Posted on: Saturday, August 25, 2001

Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE: "Touched By an Angel," 7 p.m., CBS. After prospering for years on Sundays, "Touched" is returning to Saturday nights. "It (is) like going back home," said producer Martha Williamson. The show spent part of its first season on Saturday nights. The reason for the switch? The strong "Touched" ratings had started to drop. Meanwhile, the show delivered older viewers, which limited CBS' choice of Sunday movies. To get us used to the new change, CBS has reruns on both nights this weekend. The new season will add Valerie Bertinelli as a novice angel, aiming for a fresh audience.

"I think you've got different people on Saturday nights," Williamson said. "I once ... was a lonely single woman who spent a lot of Saturday nights at home watching 'Love Boat."'

Bertinelli adds a footnote: "You don't have to be single to sit at home and watch TV on Saturday night. Ed and I do a lot of that," she said. That's her husband, rock 'n' roll guitarist Eddie Van Halen, now battling cancer.

"The Long Kiss Goodnight" (1996), 7 p.m., ABC. Don't you hate it when there's some nagging detail you can't remember? Geena Davis plays an ordinary mom, wife and teacher, who can't remember why people want to kill her. When she starts to recall, there are lots of chase scenes from director Renny Harlin ("Cliffhanger"), who was then Davis' real-life husband.