When it is good, television is very, very good. And when it is bad, no amount of clothespins, air freshener or gas masks can alleviate the stench.

This year saw both the best and worst television can offer in made-for-TV movies shown on the networks and cable. Let's walk down Memory Lane one more time.

Best TV movies of '88: "WINNIE." Meredith Baxter Birney was superb in this tender NBC drama about a retarded woman's struggle for dignity. "A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS." Charlton Heston made a powerful return to his old form in his self-directed production of Robert Bolt's play, based on the life of Thomas More and his church vs. state battle against King Henry VIII of England. Shown on cable's TNT channel. "THE ATTIC." This CBS drama, with Mary Steenburgen and Christopher Plummer, proved that Anne Frank's World War II story remains a timeless, moving tribute to the human spirit and the ability of people to survive extreme evil and cruelty. "BAJA OKLAHOMA." HBO's raunchy tale of redneck love starred Lesley Ann Warren, Peter Coyote, Swoosie Kurtz and Willie Nelson. "THE TAKING OF FLIGHT 847." Lindsay Wagner's performance had "Emmy" written all over it in this taut, true-life NBC drama about the heroics of a TWA flight attendant during a skyjacking. "GLITZ." NBC's production of Elmo Leonard's thriller starred Jimmy Smits in an exciting, stylish crime drama set against a sleazy Atlantic City backdrop. "MY FATHER, MY SON." This moving CBS drama, starring Karl Malden as Adm. Elmo Zumwalt and Keith Carradine his son, concerned their battle against the effects of Agent Orange. "INHERIT THE WIND." Kirk Douglas and Jason Robards (what a combination!) joined forces in a new NBC adaptation of the classic American play about Tennessee's "Monkey Trial" in the 1920s. "THE FBI MURDERS." Michael Gross of "Family Ties" established himself as a powerful dramatic actor, playing a sadistic, brutal killer in this NBC movie. David Soul as his partner in crime wasn't too shabby, either. "TERRORIST ON TRIAL." This disquieting CBS movie challenged viewers to confront the legal difficulties in prosecuting an international terrorist. Our emotions may cry out for blood, but our legal system insists on justice, sometimes at a very heavy price. Worst TV movies of '88: "THE GODDESS OF LOVE." In this NBC film, Vanna White pursued her dream to be an actress. I'd like to play in Wrigley Field. Sometimes you can't have everything you want. "THE SECRET LIFE OF KATHY McCORMICK." Barbara Eden played a grocery clerk who fakes her way into high society. This production faked its way into prime time. The only secret here is why NBC soiled its schedule with this trash. "APRIL MORNING." A CBS drama about the battle of Concord at the start of the American Revolution starred Robert Urich, Rip Torn and Tommy Lee Jones. This thing was so bad even Ben Franklin, who said everything that's ever been said, would have been left speechless. "GOTHAM." Tommy Lee Jones scores again on this list, this time for his fossilized portrayal of a private eye who falls in love with a kinky ghost (Virginia Madsen) in this Showtime cable flick. His love wasn't the only thing that was dead in this dreadful movie. "NITTI." According to this ABC production, Al Capone's rootie-tootie-de-cappo-frutti Frank Nitti was merely a poor, misunderstood lad who fell into a criminal life of murder, extortion and drugs through no fault of his own. Yeah, and if the Ayatollah Khomeini had made Eagle Scout, the world would be a better place today. "TEARS IN THE RAIN." Showtime weighs in again with a bumbling, schmaltzy love story. "THE WOMAN HE LOVED." Speaking of schmaltz, this CBS film about the whiny, wimpy Duke of Windsor and his love for his Wallis Simpson was drearier than a Scottish moor. The duke gave up the throne of England for this ditz? England was better off. "HOSTAGE." Carol Burnett played a lonely, wealthy widow who is kidnapped by her real-life daughter, Carrie Hamilton, who is on the lam from her brutalizing father and the cops. This CBS movie is the kind of thing that gives nepotism a bad name. "LADYKILLERS." In this ABC offering, Lesley-Anne Down played the owner of male strip-tease club. She was methodically murdering her best dancers, which is one way to beat having to pay overtime. The worst "special":

Some programs defy description. But the tail end of a list of the year's worst movies seems an appropriate place for Geraldo Rivera's "DEVIL WORSHIP: EXPOSING SATAN'S UNDERGROUND," which aired on NBC.

Rivera's two hours of demonic balderdash was a TV low-water mark unrivaled even by the sewers of Calcutta, as this journalistic carbuncle engaged in probing, 15-second interviews, presented unsubstantiated claims of Satanic crimes and wallowed in his peculiar egomania.

That NBC sullied the reputation of its news division by its association with Rivera was a broadcast obscenity. This "special" was such a debacle, even the devil himself might have a case for libel.