ALL TIMES ARE EST UNLESS NOTED CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS. - - - - - - - - - - - - RECENTLY IN BLUE GLOW Up the "Creek" (01/22/98) First Seinfeld, now Shandling (01/21/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - ENTERTAINMENT THIS WEEK Oscar and Lucinda A shimmering romance starring Ralph Fiennes as a misfit Australian gambler Spice World The Spice Girls' tasteless debut - - - - - - - - - - - - ENTERTAINMENT LAST WEEK The family values of "NYPD Blue" By Joyce Millman The most pro-family show on television Deconstructing Harry Yucky Woody gives his hard-core fans the final finger Kundun Scorsese's exquisite Dalai Lama biopic - - - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE MOVIE ARCHIVES TV ARCHIVES

blue glow SALON'S TV PICKS FOR WEEKEND, JAN. 23-25, 1998 BY JOYCE MILLMAN S U P E R _B O W L After the pre-game show (3:30 p.m. Sun., NBC), the Denver Broncos and the Green Bay Packers get down to business in San Diego (kickoff: 6 p.m. Sun., NBC). For a half-time alternative, there's Celebrity Deathmatch Deathbowl '98 (Super Bowl half-time, MTV), in which animated clay versions of Howard Stern and Kathie Lee Gifford duke it out. The undercard: RuPaul vs. Pamela Lee, Spice Girls vs. Hanson. 3rd Rock from the Sun (immediately following the game, NBC) has a special hour-long episode involving supermodels from outer space and an attack on the Super Bowl. Cindy Crawford guests. And, licking the last drop of ratings nectar from the Bowl, Jay Leno (check local listings, NBC) has a special Sunday edition featuring Bob Costas with a postgame report from San Diego and in-studio guests Jenny McCarthy and Shania Twain. S E R I E S Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction (8 p.m. Fri., Fox) returns to Fox's schedule with more cheesy dramatizations of paranormal events. Dateline NBC (8 p.m. Fri., NBC) has a story about a pair of photographers who travel the country taking pictures of animals and plants facing extinction. ABC premieres a new news magazine, ABC News Saturday Night (10 p.m. Sat., ABC). The Simpsons (8 p.m. Sun., Fox) reruns the great episode where Lisa faces the town's wrath when she tries to prove that an "angel skeleton" is a fake. Stephen Jay Gould has a cameo. The X-Files (9 p.m. Sun., Fox) is also a rerun -- the one where a physicist discovers time travel and goes back to try to stop himself from making the discovery. S P O R T S NBA: Magic at Heat (8 p.m. Fri., TNT); Lakers at Sonics (3:30 p.m. Sat., NBC); Jazz at Bulls (1 p.m. Sun., NBC). S P E C I A L S Super Bowl counter-programming: CBS reruns its brassy 1993 version of the classic musical Gypsy (8 p.m. Sun., CBS), starring Cynthia Gibb as the young Gypsy Rose Lee and Bette Midler as the mother of all stage mothers. Warren Beatty and Annette Bening star in the 1994 tear-jerker Love Affair (9 p.m. Sun., ABC), which co-stars Garry Shandling and Katharine Hepburn. T A L K Friday: Michael Keaton guests on Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated); a rerun of David Letterman (CBS) features John Travolta, Grant Hill and Sinead O'Connor; Charlie Rose (PBS) has a Super Bowl preview; Jay Leno (NBC) hosts Burt Reynolds; Tom Snyder (CBS) talks with Drew Carey and Martin Amis; Elmore Leonard and Dave Chappelle are panelists on Politically Incorrect (ABC); Conan O'Brien (NBC) features Rose McGowan and Huffamoose. SALON | Jan. 23, 1998 Blue Glow for < href="/ent/glow/1998/01/22glow.html">Thursday, Jan.22, 1998

ILLUSTRATION BY KATHERINE STREETER