Brett Butler

Brett Butler, a tough comedian made famous by both her Southern drawl and sardonic wit, will perform today through Sunday at the Baltimore Improv (tickets are $20-$22) and Monday at the Birchmere in Alexandria (tickets are $25). Now clean and sober after years of substance abuse, Butler, star of the 1990s sitcom Grace Under Fire, chatted with LIVE from her home in Los Angeles and took stock of life, one laugh at a time. Of all of the things that you have done -- sitcoms, stand-up comedy and writing -- what is your favorite?

Brett Butler, a tough comedian made famous by both her Southern drawl and sardonic wit, will perform today through Sunday at the Baltimore Improv (tickets are $20-$22) and Monday at the Birchmere in Alexandria (tickets are $25). Now clean and sober after years of substance abuse, Butler, star of the 1990s sitcom Grace Under Fire, chatted with LIVE from her home in Los Angeles and took stock of life, one laugh at a time. Of all of the things that you have done -- sitcoms, stand-up comedy and writing -- what is your favorite?

BaseballBoston Red Sox -- Signed 1B Jack Clark (.266, 25 HRs, 62 RBI for San Diego Padres) to a 3-year, $8.7 million contract. Traded P Wes Gardner (3-7, 4.89 ERA) to the San Diego Padres for minor-league 1B-OF Steve Hendricks and P Brad Hoyer. Assigned Hendricks to Class AA New Britain and Hoyer to Class A Lynchburg.Los Angeles Dodgers -- Signed OF Brett Butler (.309, 3 HRs, 44 RBI for San Francisco Giants) to a 3-year contract worth $10 million. Released P Ray Searage.Texas Rangers -- Signed IF Mario Diaz to a Class AAA contrac and assigned him to Oklahoma City.

WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT Some people thrive in desk jobs. Pro wrestlers do. Sort of. They like to see desks crashing down on somebody's back. Now you can crash their workspace Saturday when World Wrestling Entertainment's "Tour of Defiance" comes to the Baltimore Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St. The show, which begins at 5 p.m., brings some of the biggest and baddest stars of wrestling into one ring. Don't miss all your Smackdown! favorites tagging off in a show of brawn, stunts and tenacity.

ABC, tired for the moment of plugging Disney World on its shows, goes for the next best thing: this time, it's off to Vega$! Excited? Me neither."Grace Under Fire" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- Brett Butler and company start off the high-rolling evening, as Grace accompanies her mother-in-law to Vegas and is mildly disturbed when the older woman finds both a new love and a new place to live. Somehow, Drew Carey, Jerry Van Dyke of "Coach" and Joely Fisher and Jeremy Piven of "Ellen" work their way into the plot.

Two new sitcoms are unveiled by ABC tonight -- and if that fact doesn't exactly send you scurrying with anticipation to your TV set, maybe it's because "Joe's Life" and "Grace Under Fire" are the 16th and 17th new sitcom premieres of the season. And the season began officially only last week. Be that as it may: of tonight's two, one is worth watching, and it isn't "Joe's Life."* "Country Music Association Awards" (8 to 11 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- These are the 27th annual awards, and the event has gotten so big, and so uptown, that there aren't even any "fun" song titles any more.

Get out your 20-20 hindsight glasses. The second (and final) meeting of the Baltimore Orioles chapter of second guessers is hereby called to order. The topic: hitters. The Orioles outfield is in disarray. Andy Van Slyke, Matt Nokes and Damon Buford (who was sent to the minors Friday) have hit a combined .114 with four home runs and 13 RBI. This week's selection is a review of the hitters the Orioles could have signed.CHARACTERS ........ COMMENTJay Buhner -- UP -- This guy wasn't worth $18 million.

Part of the attempted cure for Brett Butler's throat cancer might ultimately keep him sidelined from baseball for good.The Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder, who began the fifth of six scheduled weeks of radiation Butler treatments in Atlanta on Monday, said the surgery doctors performed to remove potentially cancerous lymph nodes from his neck May 21 might have caused nerve damage in his right shoulder."

It looks like the best offering on TV tonight is "Saturday Night Live" -- and how long has it been since that happened? It's partly because R.E.M. is on "SNL," and partly because it's such a slow night.* "Sweet Justice" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., Channel 2) -- NBC is doing everything it can to dress up this two-hour episode of "Sweet Justice." It's given it a new title -- "Love Kills" -- a lot of promotion, and then quickly referring to it as a "special 'Sweet Justice' movie." A series episode, by any other name, is just that, even during the November sweeps.

This could be a memorable night for at least two Orioles.Arthur Rhodes, the rookie lefthander recently recalled from Double A Hagerstown, will make his second major-league start and first at Memorial Stadium when he opposes the Toronto Blue Jays' Juan Guzman (4-2) in the second game of the three-part series.Joe Orsulak will attempt to tie an Oriole record by hitting in his 22nd consecutive game. His 21-gamer ranks only behind Eddie Murray's string in 1982 and Doug DeCinces' streak that reached from late 1978 to early 1979.

ABC, tired for the moment of plugging Disney World on its shows, goes for the next best thing: this time, it's off to Vega$! Excited? Me neither."Grace Under Fire" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- Brett Butler and company start off the high-rolling evening, as Grace accompanies her mother-in-law to Vegas and is mildly disturbed when the older woman finds both a new love and a new place to live. Somehow, Drew Carey, Jerry Van Dyke of "Coach" and Joely Fisher and Jeremy Piven of "Ellen" work their way into the plot.

Part of the attempted cure for Brett Butler's throat cancer might ultimately keep him sidelined from baseball for good.The Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder, who began the fifth of six scheduled weeks of radiation Butler treatments in Atlanta on Monday, said the surgery doctors performed to remove potentially cancerous lymph nodes from his neck May 21 might have caused nerve damage in his right shoulder."

Guest stars from familiar places provide the interest in a number of repeats tonight. In addition, CBS News returns to the scene of one its early triumphs to update conditions among migrant workers in America.* "Mad About You" (8 p.m.-8:30 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- If the agent for animal actors in this repeat seems familiar, think "android" -- it's Brent Spiner, Commander Data of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." In the episode, Paul (Paul Reiser) puts his dog, Murray, into a commercial.

Planners envisioned the Pride of Baltimore as a museum re-creation that would float placidly at an Inner Harbor dock. Instead, the two ships that have born the name Pride of Baltimore have sailed the globe, as shown in a nice documentary tonight.* "The Pride: Legacy of the Baltimore Clipper" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- Station news anchors Donna Hamilton and Virg Jacques present a captivating film, released last year as a membership premium of the Pride of Baltimore Foundation. It charts the history of Baltimore's goodwill ambassadors, including some pretty vivid survivor accounts of the 1986 sinking of the first Pride of Baltimore off Bermuda, in which four crew members lost their lives.

Get out your 20-20 hindsight glasses. The second (and final) meeting of the Baltimore Orioles chapter of second guessers is hereby called to order. The topic: hitters. The Orioles outfield is in disarray. Andy Van Slyke, Matt Nokes and Damon Buford (who was sent to the minors Friday) have hit a combined .114 with four home runs and 13 RBI. This week's selection is a review of the hitters the Orioles could have signed.CHARACTERS ........ COMMENTJay Buhner -- UP -- This guy wasn't worth $18 million.

The Orioles' bid for free-agent center fielder Brett Butler -- believed to be about $1 million for one year -- became futile when the New York Mets gave him a one-year, $2 million contract yesterday.Orioles assistant general manager Frank Robinson said the club wants to add another veteran outfielder, and Butler was, at the least, one of the best available."We didn't want to see him sign for a relatively low price without putting in a bid for him," Robinson said, "and then go, 'Oh, wow!' after it happens."

Guest stars from familiar places provide the interest in a number of repeats tonight. In addition, CBS News returns to the scene of one its early triumphs to update conditions among migrant workers in America.* "Mad About You" (8 p.m.-8:30 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- If the agent for animal actors in this repeat seems familiar, think "android" -- it's Brent Spiner, Commander Data of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." In the episode, Paul (Paul Reiser) puts his dog, Murray, into a commercial.

Planners envisioned the Pride of Baltimore as a museum re-creation that would float placidly at an Inner Harbor dock. Instead, the two ships that have born the name Pride of Baltimore have sailed the globe, as shown in a nice documentary tonight.* "The Pride: Legacy of the Baltimore Clipper" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- Station news anchors Donna Hamilton and Virg Jacques present a captivating film, released last year as a membership premium of the Pride of Baltimore Foundation. It charts the history of Baltimore's goodwill ambassadors, including some pretty vivid survivor accounts of the 1986 sinking of the first Pride of Baltimore off Bermuda, in which four crew members lost their lives.

It looks like the best offering on TV tonight is "Saturday Night Live" -- and how long has it been since that happened? It's partly because R.E.M. is on "SNL," and partly because it's such a slow night.* "Sweet Justice" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., Channel 2) -- NBC is doing everything it can to dress up this two-hour episode of "Sweet Justice." It's given it a new title -- "Love Kills" -- a lot of promotion, and then quickly referring to it as a "special 'Sweet Justice' movie." A series episode, by any other name, is just that, even during the November sweeps.

Can you "Stand" it? The third part of Stephen King's macabre miniseries is presented tonight, along with one other spooky TV entries: a late-night repeat of "Life and Loves of a She-Devil."* "In the Heat of the Night." (8-9 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- For the season finale of this show, Carroll O'Connor's guest stars include Peter Fonda, who plays a Jim Jones-like cult leader. Who would have thought, back in the '60s, that the star of "Easy Rider" would show up on a '90s TV cop show? Or, for that matter, that the star of "Barbarella" would be making exercise videos and doing the chop at Atlanta Braves games?