blue glow
SALON'S TV PICKS FOR
MONDAY, OCT. 19, 1998
BY JOYCE MILLMAN

S E R I E S

Creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky: The cable series The New Addams Family (7:30 p.m., Fox Family) premieres tonight. Glenn Taranto and Ellie Harvie play Gomez and Morticia, and they'll have a tough time competing with our memories of John Astin and Carolyn Jones (not to mention Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston). Ally McBeal (9 p.m., Fox) creator David E. Kelley answers the show's critics (yeah, all four of us) with a metaphorical episode in which a judge orders Ally to wear longer skirts to court or be locked up for contempt. Defiant as ever, Ally strikes a blow for a woman's right to choose a micro-mini. On Everybody Loves Raymond (9 p.m., CBS), Debra makes the horrifying discovery that she prefers Marie to her own mother.

S P E C I A L S

The four-part documentary series Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery (check local times, PBS) begins. Andre Braugher, Avery Brooks and Angela Bassett are among the actors lending their voices to this chronicle of slavery in America, told through reenactments, legal records, slave narratives, archival photos and excerpts from the journals of slave traders and historical figures. The miniseries A Will of Their Own (9 p.m., NBC) concludes. Lea Thompson stars. Edward James Olmos narrates Lost Warriors of the Clouds (9 p.m., Discovery), a documentary about an ancient Peruvian people called the Chachapoya.

S P O R T S

Football:
Jets at Patriots (8 p.m., ABC)

T A L K

Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) TBA
David Letterman (CBS) Mark McGwire
Jay Leno (NBC) Pamela Anderson Lee (rerun)
Politically Incorrect (ABC) Jennifer Tilly, Fred Williamson
Conan O'Brien (NBC) Brian Williams, Frank McCourt (rerun)

E T C.

By pulling the sitcoms Holding the Baby and Living in Captivity indefinitely and canceling Costello and Getting Personal, Fox has now rejected four of the five new comedies on its fall schedule. That '70s Show is the only survivor ... CBS has announced its first casualty of the new season, the sitcom The Brian Benben Show, which had a painful three weeks on the air opposite Monday Night Football and Ally McBeal. Beginning tonight, CBS will air a rerun of Everybody Loves Raymond in the 9:30 "Benben" slot, following a fresh "Raymond." The "Benben" slot will be filled permanently (yeah, sure) by a new Ted Danson sitcom (uh-oh) starting Nov. 2 ... UPN has yanked its doctors-in-space drama Mercy Point after just two episodes. It was getting hammered by NBC and ABC sitcoms, as well as WB's Felicity. And speaking of "Felicity," WB has ordered nine more episodes of the show, as well as nine more episodes of Charmed and Hyperion Bay, which means that on some scale other than ratings, these shows are hits.
SALON | Oct. 19, 1998

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Blue Glow for < href="http://www.salonmagazine.com/ent/glow/1998/10/16glow.html">Weekend, Oct. 16-18, 1998