Larry Sanders Show

It's a big night for guest stars, but that's about all that qualifies it as a big night.* "Under One Roof" (8-9 p.m., Channel 13) -- Thomas Carter, who learned the TV business under Bruce Paltrow (by starring in "The White Shadow" and directing episodes of that series and "St. Elsewhere"), went off to create "Equal Justice" and now takes the star of that series, Joe Morton, and puts him in another quality series, this one co-starring James Earl Jones and Vanessa Bell Calloway. It's a modern family drama, but the pilot contains lots of light moments as well -- and boasts an appearance by another "St. Elsewhere" veteran, Terence Knox.

The Memorial Day weekend opening of "The Flintstones" was a major box-office success, which partly justifies tonight's TV schedule, which anticipated that favorable reaction by scheduling several positively prehistoric entertainment options. ABC begins presenting new episodes of its "Dinosaurs" sitcom, TBS has "Weird Al" Yankovic presenting old "Flintstones" cartoons in a format called Mastodon Theatre, and MTV presents an episode of "Unplugged" starring Tony Bennett.* "Dinosaurs." (8-8:30 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13)

The lights shining the brightest on TV tonight are two delightfully edgy comedies: "The Drew Carey Show" on ABC and "The Larry Sanders Show" on HBO."Beverly Hills, 90210" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- Ray (Jamie Walters) performs in Vegas, with several "90210" characters along for the ride. One of them, though, lets it ride once too often. Fox."Ellen" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- A home pregnancy test causes Ellen, Paige and Audrey to rethink their lives, while a life-saving experience causes Spence to rethink his. ABC."

If you don't have cable TV, today you have to do without the World Cup semifinals and HBO's two stellar sitcoms. What you would get instead are two network first-run shows: one in which the cartoon characters act like people, and one in which the people act like cartoons.* "The Critic" (8:30 p.m.-9 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) -- On tonight's episode, Jay (voiced by Jon Lovitz) abruptly quits his show -- much as Garry Shandling's Larry Sanders did last season -- and dives into an alternate lifestyle.

Cable channels offer the debut of a new show and a pair of season premieres, while fresh material is still turning up on the lame-duck CBS series "Christy" and "Northern Exposure" and the summer replacement NBC show, "High Sierra Search and Rescue."* "Christy" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) -- Christy (Kellie Martin) has an opportunity to try out motherhood by adopting an infant one of her students finds abandoned in the woods. But what about a father? She may reconsider the marriage proposal from David (Randall Batinkoff)

How boring is broadcast TV tonight? So boring that the only thing worth listing, much less watching, is the premiere of Fox's preseason NFL coverage. Cable, though, is well-stocked with alternatives.* "NFL Football" (8 p.m.-conclusion, WBFF, Channel 45) -- John Madden and Pat Summerall are used to working together on the road, but beginning tonight they're heading in a new direction on an uncharted highway. This exhibition game between the Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers may not be very important -- but as an exhibition of how Fox covers football, it's the most intriguing TV offering of the evening.

It's not exactly "Who killed Laura Palmer?," but tonight on "Models Inc." is the episode answering the question, "Who killed Teri Spencer?" Considering the viewership of this Fox series, though, the question more people may be pondering is, "Who IS Teri Spencer?"* "Models Inc." (9-10 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- This may not be a killer of an episode, but at least it's got a killer in it -- and this week, he or she targets another victim. Fox.* "Turning Point." (10-11 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13)

Baltimore may be of big city size, but it's still pretty small-town in attitude, as shown by a "gee-whiz" local hour on WBAL-TV about the making of movies in and around Charm City. Viewers will learn some interesting things -- but not, as some studio audience members discover, how to break into films.* "Special Edition: Maryland's Hollywood Connection" (7 p.m.-8 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- Host Ron Shapiro interviews, and a few studio guests get to question, four Maryland residents involved behind-the-scenes in the recent surge of production in town: producer James Robinson, writer Norman Steinberg, casting director Pat Moran and "Homicide" executive producer Henry Bromell.

The odds against it happening are very high, but tonight TV provides a sort of holiday miracle: two watchable Christmas specials on the same night. One is from 1965 -- and that's the newer one. The other, seen for the first time since it was performed live on the DuMont network, is from 1951.* "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (8-8:30 p.m., Channel 11) -- Vince Guaraldi's jazz score is terrific. Linus' lecture about the true meaning of Christmas is right on the money -- and right about the money, too. Then there's the Snoopy dance, seen in animated form for the first time -- and that scrawny Christmas tree, which Charlie Brown identifies with for all the right reasons.

Peter Jennings devotes a prime-time hour tonight to the Haitian crisis -- which, with the way things are going in Rwanda, puts him one crisis behind. The real world is moving almost too quickly to keep up, but the world of television, tonight at least, is less active. In fact, except for a few scattered highlights, tonight's TV world is flat.* "Beverly Hills, 90210" (8-9 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- This episode from 1992 is one of several "90210" installments from this era featuring a now-familiar face: guest star Dean Cain, now starring in ABC's "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman."