ALL TIMES ARE EST UNLESS NOTED CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS. - - - - - - - - - - - - RECENTLY IN BLUE GLOW "Homicide's" Detective Munch visits "The X-Files" (10/23/97) - - - - - - - - - - - - ENTERTAINMENT THIS WEEK A Life Less Ordinary A girl, a guy, a gun -- and a glorious movie Gattaca Future imperfect - - - - - - - - - - - - LAST WEEK MOVIES Boogie Nights The Ice Storm Playing God Devil's Advocate INTERVIEWS Ang Lee "The Ice Storm" director on fathers, innocence and the '70s Mark Waters "The House of Yes" director on his perfect Sundance experience TELEVISION Ally McBeal America loves a retro babe - - - - - - - - - - - - MOVIE ARCHIVES TV ARCHIVES

blue glow SALON'S TV PICKS FOR TUESDAY, OCT. 28, 1997 BY JOYCE MILLMAN S P E C I A L S Ashley Judd and Harry Connick Jr. host the VH1 Fashion Awards (9 p.m., VH1). Performers include En Vogue, Fiona Apple and those eternal fashion don'ts, the Rolling Stones. S E R I E S Dan Aykroyd continues hauling out the old "Saturday Night Live" schtick for his sitcom Soul Man (8 p.m., ABC). Last week, he did the Blues Brothers with John Goodman. This week, he reminds us of the glory that once was "SNL" when he dresses up as Julia Child for Halloween. Save the liver! On the Halloween episode of Frasier (9 p.m., NBC), Roz sweats out a costume party waiting for the results of a pregnancy test. Meanwhile on Xena (9 p.m., syndicated), Gabrielle undergoes an accelerated pregnancy after her encounter with Dahak, the Force of Darkness. Frontline (check local times, PBS) presents "Dreams of Tibet," a look at current Western interest in Tibetan Buddhism and Hollywood activism against Chinese repression. Orville Schell is the correspondent. On NYPD Blue (10 p.m., ABC), a murder witness disappears and Sipowicz is obsessed with "Pop Goes the Weasel." S P O R T S Hockey: Sabres at Avalanche (8 p.m., ESPN). T A L K Angela Lansbury and David Spade guest on Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated); David Letterman (CBS) features Penn & Teller and Amy Grant; Jay Leno (NBC) hosts Dennis Quaid and Mark Wahlberg; Tom Snyder (CBS) talks with Michael Palin; Faith Ford and historian Michael Beschloss are panelists on Politically Incorrect (ABC); Laura San Giacomo appears on Conan O'Brien (NBC). E T C. Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana have received an order from HBO for another season of their prison drama Oz. But perhaps their guidance is better needed at their other TV gig, NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street. The first two episodes of "Homicide" this season were a disappointment at best and, at worst, they were just plain wrong. The main ongoing story line involves a prominent African-American businessman and community leader named Felix Wilson (James Earl Jones), whose attractive live-in housekeeper is found raped and murdered in the men's room of the swank hotel where he's being honored at a banquet. Discounting murder investigation procedure (eliminate those closest to the victim), Lt. Giardello and Pembleton (both of whom are black) refuse to consider Wilson and his son as suspects. This prompts racial tension between Pembleton and two of the new white investigators on the squad. Come on -- long time "Homicide" fans know that Giardello and especially Pembleton would NEVER show favoritism on the basis of race. Who was this Frank Pembleton we saw last week, not being hungry, not being aggressive, not being thorough? This was the sort of sloppy writing you used to seldom see on "Homicide." What's going on? SALON | Oct. 28, 1997

Blue Glow for < href="/ent/glow/1997/10/27glow.html">Monday, Oct. 27

ILLUSTRATION BY JOEL ELROD

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