Blue Glow

Salon's TV picks for Weekend, July 23-25, 1999

Published July 23, 1999 4:00PM (EDT)

Series

On 20/20 (10 p.m. Fri., ABC), Barbara Walters interviews tennis sensation Alexandra Stevenson, whose recent Wimbledon appearance was overshadowed by revelations that she's the illegitimate daughter of basketball great Julius Erving. On the new series Toughman (10 p.m. Fri., FX), amateur boxers pound each other in three one-minute rounds. The new sketch comedy series Random Play (10 p.m. Sat., VH1) is completely devoted to lampooning rock 'n' roll, and most of it is fall-down funny. Populated by former members of "The State" and "The Vacant Lot," "Random Play" speaks to viewers in the language of music videos and '70s sitcoms. There's a great takeoff of "The Odd Couple" starring Liam and Noel Gallagher and a John and Yoko parody that's just short of sacrilegious. In other sketch comedy news, Mad TV (11 p.m. Sat., Fox) reruns its eerily dead-on "Felicity" swipe, "Intensity." On a stellar rerun of King of the Hill (7:30 p.m. Sun., Fox), Bobby pigs out at a buffet for the new minister (voice of Mary Tyler Moore) and in his ensuing bathroom crisis, burns down the church. And on a rerun of The Simpsons (8 p.m. Sun., Fox), Homer and Bart hit the road as long-haul truckers. Evil-fighting dead guy Chandler is mistaken for a serial killer on GvsE (8 p.m. Sun., USA), a very cool show.

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Specials

Woodstock '99 (9 a.m. Fri., pay cable; excerpts begin 3 p.m. Fri., MTV) commences its 30th anniversary concert, with an utterly random lineup (Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, Alanis Morissette, Willie Nelson, Wyclef Jean, Rage Against the Machine, the Brian Setzer Orchestra and Metallica, etc.) that pretty much sums up the meaningless of it all. Gimme an M! Gimme an O! Gimme an N! Gimme an E! Gimme a Y! The TV movie Cube (9 p.m. ET/8 PT, Sat., Sci-Fi Channel) is a thriller about six people who find themselves trapped in a surreal, maze-like chamber. The new cable miniseries Bonanno: A Godfather's Story (8 p.m. Sun., Showtime) chronicles the life of New York mobster Joseph Bonanno, widely believed to have been the inspiration for Don Vito Corleone. Martin Landau plays Bonanno in his later years; Bruce Ramsay plays him as a young man. The TV movie Passion's Way (9 p.m. Sun., CBS), based on Edith Wharton's "The Reef," stars Sela Ward and Timothy Dalton as a couple whose romance is jarred by a revelation of infidelity. Co-starring Alicia Witt.

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Sports

Baseball:

Braves at Phillies (5 p.m. Fri., 7 p.m. Sun., TBS)

Dodgers at Diamondbacks (10 p.m. Sat., FX)

Cubs at Mets (8 p.m. Sun., ESPN)

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Talk

Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) TLC (rerun)

David Letterman (CBS) Chazz Palminteri, Alanis Morissette

Jay Leno (NBC) Kirsten Dunst, Elvis Costello

Charlie Rose (PBS) "Eyes Wide Shut" panel

Dennis Miller (HBO) Dana Carvey

Conan O'Brien (NBC) Janeane Garofalo, Public Enemy


By Joyce Millman

Joyce Millman is a writer living in the Bay Area.

MORE FROM Joyce Millman


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