Posted on: Wednesday, July 18, 2001

Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE (CABLE): "BLAZING SADDLES" (1974), Fox Family Channel, 5 p.m., or "A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN" (1992), TNT; 8 p.m. These two have nothing in common except that they are comedies by top filmmakers. "Blazing Saddles" goes only for the laughs. It's Mel Brooks' wild takeoff on cowboy films. "A League of Their Own" skillfully juggles comedy and drama, while portraying a women's professional baseball league in the 1940s.

TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE (NETWORK TV): "THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE FIRST CENTURY," 8-10 p.m., PBS; concludes July 25. Julius Caesar had the battlefield and bedroom glory, but the producers of this series say the real empire began after his death. That's when Caesar Augustus shaped a sprawling dynasty. He was a flawed man, but he was better than some of his successors. In particular Caligula, who nudged Rome toward its moral nadir. This is an epic story filled with the usual re-creations of thundering armies.

"MURDER AT 75 BIRCH" (1999), 8 p.m., CBS. Melissa Gilbert stars as someone who's convinced that her brother-in-law is a killer.

"HYSTERIA: THE DEF LEPPARD STORY," 3 p.m., VH1. Anthony Michael Hall stars in a new movie about the British rock group.