Blue Glow

Salon's TV picks for Wednesday, July 7, 1999

Published July 7, 1999 4:00PM (EDT)

Series

On a rerun of Dawson's Creek (8 p.m., WB), Dawson is crushed when his film teacher (Madchen Amick) gives his movie a big thumbs down. Investigative Reports (9 p.m. EDT/ 10 PDT, A&E) premieres "Boy Crazy: The Mary Kay Letourneau Story." Letourneau is the Seattle-area schoolteacher and mother of four who made headlines when she was arrested (and later convicted) for the statuatory rape of a 13-year-old boy, with whom she eventually had two children. "Boy Crazy" plays up the tabloid elements of the case, with Letourneau and her young lover both shown on camera proclaiming their love for one another, Letourneau's former husband and mother-in-law exhibiting still-raw anger and the female cop who arrested Letourneau insisting that it's a clear case of child sexual abuse. But the documentary only scratches the surface of the most interesting (and under-reported) aspect of the case: Letourneau's father, ultra-conservative, family values-pushing politician John Schmitz, himself fathered two children out of wedlock with one of his students. Still, "Boy Crazy" is hypnotic, because the Letourneau case remains so creepily attractive and repellant. On a rerun of The Sopranos (9 p.m., HBO), Tony takes Meadow on a tour of Maine college campuses, during which he spots a former associate who ratted to the feds and went into witness protection. Can Tony successfully juggle the demands of fatherhood and work? A great episode. Placido Domingo sings the title role in the Great Performances (check local times, PBS) presentation of "Parsifal," Richard Wagner's opera about the search for the Holy Grail. The performance is interspersed with Domingo's commentary and clips from Holy Grail-themed movies, including Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" and, yes, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

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Specials

The Clint Eastwood-directed 1993 drama A Perfect World (8 p.m., CBS) has its network premiere. Kevin Costner plays an escaped convict who kidnaps and bonds with an abused child. Eastwood co-stars as the sheriff on their trail.

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Sports

Baseball:

Yankees at Tigers (7:30 p.m., ESPN)

Astros at Diamondbacks (10:30 p.m., ESPN)

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Talk

Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) Treat Williams, Lucy Liu (rerun)

David Letterman (CBS) Wimbledon champ Lindsay Davenport, Oliver Platt, Jeff Ross

Jay Leno (NBC) Bridget Fonda, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless

Charlie Rose (PBS) Bette Midler (rerun)

Politically Incorrect (ABC) Joan Rivers, Mercedes Ruehl (rerun)

Conan O'Brien (NBC) Dan Rather, Tom Petty


By Joyce Millman

Joyce Millman is a writer living in the Bay Area.

MORE FROM Joyce Millman


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