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Thursday, October 20
ER Edgy comic John Leguizamo joins the staff of County General as a replacement for Noah Wyle, the last departing member of the original cast. Third Rock From The Sun’s Kristen Johnson ‘s another new recruit for the long-running medical drama’s 12th season. 9:55 pm on NBC/CTV
THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN The gap-toothed Hoosier introduces Uma Thurman to Melissa Etheridge , plugging her Hurricane Katrina charity download single. 11:35 pm on CBS
Friday, October 21
AUSTIN CITY LIMITS Sets from Canadian country rocker Kathleen Edwards performing from her sophomore release, Back To Me, and bluegrass vets Alison Krauss and Union Station banging out numbers from their Lonely Runs Both Ways CD. Midnight on PBS
SOUNDSTAGE: JOSS STONE IN CONCERT The barefoot teen idol gets shown the true meaning of soul when the legendary Mavis Staples joins her for a medley of Staple Singers’ hits. 1 am on PBS
Saturday, October 22
TUCKERVILLE Colourful country singer Tanya Tucker opens the doors of her 500-acre Nashville spread to a film crew to record her biggest career challenge yet: being a mom to kids Layla, Grayson and diva-in-training Presley. 10 pm on TLC, repeated at 1 am
Sunday, October 23
BREAKFAST WITH THE ARTS Fifties Hollywood hunk Tab Hunter discusses his just-published autobiography that reveals his not-so-secret homosexuality, Kevin Bacon talks about his role in Atom Egoyan ‘s Where The Truth Lies, and Grammy-nominated sitarist Anoushka Shankar and R&B belter Solomon Burke perform. 8 am on A&E
SURPLUS Set to a bangin’ techno soundtrack, Erik Gandini ‘s documentary examination of worldwide consumerism, filmed in the wake of 2001’s Genoa G8 riots, has been called Adbusters transferred to film. Midnight on TVO, repeated 1:05 am Wednesday
Monday, October 24
KINSEY The American Experience series profiles Alfred Kinsey , the little-known biology professor who compiled and published the explosive, best-selling Kinsey Reports on human sexuality in the 40s. Interviews with his research assistants, his children and people who took his sex questionnaire reveal how his personal life shaped his discoveries. 9 pm on PBS
SIGNPOST TO FREEDOM Documentary recreates the Baton Rouge bus boycott of 1953, the first large-scale challenge to racial segregation in U.S. history, a significant action that influenced Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. and sparked the civil rights movement. 10:30 pm on PBS
Tuesday, October 25
IN THE LIFE: EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY Original host and political humorist Kate Clinton looks back on 13 years of the popular gay and lesbian omnibus, an Emmy Award-winning series. 10 pm on PBS
Wednesday, October 26
THE JAZZ SESSIONS Avant-garde jazz-funk guitarist James Blood Ulmer in concert. 6:30 am on Bravo
CEMETERY SPECIAL There’s more to a graveyard than a bunch of dead bodies and dirt. This light-hearted Halloween doc travels the U.S. from Key West to Alaska in search of burial grounds built for celebration instead of grief. 8 pm on PBS