Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

MUST-SEE: "ALMA Awards," 7 p.m., ABC. To be specific, the MUST see part is the first five minutes. Its a truly sensational opening number. Billed as a tribute to the late Tito Puente, it includes powerhouse singing and strutting by Olga Tanon and sensational wailing by trumpeter Arturo Sandoval. There's more, including a percussion crew that has Sheila E, her father and her brothers. This is an explosion of Latin sounds. Afterward, the show settles for being pleasant. There are lots of American Latino Media Arts (ALMA) awards to hand out. That includes a career one to Bill Melendez, director of the wondrous "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Melendez, born 84 years ago in Mexico, tells the audience he's been working in show business for 63 years. "I've never known a day when I didn't want to go to work." Things really come alive when the Latino singers take over. From Luis Enrique to Nydia Rojas, they offer passionate performances.

"L.A. Confidential" (1997), 8-11 p.m., TNT. Here's a fresh chance to see this terrific, Academy Award winning movie. Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe and Kim Basinger star in a stylish look at murder and more in 1950s Los Angeles.

"History or Hollywood," 6 p.m., History Channel. A week after the opening of the mega-movie "Pearl Harbor," this hour asks how it matches or misses reality.

"Law and Order: Special Victims Unit," 9 p.m., NBC. This hour introduced Stephanie March as an assistant district attorney and Ice-T as a cop.