Blue Glow

Salon's TV picks for
Thursday, May 6, 1999

Published May 6, 1999 4:00PM (EDT)

Series

On Friends (8 p.m., NBC), Gary asks Phoebe to live with him, Rachel buys a cat and Monica's competitiveness turns a game of catch into a marathon ordeal. Mystery! (Check local times, PBS) presents the first of four new Hetty Wainthropp cases, "Poison Pen," in which the housewife-turned-sleuth tries to find the author of some malicious notes. Veronica's Closet (9:30 p.m., NBC) ends its season -- and, if there is a God, its run -- with Alec quitting in jealousy when Ronnie decides to spend a weekend with Justin. Also, the dog dies. Laura Innes, who plays Kerry Weaver, makes her directorial debut on this week's ER (10 p.m., NBC), in which a power failure crashes the hospital's life-saving equipment, leading to multiple crises and, oh yeah, there's a rapist loose in the halls. It's a father and son tag team bout as Bob and Jakob Dylan battle Jerry and Ben Stiller on Celebrity Deathmatch (10 p.m., MTV).

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Specials

Adam Sandler is forced to repeat grade school in the elegant 1995 farce Billy Madison (8 p.m., Fox). The 1996 adaptation of John Grisham's A Time to Kill (8 p.m., ABC) stars Matthew McConaughey as a Mississippi lawyer who runs afoul of the Klan when he defends a poor black man (Samuel L. Jackson) charged with killing the men who raped his daughter. Sandra Bullock and Kevin Spacey co-star.

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Sports

NHL playoffs, conference semifinals:

Sabres at Bruins, Game 1 (7:30 p.m., ESPN)

Blues at Stars, Game 1 (8 p.m., ESPN2)

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Talk

Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) Penny Marshall salute

David Letterman (CBS) Brendan Fraser, Bonnie Raitt

Jay Leno (NBC) Sea World animals, the Dixie Chicks

Charlie Rose (PBS) Freeman Dyson

Politically Incorrect (ABC) Christopher Hitchens, Suzanne Somers

Conan O'Brien (NBC) Reese Witherspoon


By Joyce Millman

Joyce Millman is a writer living in the Bay Area.

MORE FROM Joyce Millman


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Television