25/FRIDAY
Miniseries: At Mother's Request
The more lurid, less illuminating of two 1987 miniseries
(Nutcracker was the other) about New York socialite Frances
Schreuder, who ordered her teenage son to kill hhr father. Stefanie
Powers, E.G. Marshall, and Doug McKeon star. CBS (Part 1: 9-11 p.m.;
Part 2: Sun., 9-11 p.m.)
Movie: Matewan
It's slooooow good: Writer-director John Sayles' drama about
attempts to crush a union movement of West Virginia miners takes a
while to get going but is filled with fine performances and evocative
period detail. A&E (9 p.m.-midnight) B-
The Stations of Bach
Performances of a dozen Bach compositions highlight a musical
biography that revisits the sites of his greatest work and offers new
interpretations. PBS (9-10:30 p.m.)
26/SATURDAY
Wonderworks: The Finding
(See review.)
The Famous Teddy Z
(See review.)
The Tracey Ullman Show
One of television's most esteemed, least watched comedy series
recaps the season's greatest moments in an hour-long special that
should show why Ullman won an Emmy for outstanding variety program.
Fox (9-10 p.m.)
City
Back on the schedule (but not necessarily for long), Valerie
Harper's city-planning comedy ropes Mr. Ed star Alan Young for an
episode in which Liz (Harper) faces a reunion with her estranged
father. CBS (9:30-10 p.m.)
27/SUNDAY
Movie: Tumbledown
From England, a made-for-TV docudrama about 22-year-old British
Army Lieut. Robert Lawrence (Colin Firth) and his struggle to adjust
to paralysis after being shot in the Falklands War. A&E (8-10 p.m.)
National Memorial Day Concert
Name that anthem: Live from the West Lawn of the Capitol, the U.S.
Army Chorus, National Symphony Orchestra, and Old Guard Fife and Drum
Corps offer a program of odes to America, from ''Battle Hymn of the
Republic'' to ''The Yankee Doodle Boy.'' PBS (8-9:30 p.m.)
In Living Color
If you lost track of it on Saturdays, catch up now: Keenen Ivory
Wayans' half-hour of over-the-top satire will follow Married. . .With
Children in what looks like the most ferocious hour of comedy on TV.
Fox (9:30-10 p.m.)
Masterpiece Theatre: The Charmer
A rerun of last year's six-part miniseries about con man Ralph
Gorse (Nigel Havers), whose affable ways mask an insatiable desire to
acquire. PBS (9:30-10:30 p.m.)
World of Audubon: Arctic Refuge
(See review.)
Unplugged
Music without special effects: MTV's stripped-down half-hour of
acoustic rock is one of the network's most consistent pleasures. MTV
(11-11:30 p.m.)
28/MONDAY
Skyscraper
How to build a high rise, part 4: Manhattan's Worldwide Plaza gets
some finishing touches as the series visits the building's
ironworkers, Mohawks on a reservation in Canada. PBS (8-9 p.m.) A-
Movie: Heaven Can Wait
A football player who died too soon gets a return ticket to Earth,
a new body (Warren Beatty's), and a chance to make Julie Christie
fall in love with him, in a very funny, irresistibly romantic remake
of Here Comes Mr. Jordan. ABC (9-11 p.m.) A-
