Posted on: Saturday, February 26, 2005

Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

Tonight's Must-See

"Forrest Gump" (1994), 7 p.m., ABC. On the eve of the Academy Awards it only makes sense that viewers would want to savor a past Oscar winner. Here is one that's a rare mix of art and commerce. It won for best picture and also made a fortune. Tom Hanks plays a simple chap who accidentally becomes entwined in Vietnam, Watergate and more. It's a bizarre story that works under the direction of Robert Zemeckis ("Back to the Future").

Oscars went to Hanks, Zemeckis and Eric Roth's adapted script, plus editing and visual effects.

"Out of Africa" (1985), 3 p.m.; "Rain Man" (1988), 6 p.m.; and "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979), 8:30 a.m.; all Turner Classic Movies. Here are three more best-picture winners as part of a TCM splurge that continues through March 3. "Out of Africa" is a relatively slow and stiff romance between two real-life adventurers; Meryl Streep is terrific opposite a stoic Robert Redford. The others both have great work from Dustin Hoffman with entertaining mixtures of dead-serious drama and scattered humor. Streep stars in "Kramer" too.

Of Note

"The Paper" (1994), 7 p.m., Pax TV. Here is one day — an exaggerated day, perhaps — at a tabloid newspaper in New York City. Director Ron Howard juggles drama and comedy with a sensational cast that includes Glenn Close, Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall and Marisa Tomei. By Howard's standards, the movie is only so-so, but by most standards, it's pretty good.

"Cold Case," 8 p.m., CBS. Scheduled is a rerun. The death of a 6-year-old boy killed in 1958 is reopened. Samantha Eggar guest stars.

Independent Spirit Awards, 8 p.m., Bravo, with red-carpet preview at 9. Here is another Oscar eve special, handing out awards to independent films. "Sideways" is up for best picture at both ceremonies. Here it faces "Kinsey," "Maria Full of Grace," "Primer" and "Baadasssss." Up for best first feature are the popular "Garden State" and "Napoleon Dynamite," plus "The Woodsman," "Brother to Brother" and "Saints and Soldiers."

"Saturday Night Live," 10:30 p.m., NBC. The Oscar theme continues, sort of, by rerunning the show hosted by "Sideways" star Paul Giamatti. The musical guest is Ludacris, featuring Sum 41.