Television

When Billie Beat Bobby

Holly Hunter serves up a King-size gender war

''It was such a seminal event in defining the relationship between men and women,'' says writer-director Jane Anderson of the Billie Jean King-vs.-Bobby Riggs match that inspired her ABC movie When Billie Beat Bobby. ''I loved that it was so historically important, but it was also absurd.'' This satirical take on 1973's ''Battle of the Sexes'' reunites Anderson with Holly Hunter (right), the star of her 1993 HBO flick The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom. Tennis novice Hunter trained for three months to take on Ron Silver's Riggs. As Anderson says, ''Holly does her homework.'' (May)

Boot Camp

Listen up, you worthless couch-potato chowderheads: Reality TV goes GI

Forget those hammock-napping Survivors: The contestants (eight male, eight female) on Fox's Boot Camp will be hollered awake by a Marine sergeant at 0600 and won't stop running, crawling, and toilet scrubbing until lights out. The last grunt standing wins $500,000, and there's a new twist on who gets booted: Each weakling voted out gets to pick someone else to be discharged. ''It eliminates a lot of the simplistic alliances,'' says director Scott Messick (who also helmed the first Survivor). ''If I hate you, I'm not going to vote you out, because you'll take me [with you].''