A president radiating an aura of movie star sexiness and rock singer magnetism, John F. Kennedy yet reigns as supreme icon, the martyred politician whose death ended a "vigorous" age when youth and physical stamina were chief virtues.

And with ABC's JFK: Reckless Youth, based on the first volume of Nigel Hamilton's planned three-volume work chronicling Kennedy's life, JFK's formative years are extruded through the screenwriter's template and turned into an exaggerated miniseries.

In this regard we get JFK as a bold but sickly small boy, quickly advanced to his young manhood, a role played fully and at times convincingly by Patrick Dempsey, showing us an energetic Boston brahmin who lives impetuously, without regard to consequence. Yet what does defeat R.Y. is inartful screenwriting, scripting running from silly to stilted.

In it's maladroit manner Reckless Youth shuttles through Kennedy's early years, catching him as boy-man out for a good time and adventure. So we bear witness to his school escapades and dalliances with the ladies, in particuliar a heated romance with journalist Inga Arvad (Yolanda Jilot), as well as service on PT109 and his first run for Congress.

We meet those in the Kennedy brood, including fair-haired brother Joe Jr. (Loren Dean), patriarch Joe (Terry Kinney) and matriarch Rose (Diana Scarwid). However, in the case of ma and pa Kennedy, the actors seem too young to be their offsprings' parents, making for an unconvincing elder-to-child relationship. Indeed, overall, this miniseries has about it an awkward, artificial air that flattens its subjects with hackneyed utterances and solomnly delivered cliches.

History as docudrama bravado, biography as one hokey defining "moment" after another linked by edits and cuts self-consciously clicking across the small-screen, JFK: Reckless Youth is best taken as dubious video interpretation of a life. For screenwriter William Broyles renders portraiture as sloppy miniature, packing all the emotional involvement of a crudely fashioned paint-by-numbers scene.

JFK: RECKLESS YOUTH

ABC

The Polone Co. in association with Hearst Entertainment

Executive producer Judith A. Polone

Co-producer Dennis Stuart Murphy

Produced by Harry Winer

Director Harry Winer

Based on the book by Nigel Hamilton

Teleplay by William Broyles

Music Cameron Allan

Production designer Armin Ganz

Edited by David Simmons, John A. Barton

Director of photography Jean Lepine

Starring: Patrick Dempsey, Terry Kinney, Loren Dean, Yolanda Jilot, Diana Scarwid, Robin Tunney, Andrew Lowrey, Stan Cahill, Claire Forlani, Malachy McCort, James Rebhorn

Closed-captioned

Airdates: Sunday, Nov. 21, Tuesday, Nov. 23; 9-11 p.m.