Oksana Baiul

Are aliens visiting Earth and having their way with us? Watch "Nova" and decide for yourself.* " 'The Wizard of Oz' on Ice" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) -- Oksana Baiul as Dorothy and Viktor Petrenko as the Scarecrow highlight this frozen version of the classic children's book and beloved MGM film. With ice skating already showing up just about everywhere on television, can a 24-hour-a-day, all-skating cable channel be far behind? CBS.* "Nova" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., MPT, Channels 22 and 67) -- This analytic, but still creepy, look at people who insist they've been abducted and, in some cases, sexually assaulted by aliens should get you thinking.

In search of vinylRemember vinyl records? I still have a few left that I occasionally give a spin on my dusty turntable. Sometimes the record skips, and I have to tape a penny to the needle's arm. But that's OK. Not every great record has been issued in CD form, so we vinyl fans cope. We'll be the ones poring over the really old records at the Maryland Music Collectors Record/CD Expo on April 17 and May 22 at the Arbutus Volunteer Fire Hall. Buy, sell or trade your vinyl here. You won't find any professional dealers, just plenty of people who appreciate all types of recorded music.

VCR alert: one of the greatest episodes of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" airs tonight. This one's a keeper."Friends" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- In a repeat with more than its share of guest stars, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders plays a professional musician hired by Central Perk to replace Phoebe (obviously they're going for a different sound), while Lea Thompson pops over from "Caroline In the City." NBC." 'Les Miserables' in Concert" (8 p.m.-11: 30 p.m., MPT, Channels 22 and 67)

Do you really want to pay $29.95 for the O. J. interview? I mean, what is he going to say? I'm guessing a variation of, "I didn't do it." Far better to watch NBC tonight and hear the O. J. Simpson jurors say what they were thinking. Now, that should be interesting.* "Rock 'N' Roll Skating Championships" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- Tired of all those figure skaters gliding over the ice to the music of a bunch of dead composers? This may be your lucky night: Oksana Baiul is going to skip the ballet for once and skate to Aerosmith.

EDMONTON, Alberta - The coach had found a quiet place in the Edmonton Coliseum, a cubbyhole reserved for the flower girls who retrieve bouquets tossed onto the ice. The scores for Lu Chen of China, the defending world figure-skating champion, were announced and the results were forbidding. Chen had received two perfect marks of 6 for artistry.Frank Carroll turned to Michelle Kwan, whom he coaches, and told the 15-year-old skater that the world title was still within reach Saturday night. Apart from the 6s, Chen had received four 5.8s for artistry.

This week's suddenly cold weather might make viewers want to warm up with another ice-skating spectacular on CBS, while political observers have a chance to see the candidate-who-wasn't -- Gen. Colin Powell -- on the PBS series "The Challengers '96."* "Strange Luck" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- Chance and Angie (D. B. Sweeney and Frances Fisher) trek into a wilderness area, where they encounter a mysterious parachutist (Gregg Henry) who soon seems to disappear into thin air. Fox.* "The Challengers '96" (9 p.m.-10 p.m., MPT, Channels 22, 67)

There are an unusually high number of repeats on TV tonight: "Homicide: Life on the Street," "The X-Files," "Family Matters," "Boy Meets World." But there are plenty of good movies airing today, so maybe all those repeats are for the best. Makes one's viewing choices kind of easy.* "Due South" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) -- Here's the only network show tonight that's not a special, repeat or returning series. Fraser (Paul Gross) is accused of causing an accident that destroys a chicken breeder's eggs.

Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) faces a tough case -- a killer new time slot for "Murder She Wrote" -- while NBC tinkers with its Thursday lineup, adding two new single-person-syndrome sitcoms plus season premieres of "Friends," "Seinfeld" and "ER."* "Murder She Wrote" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) Fans of the series beginning its 12th season are crying foul as the network moves the show from Sunday to this perilous time period, premiering tonight against the mega-hit "Friends." But the star has said she expects devotees of the mild-mannered mystery to follow her to the new night.

CBS has a real-life, two-hour narrative special, PBS has the second installment of "Poverty in America," ABC has the conclusion of a two-hour "Nightline" on a Texas execution, and Fox has a skating special that counts, I guess, as real life -- though not as real important.* "Rock 'n' Roll Skating Championships" (8-10 p.m., Channel 45) -- Fox is billing this taped competition as the first post-Olympics head-to-head rematch between Nancy Kerrigan and Oksana Baiul. But how seriously can the results be taken when the panel of "celebrity judges" includes professional volleyball player Kent Steffis and "Downtown" Julie Brown?

TURIN, Italy -- For those of you scoring at home ... If you haven't been watching figure skating lately but are planning to tune in tonight for the start of the Winter Olympics women's competition, you might be surprised to find that the 6.0s, which used to reflect perfection, have disappeared. The old scoring system, eliminated by the International Skating Union after the judging scandal four years ago in Salt Lake City, has been replaced by the Code of Points. Here is basically how it works: 1. A technical specialist, also known as a caller, identifies elements in a skater's program.