Tube Notes

MUST-SEE: "Saturday Night Live," 10:30 p.m., NBC. Sean Hayes of "Will and Grace" is tonight’s host and Shaggy is the musical guest. More importantly, however, a scaled-down "SNL" didn’t air on Thursday as it has in the past to compete with CBS’ "Survivor." On Feb. 8, "SNL" found 20 hilarious minutes to follow "Friends." By Feb. 10 it was reduced to lame jokes about the quality of Jennifer Lopez’s backside. This week, Thursday’s slot went to bloopers and outtakes from "Friends." Maybe that means more funny stuff for Saturday.

"Biography," 6 p.m., A&E. Next weekend ABC will launch a beautifully made, four-hour miniseries that traces Judy Garland’s life. But first, A&E reruns a terrific documentary about Garland.

College Basketball, 7 p.m., KFVE. Rice at Hawai‘i. (Repeats at 10:30 p.m.)

"Doctor Dolittle" (1998), 7 p.m., ABC. Eddie Murphy stars as a guy who suddenly discovers he can talk to animals.

"Walker, Texas Ranger," 8 p.m., CBS. Walker investigates the murder of an attorney who had been planning to file a police-brutality suit.

"All New Bloopers 4," 9 p.m., ABC. Dick Clark’s guest stars range from "Cedric the Entertainer" to Jack Hanna the zookeeper. The latter may prove again that the world loves errant animals.

"The History of Stock Car Racing," 10 p.m., History Channel. On the eve of the Daytona 500, here’s a sweeping documentary with lots of firsthand accounts. This film is badly written and poorly narrated, but the story itself is fascinating. The races began on rural roads with drivers outrunning federal agents during Prohibition. It evolved into a group that recently signed broadcast deals worth $2.6 billion. It’s a story that even foreshadowed the success of other sports. Before wrestling created fake grudges, stock-car races had real ones. When one TV race ended in a fistfight, ratings climbed. And before golf had Tiger Woods, another handsome young star (Jeff Gordon) re-energized racing.

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