BY CLIF GARBODEN

THURSDAY 16

7:30 (2) Basic Black: Amistad Revisited. Captain Bill Pinkney (the first African-American to sail solo around the world) is currently skipper of a reproduction of the slave ship that was the scene of an 1839 revolt that ended up establishing US law via the Supreme Court. (Sit through Steven Spielberg’s 4015-hour 1997 movie, Amistad, for more than you need to know.) Basic Black’s Darren Duarte caught up with Pinkney in Boston when the repro-ship hit port. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (64) Baseball. American League Championship Game #7. By the time you read this, it may all be over — or the city may be in pennant overdrive. One thing’s for sure (and forgive us if we’re repeating somebody else’s theory; there so much being written about the Sox that we’re bound to overlap): that curse thing can’t be used as an excuse any more. Who broke it? Nomar broke it, and broke it for good, in the seventh inning of ALCS Game #5 against Oakland. See, our theory is that Johnny Damon went head-to-head with Damian Jackson thanks to the unseen hand of George Ruth reaching down from that Dugout in the Sky (just as he "helped" Denny Doyle throw the ball into the dugout back in ’75; just as he "guided" Bill Buckner’s glove back in ’86). Think about it: the collision was unlikely and unnecessary — and therefore supernatural. Had Damon landed on top of the ball, Jermaine Dye could have scored an inside-the-park home run — the ultimate ironic way for the Sox to lose. But not so fast, Mr. Bambino. There came Nomar with the presence of mind to pluck the ball from between his fallen comrades and toss it to an equally astute Bill Mueller covering second. And with that professional emergency response, the curse was overcome. Trust us — whether there’s a game tonight or not. And even if we’re looking at something as creepy as a Yankees-Marlins World Series.

9:00 (2) Frontline: Chasing the Sleeper Cell. We’re not sure exactly which domestic-intelligence operation is being scrutinized here, but we’re told that the US Secret Police takes it very seriously. On the other hand, this Frontline–New York Times combo investigation suggests that perhaps the FBI has its collective head up its collective ass after all and lacks the chops to move in while the cell is napping. To be repeated tonight at 2 and 4 a.m. on Channel 44. (Until 10 p.m.)

FRIDAY 17

12:30 and 2:30 a.m. (2) Masterpiece Theatre: Warrior Queen. Repeated from last week. A historic epic about a 61 AD rebellion by British Celts against Nero’s Rome. Alex Kingston takes the title role of Queen Boudica, whose rebel army got all the way to London before being overpowered. More one of those "You go, girl" things than an in-depth chronicle. To be repeated on Sunday at 1:30 on Channel 44. (Until 2 and 4 a.m.)

SATURDAY 18

2:30 (10) Football. Notre Dame versus USC.

3:30 (12) Football. Florida versus Arkansas.

3:30 (6) Football. Iowa versus Ohio State, or Colorado versus Kansas State, or Texas Tech versus Oklahoma State, or California versus UCLA.

7:30 (64) Baseball. World Series Game #1. A digression: high on the list of things in sports that don’t make any sense is this fall’s Red Sox "cowboy up" campaign. Is Chris LeDoux from Boston? Doubtful. People often ask: where’s the jazz in Utah? (New Orleans sold the team with its name.) Where are the pirates in Pittsburgh? (The Pittsburgh team was named in 1889, when river pirates were a threat within living memory.) And where’s the lake in Los Angeles? (They’re all stoned; they think there’s always a lake, and anyway, the team moved to LA from Minneapolis) But nobody has to ask, are there cowboys in Boston? There are barely cows.

8:00 (6) Toy Story 2 (movie). The animated sequel is actually as good as the original. Complete with an unabashed anti-Japanese subplot. (Until 10 p.m.)

8:00 (10) Erin Brockovich (movie). Julia Roberts stars as a legal secretary who crusades against a greedy power company that’s polluting the local water supply. Based in fact, though Roberts may be a little flashier than the real Brockovich. From 2000 and directed by Steven Soderbergh. (Until 11 p.m.)

Midnight (2) Austin City Limits. Featuring music from the Pat Metheny Group. (Until 1 a.m.)

SUNDAY 19

1:00 (12) Football. The Pats versus the Miami Dolphins.

1:00 (64) Football. The Washington Redskins versus the Buffalo Bills.

3:30 (2) Masterpiece Theatre: Daniel Deronda. Repeated from last week. Hugh Dancy, Romola Garai, and Hugh Bonneville star in a TV adaptation of George Eliot’s last novel. The story covers the friendship and romance between the title character, an English Jew, and his gal pal Gwendolen, who’s forced to marry a boring alternative. The thrust here, however, is the exploration of 19th-century British Jewry. (Until 7 p.m.)

4:00 (64) Football. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers versus the San Francisco 49ers.

7:30 (64) Baseball. World Series Game #2. Fun fact: the first World Series (1903) was a nine-game affair.

8:00 (44) Sabrina (movie). Audrey Hepburn plays the chauffeur’s daughter romanced by rich-guy Humphrey Bogart and his playboy brother William Holden. From 1954, and directed by Billy Wilder. (Until 9:55 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Masterpiece Theatre: Goodbye Mr. Chips. James (Lost Horizon) Hilton’s 1934 novel about a schoolmaster at a British boys school adapted for TV. Martin Clunes stars as Chipping. There was, by the way, a now-forgotten sequel novel, To You, Mr. Chips, which as far as we know never made it to the screen. Steve Vineberg’s review is on page 12. To be repeated tonight at midnight and 4 a.m., and on Channel 44 at 1 and 4 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:55 (44) I’ll Cry Tomorrow (movie). Susan Hayward stars as Ziegfeld-girl-turned-early-Hollywood-child-starlet Lillian Roth (that’s her as Arabella Rittenhouse with the Marx Brothers in Animal Crackers) whose life fell apart big time and who ended up broke and alcoholic at age 30. But after a lot of failed marriages and one good one, she bounced back. This 1955 movie is based on her 1954 autobiography. (Until midnight.)

MONDAY 20

8:00 (44) Globe Trekker: North India: Varanasi to the Himalayas. Aussie trekker Andrew Daddo paddles down the Ganges, stares at the Taj Mahal, goes on an elephant safari, dabbles in yoga, and rides a train into the Himalaya. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (6) Football. The Kansas City Chiefs versus the Oakland Raiders.

10:30 (2) River of Iron: Dreams of a Grand Canyon Railroad. Only a dream, but a heartfelt one on the part of Robert Brewster Stanton, who proposed the project back in 1889. To be repeated tonight at midnight. (Until 11 p.m.)

TUESDAY 21

7:30 (2) La Plaza: Conversations with Ilan Stavans: Richard Rodriguez. A discussion of race, class, and ethnicity with writer Rodriguez (The Hunger of Memory), who went from disadvantaged youth to Stanford scholar. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (2) Nova: The Perfect Pearl. A pearl-harvest travelogue. Sounds truly uninteresting, but perhaps the scenery is nice. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (64) Baseball. World Series Game #3. Odd fact: before the New York Yankees were the Yankees, they were the New York Highlanders. And where’s the highland in New York? Washington Heights?

9:00 (2) Einstein’s Wife. The relative who had a hand in the theory of relativity. The story of Albert E.’s first wife, Serbian mathematician Mileva Maric, who’s credited by some with doing the math for her husband. To be repeated tonight at 4 a.m. (Until 10 p.m.)

9:00 (44) Indie Select: A Home on the Range: The Jewish Chicken Ranchers of Petaluma. The title seems to say it all — or enough, anyway. Petaluma is in California, and it’s home to Jewish families who fled Eastern Europe pogroms. And they raise chickens. A film by Bonnie Burt and Judith Montell. (Until 10 p.m.)

10:00 (2) The American Experience: A Brilliant Madness. The WGBH Office for Tenuous Themes follows up the Maric documentary with this slow-paced but interesting profile of Nobel-winning schizophrenic John "Beautiful Mind" Nash. To be repeated tonight at 2 and 5 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.)

WEDNESDAY 22

8:00 (2) National Geographic: Inside Mecca. On the road with the Islamic Hajj — the annual pilgrimage to Muhammad’s birthplace. A valuable show for Americans surrounded by so much mindless Islam bashing. The WGBH Office for Tenuous Themes (see Tuesday, 10 p.m.) dug this up to lead into the T.E. Lawrence show at 9 p.m. To be repeated tonight at midnight. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (64) Baseball. World Series Game #4. Hard-to-believe fact: on June 18, 1953, the Red Sox scored 17 runs against Detroit in one inning.

9:00 (2) Lawrence of Arabia: The Battle for the Arab World. The short version is this. During World War I, Turkey controlled the Middle East. Turkey sided with Germany. Lawrence (an odd man by anyone’s account) was a British spy who unified the Arab tribes to fight against the Turks in exchange for a promise of Arab independence. After the war, though, the Brits (and France and the US) betrayed that promise, mapped out a rough sketch for a future Israeli state, and recolonized the Mideast. Lawrence felt bad, felt used, went reclusive, and ultimately died in a possibly suicidal motorcycle accident. The long version is that we’re still fighting in the Mideast. This detailed Lawrence bio links his role to current events in ways the Bushies probably don’t want publicized. To be repeated tonight at 1 a.m., and on Channel 44 at 1 and 4 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.)

THURSDAY 23

7:30 (2) Basic Black: A Reporter’s Notebook. An interview with CBS reporter Byron Pitts, who’s covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the WTC attacks from Ground Zero. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (2) Greeks: Crucible of Civilization: Empire of the Mind. Athens (the smart guys) goes to war with Sparta (the jocks) and the thugs win. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (64) Baseball? World Series Game #5 — if it’s needed. There aren’t really cubs in Chicago; the team got its nickname back in the 20th century’s first decade because its roster was made up of really young players. (Thanks to MLB Web sites for most of our fun diamond facts.)

9:00 (2) Frontline: Failure To Protect: The Taking of Logan Marr. An ugly story about a bunch of Mainers whose lives would make them prime contenders for the Trailer Trash of the Year Award. But amid all the marrying, estranging, molesting, drug abusing, screaming, divorcing, and remarrying, two children ended up being battered around, and one of them was murdered by a human-services worker who was taking care of her. To be repeated tonight at 1 a.m., and, on Channel 44, at 2 and 4 a.m. (Until 10 p.m.)