It started off well. There was something perfect – if just a teensy bit obvious – about the sight of a young Donald Trump playing with blocks and building skyscrapers in his playroom. But as “Trump Unauthorized” began to unfold, it became clear that its producers would never stray very far from the I-must-build equation to explain the psychology of New York’s weirdest individual. And as a result, this made-for-television movie, which airs tonight at 9 p.m., will rank among the dullest misfires in the recent history of cheesy biopics. The irony is that had it been authorized, Mr. Trump – who seems to have a perfectly modulated sense of his own outrageousness – would have likely delivered a far more entertaining portrait of himself.

Couldn’t there at least been some discussion of the hair? There’s no doubt that viewers everywhere will marvel at 38-year-old actor Justin Louis’s remarkable transformation into the Donald, whose hair has long seemed worthy of its own two-hour movie. (Watching Mr. Trump on the “Today” show the morning after I watched this movie, I actually found myself suspecting his hair might be some kind of holographic image he carries around with himself.) But there’s barely a mention of it here. Instead, this biopic trudges through the salient events in Mr. Trump’s life as though fulfilling a school assignment. There’s his pained relationship with his brother, his struggles with his father, his courtship of Ivana, his construction of the first hotel in his empire, and then his vision of Trump Tower as the crowning achievement of his career. It’s told with all the verve and entertainment value of a Cliffs Notes adaptation.

Based on the far more compelling Trump biographies by journalist Gwenda Blair, there ought to have been far more attention paid to the oddities of this titan, this would-be urban pioneer who feared handshakes because of germs and who suffered massive insecurities because of the relative class of his father Fred (played winningly by Ron McLarty). His overreaching ego was expressed mostly in his relationships with women; wouldn’t have it been more interesting to show that side of him in his business dealings? The conflicts with Mayor Koch were mentioned but brushed aside; his pause from activity to write the best-selling “Art of the Deal” didn’t even come up. Unless I dozed off for a few seconds. Always possible.

I did enjoy the droll presence of Saul Rubinek as Peter Wennik, Mr. Trump’s right-hand man. Even though there’s something about Mr. Rubinek that always connotes a Jewish stereotype, here he managed to bypass the obvious and provide the voice of reason to a man hell-bent on developing weapons of mass construction. I also found myself appreciating the ripeness of Jennifer Baxter’s portrayal of Ivana; she captured that mercurial mix of love and relentless ambition that made her the perfect Trump wife. If you find yourself watching this sorry mess, you’ll enjoy the scene when the two split up; her heavily accented sputtering makes for a few real laughs.

But overall, this enterprise has the rushed quality that imbues far too many sweeps projects. You get the feeling that ABC executives were so immersed in pilot season that they didn’t have the time or inclination to push these filmmakers to create a worthier product. Yet again, it reflects the cynicism of the networks toward their audience, that we’ll be happy with rote retellings of celebrity biographies without nuance or wit. When “Trump Unauthorized” ends with a scene of a reality television producer pitching the mogul the idea for “The Apprentice,” you know the filmmakers didn’t even bother to come up with a conclusion to this ongoing story. It’s too bad, because endings – when done properly – ought to be the reward for two hours of network loyalty, not a reminder of what saps we’ve been for watching.

***

I guess I’ve been tough on ABC News in recent months, but I can’t help it. It’s my favorite network news division, so when it fails to deliver the high standard I require, I find myself disappointed, even a little outraged. I believe ABC News President David Westin and his team of producers and correspondents has the capacity (and, now, the opportunity) to reinvent the form. In any case, with the death of “60 Minutes Wednesday” and the forthcoming transformation of “Nightline,” the burden falls to ABC News’s superior management team to invigorate it.

One extremely positive step in this direction comes from ABC News this Thursday night at 10 p.m, as “Primetime Live” devotes an hour of programming to a report on the phenomenon of grandparents raising grandchildren – a national phenomenon that this special investigation addresses with sensitivity and insight. Finding its focus in four Newark families, correspondent Cynthia McFadden (and producers Jon Meyersohn and Anna Sims-Phillips) introduce us to children whose lives have been transformed – perhaps even saved – by this generational quirk. It’s at once tragic and uplifting to see these children in the protective custody of their grandmothers, who struggle with their own fears and pain over the failures of their children as they raise these damaged but loving kids.

Done without these shows’ usual overdependence on schmaltzy music and tugs at the heartstrings, the spare storytelling here perhaps portends a new kind of television documentary that merges the tabloid sensibility of “Primetime” with the social conscience of “60 Minutes.” By devoting an hour to topics like this one – shining the spotlight of network television on an inner-city crisis known to relatively few – ABC News has performed a service not only to viewers, but to itself.