Doing battle along the 'Digital Divide'

I assumed that "Digital Divide," a four-week series beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday on KCPT (Channel 19), would be one of those periodic looks into the disparity between those well-to-do communities where every student has two computers - one at home, one at school - and those where having a single Internet-equipped PC in the classroom is considered a great step forward. "Digital Divide" is partly about that. But it is also about other divides: between computer-savvy kids and teachers who resent the intrusion of "life-sucking electronic boxes"; between teachers who have thrown their lot with technology and those who want computers far away from the classroom; between boys, for whom a great deal of technology is geared, and girls left to fend for themselves at Barbie.com. We visit a school in a not so well-to-do part of Silicon Valley. Generous donations from computer empires have the building stocked with PCs. But there's been little training, so the kids go it alone while their teachers look on unhappily. One of them grumbles, "A video game that teaches you to add and subtract is still a video game." At a school in Philadelphia, however, not only are the teachers trained - they are told they never have to use anything they've learned about computers on their students. The ploy has its intended effects. Subsequent weeks of "Digital Divide" will show how race, gender and educational institution often determine the quality of training one gets in technology. Two new characters descend on "The Sopranos" at 9 p.m. Sunday on HBO. One is a scary associate of Uncle Junior's named Richie Aprile (played by David Proval, who broke into the movies as Tony in "Mean Streets"). Richie has just finished serving a 10-year prison sentence, and around the old neighborhood everyone comments on how tan and trim he looks. He's into yoga and meditation. He's also brutally eager to get back his piece of the action - and perhaps seek revenge for the killing of his brother Jackie (part of last season's bloody denouement). Richie starts by cold-cocking someone with an everyday restaurant item. By episode's end his upward mobility will send a chill through nearly everyone. And yet, this being "The Sopranos," there will be a wild card - a very wild card, indeed: Tony's sister Janice (Aida Turturro), who dated Richie 20 years ago. There's also an amazing game of parental poker involving Tony (James Gandolfini), Carmela (Edie Falco) and Meadow (Jamie Lynn Sigler) after Meadow throws a party that gets out of hand. Tony and Carmela know she should be punished, but as they talk over their options in private, they realize Meadow is holding all the cards. What's so engaging about these scenes is that no one ever points out the obvious: Given Tony's many indiscretions and Carmela's acquiescence to them, what right have they to ride herd on their kids? And Tony's relationship with his estranged shrink, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), will take a not-unexpected turn, thanks to her shrink, played by Peter Bogdanovich. Once again, Cartoon Network cleverly repackages classic cartoons into a Super Bowl parody with "Road Runner vs. Coyote: Big Game XXVIII." Don't let the Roman numerals fool you; it's only Year II for this four-hour special, which airs at 5 p.m. Saturday and again at noon Sunday. Pat Summerall and John Madden supply play-by-play for the big matchup, Len Dawson and the rest of HBO's "Inside the NFL" supply analysis and CNN/SI's Jim Huber does a tongue-in-cheek expose of Acme, the company that sold Wile E. Coyote all those would-be Road Runner traps. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit TV Barn at www.tvbarn.com @ART CAPTION:Siglar @ART:Photo