The King assassination takes center stage on ABC tonight.
"Friends" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- Monica (Courteney Cox) runs into ex-boyfriend Richard (Tom Selleck) at the video store. Can passion be renewed? (If you saw this episode when it first aired back in January, don't spoil it for everyone else by giving away the ending.) NBC.
"Charlie Rose" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., MPT, Channels 22 and 67) -- Cal Ripken Jr. sits down for a chat about things Baltimore, things baseball and things literate. PBS.
"New York Undercover" (9 p.m.-10 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- Racial unrest threatens to boil over in this repeat from August (first of a two-parter). A black man is fingered as a suspect in a series of church bombings in Harlem, and G's (George Gore II) prejudice against whites is stoked by the failure of his friendship with a white classmate. Fox.
"Turning Point" (10 p.m.-11 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- Forrest Sawyer looks at the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and tries to get to the bottom of the various conspiracy theories that have been developing ever since. Included are interviews with King's son, Dexter, who says he has seen evidence that will "vindicate" convicted assassin James Earl Ray; King's widow, Coretta Scott King, who says the FBI sent her tapes in 1965 of an alleged liaison between her husband and another woman; Ray's attorney, William Pepper, who insists the government was responsible for King's murder; and a trio of witnesses to the assassination: Memphis minister Billy Kyles, King aide Andrew Young and former New York Times reporter Earl Caldwell. ABC.
"ER" (10 p.m.-11 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- Man, I hate those last-minute schedule changes. This episode, which was supposed to air last Thursday, was bumped instead to today. So let's try again: Benton (Eriq La Salle) meets an old friend, Carla (Lisa Nicole Carson), at his sister's barbecue in this repeat of September's third-season opener. That meeting, as faithful "ER" viewers know, would result in a baby that played a key role in last month's season-ender. NBC.
Cable
"Breaking Through: Our Turn To Play" (7 p.m.-8 p.m., Lifetime) -- Title IX was supposed to ensure equality for men's and women's collegiate sports when it was passed in 1972. As this Lifetime production, with host Geena Davis, shows, women's sports have come a long way, but they're not there yet. The other side -- opponents of Title IX and college officials who have resisted its implementation -- should have been interviewed more, but a segment about the Syracuse wrestling team, which was abolished when university officials opted against expanding women's sports offerings, helps balance things. Also included is the amazing story of Howard University women's basketball coach Sanya Tyler, who sued for discrimination -- and won -- when her office was moved into a windowless, un-air-conditioned closet (the temperature rose as high as 113 degrees) and her salary was slashed by $22,000.
"Saturday Night Fever" (8 p.m.-10: 30 p.m., TNT) -- One of film critic Gene Siskel's favorite films. Fifty years from now, this is the movie film buffs will watch to find out what life was like in the '70s. Few of us could dance like John Travolta, but hey, we could at least play the records.
Pub Date: 6/19/97