Rating: NNNNN
Thursday, October 21
STUPIDITY With commentary from John Cleese , Rick Mercer , Noam Chomsky , David Frum , Salma Hayek and Michael Moore , this award-winning doc investigates the deliberate dumbing-down of society. Hey, it works for Dubya! 10 pm on Newsworld, repeated at 1 and 4 am
Friday, October 22
GENIUS: A NIGHT FOR RAY CHARLES In advance of next week’s release of the Jamie Foxx-starring biopic, this tribute to the late rhythm & blues star features performances by Norah Jones , Elton John , Stevie Wonder , Mary J. Blige , Usher and, er, Bruce Willis . 9 pm on CBS
THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK Harvey Fierstein THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK Harvey Fierstein
narrates this 1984 doc about the one of the first openly gay politicians to hold office in the U.S. His murder by a San Francisco colleague was partially blamed on the defendant’s consumption of Twinkies and other junk food. 1:30 am on TVO
Saturday, October 23
WORLD SERIES The first game of baseball’s battle royale. Let’s go, Blue Jays! What? They’re not in it? 7:30 pm on Fox/Sportsworld
TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS This new make-over show gets experts in design, branding and management to overhaul a failing concern, tonight a sporting goods store in upstate New York. 10 pm on TLC, repeated at 1 am
Sunday, October 24
BANDS REUNITED VH-1 series attempts to reconcile bitter former bandmates and convince them to play a reunion concert. This episode, ABC , the long-split 80s UK rockers responsible for the hits Poison Arrow and Look Of Love, kiss and make up. 8 pm on MuchMoreMusic, repeated at 5 pm Tuesday, 7 and 11 pm Wednesday
AMERICA’S UGLIEST BATHROOMS AMERICA’S UGLIEST BATHROOMS
The Daily Show’s Mo Rocca, Trading Spaces’ D’ugh Wilson and What Not To Wear’s Stacy London isolate the skankiest johns in the Union and turn them into the Taj Mahals of toilets. 10 pm on TLC, repeated at midnight and 9 pm Wednesday
Monday, October 25
THE SWAN The second season of plastic surgery, liposuction and psychological readjustment. The twist: only after three months of living together in a house free of mirrors do the beauty pageant’s 18 ugly ducklings get to see the results. In front of a baying studio audience on TV, of course. Loathsome. 8 pm on Fox/CHCH
THE ADVENTURE OF ENGLISH THE ADVENTURE OF ENGLISH
South Bank Show presenter Melvyn Bragg hosts this first of an eight-part series investigating the development and spread of the Queen’s English. Episode one: invading Germans introduce their guttural dialect to fifth-century Celtic Britain. 10 pm on TVO, repeated October 26 at 1:30 am
Tuesday, October 26
Cost of Freedom: Civil Liberties, Security & The USA Patriot Act One-hour program examines the U.S. government’s far-reaching security measures implemented after the terrorist acts of September 11 and looks at recurrent tensions between security and civil liberties throughout American history. 10:30 pm on PBS, repeated at 4:30 am
Wednesday, October 27
THE NEW ROSWELL: KECKSBURG EXPOSED Government investigators claim it was a meteor shower, but Pennsylvania firefighters who responded to the 1965 incident insist it was a covered-up UFO crash. 8 pm on Discovery, repeated at 1 am
