Posted on: Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

Tonight's Must-See

"NYPD Blue," 10 p.m., ABC. In this final season of a masterful show, viewers have worried about Andy's stalker and about Clark's spiral into alcohol and disarray. Tonight, both stories reach key turning points.

Of Local Note

"Honolulu Mayoral Debate," 7 p.m., KITV. A live debate between Mufi Hannemann and Duke Bainum.

Of Note

World Series, 2 p.m., Fox. It is game three of the best-of-seven series, following some of the most amazing play-off games in baseball history.

"Frankenstein," 6 p.m., Hallmark Channel; concludes tomorrow. If you are tired of revisionist versions (including the interesting recent one on the USA Network), catch this one, which is faithful to the novel. Be prepared for a long, slow ride, going all the way back to Victor Frankenstein's childhood. Alec Newman plays Dr. Frankenstein, with Luke Goss as his creation; there are smaller roles for Donald Sutherland, William Hurt and Julie Delpy.

"The 100 Scariest Movie Moments," 6, 9 p.m., Bravo. This hour is surprisingly well made. It has great clips, a balanced set of choices and some clever-but-brief observations by filmmakers and by actors who happen to be horror buffs.

"Father of the Pride," 8 p.m., NBC. Snack's girlfriend has left him. Larry doesn't have the heart to tell him, so he claims that he ate her. Would it help to know Larry is a lion and Snack is a gopher?

"Scrubs," 8:30 p.m., NBC. Molly (Heather Graham) announces she is leaving. That spurs J.D. to make a romantic move toward her.

"Frontline: Rumsfeld's War," 9 p.m., PBS. This documentary looks at defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the state of the U.S. military.

"Independent Lens: The Political Dr. Seuss," 10:30 p.m., PBS. Here is the season opener for this terrific documentary series with Susan Sarandon taking over as host. This film stumbles at first by seeming startled that there was a political side to Theodor Geisel's Dr. Seuss books. As a German-American boy, Geisel was stung by bias during World War I. He showed fierce biases of his own — against the Japanese and even the Germans — during World War II. His children's books, however, were sweet and loving. In his 60's, Geisel transformed anew, finding witty ways to include messages about bias, the environment and the arms race in his children's books.

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," 12:30 a.m. (delayed by mayoral debate), ABC. This morose Halloween cartoon has become a TV tradition.