BY CLIF GARBODEN

THURSDAY 12

7:30 (2) Basic Black: Every Person Is Poetry: Poetry and the Arts. Actually, poetry is an art . . . but whatever. A 1975 program from the Say, Brother archive devoted to the power of the spoken word and featuring an interview with Nikki Giovanni (catch a clip at http://main.wgbh.org/saybrother/programs/sb_0110.html) and a reading by the late Elma Lewis. (Until 8 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Frontline: Beyond Baghdad. This was, we believe, on recently. Correspondent Martin Smith heads into wildest Iraq to report on what’s happening under the occupation outside the capital city. (Until 10 p.m.)

FRIDAY 13

9:00 (64) National Geographic Presents: Wild Sex. Okay, we can all figure out that this is about animal courtship rituals, but the fact that’s it’s on Fox is bound to confuse some viewers. Janet Jackson narrates. (Until 10 p.m.)

9:30 (2) The American Experience: Tupperware! Repeated from last week. Kathy Bates narrates this documentary from Laurie Kahn-Leavitt about how a brand of plastic dishes became internationally famous and helped homebound women achieve financial independence. (Until 10:30 p.m.)

SATURDAY 14

1:00 (12) Basketball. Kentucky versus Georgia.

3:00 (6) Hockey. The Bruins versus the Chicago Blackhawks.

8:00 (2) The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance: Birth of a Dynasty and The Magnificent Medici. Repeated from last week. A new film about the 15th-century Florentine banking family who grew so powerful, they launched the Renaissance and brought the institution of bloody reprisals into genteel circles. To be repeated tonight at 1 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.)

8:30 (6) The Princess Diaries (movie). Julie Andrews steps in to give Anne Hathaway princess lessons when the San Francisco teen learns she’s actually part of some obscure European royal family. With Hector Elizandro and Mandy Moore. (Until 11 p.m.)

11:00 (2) Colorvision: Heroes. Daisy Fuentes hosts this new series featuring short films by non-white filmmakers. In tonight’s set, which shares the "hero" theme: "I Am Ali," Dream Hampton’s film about his obsession with the Greatest; "Blue Suede Sombrero," Dan Ho’s profile of the incredible El Vez, a Latin rock satirist and political commentator who delivers the most unexpected messages in the guise of imitating Elvis Presley; and "Affirmative Action Heroes," Dan Ho’s film about how Marvel Comics is breaking the color barrier. To be repeated tonight at 3 a.m. (Until midnight.)

Midnight (2) Austin City Limits. Featuring music from John Mayer — plus guests Buddy Guy and Double Trouble. To be repeated on Sunday at 5 a.m. (Until 1 a.m.)

SUNDAY 15

7:00 (10) Shrek (movie). Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow, and Eddie Murphy do voices for the peculiar mediæval animated characters in this excellent 2001 fairy-tale spoof about an ogre and a donkey out to save a princess. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (44) The Rainmaker (movie). A 1956 dark drama about a con man (played by Burt Lancaster) who bilks a small town that’s suffering from draught. Co-starring Katharine Hepburn. (Until 10 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Masterpiece Theatre: The Forsyte Saga, Series 2, part 2. Confused about the Forsyte family feud? So was Fleur until tonight’s episode, when all the ancient secrets are revealed. To be repeated tonight at midnight, and on Channel 44 at 2 and 4 a.m. (Until 10 p.m.)

9:00 (12) It Must Be Love (movie). Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen star in a 2003 TV-movie about a long-time married couple who finally opt for divorce, but not before they take a trip together and end up in some emergency situation that rekindles their affection for each other. Whatever. (Until 11 p.m.)

10:00 (2) Secrets of the Royal Kitchen. Repeated from last week. A cook’s tour of the country that gave the world mushy peas (see /www.britannia.com/cooking/recipes/mushypeas.html) and beans on toast (see www.hwatson.force9.co.uk/cookbook/recipes/starters/beanstoast.htm). Chef (to the palace crowd) Graham Newbould takes us into Queen Elizabeth’s pantry and beyond to show how the downstairs crew prepares a state dinner (20 chefs are involved) and explains royal dining etiquette (in case you’re ever invited: don’t feed the corgis at the table). On a bittersweet note, Newbould also shows us how to cook the wedding breakfast Charles and Diana ate. (Until 11 p.m.)

10:00 (44) Pride and Prejudice (movie). Jane Austen’s commentary of manners played out for the silver screen by Laurence Olivier (as Mr. Darcy) and Greer Garson (as Elizabeth). Nice hair, Laurence! (Until midnight.)

MONDAY 16

8:00 (6) Jurassic Park 3 (movie). Pretty much the same noisy mess as the first two monster movies based on Michael Crichton’s notion of reviving extinct life via its DNA. Creepy Sam Neill returns, this time with William H. Macy and Téa Leoni. (Until 10 p.m.)

9:00 (2) American Experience: The Murder of Emmett Till. In 1955, a 14-year-old African-American boy from Chicago summered with his farmer relatives in Mississippi and made the mistake of mouthing off to a white woman who was married to one of the plentiful local redneck racist thugs. Till’s brutal murder case went on to inspire the nation in the crusade for civil rights. This award-winning American Experience documentary recounts the murder and its aftermath in gripping and disturbing detail. If you missed the 1950s, don’t miss this account of those times at their worst. To be repeated tonight at 1 a.m., and on Channel 44 at 1 and 4 a.m. (Until 10 p.m.)

9:00 (44) The Six Wives of Henry VIII: Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Historian David Starkey hosts this wife-by-wife in-their-own-words documentary look at Henry VIII’s 38 years on England’s throne. Bride #1 was Henry’s brother’s widow and the daughter of the same Ferdinand and Isabella who sent Columbus to America. Daughter Mary was . . . well, a girl, and that didn’t suit, so Henry renounced Catholicism and got a divorce. Next up was flirty Anne Boleyn, who on top of delivering daughter Elizabeth (another girl)was too willful to last and was beheaded. Good stuff, but this tale will never be the same after last week’s version on The Simpsons. To be repeated tonight at 4 a.m. on Channel 2. (Until 11 p.m.)

10:00 (2) Hoxie: The First Stand. Hoxie, Arkansas, is about 120 miles from Little Rock, but in 1955, it was a million miles ahead of the state capital on the issue of racial integration in the schools. After the US Supreme Court handed down the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision integrating America’s schools, Hoxie’s school board fell right into line and refused to change its mind even in the face of segregationist threats. To be repeated tonight at 2 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.)

TUESDAY 17

7:30 (2) La Plaza: El día que me quieras. This short film from Leandro Katz focuses on photographer Freddy Alborta and the pictures he took of executed Cuban guerrilla hero Ché Guevara in Bolivia in 1967. Not so much a documentary as a meditation on Ché, the power of images, and death. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (2) Nova: Crash of Flight 111. A portrait of a plane-crash investigation — the four-year, $30 million effort by the Canadian Transportation Safety Board to unravel the cause of the 1998 crash of a Swissair flight from New York to Geneva into Nova Scotian waters. To be repeated tonight at 3 a.m. on Channel 44, and on Channel 2 on Thursday at 1 a.m. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Innovation: Human Body Shop. Cutting-edge (was that a pun?) technology that’s helping the blind to see. To be repeated tonight at 1 a.m. (Until 10 p.m.)

9:00 (44) Indie Select: Outside Looking In: Transracial Adoption in America. A film exploring the social, political, and personal implications of black-to-white adoptions. (Until 10 p.m.)

10:00 (2) National Geographic: The Incredible Human Body. Following in the footsteps of Stephen Boyd and Raquel Welch (who got real small and invaded the human body with a film crew in 1966’s Fantastic Voyage), modern ("4-D") miniature medical-imaging technology escorts us into the very heart of . . . well, into the very heart, and then some. To be repeated tonight at 2 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.)

10:00 (44) Independent Lens: A Place of Our Own: Black Resort Communities and the African-American Experience. The most famous one around here was on the Vineyard at Oak Bluffs. (The odd little cottages still stand.) Filmmaker Stanley Nelson (who did The Murder of Emmett Till — see Monday at 9 p.m.) offers his personal view of the subject. To be repeated tonight at 5 a.m., and on Channel 2 at 3 a.m. (Until 10 p.m.)

WEDNESDAY 18

8:00 (2) In Search of Shakespeare: The Duty of Poets. Series host Michael Wood chronicles the Bard’s turbulent rise to fame amid personal tragedy (his 11-year-old son’s death), political turmoil (plots against Elizabeth I), and personal disruption (affairs and liaisons that put him in a league with some of Hollywood’s bad boys). To be repeated tonight at 3 a.m. on Channel 44. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Watergate Plus 30: Shadow of History. When Richard Nixon finally gave up and resigned in the long wake of the 1972 Nixon-ordered break-in of Democratic National Committee offices in DC’s Watergate Hotel, some of us foolishly thought the presidency had been saved, not ruined. Alas, the whole affair seems to have taught subsequent administrations to cover their muddy/bloody footprints more thoroughly. But there were benefits, as well. Nixon got the disgrace he deserved, the mainstream press briefly flirted with the idea that investigative journalism could solve real problems, and no discussion of campaign reform takes place without a nod to Nixon’s dirty tricksters and dirty money. This film looks back at the Watergate scandal through interviews with Sam Dash, John Dean, Bob Woodward, and others who made that history. (Until 11 p.m.)

THURSDAY 19

7:30 (2) Basic Black: Acting Out: Men and Women. An edition of Say, Brother from 1976 discusses the relationship between male and female African-Americans. Plus a segment on the topic from the theatrical trilogy Black Dyad. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (64) Planet of the Apes (movie). Tim Burton’s 2001 remake of the classic time-machine/devolution epic. Starring Mark Wahlberg as the strange visitor from the 20th century and Helena Bonham Carter as the subtextual love interest. (Until 10:30 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Frontline: Tax Me If You Can. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that the rich pay taxes. Even before Bush lowered their rates, there were plenty of ways for the wealthy to dodge that obligation whose inevitability the rest of us equate with death. Hedrick Smith explains it all and looks at the role that big-deal accounting firms play in abuses that shelter up to an estimated $50 billion from the treasury each year. To be repeated tonight at 2 and 4 a.m. (Until 10 p.m.)