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SALON'S TV PICKS FOR
WEEKEND, FEB. 5-7, 1999
BY JOYCE MILLMAN

S P E C I A L S

Adam "The Most Powerful Man in Hollywood" Sandler's 1996 golf epic Happy Gilmore (8 p.m. Sat., ABC) has its long-awaited broadcast premiere. George Carlin: You Are All Diseased (9:30 p.m. Sat., HBO) is the comedian's 11th HBO special, a live (on the East Coast) performance from New York's Beacon Theater. The four-hour miniseries The '60s (9 p.m. Sun., NBC) chronicles the experiences of two (fictional) American families, one white and one black, during the decade that still fascinates those over 40 but bores everybody else to tears. The new "Hallmark Hall of Fame" movie Night Ride Home (9 p.m. Sun., CBS) stars Rebecca DeMornay as a woman who neglects the rest of her family after the death of her beloved son. Also starring Ellen Burstyn and Keith Carradine. French director Louis Feuillade's legendary 1915 silent film serial Les Vampires (Midnight EST/9 p.m. PST Sun., Turner Movie Classics) begins a rare TV run with a two-hour block of episodes. Musidora stars as Irma Vep, the seductive leader of a mysterious gang of criminals.

S E R I E S

The X-Files Complete Conspiracy (8 p.m. Fri., FX) wraps up with a four episode marathon that prepares you for the new "conspiracy explained" episode running Sunday on Fox. Episode 97, "Redux" (8 p.m.), has Mulder desperately seeking the cure for Scully's cancer; in Episode 98, "Redux II" (9 p.m.), he gets help from an unlikely source. Episode 109, "Patient X" (10 p.m.), introduces Cassandra Spender (Veronica Cartwright), the mother of Agent Spender, who claims to have been abducted multiple times by aliens; she and Scully are mysteriously lured to an alien landing site, along with other abductees, where they're attacked by the fire-spraying faceless aliens. In Episode 110, "The Red and the Black" (11 p.m.), Scully undergoes hypnosis to remember what happened at the mass burning site. On Homicide (10 p.m. Fri., NBC), detectives from "Second Shift," the Web version of the series, show up to help Sheppard and Bayliss catch a serial killer who slays his victim live on the Net. Gwyneth Paltrow hosts Saturday Night Live (11:30 p.m. Sat., NBC), with music from Barenaked Ladies. On an even more surreal than usual episode of The Simpsons (8 p.m. Sun., Fox), Homer changes his name to avoid being mistaken for a bumbling TV character named "Homer Simpson." Inside the Actors Studio (8 p.m. EST/9 PST, Sun. Bravo) spotlights Laurence Fishburne. The X-Files (9 p.m. Sun., Fox) begins the important two-parter "Two Fathers," in which all -- or, at least, some -- will be revealed about what the Syndicate is really up to, the Cigarette Smoking Man's role in it and where Mulder and Scully fit into the puzzle. On The Sopranos (9 p.m. Sun., HBO), Tony and Meadow visit colleges in Maine, where Tony recognizes someone he once knew -- a Mob rat who went into the Witness Protection Program. Bobby defends a teenage prostitute accused of stabbing a man to death on The Practice (10 p.m. Sun., ABC).

S P O R T S

Basketball:
Knicks at Magic (8 p.m. Fri., TNT)
Rockets at Lakers (10:30 p.m. Fri., TNT)
Heat at Knicks (1 p.m. Sun., NBC)
Jazz at Lakers (3:30 p.m. Sun., NBC)

Hockey:
Avalanche at Red Wings (7:30 p.m. Fri., ESPN)
Avalanche at Stars (3 p.m. Sun., Fox)
Sabres at Capitols (8 p.m. Sun., ESPN)

T A L K

Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) Mel Gibson, Rebecca DeMornay
David Letterman (CBS) TBA
Jay Leno (NBC) Jerry Springer, Brandy, Steve Martin's Performing Birds
Charlie Rose (PBS) Editor Jonathan Galassi
Politically Incorrect (ABC) Melissa Gilbert, Snoop Dogg
Conan O'Brien (NBC) Pamela Anderson, Ricky Skaggs
SALON | Feb. 5, 1999

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Blue Glow for Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999