Cable Channel

Baltimore's Barry Levinson is the subject of this month's edition of "The Directors" series premiering tonight on the Encore cable channel. And, while the profile is not an especially informed or balanced look at the man or his body of work, it is entertaining, thanks largely to Robin Williams. Williams, who starred in Levinson's 1987 film "Good Morning, Vietnam," is far from the only star interviewed. The lineup of actors willing to go on camera and talk about working with Levinson includes Dustin Hoffman, Annette Bening, Woody Harrelson, Anne Heche and Paul Reiser.

The more uncertain the times, the more we love games. The pattern is so consistent - stretching back through history to the TV quiz shows of the 1950s and radio giveaways of the 1930s - that it is practically a given in American popular culture. So it's not surprising that television screens these days are filled with games of poker and blackjack, while quiz shows like Jeopardy break ratings records as we ride a roller-coaster economy in the wake of 9/11. Word Wars, a documentary that follows the fortunes of four men who are consumed by Scrabble, speaks to our heightened interest in games with insight, sensitivity and a certain fondness for the neuroses that make us both winners and fools.

The relationship between some members of the Baltimore Ravens and the community runs deeper than just on-field victories. And Friday, the USA cable channel features one of the those players, linebacker Jameel McClain, in a film about the way he reached out to a homeless boy in our city. "NFL Characters Unite," an hour-long documentary of professional football players sharing stories of obstacles they have overcome, features Justin Tuck (New York Giants), Troy Polamalu (Pittsburgh Steelers)

UPDATES WITH HOUSEHOLDS AND PEOPLE WATCHING: The Baltimore's Orioles Thursday night earned their highest rating in MASN history, the cable channel announced today. The Orioles' victory over the New York Yankees earned a 9.6 rating overall, according to the channel, which started carrying Orioles games in 2006. That translates to 104,000 households and 139,000 viewers. The audience peaked during the final quarter hour (10:15 to 10:30 p.m.) with a 14.49 rating. That translates to 159,000 households and 233,000 viewers.

Television never knows when to stop. One of the universal laws of commercial TV is that networks and cable channels will squeeze more and more variations out of each and every successful concept until they come up with the only predictable result: absolute trash. I was never too keen on the idea of reality dating shows, but I have to admit ABC's The Bachelor was a ratings winner. Even Fox's Joe Millionaire deserves some grudging credit for the way it manipulated European fairy tales to its own sleazy ends.

Baltimore's 19-member City Council will meet tonight for the last time under a structure that dates back 82 years. A newly configured, smaller council will be sworn in Thursday and begin its work that night. Between tonight's meeting and Thursday's swearing-in, seven incumbents will be packing up their offices and rejoining the ranks of voters who last sent them to City Hall in 1999. "This is the only time in my memory where seven members are leaving," Councilman Robert W. Curran said.

Everyone who has ever tuned into a cable channel has heard the names Natalee Holloway and Laci Peterson. Show hosts like Nancy Grace have used their TV pulpits to chronicle the disappearance of such white, female victims night after night. But what about black victims like Yasmin Acree or missing sisters Diamond and Tiondra Bradley? That's one of the questions raised by a new docu-series, "Find Our Missing," hosted by S. Epatha Merkerson and produced by TV One, the African-American-themed cable channel based in Silver Spring.

Tonight's the night for a season premiere and a series premiere on Comedy Central.First, "Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist" (10 p.m.-10: 30 p.m.), the animated series with the squiggly characters, starts its fifth season. Denis Leary, Gilbert Gottfried and Robert Klein share sessions with the low-key shrink voiced by comic Jonathan Katz. Then, having enjoyed success with an animated therapist, the cable channel brings us "Bob and Margaret" (10: 30 p.m.-11 p.m.), animated doctors -- a dentist (Bob)

NEW YORK -- In a decision that marked a full-blown retreat for the leading network news division, ABC announced yesterday that it is indefinitely postponing its plans to begin a 24-hour all-news cable channel.The decision, which ABC executives attributed to the excessive cost of distributing the channel and Rupert Murdoch's willingness to pay enormous distribution fees for his own all-news channel, is the first sign that three broadcast networks may have oversold their ambitious plans to start cable news channels to compete with Turner Broadcasting System's Cable News Network.

NEW YORK -- Even when it's play money, people just can't help themselves. They cheat. It happened to McDonald's four years ago in its "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" promotion, and to Taco Bell in its "Wheels, Reels and Meals" sweepstakes. Contestants cheated, swindled tens of thousands of dollars and gave companies angling for good publicity black eyes instead. Now it seems to be CNBC's turn. The financial-news cable channel said yesterday that it was investigating claims that people playing its online "CNBC.