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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, July 22, 2007

Tube Notes

By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service

SUNDAY'S MUST-SEE

"The Kill Point," 6 p.m., Spike TV. In the early moments of this terrific series, a bank robbery has started. These are smart crooks, calm and organized. Then things go noisily wrong. There's a gun battle, then a hostage standoff with two extraordinary players. The police negotiator is played by Donnie Wahlberg, the robbery leader by John Leguizamo. These are canny men, with layers of depth that will be revealed slowly. "The Kill Point" is the best kind of series, one that gives depth to all sides — cops, crooks, hostages. And it shows a key advantage to cable (or satellite) shows. The broadcast networks go for full series, 22 hours a year. Good ideas get stretched. That's what happened to "The Nine," ABC's excellent bank-hostage series; with no promise of a conclusion, viewers vanished. Cable, by comparison, will choose shorter lengths. It promises that "The Kill Point" will conclude in eight hours. Tonight, it gets off to a dandy start.

OF NOTE

"Man vs. Wild" marathon, 11 a.m., Discovery Channel. There's a visceral appeal to this show, which drops former British soldier Bear Grylls into the wilderness with only a knife, a flint and a water bottle. Now you catch the reruns, starting with the Costa Rican rain forest at 11 a.m. and the Florida Everglades at noon. That continues all day; a new round of re-reruns starts with Costa Rica at 8 p.m.

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (2005), 2:15 p.m., HBO. The fourth film has Voldemort trying to trap Harry during the tri-wizard tournament.

"State of Mind," 6 p.m., Lifetime. Last week's excellent debut introduced a therapist (Lili Taylor) whose world crumbled when she caught her husband having sex with another therapist. Tonight, she's not ready to tell her parents about it; for now, she and her husband must pretend to be married.

"Bridezillas," 6 p.m., WE (preceded by reruns, 1-6 p.m.). One bride is overwhelmed by the need to make 38 cakes in record time. Another shows her "trailer fabulous" style and is keeping a secret from her fiance.

"The Simpsons," 8 p.m., Fox. With the movie coming this week, Fox offers four reruns. At 8 p.m., Lisa pretends to be a Native American. At 8:30, a sleepwalking Homer injures the firemen; now he and his friends fill in. At 9, a British filmmaker (Eric Idle) has been tracing several Springfield people every eight years, since childhood.

"Mystery: Miss Marple: Nemesis," 8 p.m., PBS. A dying man wants Miss Marple to look into a crime. However, she has no idea what it is.

"Law & Order," 8 p.m., NBC. Here's the rerun of a strong hour that begins with the murder of a boy in a neighborhood park. Suspicion turns to a convicted sex offender.

"Desperate Housewives," 8 p.m., ABC. This rerun sets up troubles ahead. Carolyn Bigsby tells Bree about Orson's past; Carolyn's husband makes the mistake of entrusting Orson with a secret.

"Shark," 9 p.m., CBS. Here's a rerun of the excellent pilot film. Sebastian Stark (James Woods) was a smart and cocky defense lawyer. Then he freed a defendant who instantly repeated his crime. Stark goes into a funk, then is nudged over to the prosecution side.