ALSO TODAY American Squirm By Sarah Vowell Kevin Spacey's je ne sais quoi RECENTLY IN ENTERTAINMENT Saving Private Ryan Reviewed by Gary Kamiya Steven Spielberg brings hell to a theater near you (07/24/98) Pearl Jam in Sacramento By Christopher Hawthorne Channeling the inner idiot at a stirring, but unimaginative, show (07/24/98) An audience with the queen By Fiona Morgan Scott Thompson goes solo with a sissy-proud satire (07/23/98) The Mask of Zorro Reviewed by Charles Taylor A glorious, rousing adventure starring Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones (07/22/98) Sharps & Flats Reviews of new music by Linda Ronstadt, Built to Spill, Nanci Griffith, DJ Hardware and Counting Crows (07/22/98) BROWSE THE TV ARCHIVES COLUMNS FEATURES ILLUSTRATION BY MICA FULGIUM

blue glow SALON'S TV PICKS FOR MONDAY, JULY 27, 1998 BY JOYCE MILLMAN S E R I E S Napoleon Bonaparte is the subject of a new Biography (8 p.m. EDT/9 PDT, A&E). Melrose Place (8 p.m., Fox) is back for another season (its seventh). In the opener, Peter realizes he's not over Amanda, and Billy, Sam, Jennifer and Jeff are still mixed up. In the first of two Everybody Loves Raymond reruns (8:30 p.m., CBS), Debra is sick in bed with the flu and Ray has to take care of the kids. An early episode, so cut it some slack. In the second episode (9 p.m.), Ray goes to Marie for advice on how to get Ally to stop sleeping with him and Debra. You want to talk about shows that were robbed in the Emmy nominations? "Raymond" is the most egregious example, followed closely by Buffy the Vampire Slayer (9 p.m., WB), which reruns the one where Buffy gets help from Angel to vanquish the violent entity tormenting Cordelia. On a rerun of Ally McBeal (9 p.m., Fox), Ally pines for Billy, while the Biscuit pines for her. 20/20 (9 p.m., ABC) updates an earlier segment about Tourette's syndrome. Dateline NBC (10 p.m., NBC) reports on a new unproven diet drug being offered by a national weight loss clinic. On a rerun of The Practice (10 p.m., ABC), Berluti wants to represent a group of people who claim their cancers were caused by high-voltage power lines. S P O R T S WNBA: Los Angeles Sparks at Cleveland Rockers (8 p.m., ESPN) Goodwill Games (8:05 p.m., TBS) T A L K Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) Drew Barrymore David Letterman (CBS) Jenny McCarthy Jay Leno (NBC) Michael J. Fox, LL Cool J. Politically Incorrect (ABC) Richard Lewis, Elizabeth Perkins Conan O'Brien (NBC) Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Snyder (rerun) E T C Some TV industry types are miffed that Ally McBeal was nominated in comedy categories, claiming that it's actually a drama with comic overtones (like CBS's "Northern Exposure," which won an Emmy for best drama series a few years ago). The nomination of "Ally" for best comedy series makes it the first hour-long program to be nominated in that category. It also prevents creator/writer David E. Kelley from having two series up for best drama (the other being ABC's "The Practice") ... The other unpopular nomination: HBO's 12-part From the Earth to the Moon, which is up for the Emmy for best miniseries (not to mention 16 other awards); there's a sizable contingent in TV-land that feels the Tom Hanks-produced history of the space program was promoted by HBO as a drama series, and thus should not have been allowed to campaign for a miniseries nomination. Maybe the grapes are so sour because both "Ally McBeal" and "From the Earth to the Moon" are probably going to win their respective categories. SALON | July 27, 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Blue Glow for < href="http://www.salonmagazine.com/ent/glow/1998/07/24glow.html">Weekend, July 24-26, 1998

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