back for a probation violation. He got out again last month and is serving 54 months of probation.

Another son, Raymond Burt, was sentenced to six years in prison and was released in January 1998. He is serving nine years of probation.

Daughter Cynthia Burt was sentenced to time served, plus probation, after cooperating with authorities. She is no longer in the state correctional system.

Raymond Burt's longtime companion, Tammy Lacoste, was sentenced to probation and is no longer in the state correctional system.

The only person connected with the Burt case still in custody, according to an ACI spokeswoman, is a friend of Dennis Burt, who did not originally receive any time to serve. Gerard Taddeo had been given a seven-year suspended sentence. He is currently being held at the ACI without bail as a probation violator and has other charges not related to the Burt case pending against him.

Three others received suspended sentences and were released before the Burts themselves were sentenced. They are: the Burts' adopted daughter, Renee Demrest; their son-in-law, Keith Demrest, and Eneida Facha, Frances Burt's niece.

-- Paul Edward Parker