Tube Notes
By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service
Tonight's Must-See
"Taken," 7 p.m., Sci Fi Channel. This show's best characters collide tonight in a powerful episode setting up Friday's finale. Lisa (Emily Bergl) is the daughter of a half-alien. Charlie (Adam Kaufman) is the grandson of a pilot who was abducted by aliens. Their daughter, Allie (Dakota Fanning), has immense powers. Allie has been captured by a general who wants to lure an alien space ship. His plan may be working: A ship seems to have arrived and has snatched Allie. Now everyone's searching for her — soldiers, her parents and Mary Crawford (Heather Donahue), the hard-eyed granddaughter of an unrelenting alien-hunter. Parts of this episode are too long, but the payoff is huge. Bergl, Fanning, Kaufman and Donahue do a great job in well-written roles. This is fanciful science fiction with solid characters. That's a rare and pleasant combination.
Of Note
"Drop Dead Gorgeous" (1999), 7 p.m., Fox. Here's a clever little movie, satirizing small-town beauty pageants. The teens — played by Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards and Brittany Murphy — are well cast, but the focus is often on grown-ups, including Kirstie Alley and Allison Janney. The result is inconsistent but fun.
"Survivor: Thailand," 7 p.m., CBS. The end is near with the field being trimmed down tonight to four.
"Friends," 7 p.m., NBC. Facing Christmas alone, Chandler makes a drastic career decision.
"Motown Christmas," 8 p.m., USA Network. Stevie Wonder, Destiny's Child and others perform with D.L. Hughley as host.
"Will & Grace," 8 p.m., NBC. Will is grumpy on Christmas Eve, especially with Grace not letting him party with Jack and Karen.
"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," 8 p.m., CBS. A man was thrown from the top of a six-story building but that might not be what killed him.
"ER," 9 p.m., NBC. In recent weeks, Kovac (Goran Visnjic) has undergone a change. He was a serious, sturdy type, hardened by the tragedy of seeing his wife and children killed by a bomb. Lately, he has become something of a reckless womanizer. As tonight's episode begins, he has been in a serious car accident along with the young Dr. Harkins (Leslie Bibb). From there the hour unfolds backwards to show what happened.
