Tube Notes
By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service
• TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE (Network TV): "ABC Monday Night Football," 6:30 p.m. ABC. Now things are for real. The pre-season is gone and the games count. That starts with the New York Giants vs. the Denver Broncos. It is the second year for the controversial ABC combination of Al Michaels, Dan Fouts and Dennis Miller, with Eric Dickerson and Melissa Stark on the sidelines.
• TONIGHT'S SHOULD-SEE (cable): "Just Ask My Children," 9-11 p.m., Lifetime. The first wave of revulsion swept across the United States in the early 1980s when parents and day-care centers, we were told, were committing sexual abuse against kids. The next wave is just as horrifying. In a rush to judgment, courts have let shortcuts and bad science derail human rights.
This movie presents what it views as a worst-case scenario: An ordinary couple (skillfully underplayed by Virginia Madsen and Jeffrey Nording) had merely agreed to be character witnesses for two friends; suddenly, the accusations widened to include them. The nightmare put them in prison (he was incarcerated near Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan) for 12 years. The result is a jolting reminder of what can happen when we take legal shortcuts.
"King of Queens," 7 p.m., CBS. Here is the second half of a two-part rerun, as Doug and Carrie prepare for their first baby. It's a well-made and sometimes moving episode.
"Ally McBeal," 8 p.m., FOX. In a rerun, Ally represents a lovelorn teen-ager (played by gifted singer Josh Groban).
"The Parkers" (9 p.m.) and "Girlfriends" (9:30 p.m.); both UPN, seen on KFVE. Two comedies start their seasons a week ahead of the competition. In "The Parkers," Professor Oglevee (Dorien Wilson) ponders his therapist's suggestion that he loves Nikki (Mo'Nique). In "Girlfriends," Joan (Tracee Ellis Ross) tries to make up with her friend, Toni (Jill Marie Jones).
"Moments of Truth With Stephen Ambrose," 6 p.m. analog, 7 p.m. digital, History Channel. Ambrose is the author whose book propelled HBO's new "Band of Brothers" miniseries, about a World War II unit. Now he looks at pivotal moments from the decision not to bomb the "Leaning Tower of Pisa," to the bombing of Hiroshima.
"Valley of the T-Rex," 10 p.m., Discovery Channel. Maybe all those experts got it wrong, paleontologist Jack Horner says here. Maybe the tyrannosaurus rex wasn't a killing machine; its feeble front legs indicate an animal that couldn't move fast or wreak much damage.
