For many filmmakers, working in television represents one of the circles of hell. But for British director Peter Greenaway (The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; Prospero's Books), TV offers a chance to indulge the visual senses, using the graphic flexibility of video tools. A TV Dante, made for England's Channel Four, is a fiery tour through the Inferno. With Virgil (played by John Gielgud) as our guide, we descend through the rings of hell, each one a roaring tableau of flapping birds, groaning sinners and yapping she-wolves. A TV Dante sinfully depicts the penalty for an erring life, while grounding Dante's classic text in a melange of contemporary video techniques. Not to be outdone by Virgil, Greenaway insists on his own reasonable guidance, perhaps hedging against the sin of pictorial vanity. A gaggle of "experts" give their sound-bite-sized interpretations of the Inferno's complex meaning. The effect is visually playful and a sly jab at public broadcasting-as though every experience, no matter how unrepentant, should be educational. It's as if Greenaway were telling us that television itself is a punishment for excess. Eight cantos are included in this presentation-only a glutton could finish the entire Divine Comedy.-Steve Seid Cantos 9-14 of A TV Dante, shot by Raul Ruiz, are presented on December 7.