Tube Notes
By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service
MUST-SEE: "Copperfield! Tornado of Fire," 8 p.m., CBS. David Copperfield spends most of his time doing wondrous illusions. He has already taped lots of them for this special. The hour will close, however, with a live segment that he insists is no trick. It's a physical challenge, the kind Harry Houdini did. Tonight's trick goes well beyond Houdini, though. Copperfield plans to stand in the center of a manmade fire and tornado. If all goes well, he'll be untouched by flames that are streaking around him at 140 miles an hour.
"Survivor M.D.," part of PBS' "Nova" series, 9 p.m., PBS (check local listings). Last week, this series started its three-week look at the Harvard Medical School Class of 1991. Tonight, it views three doctors, reminding us that life is rarely fair. One is an opthalmologist with an attractive house, wife and children. Another is a family doctor who worries that, at 38, she has no family, no time and a ticking biological clock. The third has interrupted her career twice – once for grad school and once to run an urban van. Now she works for a corporation and her mother wonders what's next: "There was her majorette phase, her ballerina phase and ..."
"The Fighting Fitzgeralds," 8 p.m., NBC. Wendie Malick ("Just Shoot Me") guests as a therapist who ends up in a session with both Patrick and his imposing father.
"Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood," 8-10 p.m., AMC. This deep and detailed documentary tells how a 2-million quickie evolved into a 42-million, 1963 movie that nearly bankrupt a studio.
"DAG," 8:30 p.m., NBC. The First Lady (Delta Burke) plans an anti-smoking campaign. She does not, alas, plan to quit smoking herself.
"Frasier," 9 p.m., NBC. Two longtime TV stars show up in this rerun. Derek Jacobi ("I, Claudius") plays a Shakespearean actor, slumming on a science-fiction story. Patrick Macnee ("The Avengers") plays his father.
"What About Joan," 9:30 p.m., ABC. Like last week's premiere, this episode has some clever ideas and an overwrought performance by Joan Cusack. Tonight, she doesn't want to talk about sex – except she really wants to know the views of her boyfriend (Kyle Chandler). There are some funny moments, especially when her boyfriend tells her she's not the best lover he has ever had.
"NYPD Blue," 10 p.m., ABC. For eight seasons, James McDaniel has been steady as Lt. Fancy. Tonight, he departs and two people arrive (Denise Crosby and Esai Morales).
