Macgyver

When 11-year-old Kevin Hines arrived by ambulance at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center emergency room, the doctors thought he was going to lose his right eye.The contents of the eye were spilling out due to a rupture and a cut across the eye. His left eye had potentially blinding chemical burns. Kevin told doctors a "soda pop bottle bomb" exploded in his face outside his East Baltimore home."Kevin didn't make the bomb, his friends did," Cathy Hines, 29, his mother, said last night. "His friends had seen 'MacGyver' do it and they wanted to try it. They thought it was exciting.

GIRLS BASKETBALL No. 5 Atholton@No. 10 Mount Hebron Friday, 7 p.m. Outlook: Last season, the visiting Raiders (7-2) enjoyed a banner campaign, going 25-3 and winning the county championship and the program's first state crown. One of the few lowlights was a stunning, 58-38 loss to Mount Hebron. While seniors Britanny Coughlan, Elie Snyder, Taylor Chapman and Julianne Conroy have returned for the Raiders, the Vikings (10-0) lost four starters. Looks like an easy win for Atholton, right?

"MacGyver" returns in a made-for-TV form, "Saturday Nigh Live" attempts to finish the season in fine form, and "Red Shoe Diaries" presents the fine form of Audie England.* "Bob Hope's Birthday Memories." (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- No sense waiting until the last minute -- or in 15 days, when Hope truly turns 91. As is the case with most recent Hope specials, there's a lot of reliance upon clips from previous years to help fill the hours. Guests this time, live and in blast-from-the-past footage, are scheduled to include Angie Dickinson, Phyllis Diller and Betty White.

Jim Exon, 83, a Democrat who served two terms as governor and three terms in the U.S. Senate for Nebraska, died Friday at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Neb. A cause of death was not given, but he had been treated for cancer several years ago. The broad-shouldered senator once dubbed "Big Jim" started in the Nebraska Democratic Party as a precinct worker and was its chairman Democratic Party when he made his first bid for public office, winning...

In the March 22 editions of The Sun, a doctor at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center was incorrectly identified in an article about children who injured themselves with home-made bombs. Dr. Allen R. Walker is director of the pediatric emergency room.The Sun regrets the errors.At least eight Baltimore-area boys have been seriously hurt in the last five months while playing with bottle bombs made from a household chemical -- a trick they told authorities they learned from watching the "MacGyver" television show.

Happy Thanksgiving. Here's a turkey of a joke to get things started. What's the difference between a turkey with two wings and a turkey with one wing? A matter of a pinion. Now, let's begin.* "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" (9 a.m.-noon, Channel 2) -- Last week on "Seinfeld," Jerry Seinfeld accidentally popped a Macy's balloon of Woody Woodpecker. He wouldn't do that in real life, Woody? Tune in and see -- and see, in the country's best Thanksgiving Parade, some new balloons, including some from the stable of Dr. Seuss.

Jim Exon, 83, a Democrat who served two terms as governor and three terms in the U.S. Senate for Nebraska, died Friday at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Neb. A cause of death was not given, but he had been treated for cancer several years ago. The broad-shouldered senator once dubbed "Big Jim" started in the Nebraska Democratic Party as a precinct worker and was its chairman Democratic Party when he made his first bid for public office, winning...

"Tom Clancy's Op Center" is "MacGyver" with guns. Big guns -- pointed at the U.S. of A. Nothing less than world peace is on the line in this NBC mini-series, and the forces of good have to be mobilized to save us from nuclear destruction.Harry Hamlin, who was once a big star on "L.A. Law," plays Paul Hood, the government intelligence officer who helps lead the forces of good as director of an elite crisis unit called Op Center. Hood is appointed by a liberal president, who can't keep his pants zipped and secretly wants the Op Center shut down as an outdated remnant of the Cold War.But, as several characters remind us innumerable times in the four-hour mini-series that starts at 9 tomorrow night on WBAL (Channel 11)

CHICAGO -- It was Tim MacGyver from Publisher's Clearinghouse on the telephone with thrilling news for Leona, a bright, well-spoken woman in her 70s who lives alone in Evanston, Ill.As nice a name as it is, Leona is also a name more common to an earlier generation, and for the man on the telephone, the woman was just the type he was looking for -- older, perhaps more gullible, more trusting than someone of a more modern sensitivity.He told her she had won second prize -- a check for $100,000 -- and Ed McMahon would show up on her doorstep with the money in three weeks.

GIRLS BASKETBALL No. 5 Atholton@No. 10 Mount Hebron Friday, 7 p.m. Outlook: Last season, the visiting Raiders (7-2) enjoyed a banner campaign, going 25-3 and winning the county championship and the program's first state crown. One of the few lowlights was a stunning, 58-38 loss to Mount Hebron. While seniors Britanny Coughlan, Elie Snyder, Taylor Chapman and Julianne Conroy have returned for the Raiders, the Vikings (10-0) lost four starters. Looks like an easy win for Atholton, right?

T V dads are always so cool. Mike Brady never yelled at Peter, Jan and the gang -- even when they played ball in the house. Ward Cleaver always seemed to understand Wally and the Beav -- even when they were being weird. And Homer Simpson can be counted on to be a big kid around Bart and Lisa -- even if he won't share his doughnuts. Maybe your Dad won't ever be a TV dad, but that doesn't mean that you can't treat him like a celebrity this Father's Day. Here are some Father's Day gifts that evoke the spirit of a few of our favorite guys from TV. OK, so maybe they aren't all dads.

CHICAGO -- It was Tim MacGyver from Publisher's Clearinghouse on the telephone with thrilling news for Leona, a bright, well-spoken woman in her 70s who lives alone in Evanston, Ill.As nice a name as it is, Leona is also a name more common to an earlier generation, and for the man on the telephone, the woman was just the type he was looking for -- older, perhaps more gullible, more trusting than someone of a more modern sensitivity.He told her she had won second prize -- a check for $100,000 -- and Ed McMahon would show up on her doorstep with the money in three weeks.

"Tom Clancy's Op Center" is "MacGyver" with guns. Big guns -- pointed at the U.S. of A. Nothing less than world peace is on the line in this NBC mini-series, and the forces of good have to be mobilized to save us from nuclear destruction.Harry Hamlin, who was once a big star on "L.A. Law," plays Paul Hood, the government intelligence officer who helps lead the forces of good as director of an elite crisis unit called Op Center. Hood is appointed by a liberal president, who can't keep his pants zipped and secretly wants the Op Center shut down as an outdated remnant of the Cold War.But, as several characters remind us innumerable times in the four-hour mini-series that starts at 9 tomorrow night on WBAL (Channel 11)

Happy Thanksgiving. Here's a turkey of a joke to get things started. What's the difference between a turkey with two wings and a turkey with one wing? A matter of a pinion. Now, let's begin.* "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" (9 a.m.-noon, Channel 2) -- Last week on "Seinfeld," Jerry Seinfeld accidentally popped a Macy's balloon of Woody Woodpecker. He wouldn't do that in real life, Woody? Tune in and see -- and see, in the country's best Thanksgiving Parade, some new balloons, including some from the stable of Dr. Seuss.

"MacGyver" returns in a made-for-TV form, "Saturday Nigh Live" attempts to finish the season in fine form, and "Red Shoe Diaries" presents the fine form of Audie England.* "Bob Hope's Birthday Memories." (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- No sense waiting until the last minute -- or in 15 days, when Hope truly turns 91. As is the case with most recent Hope specials, there's a lot of reliance upon clips from previous years to help fill the hours. Guests this time, live and in blast-from-the-past footage, are scheduled to include Angie Dickinson, Phyllis Diller and Betty White.

Every broadcast network had some statistic to brag about as the May rating sweep ended Wednesday night in one of the closest finishes ever.But there was intense disagreement about which network will best be able to carry the May results into the next season.In terms of the basic ratings race, NBC claimed a narrow victory over CBS. But NBC was also the only network not to improve its performance over last May. CBS was up slightly; ABC fared much better and emphasized that it depended more heavily than its rivals on its regularly scheduled programs and not on movies and specials.

ON AND OFF THE AIR:* The proliferation of morning talk shows was noted in this space last week, but the cable-connected have a juicy alternative that began today: back-to-back screenings of those prime-time soap operas "Dallas," and "Knot's Landing.""Dallas," which ended its 13-season run on CBS last spring, can be seen at 10 a.m. and "Knot's Landing," still airing on CBS, follows at 11, both on the TNT basic service.And in connection with the scheduling, TNT did a cute promotion with viewers: a contest to write lyrics for the instrumental theme song.

Every broadcast network had some statistic to brag about as the May rating sweep ended Wednesday night in one of the closest finishes ever.But there was intense disagreement about which network will best be able to carry the May results into the next season.In terms of the basic ratings race, NBC claimed a narrow victory over CBS. But NBC was also the only network not to improve its performance over last May. CBS was up slightly; ABC fared much better and emphasized that it depended more heavily than its rivals on its regularly scheduled programs and not on movies and specials.

When it comes to graceful departures, most television series are like a magician's patter: Now you see it, now you don't. But ABC tonight presents what must be a TV first, with a "Farewell Evening" for three long-running series. Hourlong wrap-up episodes of "Who's the Boss," "Growing Pains" and "MacGyver" at 8, 9 and 10 p.m. (on WJZ-TV, Channel 13) say goodbye to viewers for good -- or at least goodbye to new episodes, for repeats of all three are already running in syndication, TV's lucrative life-after-death-experience .The vast majority of shows do not make it past an initial 13 episodes, so these three have notched impressive runs: 199 episodes in eight seasons for "Boss," 166 episodes in seven seasons for "Pains" and 138 episodes in seven seasons for "MacGyver."

ON AND OFF THE AIR:* The proliferation of morning talk shows was noted in this space last week, but the cable-connected have a juicy alternative that began today: back-to-back screenings of those prime-time soap operas "Dallas," and "Knot's Landing.""Dallas," which ended its 13-season run on CBS last spring, can be seen at 10 a.m. and "Knot's Landing," still airing on CBS, follows at 11, both on the TNT basic service.And in connection with the scheduling, TNT did a cute promotion with viewers: a contest to write lyrics for the instrumental theme song.