Tube Notes
By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service
TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE (TV): "Saturday Night Live: Best of the Game Show Parodies," 9 p.m., NBC. It all started, perhaps, with "Junior College Bowl": Two schools coming dangerously close to missing every question. "SNL" had discovered a mother lode: Quiz shows encased in ignorance will be funny, no matter how often the idea is repeated. There has been "Dysfunctional Family Feud" and endless editions of "Celebrity Jeopardy." Many were assembled into this rerun.
TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE (cable): "Jett Jackson: The Movie," 8 p.m., Disney Channel. In the Disney series, "The Famous Jett Jackson," Jett is a teen TV star whose show is filmed in his hometown. We see him living an ordinary life and we also see pieces of the stylish show in which he plays the heroic Silverstone. Then a freak accident has the two exchange places. Silverstone is in Jett's real world; Jett is in Silverstone's fictional world. Yes, that's a leap. (We said it was a freak accident, didn't we?) This film, however, plays it straight and solid. Silverstone meets real life; Jett meets real danger. The result is a well-made family adventure.
"Walker, Texas Ranger," 7 and 8 p.m., CBS. Two more reruns air back-to-back. The first involves the death of a pro wrestler; the second involves a mysterious statue.
"A Night at the Roxbury" (1998), 7 p.m., NBC. On "Saturday Night Live," Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan play two incessant disco-goers. The sketches were short, wordless and only intermittently amusing. But somehow, they were turned into a movie about disco-wannabes. It airs here, starting a sort of "SNL" marathon.
Hockey, 2 p.m., ABC. The New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche go the distance in their best-of-seven series.
"Carpool" (1996), 8 p.m., ABC. This film has Tom Arnold taking car-poolers hostage.
"As Good as It Gets" (1997), 8 p.m., TNT. Here's a richly detailed romantic comedy involving two mismatched souls. It missed the Academy Award for best picture — "Titanic" was quite big that year — but won acting Oscars for Helen Hunt and Jack Nicholson.
"The District," 9 p.m., CBS. In an intense episode McGregor has a showdown with the terrorists who killed his colleagues.
"Six Feet Under," 8 p.m., HBO. If you missed the opening episode last Sunday, it's time to catch up. This is the start of a beautifully made series about a family that owns a funeral parlor.
"Mad TV," 10:35 p.m., Fox. This rerun is filled with election sketches, including Bill Clinton taking a role on "General Hospital."
