John Grisham is best-known for his courtroom novels, mind-twisters that usually deal with the dark underside of the legal profession.

But two years ago, Grisham went down a literary side road and wrote “A Painted House,” a semi-autobiographical work about growing up on an Arkansas cotton farm in 1952. Although some reviewers found the book to be a case of Southern Gothic run amok, others praised the bestseller for its attention to detail and its rich portrait of rural life of an earlier time.

Somewhat surprisingly, given the abysmal history of Grisham novels being turned into films, all of that detail and richness is on full display this Sunday in the TV movie version of “A Painted House” (9 p.m., CBS). Not only is it the best movie based on a Grisham book but it’s the best Hallmark Hall of Fame production in some time.

“House” has all the trappings of the classic coming-of-age story. Most of the action takes place over a single summer. The main character – 10-year-old Luke Chandler, the Grisham surrogate – is just awakening to sex, the harshness of farming life and a realization that his future may lie somewhere other than the cotton fields. There is some drama – a murder, tornadoes, the destruction of crops – but most of the work focuses on the small details of Luke Chandler’s life that one summer.

Director Alfonso Arau (“Like Water for Chocolate”) captures the era beautifully with cinematography that suggests the work of photographer Walker Evans. The script by Patrick Sheane (“Courage Under Fire”) is nicely understated, rarely sliding into cliche. And the cast is marvelous with fine performances by Logan Lerman as Luke, Arija Barelkis (“The American Embassy”) as his mother and a heart-wrenching one from Scott Glenn as Luke’s grandfather.

All in all, “A Painted House” can not only stand with films such as “Sarah, Plain & Tall” as the best of Hallmark Hall of Fame, but as one of the finer family dramas you’ll see this year.

• As family viewing goes, “Eloise at the Plaza” (7 p.m. Sunday, ABC) is the polar opposite of “A Painted House.” The filmmakers have conspired to drain all the charm and sophistication out of the beguiling and much-beloved “Eloise” books by writer Kay Thompson and illustrator Hilary Knight. The writing is dreadful, the direction even worse, and Sofia Vassilieva as Eloise may be the most irritating child actor to come along in some time. Given the lack of family programming, you may be tempted to sample “Eloise at the Plaza.” Restrain yourself and save the kids from a bad film.

• But speaking of kids and TV, Nickelodeon is offering up another special edition of Linda Ellerbee’s “Nick News”: “Iraq: Facts, Fears and Feelings” (8:30 p.m. Sunday). Like the specials before it, this one deals well with the emotions stirred up in kids by a major event. In this case, it’s the war in Iraq and how the images of that conflict can and have effected the young. Ellerbee never talks down to her audience, and the discussion of the war and the fears it generates is nicely modulated.

• A quick note to fans of “Touched by an Angel”: The show’s two-part series finale airs Saturday and Sunday (8 p.m., CBS) with a batch of returning guest stars, an introduction by Carol Burnett and a very special appearance by God. (Well, God as played by Scott Bairstow of “Wolf Lake.”) Whatever you may think about the series, it has lasted almost a decade and has an extremely devoted following who find its messages of faith uplifting. And that’s not a bad thing.

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