blue glow
SALON'S TV PICKS FOR
HOLIDAY WEEKEND, FEB. 12-15, 1999
BY JOYCE MILLMAN

S E R I E S

On Homicide: Life on the Street (10 p.m. Fri., NBC), Ballard is rattled by the death of a bride-to-be who was either murdered or committed suicide the night before the wedding. Brendan Fraser hosts Saturday Night Live (11:30 p.m. Sat., NBC), with music from Busta Rhymes. On a Valentine's Day episode of The Simpsons (8 p.m. Sun., Fox), romantic Apu is making all the other men of Springfield look bad. Elton John has a cameo. The X-Files (9 p.m. Sun., Fox) concludes its pivotal two-parter with a revelation about Mulder's sister. There's also a rumor going around that a series regular is going to be knocked off this week. On The Sopranos (9 p.m. Sun., HBO), Carmela is seeing red over Tony's relationship with Dr. Melfi. Billy is jealous of Ally's romance with Greg, and Richard announces that Ling is joining the firm on Ally McBeal (9 p.m. Mon., Fox). Ray takes his ailing father's place on a weekend cruise with Marie on Everybody Loves Raymond (9 p.m. Mon., CBS).

S P E C I A L S

The 1998 "Wonderful World of Disney" TV musical Cinderella (7 p.m. Sun., ABC) is apparently going to become an annual Valentine's Day TV event. Little girls (and maybe some big ones) won't mind -- the Rodgers and Hammerstein tunes are dreamy, Moesha is adorable in the title role and the costumes are fairy-tale perfect. Black Filmmaker Showcase (7 p.m. Sun., Showtime) spotlights short films by young African-American directors, including Rick Wilkinson's "A Short Wait Between Trains," the winner of a $30,000 grant from the Showtime cable channel. The miniseries To Serve and Protect (9 p.m. Sun., NBC) stars Craig T. Nelson, Richard Crenna and John Corbett as three generations of Dallas cops. Gloria Reuben, who lights up "ER" in her ever-shrinking screen time, has center stage in the new TV movie Deep in My Heart (9 p.m. Sun., CBS). In this based-on-a-true-story weeper, she plays a woman searching for her birth mother (Anne Bancroft), who was the white victim of a black rapist. Stephen King's 'Storm of the Century' (9 p.m. Sun., ABC) -- you may have caught one or two commercials for it -- is a six-hour "novel for television," which is a fancy way of saying "miniseries." There's nothing remotely novel about "Storm"; a mysterious, clairvoyant, E-vil stranger named Andre Linoge shows up on Maine's remote Little Tall Island in the middle of the worst blizzard in history and the locals start acting like they've been (to borrow a phrase from David Letterman) hyp-mo-tized. "Give me what I want and I'll go away," he tells Constable Mike Anderson (Tim Daly), but what does he want? Eighteen hours later (well, it feels like 18 hours), Mike figures it out, although we could see it coming in the first two. This is a plodding cross between "The Shining" and Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," with some of the most dubious Maine accents you'll ever hear, a dorky special effect concerning a wolf-headed walking stick and a truly annoying performance by Colm Feore as the smirky Mr. Linoge. Oh, for cryin' out loud, give him what he wants already and get this the hell over with! Nicholas Barker's documentary Unmade Beds (Midnight, Sun., Cinemax) is a valentine to some brave New York singles, who bare their souls and lots of other stuff to the camera as they search for Mr. And Ms. Right. On Presidents Day, there's no work and no school but there is a nine-hour True NYPD Blue Marathon (beginning 4 p.m. Mon., FX), featuring series consultant Bill Clark, a former New York City police detective, introducing each episode and reminiscing about the actual cases the stories were based on. The three-part documentary The Clintons (8 p.m. Mon., the Learning Channel) profiles Bill and Hillary and looks back at the highs and lows of their White House years. Lincoln: The Untold Stories (8 p.m. EST/9 PST, Mon., History Channel) is an "In Search of History" special that uses the written accounts of Lincoln's contemporaries to piece together a portrait of the man whose birthday we celebrate on this day (by going out and buying new cars and mattresses). Samuel L. Jackson is the host for the seventh annual ESPY Awards (8 p.m. EST/5 PST., Mon., ESPN), in which viewers' votes determine the greatest athletes and sports moments of 1998.

S P O R T S

Basketball:
Spurs at 76ers (8 p.m. Fri., TNT)
Pacers at Lakers (5:30 p.m. Sun., NBC)
Nets at Heat (8 p.m. Mon., TBS)

Figure skating:
U.S. Championships (8:30 p.m. Fri., ESPN; 4 and 9 p.m. Sat., ABC)

Hockey:
Blackhawks at Maple Leafs (6:30 p.m. Sat., ESPN2)
Mighty Ducks at Coyotes (8 p.m. Sun., ESPN)

T A L K

Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) Friday: Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris; Monday: Nicole Kidman
David Letterman (CBS)Friday: Richard Simmons, Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Sarah O'Hare; Monday: Bette Midler, David Hyde Pierce
Jay Leno (NBC)Friday: Magic Johnson, Collective Soul; Monday: Roseanne
Politically Incorrect (ABC)Friday: Sam Donaldson, Richard Belzer; Monday: Michael McKean, Robert Dornan
Conan O'Brien (NBC) Friday: Bill Maher, Fabio; Monday: Jennifer Love Hewitt (rerun)
SALON | Feb. 12, 1999

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Blue Glow for Thursday, Feb. 11, 1999