Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE: "Black River," 7 p.m., Fox. Give Fox credit for offering us a new movie in the summertime. This one is from a story by Dean Koontz, whose "Sole Survivor" just reran on Fox. Now we get another tale about a writer — a regular guy writer — in a strange circumstance. Jay Mohr plays someone who thinks he's in a sweet little town. Then he starts to wonder if he's a prisoner there.

TONIGHT'S MIGHT-SEE: "Avalon" (1990), 6 p.m., A&E. Director Barry Levinson visited his Baltimore boyhood for this richly layered look at a family. From the view of a boy (the terrific Elijah Wood), we see three generations. We go from soulful immigrant (Armin Mueller-Stahl) to emerging yuppie (Aidan Quinn). All of this is set against the backdrop of television's emergence. Many small stories add up to a portrait of evolving America.

"Providence," 7 p.m., NBC. Joanie tries yet again to marry. The result, again, is hectic.

"Desperate Measures" (1998), 8 p.m., TNT. This is just your standard story about a convicted killer who contrives a scheme to escape by volunteering to donate bone marrow to a cop's son.

"Copperfield: The Great Escapes," 8 p.m., CBS. David Copperfield is a skilled stage magician, but he still gets most attention from the gimmicky escapes. This rerun packages many of them, from Niagara Falls to an overwrought escape from Alcatraz.

"Law and Order: Special Victims Unit," 9 p.m., NBC. A tangled case develops after a cop's wife accuses her husband of raping her.

"Melissa Etheridge: Live and Alone," 4 p.m., VH1. The "Live and Alone" title will be used for a mini-tour this summer. Without flashes and frills, Etheridge — a superb singer-songwriter — will perform. This hour offers a sampling.