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With just two days left in the November ratings sweep, the UPN network is pulling out all the stops. By far UPN's biggest attraction is its Thursday night wrestling showcase, "WWF Smackdown! " Problem: The sweep ends on Wednesday. Solution: Stitch together a few videos of previous matches, call it "WWF's Greatest Hits," and put it on at 7 tonight on Channel 29. That's followed at 8 by "The Strip," an action hour that, like the other new "guy shows" on UPN, hasn't been nearly as popular with young males as pro wrestling has. In fact, UPN just canceled "The Strip," but catch tonight's repeat anyway; it's an encore of the show's pilot episode, which I rated a "Don't Miss. " (Wednesday night, UPN closes out the sweep with a 2-hour "Star Trek" extravaganza.) >>>

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Rory Kennedy's justly acclaimed 1998 documentary "American Hollow" makes its television debut at 7 p.m. tonight on HBO. Kennedy, who employed a cinema verite style, gains extraordinary access to an extended family in the Appalachian region of Kentucky. Their matriarch, Iree Bowling, lives in poverty - like nearly everyone around her, she receives government aid - but her days are unexpectedly rich as she does her chores, cares for her invalid mother and interacts almost daily with 12 of her 13 children and their children. She has made peace with the world. Not so with everyone in the hollow, especially the young men, jobless, poorly educated, seeing their lives going nowhere. Amazingly, they pour out their rage and frustration to the cameras (the film has strong language). They're caught in a tug-of-war, seemingly tethered to their clan yet desperate for opportunities that are found only far from this isolated valley. >>>

Local stations present holiday traditions

Three local holiday TV traditions are back. Just in time for gift giving, KSHB, Channel 41 has issued another home-video compilation of "Kansas City Crossroads," its award-winning series of historical vignettes that air each day at 6:55 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. on Channel 41. Bill Kalahurka narrates these 36 slices of life, and what's exceptional about them - besides their outstanding production quality - is they uncover so many of the small wonders most Kansas Citians drive past or walk by every day unknowing. For every familiar part of the landscape like the Liberty Memorial, there are three did-you-knows: the Nelly Don dress company that started out of a Kansas City woman's attic in 1916 and quickly turned into one of the top apparel designers in the country; former mayor H. Roe Bartle's other career as a Scoutmaster extraordinaire; and the amazing legend of the Bright Star, a mysterious light that compelled a Johnson County farmer to free his slaves nearly 150 years ago. Also returning is another edition of "Holiday Voices," with new footage of Kansas Citians singing favorite hymns of the season. The special airs Christmas Eve at 9 p.m. on KCWE, Channel 29 and Christmas Day at 6 p.m., or whenever football ends, on KMBC, Channel 9. "Holiday Voices," produced by midtown studio Trans Digital Interface and area filmmaker Jay Crotchett, who is also the host, will benefit local charitable organizations with a toll-free donation number during the broadcast. Finally, for those of you wondering what happened to the Project Warmth telethon on KCTV, Channel 5, which normally airs Thanksgiving Eve, it has been rescheduled to Dec. 9. The fund-raiser - actually a series of local breaks during Channel 5's showing of the movie "Hook" - airs from 7 to 10 p.m. with host Barbara Porter. Last year's telethon raised more than $ 100,000. Ins and outs Your columnist has been remiss in noting some of the comings and goings on the Kansas City airwaves. So, starting with the latest change and working our way back: Brad Harvey is departing WDAF, Channel 4, for a morning anchor job at Cleveland ABC affiliate WEWS-TV, which is owned by Channel 41's parent company, E.W. Scripps. (Earlier this year WEWS also wooed reporter Chris Hernandez from Channel 4.) Harvey, an anchor and features reporter, is probably best known for being on the receiving end of a Jimmie "J.J." Walker tirade in 1997 after the comedian and a friend were confronted by station security. Jack Cashill is hosting a radio program on KCNW-AM (1380), an affiliate of the Catholic Family Radio network. The program airs from 3 to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays. In addition, Catholic Family Radio's Web site says that Cashill "will work on special projects for the network" from the KCNW studio. Tamra Trickey is the new local and national sales manager at KCTV, Channel 5. She has been with the station since 1995. Channel 41 promoted reporter Keith King to Sunday co-anchor alongside Cynthia Gunn. King joined the station in 1996 and won an Edward R. Murrow award in 1998 for his coverage of the Crystal Kipper disappearance. KSHB also signed on stringer Debbie Rodriguez as a full-time reporter. Rodriguez began her career at KQTV in St. Joseph and has also worked for the World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio. And Carey Wickersham, daughter of former Royals pitcher Dave Wickersham, has been reporting for Channel 4 since early October. She joined the station from KPVI-TV in Pocatello, Idaho. - To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com >>>

Extraordinary ordinariness mars November sweeps

Just how lackluster was the first sweeps month of the fall TV season? Even the big winner on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" found it hard to muster enthusiasm for the show that had made him rich. The freshly minted $ 1 million winner - a 31-year-old Connecticut resident who embodies the kind of viewer advertisers pay dearly to reach - last week admitted that he rarely watches TV and that, on this count at least, the money was not going to make him any different. Indeed, the most extraordinary thing about this November may be how ordinary it felt. Take away a certain game show and it's practically October all over again. There was even the occasional rerun, supposedly a no-no during a crucial Nielsen ratings month. Other than the nightly airings of "Millionaire," it has been three weeks since any program has drawn the oversized audiences that the sweeps were created for (Disney's remake of "Annie"). This weekend the highlight looks to be the network premiere of "Men in Black" (8 p.m. Sunday, Channel 41), the 1997 creature caper starring Will Smith that earned its director, Barry Sonnenfeld, not one but two chances to fail at network television ("Fantasy Island" and "Maximum Bob"). CBS, proud to be the network that appeals to viewers ages 8 to 80, offers something for both ends of the age scale: "Ricky Martin: One Night Only! ", featuring the music industry's flavor-of-the-year, airing at 7 tonight on Channel 5; and "One Special Night," a dependably homey CBS movie that pairs two aging stars - this time Julie Andrews and James Garner - in a small cabin cut off from civilization during a blizzard. It airs at 8 p.m. Sunday. Sunday's installment of "The X-Files" will finally bring to a close the unresolved story line of "Millennium," the show from "X-Files" creator Chris Carter that Fox canceled this spring and probably now wishes it hadn't. (Another Carter project, "Harsh Realm," took its place, but it mysteriously vanished last month after just two sightings.) The episode throws several curve balls. When we first see Lance Henriksen, the rumbly star of "Millennium," he is cooped up in isolation and strangely disengaged from his visitors, fellow FBI agents Mulder and Scully (David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson). He's unnaturally engrossed in a football game on TV and expresses no interest in discussing that weird fraternity he consorted with for three seasons. Henriksen eventually pulls out of his funk - if not for the sake of the FBI then for the sake of this show. By the way, Scully and Mulder kiss. The episode airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on Channel 4. The high water mark this weekend may be on cable: the debut of "Little Bill," the family cartoon from Bill Cosby featuring the voices of Ruby Dee, Gregory Hines, Phylicia Rashad and Madeline Kahn. It premieres 7 p.m. Sunday on Nick. Little Bill (voiced by Xavier Pritchett) is a wide-eyed 5-year-old turbine of curiosity sprung from the brain trust of Cosby and his advisers. The first words out of Little Bill's mouth - "Hello, friend" - have by now become identified with the memory of Cosby's son, Ennis, to whom the entertainer also dedicated a 1997 jazz record. Jazz is the dominant metaphor of "Little Bill": the soundtrack is entirely jazz-themed, and the very first episode involves Little Bill and the Dizzy Gillespie record being spun by his fun-loving pop (Hines). It's an apt metaphor, suggesting the improvised and repetitious groove that 5-year-olds know how to occupy. >>>

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This week NBC has special reason to give thanks - "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is taking a siesta. The ABC game show soundly trounced "Frasier" in head-to-heads earlier this month, the first time any ABC show had beaten an NBC non-rerun at 8 p.m. Thursday since 1983. A lineup of Thanksgiving-themed shows begins with "Friends" at 7 p.m. on Channel 41. Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles return as the parents of Ross and Monica (David Schwimmer and Courteney Cox Arquette). The episode relies mainly on a dessert recipe gone awry and a 10-year-old fib Ross told his parents about Chandler (Matthew Perry). In other words, typical sitcom high jinks in a pilgrim's hat. At 8, Bebe Neuwirth returns to "Frasier" and assumes a presence at the Crane household not unlike Frau Blucher in "Young Frankenstein." >>>

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It's appropriate that "Norman Rockwell: Painting America," a new PBS special airing at 8 p.m. on Channel 19, opens with art historian Robert Rosenblum confessing that he came to appreciate Rockwell by accident, a result of a chance afternoon spent in the painter's longtime home of Stockbridge, Mass. That speaks broadly to the way the chattering classes - including those 300 people Tom Wolfe once accused of dictating art tastes to the rest of the country - have rediscovered the sentimental image-maker of Middle America. In a collage of archival footage, contemporary interviews and some crafty re-creations (e.g., a live-action version of his Thanksgiving classic "Freedom From Want") this special marks a sort of high culture watermark of Rockwell appreciation. >>>

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It's the first big ratings period for "Angel," the David Boreanaz vehicle spun off from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and what better way to mark the occasion than having his and Sarah Michelle Gellar's characters appear on each other's shows? At 7 p.m. on Channel 62, Buffy (Gellar) and the gang must not only battle an old Indian spirit that's seeking vengeance but also the guilty suspicion that maybe the once-oppressed tribe has a point. Xander (Nicholas Brendan) contracts a 19th-century disease, and look what the cat dragged in - it's our old enemy Spike (James Marsters), now a regular cast member, on the run from a "fatal attraction." At 8 p.m., the story line picks up where it left off before the station break. Only now we're in Los Angeles, and Angel (Boreanaz) is fighting a medieval demon when, conveniently, in walks Buffy. >>>

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If you're planning to take a flight sometime this week, you may want to tape tonight's "Investigative Reports" (8 p.m. on A&E) and watch it later, after you're safely home again. Look for this litany of the worst travel nightmares - including out-of-control passengers, angry airline workers and absurd flight delays - as a Fox reality special in the near future. There's the horrendous 82-hour stoppage at the Detroit airport during a winter storm; the passenger punched out by a ticket-taker; and home video of a drunken British passenger, Christopher Bayes, being restrained at 30,000 feet. (Bayes gives his side of the story, which is that overworked flight attendants reacted too quickly.) Bill Kurtis interviews Virgin Atlantic chief Richard Branson, who suggests that unruly passengers be "blacklisted," and frustrated flight personnel who say their employers are doing nothing about the problem.

Channel 9 gives special treatment to paid health show

When an area health care provider and KMBC, Channel 9, collaborated earlier this month on a half-hour special, what viewers saw looked like it had come from Channel 9's news or public affairs departments. In fact, it was essentially an infomercial from the station's sales department. The special, titled "Rehabilitation," aired Nov. 3 after KMBC's 6 p.m. news. The show was copyrighted by Channel 9 but featured none of the station's news staff. Instead, the host was Sean Hogan, a salesperson with KMBC, and the special focused on several patients undergoing rehabilitation at a single care-provider: the St. Luke's-Shawnee Mission Health System. Only health professionals working with the St. Luke's system were interviewed on camera, and the hospital chain was plugged casually throughout the special (e.g., "There are definite advantages to using the St. Luke's-Shawnee Mission program"). At one point a doctor urged viewers to get prescriptions for physical therapy at a St. Luke's-affiliated hospital. Hogan signed off the special this way: "Good night and remember: St. Luke's-Shawnee Mission Health System rehabilitation services can put you on the road home again." To some viewers there may have been enough telltale signs that this special probably didn't come from the news department. Still, no one actually said it was a paid program. Infomercials are typically preceded by a disclaimer, but Channel 9 billed this as a "special" presentation. The closing credits listed KMBC as sole producer of the special - yet sources at Channel 9 confirmed that it was the medical center, not the station, that chose the topics, the doctors and the patients it wanted on the program. Health news is a crucial element of any TV news department. Nearly all of Channel 9's local programming is made up of newscasts and public-affairs shows. Given that, why not clear up any potential confusion with a disclaimer and be more up-front about St. Luke's role in funding the program? KMBC general manager C. Wayne Godsey said the difference was clear enough for him. "It wasn't produced by the news department and we never said it was," he said. "We have a pretty well-known group of newscasters. They're probably the best known in the city. None of them was on it." Godsey also pointed out that the special pre-empted "The Hollywood Squares" and aired in a time period when viewers aren't expecting to see a newscast. KPXE weather goes local Speaking of infomercials, KPXE, Channel 50, which airs the Pax TV network in the afternoons and evenings and paid programs the rest of the day, is trying something completely different - a local weathercast. The 5-minute segments, airing at 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, are produced in Atlanta by AccuWeather Inc., a well-known brand name in radio weather, for each of the 60-plus TV stations owned by Paxson Communications. KPXE is fed the forecast via satellite an hour ahead of time and inserts it during a national station break. Channel 50 began airing the forecasts in September on a trial basis, according to station manager Mark St. Clair, but now is using them permanently - or at least until NBC decides to try something else at 10 p.m. NBC recently bought a 32 percent stake in Paxson and will have a significant role in shaping future Pax schedules. Laurie Roberts signs on KSRC-FM (102.1) has hired former KSHB anchor Laurie Roberts as DJ Denis Prior's morning news anchor and as director of news and public affairs for "Star 102. " Roberts, best known for her Emmy- and Gracie-award-winning "Today's Women" segments on Channel 41, was released by the NBC affiliate in August. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com

Glenn Close and Sarah are back for 'Winter's End'

Hallmark is advertising this weekend's "Hall of Fame" broadcast of "Winter's End" as the end of Patricia MacLachlan's "trilogy" of "Sarah, Plain and Tall" stories. Of course, MacLachlan originally wrote only one story - and a short one at that - but CBS has a way of inspiring authors to dig deep for sequels they never dreamed of doing. (Larry McMurtry was similarly moved after the adaptation of his novel Lonesome Dove became a runaway hit mini-series for CBS.) Thus the tale of a flinty New Englander (Glenn Close) and the Flint Hills farmer who finds her through the classified ads (Christopher Walken), which first aired in 1991, spawned "Skylark" in 1993 and now, six years later, a second sequel. Close and Walken are joined by Jack Palance and Tony winner George Hearn for "Winter's End," airing at 8 p.m. Sunday on Channel 5. As the film opens, it is March 1918, or about nine years since the original "Sarah. " (The Hallmark series has aged in real time, allowing actors Lexi Randall and Christopher Bell, the older children, to grow up.) The rural Midwest is no longer so isolated from the rest of the world; halfway across the globe Kansans have been drawn into the seemingly endless bloodletting of World War I; closer to home, influenza is taking its toll. But at the farm of Sarah and Jacob Witting (Close and Walken), the most important crisis they and their family must confront - besides the inevitable storm, of course - is triggered by a mysterious stranger (Palance). As becomes obvious immediately, the white-haired fellow is Jacob's father, long estranged from the family and presumed dead until now. Despite Jacob's frosty reception of his deadbeat dad, you sense things in the end will work out - mostly because all those involved want things to work out. Like the two other films, "Winter's End" is a simple story, simply told by a fine children's author. And I don't think it will spoil anyone's Sunday night viewing to observe that these "Sarah" movies could keep going on forever, provided MacLachlan were still interested in writing the teleplays and Close and Walken were still available. (In keeping with the project's overall continuity, MacLachlan wrote this teleplay, and "Winter's End" was shot once again near Emporia, Kan.) Certainly CBS wouldn't mind. When this November ratings period is over, the three biggest hits will likely be: yet another revival of "Annie"; a 1950s game show concept, also revived; and this enduring story of family love and the power of hope. Like winter on the Plains, some things just never change. Two thoughts come immediately to mind when watching "Everest," the IMAX movie sensation adapted to the small screen and debuting 7 p.m. Sunday on TNT: I wonder how this looked on a five-story screen, and why am I having trouble pulling for these people? The bigger the screen, the better when viewing "Everest," which follows an ill-fated 1996 expedition up the world's highest mountain. Eight of the 50 climbers died near the summit in what was described as the region's worst blizzard in years. For all the spectacular beauty of a pristine slope - captured in all its vertical glory by "Everest" - it's an unsettling view. Most of the mountain footage is taken on brilliant, cloudless days; yet you know that a few young thrill-seekers are about to march voluntarily into the teeth of a killer storm on this same hill. "Everest" is not very long, meaning the story of the 1996 tragedy is compressed into what seems like an unjustly short time. For these two reasons, "Everest" seems surprisingly diminished in stature and this film an unsatisfying portrait of both its majesty and terror.

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Is it just a coincidence that A&E is devoting its schedule to professional wrestling - with a "Biography" (7 p.m.) on Jesse Ventura and a two-hour "Investigative Reports" on history's most famous grapplers - on a night when two other pro wrestling programs are on TV ("WCW Thunder" at 7:05 on TBS and "WWF Smackdown" at 7 on Channel 29)? Which is dumber: the average contestant on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (7:30 tonight, Channel 9) or the entire concept of "Greed: The Multi- Million Dollar Challenge" (8 tonight, Channel 4)? Is the November ratings sweep really only half over? >>>

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If you catch only one night of Ric Burns' exquisite five-night PBS miniseries "New York: A Documentary Film," make it tonight's Part 4, starting at 8 p.m. on Channel 19. It begins with the story of the Statue of Liberty's unofficial laureate Emma Lazarus - who never did get to see the Lady for whom her best-remembered poem was composed - and ends with the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911. In between, New York turns into a daisy patch of skyscrapers, as advances in architecture, coupled with Manhattan's firm tectonics, have builders aiming for the heavens. >>>

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If it weren't so cruel, this would make a good joke for the writers of "Dilbert": Their show - the Scott Adams comic strip in animated form - is the least-watched program on television. As such, "Dilbert," airing 7:30 tonight on Channel 29, is a candidate to join the WB's "Mission Hill" as the second prime-time cartoon to be pulled off the TV schedule this season. ("Mission Hill" is returning in the spring.) "Dilbert's" lead-in is doing a little better, which is unsettling news because it's "Shasta McNasty. " That "comedy" is so vile and misogynist it can only be compared with a slasher flick. On last week's episode, star Jake Busey wore a T-shirt with a sexually explicit message on it, which UPN's censors had to fuzz out on screen. Shouldn't someone have taken care of that before the cameras rolled?

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David Letterman's producers call Regis Philbin "the show saver" because the ageless Philbin can be counted on to barge into the studio on a moment's notice and make Letterman's demanding audience laugh. But now, with the incredible success of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," Philbin, its host, can rightly be called "the network saver." If tonight's show (at 7 on Channel 9) goes like the eight previous nights of "Millionaire," ABC will get a huge ratings lift from its "$ 64,000 Question" knock-off. But "Millionaire" signs off next Sunday, and that likely means a trip back to the ratings cellar for ABC a week from tonight for the hour preceding "Monday Night Football." >>>

Harter's 'Town' is a singular sensation in syndication

It took George Harter nearly 16 years to realize that his homespun Saturday-night radio show could be more than just a hobby. In 1980 Harter began doing his three-hour program of show tunes and film scores on classical station KXTR-FM (96.5), then owned by local businessman and philanthropist Robert P. Ingram. Because Ingram didn't subscribe to the Arbitron ratings service, Harter was never quite sure if he was entertaining more than his friends and the listeners who called his request line. After Ingram sold KXTR to Heritage Media in 1997, Harter finally got to peek at a ratings book - and was astounded to find his "Night on the Town" was one of the station's most-listened-to shows. Harter also began announcing his e-mail address on the air and was no less surprised to find his mailbox filled with messages from a new group of mostly younger listeners. That's when the wheels began to turn. "I researched and saw that no one else in the country was doing Broadway music on the radio," Harter said. "There are very few outlets for theater music on the radio anywhere." Harter thought "Night on the Town" could go national. But the idea took four years to come to fruition, and in that time Harter quit his well-paying job in industrial sales to work full time on the project. Last month a new one-hour syndicated version of "Night on the Town" began airing on 30 stations through the WFMT Fine Arts Radio Network of Chicago. (The network, Harter said, had been expecting only about half that number to take the program.) The number is now up to 34 stations, mostly noncommercial but also KXTR, where it airs at 9 p.m. Saturdays, followed, as usual, by Harter's local program. "Night on the Town" may even go international. Harter just got a call from one of WFMT's highest-brow clients: the BBC Arts Channel 2. To see playlists of upcoming broadcasts, go to www.voiceofbroadway.org. >>> KCABJ honors three The Kansas City Association of Black Journalists gave its annual Media Awards to representatives of three local TV stations at a ceremony Nov. 6. Dolores Quinn and Marci Pickard of KCPT, Channel 19, won for "A Kansas City Dialogue on Race," with anchor Kris Ketz of KMBC, Channel 9. KMBC's Natalie Moultrie won for news features, and Michelle Casas and Eric Schultz of KSHB, Channel 41 won for hard news. Ex-Q104 boss moves up Kathy Stinehour, who as general manager of KBEQ-FM (104.3) oversaw the station's switch to its successful "young country" format, has been tapped to head a new cluster of radio stations in Chicago. Stinehour, most recently general manager of KTJM-FM in New York, will manage six stations for AMFM Inc., including Chicago's top-rated music station, WGCI-FM. The cluster's future is somewhat uncertain as AMFM will need to sell off more than 100 stations to complete a $ 23.5 billion merger with Clear Channel Communications. KCPT's digital first A five-part KCPT series on the history of the arts in Kansas City will be the first station production done in a digital high-definition format. "Uniquely Kansas City" will air in May 2000. It will appear in conventional analog format on Channel 19 and in high-definition on Channel 18, the digital signal KCPT put on the air last year. Only a few hundred digital receivers have been sold in the Kansas City area, and if they tune to Channel 18 most nights, they see a standard loop of digital programs emanating from PBS headquarters in Virginia. That's because KCPT lacks the capacity at present to originate digital programs from its studios. As a result, "Uniquely Kansas City" will actually be fed to Channel 18 from Virginia. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com

Despite stodgy Stiers, 'New York' film flows

There are moments during "New York: A Documentary Film," the 12-hour PBS project from Ric Burns, Lisa Ades and James Sanders, when it seems the line separating solemnity and absurdity is about to disappear. Maybe it's the tone of David Ogden Stiers' voice as he narrates this 375-year survey of New York City history. Stiers, who sounds like he's trying to sound important, effects a clipped, pretentious sing-song not unlike how Major Charles Emerson Winchester might have read a script on "MASH." Then there are those adjectives. "Astonishing" comes up a lot during "New York," with "startling" not far behind. New Yorkers always seem to be doing something startling in an astonishing amount of time, or vice versa, with "dramatic" results "that would change New York forever," as if New Yorkers had a patent on irrevocable change. But ultimately "New York," airing on five consecutive nights at 8 on Channel 19 beginning Sunday, justifies its creators' sense of grandeur. And if the narrative is overblown at times, it never strays from the film's mission, which is to sketch, then outline, then paint in vibrant colors the modern New York we all recognize: a massive, wealth-making hive teeming with people from all nations, portal to the world and showcase of America's strengths and shortcomings. As the film makes clear from the outset, New York City was always set apart. Its location uniquely positioned it for colossal growth. When expansion stalled, some epochal figure always seemed to arrive on the scene to get it going again: Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor who brought order into the chaos that was New Amsterdam; DeWitt Clinton, builder of the Erie Canal and inarguably the greatest of New York's planners; Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park. And as the turnstile for generations of immigrants, New York redefined America as it continually reinvigorated itself. "New York's" finest moment is a dirgelike telling of the events leading up to the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911, which killed 146 garment workers. The segment will air Wednesday, along with an elegy to Emma Lazarus that includes a heart-wrenching rendition of her unforgettable poem now posted at the Statue of Liberty. The sixth and concluding part of the series will air in 2000. (See related story Page E-11.) Over on CBS, New York will not be venerated Sunday night so much as obliterated. I'm referring, of course, to "Aftershock: Earthquake in New York," which also begins at 8 p.m. Sunday and concludes at 8 p.m. Wednesday on Channel 5. An all-star cast watches helplessly as Manhattan buckles and heaves, raining skyscraper parts down on them. (See related story Page 11.) Robert Schimmel might be the most foul-mouthed comedian working today. Even when telling a few cleaned-up jokes to Conan O'Brien's audience at 12:30 a.m., you sense his jokes are just squeaking by the censor. Ironically, it's Schimmel's gift for the well-chosen non-four-letter word and his understated delivery that make him so effective. He talks about having sex the way Jerry Seinfeld might discuss a shopping trip gone awry. "Robert Schimmel: Unprotected," which will have its debut at 9 p.m. Saturday on HBO, is a version of a live performance Schimmel gave in Kalamazoo, Mich. Don't tell the kids, but it's a scream. "King of the Hill," desperately seeking those viewers it had during its first year on the air, rolls out a star-studded episode at 6:30 p.m. Sunday on Channel 4. Meryl Streep and Dixie Chicks supply voices to the football-themed effort, as does whatever-happened-to "Dandy" Don Meredith. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com

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TV's grand bazaar is upon us once more. Tonight is the start of the November "sweep," the first of three critical ratings periods for the networks. Tonight, David Schwimmer directs his first episode of "Friends" (7, Channel 41), and Dick Van Dyke is doing another of those 2-hour "Diagnosis Murder" time-killers (7, Channel 5). But what's really interesting is to watch networks scurrying to plug something into their least-watched time periods - trying practically anything to get people to watch. Thus ABC presents "20/20 Downtown" (9 p.m., Channel 9), a horrid little scandal rag that bears little resemblance to the buttoned-up newsmagazine with which it shares a name. And Fox has its usual batch of eye-grabbing specials, including something called "Greed: The Multi-Million Dollar Challenge" (7 p.m., Channel 4). An apt title for sweeps, don't you think? >>>

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With "South Park" as its lead-in, it should've figured that "The Man Show" - the crudest, most chauvinistic TV show allowed by law - would become a big hit for Comedy Central. So now it's back with all-new episodes beginning 9:30 tonight. Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla are the hosts; music is by that guy who can swig two beers in the time it takes to scratch yourself. Also tonight, "The Blues: In Performance at the White House" (9 p.m., Channel 19) features B.B. King, teen sensation Jonny Lang and Della Reese, the "Touched by an Angel" star who had a long career as a crooner before acting. (For you lucky few with digital TV sets, the show is airing on Channel 18 in high-def.) >>>

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It's not the biggest success story of the season, nor even of Tuesday night - that honor would belong to the feel-good rookie hit "Judging Amy" - but "That '70s Show" (7:30 p.m., Channel 4) is turning out to be one of the very few bright spots on Fox's schedule. If I may venture a guess why, it's not those 20-something actors trying to pretend they're teen-gers. It's the Formans, Red (Kurtwood Smith) and Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp), Topher Grace's sex-starved suburban parents. Among kids the obvious favorite is Fez (Wilmer Valderrama), the cheerfully clueless exchange student with Kramer-like tendencies. He spent last week's episode in a Batman costume, having recently discovered the wonderful rite of trick-or-treating. >>>

Howard Cosell gets his due in brilliant documentary HBO tells it like he was

Last week NBC sportscaster Jim Gray brought on the wrath of sports fans by grilling Pete Rose on live TV about Rose's application to have his lifetime ban from baseball lifted. To many who watched that unpleasant exchange, Gray was nasty, a show-off, overly opinionated and insufficiently respectful of someone who had (unlike him) played the game. Funny, that's what they said about Howard Cosell when I was a kid. In fact, the reaction to Gray - whose questions were no tougher than a good sportswriter would ask - reminded me of something I heard in a brilliant new HBO documentary on the career of Cosell. "The things people would accept in newspapers they were appalled by on television," says a voice in the opening to "Howard Cosell: Telling It Like It Is," debuting at 7 tonight on HBO. And no one knew that better than Cosell, a tough-minded, self-centered, absolute original who for 21 years - from his first interview with fighter Cassius Clay to the cancellation of his ABC program "SportsBeat" - dominated sports journalism in a way no one had or probably will again. Cosell loved sports and he loved conflict, and once he got on a microphone he made sportscasting relevant, made it crackle with an electricity it hadn't had before. It was more than that easily recognized, often parodied voice. More than anyone else, Cosell helped tear open the hermetic seal that had kept professional athletes in a bubble, away from the troubles of the outside world. The HBO special is a remarkable document of the Cosell era, remarkable in its use of archival video, in the range of opinions its producers have collected about Cosell and in their understanding of the cruel paradox that encompassed his career: That the more famous Cosell became, the less influential he was on the issues that he cared most about. Born Howard William Cohen in 1918 (his father later changed the family name to Cosell), he grew up a sports-crazy kid in Brooklyn but dutifully got his law degree and opened a successful practice. As his daughters Jill and Hilary attest in "Telling It Like It Is," the athletes their father admired the most were Jackie Robinson and Curt Flood. Cosell embraced the young heavyweight champion Cassius Clay, took an interest in his Black Muslim activities, called him Muhammad Ali when most journalists were still calling him Clay, and defended Ali's right to the due process he was denied after refusing to fight in the Vietnam War. "Cosell was unafraid about race," says journalist Maury Allen. He had to be, just to withstand the cartons of hate mail and the profane, threatening phone calls that would come to his house. By the time Roone Arledge tapped him to be the third man in the booth on "Monday Night Football" in 1970, Cosell was already one of the most reviled and admired people on TV. With "Monday Night Football," Cosell got the chance to show the world something else: He was unparalleled as a sportscaster, quite possibly the best there ever was. Tonight you'll see Cosell supplying the voice to the Sunday highlights that were a halftime staple of "Monday Night Football." He did them in a single take, with only a few notes from his producers; the script came off the top of his head, in flawless, high-octane sentences. Let's see an hour of those sometime on ESPN Classic. (The documentary does not add that Cosell also delivered his daily radio commentary, "Speaking of Sports," without any notes at all.) If there is a flaw in this documentary it is in its over-reliance on the insights of Al Michaels, the current "Monday Night" announcer who, along with NBC's Bob Costas, embodies the modern sportscaster: glib, with a fleck of attitude, a hint of personality and very little meaningful to say. To this day Michaels is remembering for screaming, "Do you believe in miracles? " at the end of the 1980 Olympic hockey match between the U.S. and the Soviets. But in a 1973 heavyweight title fight in Kingston, Jamaica, between Joe Frazier and George Foreman, Cosell blurted out three words that make Michaels' utterance seem like an advertising jingle. Cosell, ever the contrarian, had picked the young contender Foreman to knock out Smokin' Joe. But not even he had counted on such a furious opening. The two men came out and traded blows as though it were a one-round fight. And then - "Down goes Frazier! " Suddenly, Frazier was on the mat. Cosell responded viscerally. "Down goes Frazier! " He said it a third time. "Down goes Frazier! " As ABC producer Lou Volpicelli points out, "Anybody could say that - but the way he said it was the story." The HBO special includes the fight and the call. The effect, at least for this sports-crazy viewer, is positively moving. "Howard in Jamaica is an opera," we hear comedian Billy Crystal say. "It's a phenomenal, phenomenal performance by an announcer." Unfortunately, Cosell wanted to be more than just the best sportscaster. He also wanted to be the best evening newscaster and, time permitting, a movie star as well. He used to say, "I am the biggest name in show business today! " He even had his own prime-time variety show - briefly. His fame so overshadowed his other achievements that by the time Cosell referred to the Washington Redskins' Alvin Garrett in 1983 as "that little monkey," it caused a furor. Many observers, deliberately or not, overlooked Cosell's sterling record on civil rights. The Rev. Joseph Lowery of the Southern Christian Leadership Council and others demanded an apology. Cosell being Cosell, none was forthcoming. On this charge, "Telling It Like It Is" exonerates Cosell. Besides a host of reputable witnesses, who note that Cosell often used that phrase, the producers have found a clip of a 1972 preseason game between the Chiefs and New York Giants in which Cosell calls another player "that little monkey. " Only this time the player is white: Mike Adamle, the pint-sized scrambler for the Chiefs, now a sportscaster. But by 1983 the end was in sight. Disgusted with pro boxing, fed up with football and probably feeling the effects of a debilitating heart condition, Cosell slinked away from ABC in 1985. He wrote a scathing memoir that was filled with trenchant analysis of the state of professional sports but is remembered mainly for all the potshots Cosell took at his "Monday Night" cohorts. After his wife, Emmy, died in 1990, Cosell lived in almost constant grief. He blamed himself for being in Kansas City at a speaking engagement the night of her death. He passed away in 1995, far removed from the field he had not occupied so much as contained and controlled. Who follows in Cosell's footsteps today? Bryant Gumbel, who begins his new morning gig at CBS today, says his hard-hitting HBO program "Real Sports" is a tribute to Cosell. Chris Berman says the same about the football highlights he barks out on ESPN. Jim Gray could even be said to descend from the Cosell tradition of unapologetic pursuit of the facts. A shame, though, that NBC doesn't send him after more deserving targets than Pete Rose. For starters, they could put Gray in a room with baseball commissioner Bud Selig and not turn off the camera until Selig has explained why it is that only a handful of African-Americans are in baseball management, and even fewer Central and Latin Americans. That would be telling it like it is. To reach Aaron Barnhart, television writer for The Star, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com >>>