Blue Glow

Salon's TV picks for Wednesday, June 9, 1999

Published June 9, 1999 4:00PM (EDT)

Series

Republican presidential hopeful George W. Bush is the subject of a new Biography (8 p.m. EDT/9 PDT, A&E). Great Performances (check local times, PBS) presents "'Turandot' at the Forbidden City," a 1998 staging of Puccini's opera inside Beijing's Forbidden City, the first such staging by a foreign company. Zubin Mehta conducts. The Sopranos (9 p.m., HBO) begins reruns of its first 13 episodes, in order. This darkly comic Mafia/family drama is pretty amazing, the best, most ambitious series TV has to offer. But we told you so, way back in January. Newcomers, welcome aboard. Starring James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Steve Van Zandt, Dominic Chianese and the formidable Nancy Marchand as Mama Livia. The new sci-fi "limited series" Crusade (10 p.m., TNT) premieres. What's a limited series? A fancy word for a summer replacement. The latest from "Babylon 5" creator J. Michael Straczynski, "Crusade" stars Gary Cole as the biblically named Capt. Matthew Gideon, who leads a mission to find a cure for an alien plague that threatens to wipe out life on Earth.

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Sports

NBA playoffs:

Knicks at Pacers, Game 5 (9 p.m., NBC)

Baseball:

Mariners at Rockies (7:30 p.m., ESPN)

Rangers at Dodgers (10:30 p.m., ESPN)

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Talk

Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) Dan Rather, Margaret Cho

David Letterman (CBS) Christine Lahti, Timothy Hutton, Ben Lee

Jay Leno (NBC) Kate Hudson, Enrique Iglesias

Charlie Rose (PBS) Juliette Binoche

Politically Incorrect (ABC) Attorney Geoffrey Feiger, Marion Ross

Conan O'Brien (NBC) Rachel Griffiths, Upright Citizen Brigade


By Joyce Millman

Joyce Millman is a writer living in the Bay Area.

MORE FROM Joyce Millman


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