Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

Tonight's Must-See

"Good Will Hunting" (1997), 7 p.m., ABC. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote a smart, sharp script about colliding cultures. The setting is MIT, filled with math geniuses. One of the janitors there is Will Hunting (Damon). He's a South Boston kid, tough and combative. He's also a math genius, something he's wary about. Soon, Will has an upscale girlfriend (Minnie Driver), a psychologist (Robin Williams) and his old friends (including Affleck). He straddles both worlds. Brilliantly directed by Gus Van Sant ("To Die For," "Finding Forrester"), "Good Will Hunting" has brains and brawn. It won two Oscars — for the script and for Williams in support — and might have deserved more.

Of Note

Basketball, 8 a.m. to about 5 p.m., CBS. The second round of the NCAA tournament begins with 32 teams left. By Sunday evening that will be down to the Sweet 16.

"Blood Simple" (1984), 6 & 10 p.m., Bravo. Long before triumphing with "Fargo," Joel and Ethan Coen made this taut thriller. John Getz stars in the story of a vengeful husband.

"The Godfather" (1972), 6 p.m., and "The Godfather, Part II" (1974), 9:35 p.m., AMC. On the eve of the Academy Awards, we're reminded what an Oscar-winning classic can be like. Both Francis Ford Coppola films won the top prize, as best picture; both deserved it. Al Pacino stars as a young man reluctantly entering the family crime business. His dad is played by both Marlon Brando (in the first film) and Robert De Niro (via flashbacks in the sequel).

"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," 9 p.m., NBC. David Keith guests in this rerun. He plays a bitter cop working with Stabler to track a parolee who may be on a new crime spree.

All programming is subject to pre-emption for coverage of the war in Iraq.