by Clif Garboden

THURSDAY

4:00 (25) Baseball. The Cleveland Indians versus the Seattle Mariners in game #2 of their American League playoff series.

7:30 (2) Basic Black: Payback: Slavery Reparations. The controversial issue is whether modern America should compensate the descendants of slaves for their forced labor. We’re not touching this one, but less cowardly (and here for the panel) are Harvard’s Charles Ogletree, BU economist Glenn Loury, and freethinker Stanley Crouch. Plus host Darren Duarte. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (2) Local News: To Work a Miracle. The start of a five-part documentary taking us behind the scenes at WCNE-TV, the NBC affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina, to watch the people there revamp their news department in order to up their ratings and improve their journalism. Yes, of course, we viewers know these are mutually exclusive agendas, but let them dream. To be repeated on Sunday at 6 p.m. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (25) Baseball. The Oakland Athletics versus the New York Yankees in game #2 of their American League playoff series.

9:00 (2) Frontline: Looking for Answers. This last-minute substitution on the Frontline schedule asks why the FBI and the CIA had no inkling that terrorists were plotting to fly planes into the World Trade Center. Bill Moyers anchors this look at our failure to understand the relationship between our support of Israel and our alliances with strong-arm Middle East oil nations and the rise of US-hating Islamic fundamentalism. (Until 10 p.m.)

FRIDAY

4:00 (25) Baseball. The Houston Astros versus the Atlanta Braves in game #3 of their National League playoff series.

8:00 (44) Antiques Roadshow: Boston, part two. Another preview of a three-part AR visit from the upcoming season. (Until 9 p.m.)

10:00 (2) Life 360: Food. We still haven’t gotten a proper description of this show — just word that Nightline correspondent Michel Martin will host " America’s most talented storytellers " to " explore " an " intriguing theme. " We are so sick of complaining about Channel 2’s failure to provide proper info on shows, and we’re sure you’re sick of hearing us bitch, so from now on we’re going to ignore what they won’t explain. Life’s too short . . . (Until 11 p.m.)

10:00 (44) Austin City Limits. Featuring music from Bruce Hornsby and Eric Johnson. (Until 11 p.m.)

SATURDAY

4:00 (25) Baseball? The Cleveland Indians versus the Seattle Mariners in game #3 of their American League playoff series. (This may air on the Fox Family Channel.)

7:30 (25) Baseball. The Oakland Athletics versus the New York Yankees in game #3 of their American League playoff series.

8:00 (5) From Russia, with Love (movie). For our money, this is the best of the entire Bond series — which makes sense since it’s derived (reasonably faithfully, if you excuse the introduction of SPECTRE, which played no part in the novel) from one of Ian Fleming’s richest texts. Whereas subsequent Bond flicks became progressively overblown, this is put together like a real movie. Daniela Bianchi plays Bond girl Tatiana Romanova. (Bianchi went on to a career in Euro films and TV; who can forget her tour de force performance in 1966’s Zarabanda Bing Bing?) Lotte Lenya plays the most memorable Bond adversary, the elderly-but-wiry Rosa Klebb. Bernard Lee sits in as M; Moneypenny’s seat is held by recidivist Bond extra Lois Maxwell. (Until 11 p.m.)

SUNDAY

10:00 a.m. (44) Frontline: Drug Wars, part two. A look at coke on the streets of America and the role of Mexico in facilitating the supply to fill that demand. (Until noon.)

Noon (2) New York: A Documentary Film: The City and the World (1945–present). Repeated from last week. The concluding edition of Ric Burns’s NYC epic covers post-war turmoil through the urban decay of the 1970s to the revived world-class city (albeit with a somewhat repressive backdrop) of the end of the century. (Until 2:30 p.m.)

1:00 (4) Football. The Pats versus the Doug Flutie–led San Diego Chargers, followed by the Miami Dolphins versus the New York Jets.

1:00 (25) Football. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers versus the Tennessee Titans.

2:00 (5) A Skating Tribute. A tribute to the 1961 US Figure Skating Team, whose members died in a Brussels plane crash on their way to Worlds 40 years ago. (Until 4 p.m.)

2:30 (2) Buena Vista Social Club. Filmmaker Wim Wenders’s documentary coverage of Ry Cooder’s 1996 trip to Cuba, where he jams with elderly Havana hipsters in an explosion of traditional Cuban/urban pop/jazz. Intriguing once, but a little long to hold up to repeat viewings. Very cool music throughout. This Oscar-nominated movie was responsible for focusing a global spotlight on vocalist/bandleader Ibrahim Ferrer and other Cuban talents who otherwise would have perished in politically imposed obscurity. See Austin City Limits at 4:30 p.m. (Until 4:30 p.m.)

4:30 (2) Austin City Limits. Featuring music from Ibrahim Ferrer. (Until 5:30 p.m.)

4:30 (25) Baseball? The Oakland Athletics versus the New York Yankees in game #4 of their American League playoff series, if necessary.

5:30 (2) La Plaza: Mango Blue. The full spectrum of Latin music presented by an all-star multi-national band. (Until 6 p.m.)

6:00 (2) Local News: To Work a Miracle. Repeated from Thursday at 8 p.m.

7:00 (5) The Emperor’s New Groove (movie). A 2000 animated Disney film about an emperor (presumably from Peru or someplace) who’s turned into a llama and has to enlist a llama herder in a plot to regain the throne and relocate a proposed water park (honest). Voiced by David Spade, John Goodman, and Eartha Kitt. (Until 9 p.m.)

7:30 (25) Baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals versus the Arizona Diamondbacks in game #5 of their National League playoff series, if necessary.

8:00 (44) Out of the Past (movie). A 1947 noir with Robert Mitchum playing a " reformed " crook drawn back into a life of crime by his old boss and his girlfriend. Co-starring Kirk Douglas and Jane Greer. (Until 9:40 p.m.)

9:00 (2) The American Experience: Houdini. The great escape artist’s bio, covering the early stunts of this Hungarian immigrant (a 1912 emergence from submergence in New York’s East River) through his peculiar and much ballyhooed career of being buried alive and such. Mandy Patinkin narrates. (Until 10 p.m.)

9:00 (4) Surviving Gilligan’s Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three-Hour Cruise in History. The title says it all . . . or enough, anyway. Someday, the public will cease to be fascinated with shows like this. But a lot of people have to die first. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:40 (44) The Asphalt Jungle (movie). John Huston’s 1950 adaptation of a W.R. Burnett novel that traces the evolution of a crime. Starring Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, and Sam " Gunga " Jaffe. (Until 11:25 p.m.)

10:00 (2) American Masters: F. Scott Fitzgerald: Winter Dreams. The life and times of Zelda’s husband, who managed to define and survive the Jazz Age — though how much sense his novels make to today’s high-school students is open to debate. To be repeated tonight at 1 and 3 a.m. on Channel 44. (Until 11:30 p.m.)

11:25 (44) Indie Select: Split Decision. A documentary on the plight of world-champ boxing contender Jesús Chávez, whose career was disrupted when he was deported to Mexico. (Until 12:30 p.m.)

11:30 (2) Greater Boston Arts. A sixth-season kickoff show featuring segments on MIT Media Lab director Tod Machover’s techie-music projects and the experimental 17-piece Boston Jazz Repertory Orchestra (which covers everything from Ellington to Sun Ra), plus a classical Indian dance (lots of stomping) lesson from Boston teacher Neena Gulati. (Until midnight.)

1:00 and 3:00 a.m. (44) American Masters: F. Scott Fitzgerald: Winter Dreams. Repeated from this evening at 10 p.m.

MONDAY

4:00 (25) Baseball? The Cleveland Indians versus the Seattle Mariners in game #5 of their American League playoff series, if necessary.

8:00 (25) Baseball? The Oakland Athletics versus the New York Yankees in game #5 of their American League playoff series, if necessary.

8:00 (44) Frontline: Give War a Chance. Peter J. Boyer looks at the big difference between military and civilian attitudes about sending in the troops. Note: given the recent popular equation of the American flag with killing Islamic civilians, some of this could have changed since the show was filmed. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Masterpiece Theatre’s American Collection: The Ponder Heart. Eudora Welty’s comic yarn about the fortune and misfortunes of wealthy Mississippian Daniel Ponder (played by Ally McBeal’s Peter MacNicol), whose father tries to have him declared nuts because he’s always giving away the family’s holdings. All this gets tangled up in the generous son’s love for and trial marriage to a hick bombshell named Bonnie Dee Peacock (played by Girl, Interrupted’s Janet Webber, Angela Bettis) who is eventually murdered. With Brent Spiner, Jennifer Lewis, and Boyce Holleman. Directed by Martha Coolidge. To be repeated tonight at 1 and 4 a.m. on Channel 44, and on Tuesday at 1 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (5) Football. The Washington Redskins versus the Dallas Cowboys.

1:00 and 4:00 a.m. (44) Masterpiece Theatre’s American Collection: The Ponder Heart. Repeated from this evening at 9 p.m.

TUESDAY

8:00 (2) Nova: Deadly Shadow of Vesuvius. Pompeii saw its last days in AD 79, and the 4200-foot volcano that buried it in ash and lava has been treated as a tourist attraction ever since. Now, scientific data suggests that the dominant geological feature of the Bay of Naples skyline may be rumbling anew. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (44) Legendary Ligthouses: The Legendary Lighthouses of Alaska and The Legendary Lighthouses of Hawaii. We hardly share the obsession of whatever subculture worships lighthouses, but these shows can be unexpectedly entertaining. This pair looks at beacons along the coasts of our most recent states. (Until 10 p.m.)

10:00 (44) Scientific American Frontiers: Pet Tech. Host Alan Alda revs up this series’s 12th season with a look at family-pet technology — artificial canine noses, high-tech toys for parrots, Web sites for dogs, etc. (Until 11 p.m.)

1:00 a.m. (2) Masterpiece Theatre’s American Collection: The Ponder Heart. Repeated from Monday at 9 p.m.

WEDNESDAY

8:00 (2) Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain. Both installments of a two-part documentary about England’s plight in 1940. Familiar historic ground — Churchill’s election, the occupation of France, the evacuation of Dunkirk, and the air fight between the Luftwaffe and the RAF over southern England. (Until midnight.)

8:00 (44) Pearl Jam: Touring Band. Concert footage from various US cities capturing the legendary excitement of the band’s live act. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (44) Indie Select: Pain and Parking in LA. A film about the frustrations of urban life — albeit in one of the least typical cities on earth. (Until 10 p.m.)

10:00 (44) Mark Russell Comedy Special. He’s not smart. He’s not original. He’s not clever. He’s not funny. Actually, he’s kind of a menace. But he won’t go away. To be repeated tonight at 1 and 4 a.m. (Until 10:30 p.m.)

THURSDAY

7:30 (2) Basic Black: Baseball. Exploring the cultural and social aspects of the game; plus a look back at the Negro Leagues. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (2) Local News: Change and Consequences. In which the media-outlet subject of this documentary series — WCNE-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina — is given a facelift by broadcasting mega-force A.H. Belo. Everybody gets a new haircut and we all learn to pander? Or worse? Or better? (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (44) Antiques Roadshow UK: Eastnor Castle. Hey, anybody can find valuable antiques in a castle. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:30 (7) Inside Schwartz. In case you haven’t seen it, this show really sucks. The only likable character is Miriam Shor’s Julie — but you end up hating her for knowing the rest of the cast. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Frontline: The Most Dangerous Place in the World. Unintended irony of the title aside, it’s a little difficult to believe the State Department experts who suggest that the independence of Taiwan is the issue most likely to draw the US into war. Timed to correspond to Mr. Bush’s visit to Shanghai. At this point in time, we suspect it’s said " president’s " unholy allegiance to America’s flag-toting bloodthirsty racists that’s most likely to drag us into a war. For cooler heads to prevail, they’d have to outnumber the ignorant clods who’ve let the GOP convince them that a right-wing/big-business administration operating in secret equals " small government. " All of which is bad enough when it just makes the rich richer and denies opportunities to the poor. Now that we have to defeat the clear and present danger of global terrorism, pandering to the Republicans’ dumb-ass constituency (thank you, Jerry Falwell; you’re sure one sick bastard) could force us into armed conflict with some enemy of convenience. That G.W. Bush scored a 90-some-percent approval rating last month is a truly frightening thing, mitigated only by the thought that people are so scared, they’d get behind Daffy Duck if he stepped up to the plate. Stay tuned — but our money says that the Taiwan squabble is likely to be back-burnered for a few months and the " most dangerous place on earth " could turn out to be south Florida. (Until 10 p.m.)

Issue Date: October 11 - 18, 2001