Tube Notes
By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service
MUST-SEE: "You Don't Know Jack," 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., ABC; "Primetime Glick," 7:30 p.m., Comedy Central. By happy coincidence, two shows debut with similar notions — well-known actors step into alternate personas to play inept TV hosts. On "Jack" Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman) becomes Troy Stevens, who runs a game show where real contestants vie for a $50,000 prize. It is poorly constructed with clumsy questions, but Reubens keeps it fun. Then comedian Martin Short becomes Jiminy Glick for Comedy Central. He's a talk-show host who interviews real stars. Steve Martin and Bill Maher are on tonight, Jerry Seinfeld and Dennis Miller are on next week — sort of being themselves. They wing it with a host who sometimes breaks them up. Short adds a vacant-headed bandleader (Michael McKean) and fake commercials. The real joy, however, is seeing an exaggeration of every inept host in TV history. Both characters are self-centered and shallow — fine satires of decades of TV. Both are injected into real (or almost-real) shows.
"Teen Choice Presents: Teenapalooza," 7 p.m., FOX. Here is a summer concert with Sisqo, Shaggy, Dream, S Club 7, Lil' Bow Wow and more.
"Who's Dancin' Now?" 8 p.m., PBS. Back in 1983 an Oscar-winning documentary ("He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin' Now"), followed ballet star Jacques d'Amboise's efforts to bring dance to New York school kids. The same filmmaker revisits those same kids. They range from a science writer (and standup comedian) in Maryland to an isolated American Indian community in New Mexico.
"Night Ride Home" (1999), 8 p.m., CBS. Rebecca De Mornay gives a subtle and moving performance in this "Hallmark Hall of Fame" rerun. She plays a young mother battered by tragedy.
"The West Wing," 8 p.m., NBC. Stories in this rerun range from presidential library plans to World Trade Organization protesters. Meanwhile, C.J. meets mapmakers who want global maps to be more respectful of Third World nations.
"Law and Order," 9 p.m., NBC. A prison murder case gets complicated. Guest-starring as a judge is Donna Hanover — the actress-anchorwoman who is better known as the estranged wife of New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
