Tube Notes
By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service
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TONIGHT'S MUST-SEES
"Batman Begins" (2005, 4 p.m.) and "30 Days" (7 p.m., repeating at 8 p.m.), FX. First, the cable channel throws in a big-budget movie. "Batman Begins" was directed by Christopher Nolan (a favorite of critics via "Memento"). He also did this summer's "The Dark Knight"; both have Christian Bale as Batman and Michael Caine as Alfred. Then "30 Days" has Ray Crockett — a former pro-football cornerback — spend a month in a wheelchair. Crockett (whose Detroit Lions teammate Mike Utley was paralyzed by a football injury) brings a quiet warmth. Especially moving are his relationships with two young paraplegics, one a wheelchair veteran.
Basketball, 3 p.m. Hawai'i time (9 p.m. ET), with preview at 2:30 p.m. and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" at 7 p.m. Here's the third game of the best-of-seven series with the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. The first two were in Boston; now comes LA.
OF NOTE
"Not Going Out," 2:40 p.m., BBC America/KHON, digital 341. There's fun here, as Lee tries acupuncture and Kate learns to drive.
"NCIS," 7 p.m., CBS. A Marine has been killed in a small town. Before the NCIS team gets there, local authorities have messed up the scene.
"Moment of Truth," 7 p.m., and "Hell's Kitchen," 8 p.m., Fox. Here is the emotional equivalent of snuff TV. In "Truth," Fox seems proud that it will get a paramedic to say he's lied on a report; it will also ask if he improperly touched a female patient and if he finds fat people repulsive. In "Kitchen," the five survivors teach glamorous women who can't cook. Also, Gordon Ramsay shouts a lot.
"Hairspray" (2007), 5:30 p.m., HBO. Director Adam Shankman turned the Broadway musical into a dandy romp. Nikki Blonsky is great in the lead; John Travolta is adequate (barely) as her mom.
"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," 8 and 9 p.m., NBC. In the first rerun, a teacher (Melissa Joan Hart) is accused of seducing a 15-year-old guy in her class. In the second, a mentally challenged girl is the only witness to the brutal beating of her mother.