BY CLIF GARBODEN

THURSDAY 7

7:30 (2) Basic Black: A Conversation with George Wolfe. Darren Duarte talks with Tony-winning Broadway director Wolfe about Topdog/Underdog, Bring In the da Noise, Bring In da Funk, Angels in America, and more. (Until 8 p.m.)

9:00 (44) Mystery: The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries: The Worsted Viper. Repeated from last week. Bradley (Diana Rigg) unravels a jumble of murder, missing church records, a smuggling ring, and an advice columnist. This series is watchable, and Diana Rigg (at any age) is always a welcome sight, but the plots seem to have been crammed into an hour format, which reduces character development to a few lines of dialogue and makes the stories more confusing than they are complex. (Until 10 p.m.)

10:00 (44) The 1900 House: The End of an Era. Repeated from last week. The conclusion, in which the Bowler family return to the 20th century in defeat. (Until 11 p.m.)

FRIDAY 8

8:00 (2) Alcatraz Is Not an Island. Is too; we’ve seen it. It has water on all sides. A good night to rent a DVD. (Until 9 p.m.)

SATURDAY 9

1:00 (64) Baseball. The Seattle Mariners versus the New York Yankees.

4:00 (2) Bobby Darin: Mack Is Back. Every generation has a high-profile celebrity who, however he or she is sold to the public, really is cool. Today, it’s Johnny Depp. Back in the day, it was Bronx-born Walden Cassotto, a/k/a Bobby Darin. This, his last recorded show, features his mega-hits ("Mack the Knife," "Dream Lover," "Splish Splash") and more. To be repeated on Tuesday at 10 p.m. on Channel 44. (Until 5:30 p.m.)

4:00 (44) Engelbert Live. Release him, please. A concert from the LA Forum featuring Engelbert Humperdinck doing all his hits and several other people’s. Of course, that’s not his real name. His real name, we learn from the ever-trusty World Wide Web, is Arnold. But we’re not sure whether that’s Arnold Humperdinck or Engelbert Arnold. We are sure that it doesn’t matter. (Until 5:30 p.m.)

7:00 (2) Concert for World Children’s Day. Fast food may be falling from fashion, but the McDonald corporation’s truly good deed — the Ronald McDonald House Charities — still serves. A 2002 concert to celebrate that organization’s World Children’s Day, with Celine Dion and Josh Groban (in duet), a new version of that damn "Hero" song from Enrique Iglesias, and Yolanda Adams declaring her belief that she can fly. To be repeated on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. (Until 8:30 p.m.)

7:00 (44) All-Star Bluegrass Celebration 2. Vince Gill hosts this now-annual event from the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Featuring Alison Krauss and Union Station, the Del McCoury Band, Nickel Creek, Ricky Skaggs, the Whites, 11-year-old mandolin prodigy Sierra Hull, the Fairfield Four, and Vassar Clements. To be repeated on Monday at 10 p.m. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:30 (2) Soul Comes Home: A Celebration of Stax Records and the Memphis Sound. The gala opening of Memphis’s Stax Museum of American Soul Music featured a stellar collection of Stax artists, but we’re not sure which ones. Stax (1960-’75) gave the world Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam & Dave, Booker T., the Staple Singers, and Rufus Thomas — several of whom are dead. To be repeated on Channel 44 on Sunday at 9 p.m., and on Tuesday at 8 p.m., and back on Channel 2 on Wednesday at 9 p.m. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (10) Return to Justice (movie). Remember the cop series Hunter? Okay, we never watched it either, but this 2002 TV-movie reunites co-stars Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer (as Rick and DeeDee) in a murder investigation that involves DeeDee’s fiancé. (Until 11 p.m.)

11:00 (2) In the Life. This is actually ITL’s July edition, and it has a "heroic" theme. Feature segments include a look at LGBT issues in mainstream comics (Marvel’s The Rawhide Kid, DC’s The Green Lantern); a profile of lesbian polar explorer Ann Bancroft (not the Anne Bancroft with an "e"); a preview of director Yvonne Welbon’s documentary film about African-American lesbian Ruth Ellis, who lived to age 101 (openly); a look at the consequences of the US military’s don’t-ask-don’t-tell game; and Tony-winner Harvey Fierstein’s post–Iraqi War salute to the Unknown Soldier. (Until midnight.)

Midnight (2) Austin City Limits. Featuring music from David Gray and Dar Williams. (Until 1 a.m.)

Midnight and 2 a.m. (44) Soundstage. Featuring music from Lyle Lovett. To be repeated on Sunday at 3 a.m. on Channel 44. (Until 1 and 3 a.m.)

SUNDAY 10

12:30 (2) Concert for World Children’s Day. Repeated from Saturday at 7 p.m.

2:00 (2) Judy, Frank, and Dean. We’re hoping for Collins, McCourt, and Rusk, but it’s more likely to be Garland, Sinatra, and Martin (in televised concert in 1962), because WGBH believes that people who like those performers are eager to give money to public television to support Soundstage and Austin City Limits. (Until 3 p.m.)

3:00 (2) Great Performances: The Great American Songbook. A history of the first half-century of pop music in the movies, hosted by Michael Feinstein. Stuff by Rodgers, Kern, Berlin, Porter, and Gershwin. (Until 5 p.m.)

5:00 (2) Victor Borge: The Great Dane of Comedy. Always the same old jokes; always enjoyable. Man falls off piano stool — that’s a tough gag to milk for an entire career, but the Clown Prince of Denmark pulled it off. (Until 6:30 p.m.)

8:00 (2) Mystery: Hetty Wainthropp Investigates: Mind over Muscle, Blood Relations, and For Love nor Money. Pat Routledge stars in a trio of Wainthropp puzzlers, one involving animal smugglers, one about a missing schoolteacher, and one that apparently defies description. (Until 11:05 p.m.)

9:00 (12) For Love of Olivia (movie). The late Bob Urich actually plays a part in this 2001 TV-movie sequel to the last century’s To Dance with Olivia. Lou Gossett Jr. plays a black man running for Congress in Missouri in the 1960s who is pressured into defending a friend accused of murdering his opponent’s wife. Happens all the time. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (6) Storm of the Century (movie), part one. Speaking of things that happen all the time. Tim Daly stars in this long and unfulfilling Stephen King adaptation about a storm-locked island in Maine where residents start dropping left and right. Is it an ancient curse or one of those never-explained King devices that crawl into his plots when things stop making sense? To be concluded on Monday starting at 9 p.m. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (44) Soul Comes Home: A Celebration of Stax Records and the Memphis Sound. Repeated from Saturday at 8:30 p.m.

Midnight (44) Globe Trekker: Outback Australia. This travel series isn’t on in its usual 8 p.m. Monday slot this week (fundraising), but we are getting a late-night revival of the current season’s opening show with Trekker Ian Wright visiting Ayers Rock and Alice Springs, joining in an Aboriginal sports festival, and tromping around some place called the Bungle Bungles (with Frodo, we assume). (Until 1 a.m.)

2:00 and 5:00 a.m. (44) Austin City Limits. Featuring music from Robert Plant. (Until 3 and 6 a.m.)

3:00 a.m. (44) Soundstage. Repeated from Saturday at midnight, and with Lyle Lovett.

MONDAY 11

7:30 (2) Broadway’s Lost Treasures. Performance clips from Tony Awards shows (between 1967 and 1986) featuring Angela Lansbury, Yul Brynner, Zero Mostel, Joel Grey, and Carol Channing. To be repeated on Thursday at 9 p.m. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Simon and Garfunkel: The Concert in Central Park. Great outdoor concert from 1981. You’ve seen it at least 20 times. Some of you must send WGBH money every time you see it. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (6) Storm of the Century (movie), part two. The conclusion. (Until 11 p.m.)

10:00 (44) All-Star Bluegrass Celebration 2. Repeated from Saturday at 7 p.m.

TUESDAY 12

8:00 (10) Miss Teen USA. This year’s Palm Springs "Don’t Call It a Beauty" Contest is hosted by Brooke Burns (familiar only to people who watch Dog Eat Dog and to the handful of people who actually eat dogs) and Mario Lopez (from Saved by the Bell). (Until 10 p.m.)

8:00 (44) Soul Comes Home: A Celebration of Stax Records and the Memphis Sound. Repeated from Saturday at 8:30 p.m.

9:00 (2) Nature: John Denver: Let This Be a Voice. Tonight’s featured critter is the late Henry Deutschendorf a/k/a John Denver, appearing in a film he made before he died in a plane crash in 1997. The movie showcases the natural wonders that inspired the Blond Frog’s career. (Until 10:30 p.m.)

9:00 (64) The O.C. Fox’s barrier-breaking prime-time soaper set in the "Old Country" continues, as Falngmn, the son of a poor goatherd from a remote mountain hamlet, moves to Dolnth (the O.C. capital) in hope of winning back the affections of his best gal, Singredd, who’s been indentured to a shoemaker named Thagarr. Falngmn secures a flea-ridden flat in the poor district of Dolnth, where he is forced to live among pensioners and garlic sellers, and sets out to rescue Singredd. In tonight’s episode, he pries the heel off his left boot and brings it to Thagarr’s shop (Old Country Orthopedics — "Heels Vhile U Vait") for repair, hoping to catch a glimpse of his lost love. (Until 10 p.m.)

10:00 (44) Bobby Darin: Mack Is Back. Repeated from Saturday at 4 p.m.

WEDNESDAY 13

8:00 (44) Mariachi: The Spirit of Mexico. This visit to the International Mariachi Fest in Guadalajara is hosted by Plácido Domingo. A chance to see hundreds of players perform traditional Mexican music. (Until 9:30 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Soul Comes Home: A Celebration of Stax Records and the Memphis Sound. Repeated from Saturday at 8:30 p.m.

9:00 (6) The Real Roseanne Show. Apparently Roseanne Barr decided that being a miserable pain in the neck wasn’t all that good a way of sustaining a career, so she’s remade herself into a nice pain in the neck and come back at us with this quasi-pseudo reality vehicle, which is either so high-concept or so lame that we can’t describe it. Tonight’s shows (another half-hour follows at 9:30 p.m.) have Barr in New York trying to sell a cooking show to Court TV. There’s a curiosity factor here, at least, and remember, the early seasons of Roseanne were refreshing and funny. (Until 10 p.m.)

THURSDAY 14

8:00 (6) ABC’s 50th Anniversary Bloopers Celebration. Only Dick Clark could bring Tom Bosley and Donny Osmond together on screen. (Actually, only Dick Clark would have thought it possible.) A repeat special running through outtakes and flubs from a half-century of television. Odd that with all those shows to choose from, most "bloopers" are just actors flubbing a line and then dissolving into "blah-a-blah-a-blah-a-blah" while the rest of the cast giggles. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (64) Football. To every thing, there is a season. And this isn’t football season. All the same . . . the Oakland Raiders meet the San Francisco 49ers in pre-season play.

9:00 (2) Broadway’s Lost Treasures. Repeated from Monday at 7:30 p.m.

3:00 and 5:00 a.m. (44) Soundstage. Featuring music from Dennis DeYoung. (Until 4 and 6 a.m.)