Blue Glow

Salon's TV picks for Weekend, Aug. 13-15, 1999

Published August 13, 1999 4:00PM (EDT)

Series

Dateline NBC (9 p.m. Fri., NBC) has a report on a teenager who had half her brain removed to cure a degenerative neurological disease. Homicide (10 p.m. Fri., NBC) concludes a rerun of the two-parter in which a teen couple is accused of murdering their newborn. The new series Independent Lens (check local times, Sat., PBS) begins with John Whitehead's "Wannabe," a documentary about teen gangstas in a small Wisconsin town. On a rerun of The Simpsons (8 p.m. Sun., Fox), Burns has competition from a new billionaire in town. Sex and the City (9 p.m. Sun., HBO) finds Carrie feeling a little too relaxed at Big's apartment. The X-Files (9 p.m. Sun., Fox) reruns the February sweeps two-parter in which the Syndicate-aliens-bounty hunters triangle is explained and Cancer Man forfeits any chance of being named father of the year. The cable series Any Day Now (10 p.m. Sun., Lifetime) begins a new season. Annie Potts and Lorraine Toussaint star in this drama about a lifelong interracial friendship in the South.

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Specials

You have ample opportunity to celebrate Alfred Hitchcock's centennial this weekend. The Master's droll, morbid wit is on display in an Alfred Hitchcock Presents Marathon (beginning midnight Fri., TV Land), 24 hours of episodes from the classic anthology series. The Birds, Marnie, Suspicion and Dial M for Murder air in one day-long chunk (beginning 9 a.m. Fri., Turner Classic Movies). And there's a day-long Hitchfest on American Movie Classics that includes Mr. and Mrs. Smith (3:30 p.m. Fri., AMC), Jamaica Inn (6 p.m. Fri.), Stage Fright (8 p.m. Fri.) and The Wrong Man (11 p.m. Fri.). The new cable movie First Daughter (8 p.m. Sun., TBS) stars Monica Keena (the late Abby Morgan of "Dawson's Creek") as the bratty spawn of the POTUS; after she's kidnapped by terrorists while on a camping trip, it's up to Secret Service agent Mariel Hemingway and wilderness guide Doug Savant to save her. William Hurt, Nigel Hawthorne and Miranda Richardson star in the new cable movie The Big Brass Ring (8 p.m. Sun., Showtime), an adaptation of a weird, latter-day Orson Welles script about a politician (Hurt) with enough spicy skeletons in the closet to fill a whole season of "Melrose Place." Sir David, meet Sir Elton: One on One with David Frost (8 p.m. Sun., A&E) offers up a two-hour conversation with Elton John. Sweetwater (9 p.m. Sun., VH1), the music channel's first original TV movie, charts the rise and fall of '60s band Sweetwater, who played the opening set at Woodstock and became an instant episode of "Where Are They Now?" Amy Jo Johnson ("Felicity") sparkles as the band's lead singer, but the movie is, overall, a by-the-numbers biopic.

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Sports

Baseball:

Braves at Dodgers (10:05 p.m. Fri., Sat., TBS)

Rangers at White Sox (7 p.m. Sat., FX)

Orioles at Indians (8 p.m. Sun., ESPN)

Exhibition football:

Giants at Vikings (8:15 p.m. Fri., ESPN)

Jets at Packers (8 p.m. Sat., CBS)

Cowboys at Raiders (6:30 p.m. Sun., CBS)

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Talk

Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) David Blaine (rerun)

David Letterman (CBS) Helen Mirren, Tori Amos, Shaquille O'Neal

Jay Leno (NBC) Kim Delaney, Missy Elliott

Politically Incorrect (ABC) Kim Smith, musician Irish

Conan O'Brien (NBC) Jarod Miller, Buckcherry


By Joyce Millman

Joyce Millman is a writer living in the Bay Area.

MORE FROM Joyce Millman


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