The globe-trotting plot may be predictable, but "To Be the Best" does have at least one compelling mystery.

What the heck is Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins doing in a third-rate cliche-burner like this?

Even in the lowbrow realm of glossy network mini-series, CBS' "To Be the Best," based on a novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford, just isn't. The two-part series, beginning at 8 Sunday on WBBM-Channel 2 as an alternative to the Olympics, features a sleepy-looking Hopkins marking time as an understated but savvy security expert for a department store chain. The Harte's empire is run by Paula (Lindsay Wagner), the ambitious heiress to a fortune amassed by her grandmother, Emma Harte. (Emma was the heroine of "A Woman of Substance," an earlier Bradford epic.)But as Paula plots the expansion of her empire, her evil cousin (Christopher Cazenove) schemes against her, and various underworld types scheme against him. Meanwhile, Paula ignores her husband and child and feels bad about it. We know that because the script wedges in about 30 seconds of introspection and remorse before zooming off to another scenic location shot and irrelevant plot tangent.

"Do you think I want too much?" wonders Paula with all the sincerity of an actress in a tampon commercial. "I want to be the best wife and the best mother and the best executive of the best company."

So much for character development.

While "To Be the Best" - set in London, New York and Hong Kong - could afford to be sexier, spicier and even glossier, it couldn't be any more superficial. In fact the film has such a bland blend of sketchy characters, bad acting and mechanical direction that it fails even as trashy melodrama. No one expects - or wants - escapist fare like this to engage the intellect, but at least we should expect a few healthy tugs on the heartstrings.