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The good news is that KCPT found a place for "Travis," a powerful documentary about young Travis Jefferies who's battling full-blown AIDS, in time for Tuesday's World AIDS Day. The bad news is the air time: midnight tonight on Channel 19, not exactly ideal for the film's subject matter and unsparing approach. Travis, who lives in the South Bronx, is being raised by his grandmother because his crack-addicted mother cannot. Filmmaker Richard Kotuk doesn't gloss over the boy's suffering; we are there when Travis awakes at midnight screaming and vomiting, a reaction to some of the 275 medications that have been pumped through his body. But Travis will soon receive the best medical science has to offer, and the film will make an upbeat turn. The only sad note concerns Kotuk, who died earlier this year.

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If you're a fan of such Saturday-night series as "The Pretender," "Cupid" or "Martial Law," forget it: The networks, still recovering from their November spectaculars, are pre-empting most of their Saturday shows for specials or, in the case of Channel 9, sports. If you have Turner Classic Movies, rejoice, because you have the picks-to-click tonight: "The Defiant Ones" (1958) with Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier at 7 and "Judgment at Nuremberg" at 9. If you don't have TCM, you could always watch "Dumb and Dumber" for the umpteenth time at 7 on TNT.

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Now that the dust has settled from the November Nielsen ratings frenzy, you have to go fishing around the dial for interesting things to watch. There's no "Homicide" on NBC, no "Millennium" on Fox. The movie pick of the night is probably the 8-year-old "Presumed Innocent" at 7 p.m. on Channel 62; it certainly isn't "Bionic Showdown: The $ 6 Million Man and the Bionic Woman" airing at 8 on Fox Family Channel. A cleaned-up version of the HBO Emmy award-winning special "Chris Rock: Feel the Pain" airs at 9 p.m. on Comedy Central.

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Thanksgiving - it's not just for football anymore. Lifetime is putting on a 12-hour "Party of Five" marathon starting at 8 a.m.; in the Salinger home, the favorite sport is whining. Cable's Odyssey channel presents "The Gift of Stories," a Bible special narrated by Gavin MacLeod, at 11 a.m. By night the Boston Pops perform in "Holiday at Pops" at 8 p.m. on A&E and "A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving," a brand-new special, airs at 7 p.m. on Channel 9. And what better way to start the Christmas shopping season than with the subversive anti-commercialism of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" at 7 tonight on TBS.

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Tonight marks the end of the all-important November ratings "sweep. " So the networks are pulling out the stops to keep their dropping audience levels (and thus ad rates) from falling through the floor. CBS has a Celine Dion special at 8 p.m. on Channel 5 and Fox is re-airing "The Lost World" at 7 on Channel 4 (blowing out WDAF's 9 p.m. news in the process). A second "Dharma & Greg" airs at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 9 because "The Secret Lives of Men," which used to air at that time, was apparently a secret to most of the viewing public. PBS, which doesn't even sell advertising time, is putting on its own blockbuster, the three-hour "Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet" featuring compuscribe Robert X. Cringely at 7 p.m. on Channel 19. As if that weren't enough, the final "Babylon 5" airs at 9 tonight on TNT.

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It's official: The November ratings race is getting hot and heavy. Two of TV's most family-friendly shows have started talking about sex. Last night "7th Heaven" weighed in on the subject; at 7 tonight "Moesha" (Brandy) contemplates going all the way with her college-age honey. But when her stepmom finds birth control items in her purse, poignant conversation ensues. Also tonight, Simone (Jimmy Smits) departs "NYPD Blue" at 8:30 on Channel 9, and NBC unearths former pop icons Adam (Batman) West on "NewsRadio" at 7:30 and Mark (Luke Skywalker) Hamill on "Just Shoot Me" at 8 on Channel 41.

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It is the lowest-rated TV show on the four big networks, but "Cupid" (9 tonight on Channel 9) has promise. Like another ABC show, "Dharma & Greg," it's an endearingly funny treatment of true love in an age of romantic indifference. Smartly written by former "Dawson's Creek" writer Rob Thomas, the show would certainly do better were it on any other night but Saturday, a traditional black hole for ABC. That's probably why the network recently gave a full 22-episode order to "Cupid," which stars Jeremy Piven as the would-be god of love, Paula Marshall as the "relationships expert" not entirely convinced of his mythic status and Jeffrey D. Sams as Cupid's roommate. Once football season is over, don't be surprised if this show finds itself romancing audiences on Monday nights. Also tonight, "Little Men" observes Thanksgiving at 7 p.m. on Pax TV (Channel 50).

Arbiter gives WDAF leg up on union; KMBC loses Houston

Management at WDAF, Channel 4, was handed a victory this week when a federal arbiter kicked the station's 19 photographers out of the organizing unit that will vote on whether to join a union. The ruling leaves the 33 on-air reporters and anchors at WDAF to decide whether to become part of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). If the photographers want to join AFTRA or any other union, they'll have to organize separately. Channel 4 general manager Stan Knott had asked the NLRB to split up the unit, but he wouldn't gloat over the decision. Strictly business, he said. "We told the employees we didn't feel like that was appropriate and that was why we did what we did," Knott said. "Frankly, the career pathing (between on-air and photographers) is not the same, and our photojournalists tend to be a little more technical in nature." Don Scott, head of the local AFTRA chapter, said he was not surprised by the decision but was disappointed nonetheless. "Our primary focus is to make sure that both groups, on-air and photographers, have the elections they want," he said. "There are some different approaches to take to get to that, and I'm not sure what they'll be." One of those approaches might involve waiting until the NLRB concludes its investigation of an unfair labor practice filed a week ago by AFTRA. That could take a month and would postpone a union vote until after the holidays. Or the union could file to proceed with a vote anyway. Knott thinks a delay would be unfair to employees who have contract negotiations coming up. Staffers concur, saying that the longer a vote is postponed, the more steam will go out of the organizing effort. Houston leaves KMBC You get the sense this isn't the last we'll see of Carlton Houston. The 28-year-old native Kansas Citian is leaving KMBC, Channel 9, where he has been a reporter for five years, to join ABC affiliate WEVC in Norfolk, Va. The Norfolk area market is comparable in size to Kansas City. But the big attraction to Houston is the chance, for the first time since college, to sit in the anchor's chair. The Hickman Mills and Mizzou graduate got his start in journalism 11 years ago as a high-school stringer for The Star. "Having grown up in Kansas City, I never expected to come back here and work. A lot of people still consider that an impossible jump from Columbia," said Houston, who was hired right out of college. "I worked with some of the finest people I'll ever work with here at Channel 9." To reach Aaron Barnhart, television writer for The Star, call 234-4790 or send e-mail to tvbarn@kansascity.com

Walter's way with words Stanley Tucci's 'Winchell' is faithful to the columnist's passion for playing with language

"Winchell" will air at 7 tonight on HBO. When viewers tune in for Stanley Tucci's portrayal of Walter Winchell in the biopic "Winchell" at 7 tonight on HBO, they ought to know that the real star of the program is not Tucci or Glenne Headly or anyone else who appears on screen. The real star of "Winchell" is the English language. Or rather slanguage, that ear-tickling gumbo of euphemisms and unexpected turns of phrase that made Winchell the progenitor of the modern gossip column. It was Winchell who used "blessed event" to describe a pregnancy, something celebrity journalists simply did not cover in the 1920s, and "Reno-vated" to describe a divorce, another verboten newspaper topic. Winchell's column was a guaranteed head rush. He took on Hitler and life's little annoyances with the same fervor, inserted himself into the column wherever possible to give items extra urgency, and made all the ordinary folk reading his column feel like they mattered, that their frenetic friend W.W. was keeping them in step with an ever-quickening world. "He used words like bullets," we hear a voice say in the movie's opening moments. "He could kill you with a comma." The column begat the radio program - the aural equivalent of machine-gun fire - and in the 1930s, the one-two combo gave Winchell unprecedented popularity and power. J. Edgar Hoover and the Roosevelt administration began courting him. At last he could kiss off his critics in the print world, including his bosses. Winchell's editor at the New York Mirror, the well-heeled Arthur Brisbane, once told him he didn't have "ethics, scruples, decency or conscience." "Let others have those things," Winchell shot back. "I've got the readers." "Winchell" the movie is largely devoted to these battles with management. But Winchell accumulated much more history than that, much more than this run-of-the-mill, two-hour movie is able to carry. Herman Klurfeld, the longtime, long-suffering ghostwriter responsible for as much as half of Winchell's material over the years, wrote the memoir on which the screenplay is based. Not surprisingly, the relationship with Klurfeld is covered thoroughly in "Winchell" (Paul Giamatti is a nicely self-effacing Herman). But other vital characters in Winchell's life are omitted, and Dallas Wayne (Headly), an ambitious blonde who is shown supplying Walter with some of his biggest tips, is a distorted composite of several Winchell acquaintances. The movie, however, does faithfully re-enact Walter's love of language and the way he used it to keep "Mr. and Mrs. America" glued to their radios. In so doing, it draws out one of the sadder aspects of our media culture: Today's commentators are so tin-eared, they've even managed to make a presidential scandal dull. Matt Drudge is trying to model his career on Winchell's - wearing W.W.'s trademark fedora being the most obvious ploy - but Drudge hasn't had a lyrical thought in his life. One of the few commentators Winchell wouldn't have buried outright is the caustic Keith Olbermann. Now, conscience-stricken, Olbermann has quit MSNBC and gone back to covering sports. To reach Aaron Barnhart, television writer for The Star, call 234-4790 or send e-mail to tvbarn@kansascity.com

'Saint Maybe' is a definite yes

Also this weekend, a so-so Anne Tyler novel is reborn as a touching movie about tragedy and redemption when "Saint Maybe" airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on CBS (Channel 5). Thomas McCarthy, whom you may recall as Tim, the mildly retarded young man who married Candice Bergen in the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" production "Mary + Tim," plays a young man desperate to make amends after some careless words destroy his brother's family. He is aided by the pastor of the Church of the Second Chance (Denis O'Hare) and Rita, a woman who enters his life as if by providence (Melina Kanakaredes). "Saint Maybe" opens the 48th season of the "Hallmark Hall of Fame." The 200th production in the series will be broadcast in 1999.

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Producer Jerry Bruckheimer ("Top Gun," "Armageddon") has never done a made-for-TV movie before. But he brings his signature big-screen qualities - which include a tin ear for dialogue, a fetish for ear-splitting effects and a penchant for underdressed female leads - to ABC with the space-shuttle thriller "Max Q," at 8 tonight on Channel 9. If nothing else, tune in at 9:45 for the hilariously absurd climax, in which scores of average Americans have their lives endangered so that four pampered astronauts may live.

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"The American Experience" begins another season as TV's liveliest historical documentary series at 7 tonight on Channel 19. Tonight's three-hour special, "America 1900," depicts a United States full of vigor and optimism. The country has asserted itself as a world power in breathtakingly short order. But as narrator David McCullough reminds us more than once, there is a price to pay for that exuberance: environmentally, politically and socially, America is losing its innocence fast. Also tonight, "Hey Arnold! " observes Thanksgiving a week early (7 p.m. on Nickelodeon), and "Garth Brooks Live" features the country star in real time at 7 on Channel 41.

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When DNA testing proved conclusively that Sam Sheppard had not, as he had always maintained, killed his wife, it was inevitable that a movie like "My Father's Shadow: The Sam Sheppard Story" would be made. The teledrama, airing at 8 tonight on Channel 5, stars Peter Strauss as the osteopath and Henry Czerny ("The Ice Storm") as the son orphaned after his father is sent to prison for murder. The story picks up in 1995 when the boy, now a troubled man in his 40s, reopens the case, seeking legal absolution for his long-deceased father. Also tonight, director John Boorman uses home movies and film clips to construct "Lee Marvin: A Personal Portrait" at 9 p.m. on AMC.

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We're not saying that the Chiefs-Broncos game might fail to hold your undivided interest. But here are a few alternative sports viewing options in case your enthusiasm for the big game begins to wane. Eddie (Eddie Griffin, right background, with Malcolm-Jamal Warner) takes up boxing on "Malcolm & Eddie" at 7 on Channel 29. Pro wrestling's in the headlines these days; why not check out the mean-and-nasty WCW at 7 on TNT or the more comical WWF at 8 on USA? (There's also a mud-wrestling story line on "Ally McBeal" at 8 on Channel 4.) Should the game be over by mid-fourth quarter, the first of a three-part "'Law & Order' goes to L.A." repeats at 10 p.m. on A&E - where the prime suspect is a personal trainer.

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You'd think somebody at the Walt Disney Co. would've caught on to this: Doug, the fourth-grader whose cartoon is a staple of "One Saturday Morning" (7:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Channel 9), must take action when his town is besieged by a ubiquitous corporation that seems to own everything, including the airwaves, and pummels the citizens continuously with its irritating commercials and brand extensions. Kind of like a certain ever-present kids' entertainment company. By the way, the cartoon's full name is "Disney's Doug."

WDAF unionizing effort hits some rough going

An election date hasn't even been set for the 55 employees at WDAF, Channel 4 to vote on joining a union, and already the negative campaigning has begun. Once again, the source is weathercaster Mike Thompson, who followed up last month's anti-union memo to his colleagues with a second memo dated Nov. 4. Thompson's heavy-handed polemic came to the attention of the local chapter of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), which responded by filing a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board last week. The complaint charges WDAF management with discriminating against employees who organize, or even discuss organizing, in situations protected by federal law. General manager Stan Knott recently revised the station's policy on union solicitation, but organizers say that policy is being selectively enforced. "The only type of people targeted by this rule are identified members of the organizing movement," said Don Scott, director of the local AFTRA chapter. Instances have been reported to Scott of the station's anchors, who are solidly against unionizing, discussing the topic with impunity. And while Thompson is free to circulate memos, Scott says staffers on the union organizing committee have been told that even talking about the union is a violation of work policy. Knott says WDAF has no intent of chilling free speech. He points out that AFTRA has been allowed to circulate its own newsletters in the newsroom. (Thompson cited the newsletters in his Nov. 4 memo.) This week a federal arbiter is expected to rule on a petition by WDAF to split up the current organizing unit into one for photographers and a second for reporters and anchors. Once the ruling is made, an election date will be set, probably for early December. Scott said that this week's complaint won't hold up the election. Jones gets Comedy Central Jones Intercable is adding Comedy Central to its Missouri (channel 71) and Kansas (channel 42) systems Dec. 1. Now the 90,000 Jonesers can watch the foul-mouthed brats of "South Park" without having to crash the homes of their friends who get Time Warner Cable. A new half-hour special on the Kansas City Zoo airs at 5 p.m. Sunday on KMBC, Channel 9. The special is produced by Edwin Birch, who joined KMBC in March as executive producer of programming and community affairs. Birch spent seven years producing documentaries at American Cablevision, winning awards for such programs as "What Color Is He? " and "African-American Youth: Fighting for Survival." To reach Aaron Barnhart, television writer for The Star, call 234-4790 or send e-mail to tvbarn@kansascity.com

CBS' 'Miracle' undoubtedly will outdo 'Devil'

While director Ang Lee was generating the headlines during 3 1/2 months of filming "Ride With the Devil" in Missouri and Kansas, another movie with a smaller budget and a lower profile also was being filmed nearby. But that movie, "Monday After the Miracle," likely will reach the larger audience. The CBS-produced period piece about the adult Helen Keller and her longtime teacher Annie Sullivan makes its debut at 8 p.m. Sunday on Channel 5. Even if "Ride With the Devil" should someday ride into that sparsely populated $ 100 million range - roughly 15 million tickets sold - it'll be no match for the CBS Sunday movie, which is averaging just over 18 million viewers this season. Roma Downey, star of "Touched by an Angel," plays Annie; Moira Kelly of the new CBS romantic comedy "To Have and to Hold" is Helen; and Bill Campbell plays the earnest professor who comes between them when he falls for Annie. Using such venues as St. Mary College in Leavenworth and the former Topeka State Hospital, producer Vanessa Greene re-created the genteel atmosphere of the East Coast circa 1900. Greene, who also produced last year's Western drama "Stolen Women, Captured Hearts" for CBS, worked with the Kansas Film Commission and Kansas City's Wendy Gray to scout locations. Greene and local agents Jack Wright and Heather Laird cast 18 area actors to fill out the supporting cast. Peggy Friesen, T. Max Graham, Jennifer Mays, Brian Paulette, Glenn Q. Pierce, Michael Linsley Rapport, Nick Miller-Schlyer, David Rees Snell, Dean Vivian and 9-year-old Kyla Pratt (who played Helen as a young girl) were among those featured. Several local cast members hit the period-piece perfecta, getting roles in "Monday" and "Ride," including Graham, Kyla and University of Kansas football player Pat Brown. Pierce even plays a minister in both movies. "People ask me, 'How does that happen? ' " Laird said. "And I tell them it happened because the directors of both films saw these people and liked them for the same reasons." Of the 125 or so cast and crew members working on "Monday After the Miracle" at the shooting's peak, Greene estimated half were local. Even though the pool was smaller - many were committed to Lee's film at the time - Greene said she had talented help the entire 12 weeks of production. "We felt very lucky," Greene said. "I did not have one poor performance from a local actor. They were really great." From the beginning Greene had wanted to film "Monday After the Miracle" in Kansas. "I enjoyed the state, and I enjoyed working there with the film commission," she said. "It also has a very particular look that works, especially with period pieces. St. Mary College is extraordinary. The film opens there, and it's quite, quite beautiful. But the house (where Helen and Annie live) is beautiful in Eudora. And the New York apartments we built in the mental institution in Topeka are fabulous! You'd never know they were built there." Graham appears in the movie's opening minutes as a professor at Radcliffe College. Those scenes were shot at Topeka High School, as were later scenes of a vaudeville theater. "I saw a screening of it, and the school looks great," Graham said. "They just re-dressed part of the stage and part of the audience. Even did some computer-generated stuff." In a period piece? "Yes! There's another scene where Roma and Moira are in a gazebo and there's a little bird that lands on the railing on the gazebo next to Helen. It's a really wonderful little bird, and it's computer-generated." To reach Aaron Barnhart, television writer for The Star, call 234-4790 or send e-mail to tvbarn@kansascity.com

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Here's an odd bit of counterprogramming: "Homicide" detectives Bayliss (Kyle Secor) and Mike "Little G" Giardello (Giancarlo Esposito) put on light-colored suits and hop a plane to Miami to track down a killer. The episode airs at 9 p.m. on Channel 41. Not pictured: Don Johnson, who's on another network these days. Also tonight, former "Homicide" player Melissa Leo surfaces as an opium addict on post-Civil War drama "Legacy" at 7 on Channel 29.

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We'll see if Nathan Lane can make it two ratings disasters in a row this fall when ABC schedules "The Birdcage," starring Lane and Robin Williams in the 1996 remake of "La Cage aux Folles," opposite NBC's Thursday night lineup, beginning at 7 on Channel 9. Lane's NBC sitcom "Encore! Encore! " is on hiatus. Also tonight, the NBA returns for half an hour. Seattle's Gary Payton and Vin Baker and Vancouver's Shareef Abdur-Rahim guest star on "The Jamie Foxx Show" at 7:30 on Channel 62.

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It seems premature to call it "an end of an era" when the subject is a cable TV show barely 2 years old. But when Craig Kilborn departs "The Daily Show" (10 p.m., Comedy Central) at the end of this year as its anchor, he won't be the only one leaving: A. Whitney Brown, the starch-shirted commentator who gave the fledgling show comic credibility when it launched and whose deadpan shtick offers some of the show's best writing, is also moving on. But if you're a devotee of "The Daily," as I am, you'll welcome the change. Change is good, and this show's comedy is too peripatetic to stand still. Tonight Roma Downey ("Touched by an Angel") tries to earn her wings on "5 Questions."