MOVIES
DID YOU KNOW that God, made manifest as a burning bush, spoke to Moses in an authoritative British accent suitable for narrating a nature documentary? That and other mysteries of the Exodus are revealed in MOSES (TNT, April 7 and 8, 8-10 p.m.), the fourth in TNT's cavalcade of Bible stories. Airing smack-dab at the intersection of Passover and Easter, this installment has Ben Kingsley treading where Charlton Heston towered before. Kingsley presents Moses as a diffident, ambivalent man who, nevertheless, stands up to Pharaoh (Frank Langella); parts the Red Sea; and leads the cast of Israelites to freedom. Of course, there's plenty of sand, nicely textured robes, eyes raised to the heavens, and swelling music--as if a Bible story can't be told without looking stereotypically biblical. Let those cliches go! --Lisa Schwarzbaum
CHOICE RERUNS
TWO FACES of the late Bill Bixby are on display as the Sci-Fi Channel airs the magician (weekdays, noon-1 p.m.) and the incredible hulk (weekdays, 4-5 p.m.). The 1973-74 NBC drama The Magician showed off Bixby's powers of prestidigitation; as a crime-busting illusionist, he performed many of his own tricks. The actor underwent another magical transformation in the 1978-82 CBS show inspired by the Hulk comics. Bixby starred as a radiation-exposed scientist who periodically turned into a raging green behemoth (Lou Ferrigno). That's great, but how can the Sci-Fi Channel justify the omission of Bixby's chef d'oeuvre--My Favorite Martian?
