Posted on: Friday, April 29, 2005

Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

Tonight's Must-See

"JAG" finale, 8 p.m., CBS. For sheer perseverance, "JAG" is a winner. In its first two seasons, it switched networks once, switched commanders twice, switched female leads twice, and switched time slots four times. It seemed wobbly. Then it settled in. It brought success, a spin-off and steady fans.

Now the series is voluntarily departing. Harm Rabb (David James Elliott) has been promoted to captain and is going to London; Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie (Catherine Bell) is going to San Diego. Fans still suspect there's love lingering. Andrea Parker had been the female lead in the pilot with Tracey Needham in the first season. Then the show jumped to CBS, and Bell took over. Co-stars came and went and a spin-off ("NCIS") scored. During all this, Elliott — tall and handsome — was the star and Donald Bellisario ("Magnum, P.I.") was producer. Set in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, the show ranged from adventure to courtroom drama. Now Elliott is leaving, so the show is wrapping up. First, there's the issue of a romance to settle.

Of Note

"Predator" (1987), 5 p.m., AMC. While waiting patiently to be governors, Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger face an otherworldly monster.

"Spider-Man" (2002), 7 p.m., Fox. Here's a wonderfully entertaining film, despite a brutality overload. Director Sam Raimi found a balance between dazzling action and quiet humanity. Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst provide the latter, including our favorite upside-down kiss.

"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," 7 p.m., CBS. This rerun includes a horse-trainer killed on a jet and two bodies found, appropriately, in Death Valley.

"Third Watch," 8 p.m., NBC. Crises build: Finney, who was shot, is in a coma. Cruz rages after her partner is shot. Yokas tries to mediate a televised hostage situation, unaware that her own daughter is separately being held hostage.

"Hope & Faith," 8 and 8:30 p.m., ABC. Here are the episodes ABC originally scheduled for last week, then postponed. First is a new one, with Faith (Kelly Ripa) as weathercaster of a morning show; she and the handsome host (Dean Cain) think romance. Then is a rerun, with Faith making her move on her neighbor (played by Mark Consuelos, Ripa's real-life husband). That's complicated by his former girlfriend (Carmen Electra) and by a chance to revive his baseball career in Japan.

"Law & Order: Trial by Jury," 9 p.m., NBC. When a gay prisoner is brutalized and killed, there are political pressures from all sides.

"Numb3rs." 9 p.m., CBS. Charlie tries to trace what a researcher was working on when he was murdered.