Blue Glow

Salon's TV picks for Weekend, Oct. 1-3, 1999

Published October 1, 1999 4:00PM (EDT)

Series

On Now and Again (9 p.m. Fri., CBS), the rebuilt Michael escapes from the government facility and tries to contact his wife. Does that make any sense? Watch the show. Dateline NBC (9 p.m. Fri., NBC) devotes the whole show to real-life heart-transplant dramas. Sessions at West 54th (check local listings, PBS) begins a new season this weekend with a new host, John Hiatt. Ruben Blades performs. (The show airs on Fridays in some PBS markets and Saturdays in others.) Lindsay tries to impress her new freaky friends by throwing a beer blast when her parents are away on Freaks and Geeks (8 p.m. Sat., NBC). Jerry Seinfeld hosts the season opener of Saturday Night Live (11:30 p.m. Sat., NBC), with music from David Bowie. Cotton puts the injured Peggy through physical therapy hell on King of the Hill (7:30 p.m. Sun., Fox). Bart is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder and given behavior-altering medication on The Simpsons (8 p.m. Sun., Fox). Mark McGwire has a cameo. On Futurama (8:30 p.m. Sun., Fox), Fry goes to college, where he rooms with a talking monkey. Sex and the City (9 p.m. Sun., HBO) wraps up its season with Carrie learning some shocking news about Big and his new girlfriend. Masterpiece Theatre (check local times Sun., PBS) opens season 29 with "A Rather English Marriage," starring Albert Finney and Tom Courteney as lonely widowers from different classes who become unlikely roommates. On The Practice (10 p.m. Sun., ABC), Jimmy wonders if he should risk disbarment and spill the beans about the dentist (guest Henry Winkler).

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Specials

The two-hour documentary The Secret Life of Geisha (8 p.m. EDT/ 9 PDT Sun., A&E) goes inside the world of the geisha and chronicles the role these women played in Japanese society throughout history. Animal Farm (8 p.m. Sun., TNT), George Orwell's classic novel about how power corrupts, comes to life in a "Babe"-esque
TV movie populated by talking animals. Jim Henson's Creature Shop designed the special effects; Pete Postlethwaite heads the human cast, with Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Peter Ustinov and Julia Ormond among those providing the voices of the animals. When animals behave like people, people behave like animals: the new TV movie Road Rage (9 p.m. Sun., NBC) stars Yasmine Bleeth as a woman terrorized by a driver (Jere Burns) sorely lacking in anger management skills. Mia Farrow plays a woman diagnosed with Alzheimer's at an early age in the new TV movie Forget Me Never (9 p.m. Sun., CBS). Martin Sheen plays her uncommunicative husband; Colm Feore is the fellow patient with whom she bonds.

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Sports

Baseball:

Marlins at Braves (7:35 p.m. Fri., TBS)

Football:

Jaguars at Steelers, Ravens at Falcons, Patriots at Browns (1 p.m. Sun., CBS)

Cardinals at Cowboys, Saints at Bears, Eagles at Giants, Rams at Bengals, Buccaneers at Vikings (1 p.m. Sun., Fox)

Panthers at Redskins (4 p.m. Sun., Fox)

Jets at Broncos, Chiefs at Chargers, Titans at 49ers (4:15 p.m. Sun., CBS)

Raiders at Seahawks (8:15 p.m. Sun., ESPN)

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Talk

Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) Mia Farrow

David Letterman (CBS) Kelsey Grammer, Rebecca Gayheart

Jay Leno (NBC) Keri Russell, Meredith Brooks with Queen Latifah

Chris Rock (HBO) Rev. Al Sharpton

Politically Incorrect (ABC) Jeri Ryan, Joshua Bell

Conan O'Brien (NBC) Kevin Spacey, Christina Applegate


By Joyce Millman

Joyce Millman is a writer living in the Bay Area.

MORE FROM Joyce Millman


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Seinfeld Sex And The City Television The Simpsons