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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Monday, April 25, 2005

Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

Tonight's Must-See

"Listen Up," 7:30 p.m., CBS, and "Penn & Teller: Bull," season-opener, 7 p.m., Showtime. The bizarre brilliance of magic duo Penn & Teller is tough to package. Still, television keeps trying. "Listen Up" has the family in Las Vegas. Tony's wife (Wendy Makkena) is in the hotel room when Penn and Teller inexplicably show; she can't figure out how to get them to leave. Viewers can also try the unfiltered version of Penn & Teller. Their series (shortened here to "Bull") attacks what it sees as shams. The season-opener confronts a serious and common question: Should babies be circumcised? Penn Jillette (who does all the talking) says no. He supports his view with a blur of factoids and witnesses, including Heidi Fleiss' dad, a gentle-voiced pediatrician. The visuals are graphic; the arguments are cleverly crafted and witty. They are structured, however, in a way that never lets the viewer fully understand the issues on either side. Penn & Teller remain both fun and mystifying.



Of Note

"Changing Lanes" (2002), 5, 8 p.m., FX. A regular guy (Samuel L. Jackson) having a bad day gets into a car crash with a slick lawyer (Ben Affleck). When the lawyer brushes him off, a tense character drama unfolds.

"Marriage 911," 7 p.m., Fox. As a slight detour from the usual "Nanny 911," we get a marriage therapist working with the parents of five kids.

"7th Heaven," 7 p.m., WB. Melissa Gilbert plays a hard-driving sort who seems way too eager to put her mom in a nursing home.

"The Country Bears" (2002), 8 p.m., Disney Channel. A young, human-like bear goes off in search of his destiny.

"24," 8 p.m., Fox. Now there's a nuclear warhead missing and the bad guys can stir things anew. (It's been a busy day.) Meanwhile, former President Palmer tries to help.

"Everybody Loves Raymond," 8 p.m., CBS. After last week's wonderful episode — the Amy-talks-too-much one — this show settles back for an OK rerun. Ray, Robert and their dad are instructed to visit a therapist together.

"Two and a Half Men," 8:30 p.m., CBS. This rerun has Alan getting closer to odd neighbor Rose.

"American Experience: The Fall of Saigon," 9 p.m., PBS. When Americans left Vietnam, they did so suddenly and chaotically, breaking promises to many of their Vietnamese supporters. On the 30th anniversary of the U.S. departure, here's a rerun of the final hour from the 1983 award-winning PBS series "Vietnam: A Television History."

"CSI: Miami," 9 p.m., CBS. In a rerun, an emergency-room shootout leaves two dead.

"Medium," 9 p.m., NBC. Chad Lowe, the talented actor married to double-Oscar-winner Hilary Swank, plays a pilot who says his wife is missing.