Fade-ins look awkward

[George Robertson]

The opening shot of my movie (cut in Final Cut Pro 3.0) is a scene of a 
riverbank taken from the boat I'm on. I wanted a slow, gentle fade in 
from black. I gave it 5 seconds. On the computer monitor, the fade in 
looks not bad. On the NTSC TV set it looks jerky, that is, instead of a 
smooth fade it jumps up in value about halfway through.

Is there something I'm missing in creating the effect in the transition 
window? I've tried various choices but none of them seem to help.

This effect is also apparent in a 3-second fade, and not as extreme in 
a 1-second fade.

Any advice would be appreciated.

George