Afghan-American's trip is riveting

In "Inshallah," Suraya Sadeed recalls falling apart after the death of her husband. It was when the Afghan-American returned to her homeland after a 15-year absence that she got her wakeup call. "I was so selfish," she recalls. "I thought my pain was the biggest pain. It wasn't." "Inshallah," airing at 8 p.m. Sunday on Oxygen, tells the story of this remarkable woman, a warrior in her own right, who battles sexism, corruption and bureaucracy to bring relief to some of Afghanistan's most impoverished people. Shadowed by filmmaker Randall Scerbo, Sadeed visits refugee camps and hospitals and fights for better conditions. What she lacks in money she makes up for with fortitude and charm. She drives a hard bargain with a supplier of tents, telling him, "This is not the UN. We have little money." Eventually he agrees to supply hundreds of tents to refugee families in the camps. Sadeed uses humor and flattery to get what she wants from chauvinistic officials. Sidetracked by hard-line Taliban in Kabul, she is aided by what Scerbo calls "a more moderate faction" of Taliban. (They must actually exist.) This film is more complex and humanistic than "Beneath the Veil," the Peabody-winning documentary that CNN aired a bunch of times following the Sept. 11 attacks. "Inshallah," filmed both before and after Sept. 11, does not try to assign blame for Afghanistan's troubles. It simply and powerfully makes the case that without our help, we all share in the shame of that country's continued misery. Viacom, television's answer to the Junior League Thrift Store, has already taken old episodes of "American Bandstand" and "The Arsenio Hall Show" off the rack, pulled out the musical numbers and spruced them up as retro-tainment for its VH1 network. Now the Rhinestone Cowboy gets the same treatment. "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" features musical segments that aired on the old CBS show by the same name. The program will air at 9 p.m. Tuesdays on another Viacom property, CMT. In 1967 Campbell had begun appearing on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour." In 1968 he filled in while the controversial comics took the summer off, and then, nine days after Richard Nixon took office, Campbell started his own weekly series. Not long afterward, the nervous Nellies at CBS, wishing to incur as little of the new president's wrath as possible, cancelled "Smothers Brothers" and gave "Glen Campbell" its old time slot. Hey, doesn't Viacom own half of Comedy Central? Wouldn't it be great if they repackaged old "Smothers Brothers" hours and aired them after "The Daily Show"? I'd only make one minor change to the format: Cut out the musical numbers and leave in everything else. I must put in a good word for Graham Norton's naughty talk show even though it's on a channel most of you don't get. "So Graham Norton" returns to the lineup of BBC America at 10 p.m. Friday as part of a new all-comedy lineup that includes "Absolutely Fabulous" at 8 and the sitcom "Coupling," the BBC's answer to "Friends," at 9:20. (BBC America is available only to digital cable subscribers. It's Channel 236 on Time Warner.) Describing the Norton experience is not easy. When he goes to commercial, you can be pretty sure things won't be the same when he comes back. Costume and set changes are common. Sometimes Norton will capriciously shove his guests into the background and call up someone on the phone. Or torment audience members. One thing's for sure: "So Graham Norton" isn't for kids (hence the TV-MA rating). But it's a stitch, and Norton gets more mileage out of C-list guests (Patrick Duffy, Sheena Easton) than anybody. I wasn't sure what to make after last week's jittery premiere of "The Court," the ABC drama starring Sally Field as a Supreme Court justice. But I've seen this week's episode (airing 9 p.m. Tuesday on Channel 9), and it's much better. The show seems to be settling into a groove. Which is too bad since ABC is airing "The Court" for only four more weeks after this. Then "Philly" will return and the fake Supremes will be in recess until at least the fall. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. RECOMMENDED SHOWS TUESDAY: "The Court," 9 p.m., ABC (Channel 9) FRIDAY: "So Graham Norton," 10 p.m., BBC America SUNDAY: "Inshallah," 8 p.m., Oxygen