Video: Best of ’86: Video

THE BEST OF DAN AYKROYD (Warner Home Video). Not the New Dan Aykroyd (the charismaless costar of such films as Ghostbusters and Spies Like Us), but the Old Dan Aykroyd, creator of Papa Conehead, E. Buzz Miller and dozens of other satirical gems on Saturday Night Live. A fitting tribute to the most inventive of the SNL originals.

CRIME STORY (NBC). The two-hour premiere episode was a fierce and stylish update of The Untouchables. Succeeding shows have lost some originality and flair, but this latest series by Producer Michael Mann (Miami Vice) still makes most other cop shows look like wimps.

DRESS GRAY (NBC). A military-school cadet’s drowning reveals seedy goings-on beneath the spit and polish. Gore Vidal’s adaptation of the novel by Lucian K. Truscott IV unraveled a good mystery and showed a rare feel for the milieu.

THE HISTORY OF WHITE PEOPLE IN AMERICA (Cinemax). Martin Mull studies the habits of a typical Wasp family. Nervy satire of middle America, directed with deadpan skill by Harry Shearer. And where has Costar Mary Kay Place been all these years?

JOE BASH (ABC). Producer Danny Arnold (Barney Miller) may have set out to make a sitcom. But what he came up with was a moody tragicomedy on loneliness. Peter Boyle was outstanding as a grumpy cop in this undeservedly short-lived series.

NEWHART (CBS). He gets better with age. Bob plays a beleaguered innkeeper in this, his second successful sitcom, which has just entered its terrific phase. Two major reasons: Peter Scolari and Julia Duffy as spoiled brats in love.

ON TRIAL: LEE HARVEY OSWALD (Showtime). As close to a real trial as the accused killer of John F. Kennedy will probably ever get. Britain’s London Weekend Television assembled the witnesses, enlisted two prominent attorneys and turned it all into spellbinding viewing.

THE PRICE (syndicated). A wealthy businessman’s wife and stepdaughter are kidnaped by Irish terrorists in this taut and intricate thriller imported from Britain’s Channel 4.

THE STORY OF ENGLISH (PBS). From the Anglo-Saxon invasion in A.D. 449 through the feminist incursions of the 1970s, the development of a language is recounted in fascinating detail by Robert MacNeil.

UNKNOWN CHAPLIN (PBS). Hitherto unseen footage of the great filmmaker at work. Assembled with uncommon care and intelligence, this entry in the American Masters series illuminated a genius.