BY CLIF GARBODEN

THURSDAY 2

6:45 (5) Football. The Pats versus the Jacksonville Jaguars in preseason play.

7:30 (2) Basic Black: The Youth Vote. If only the 18-to-34-year-old crowd would vote — for Kerry. Darren Duarte holds a roundtable discussion on how to get that to happen, with Tito Jackson of Dunk the Vote, George Greenidge of the National Black College Alliance, and Boston Vote’s Atiya Dangleben. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (44) PBS Convention Coverage: A NewsHour Special Report — The Republicans. Just kidding. The British aren’t coming. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Wide Angle: Sahara Marathon. Something completely different. And there’s a story that goes with it. The Sahrawi people put up with years of bloodshed as they resisted Morocco’s annexation of the Western Sahara, in 1976. For 10 years, they’ve been waiting for sovereignty, but the referendum never gets off the ground. How to draw attention to this virtually invisible standoff? They hold a marathon across the Sahara. This report focuses on two runners and the difficulties of racing through sandstorms. (Until 10 p.m.)

10:00 (6, 10, 12) Still More Republican Lies. Hey, let’s get this straight right from the start: if you vote for any of these people, you have blood on your hands and democracy’s demise on your conscience. (Until 11 p.m.)

5:00 a.m. (44) Soundstage. Featuring music from Peter Cetera and Amy Grant. (Until 6 a.m.)

FRIDAY 3

2:35 (44) Brief Encounter (movie). A young David Lean directed Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard in this 1945 classic about strangers who encounter each other (briefly) at a train station and toy with a love affair. (Until 4:01 p.m.)

5:32 (44) Fiesta in the Sky. The long-awaited return of the classic half-hour documentary about hot-air ballooning. Actually, Channels 2 and 44 run this turkey every few days, which allows us to expand our collection of hot-air-balloon fantasies. French-Canadian inventor Jean-Luc gazed dreamily out the window of his remote shack near Pas de Hirondelle, Quebec, and saw 12 black hot-air balloons rise in threatening formation from the general direction of Detroit. "Zut alors!" he cried and dashed for his underground shelter, tripping over his overflowing laundry basket and knocking himself unconscious. By the time the gang of aerial bandits landed and found him, he was delirious, and for the rest of his life had no memory of what happened next. (Until 6 p.m.)

1:00 a.m. (2) The General (movie). Buster Keaton stars in this elaborate 1927 silent Civil War comedy about a Southern railroad engineer on a mission to retrieve his stolen locomotive. With Marion Mack as the belle Annabelle Lee. Worth taping. (Until 2:27 a.m.)

SATURDAY 4

11:00 a.m. (12) Tennis. Men’s and women’s US Open third-round action. (Until 6 p.m.)

Noon (6) Football. Bowling Green versus Oklahoma, or Miami (of Ohio, whatever that means) versus Michigan.

Noon (44) Amato: A Love Affair with Opera. Apparently this is "Opera! Opera! Opera! Day" on WGBX, and the afternoon of arias and spear-carrying begins with filmmaker Stephen Ives’s documentary on the Amato Opera House, a family business (since 1948) run from a brownstone in New York. (Until 1 p.m.)

1:000 (44) Great Performances: Romeo and Juliet. Charles Gounod’s musical adaptation of the tragic romance, filmed in the Czech Republic and starring Roberto Alana and Angela Gheorghiu as the pair with the world’s worst romantic timing. (Until 2:30 p.m.)

2:30 (44) Glyndebourne 2002: Carmen. Director David McVicar does Bizet’s potboiler with England’s Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the London Phil. Anne Sofie von Otter sings the title role; Marcus Haddock does Don José. To be repeated on Sunday at 5 p.m. (Until 5:30 p.m.)

5:30 (44) Great Performances: The Merry Widow. Franz Lehár’s 1905 extravaganza of gay tunes and dancing girls gets a new libretto from Wendy Wasserstein for this English-language production by the San Francisco Opera. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (44) The Return of Maria Callas. The return was a while back — 1973 in London, when Callas had been away from the stage for almost a decade. Callas teams up with tenor Giuseppe di Stefano for a selection of challenging and familiar works. To be repeated on Sunday at 8:50 p.m. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (44) Maria Callas: A Big Destiny. And an odd title for a documentary. A bio of the diva focusing on her temper tantrums and suspected lack of self-respect. To be repeated on Sunday at 8 p.m. (Until 9:50 p.m.)

11:00 (2) In the Life: War Stories. Tonight’s edition of this monthly magazine-format show devoted to gay and lesbian issues is hosted by Bill Brochtrup (NYPD Blue). Feature topics include: the US military’s infamous don’t ask/don’t tell policy (revisited); the support organization COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere); and the first woman to trek to the South Pole. Plus, we get segments on the documentary films Living with Pride: Ruth Ellis at 100 and Ruthie and Connie (from HBO). (Until midnight)

Midnight (2) Lucille Ball: Finding Lucy. Carol Burnett and Fran Drescher (but, remarkably, not Debra Messing) add commentary to this bio-doc of television’s first and foremost female comic. (Until 1:30 a.m.)

1:30 a.m. (2) Elton John at the Royal Opera House. A December 2002 fundraising concert involving Sir Elton, a 90-piece orchestra, and the choir of the Royal Academy of Music. Yet he claims to remember when rock was young. (Until 2:30 a.m.)

SUNDAY 5

11:00 a.m. (4) Tennis. Men’s and women’s US Open third-round action. (Until 6 p.m.)

1:30 (6) Football. Syracuse versus Purdue.

5:00 (64) Waking Ned Devine (movie). Only the dead win the lottery. A great little film; don’t watch it on Fox — rent it. (Until 7 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Mystery The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Series 3: Playing for the Ashes. Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small return as the aristocrat detective and his low-class sidekick to investigate the sordid demise of a beloved cricket player. To be repeated tonight at 4 a.m., and, on Channel 44, at 1 and 4 a.m. (Until 10:30 p.m.)

9:50 (44) Washington Opera Celebration. Plácido Domingo, Washington opera artistic director, organized and performs in this 2003 all-star gala from DC. Featuring Denyce Graves, Rene Pape, and Russian soprano Tatiana Pavlovskaya. (Until 11:20 p.m.)

MONDAY 6

12:30 (4) Tennis. Men’s and women’s US Open fourth-round action. (Until 6 p.m.)

8:00 (6) Football. Florida State versus Miami.

8:00 (44) Bethlehem Steel: The People Who Built America. Well, a lot of it, anyway — including the Golden Gate Bridge and 80 percent of New York City’s skyline. Alas, this onetime Pennsylvania-based metal giant is now in Chapter 11. To be repeated tonight at 3 a.m. on Channel 2. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (44) Colonial House: A New World and Harsh Reality. We put up with these historical re-creators the first time this aired, and frankly we don’t want to meet them again. But as PBS-quality reality shows go, this one, about a bunch of volunteers trying to live as 1628 American colonists, isn’t too bad. Tonight, the gang gathers in the distant past and determines that cooperation is key to establishing a working community. Duh. (Until 11 p.m.)

TUESDAY 7

7:30 (2) La Plaza: Conversations with Ilan Stavans: Richard Rodriguez. A chat with Mexican-American journalist Rodriguez, whose several books explore the role of ethnicity and race in the United States. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (2) Nova: Why the Towers Fell. First off, we all pretty much agree the Twin Towers in NYC fell because a bunch of fundamentalist fanatics flew airplanes into them — but this show is about engineering and forensic investigations, not politics. How could those buildings have fared better in the wake of the 9/11 assaults? Plus, some interviews with survivors about how they managed to escape before the towers collapsed. To be repeated tonight at 4 a.m., and, on Channel 44, at 1 and 5 a.m. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (44) Globe Trekker: Argentina. Trekker Justine Shapiro (our favorite all-around guide on this series) heads for Iguazu Falls, takes a train trip to 15,000 feet, hangs out with some gauchos, and winds up in some "mystic caves." She also (if the promo picture is to be believed) winds up with a toucan on her head. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Frontline: Sacred Ground. A report on the first year of negotiations to decide what sort of memorial to build on the site of the WTC attacks, this focuses on the travails of Freedom Tower architect Daniel Libeskind, who saw the project dissolve into partisan politics and ideological squabbling. That’s the American way, of course: no tragedy is too big to exploit. To be repeated tonight at 2 a.m. on Channel 44, and, on Channel 2, on Wednesday at 2 a.m. (Until 10 p.m.)

WEDNESDAY 8

8:00 (2) Great Performances: John Lennon’s Jukebox. No doubt about it: until Yoko intruded, John Lennon had excellent taste in music. And to prove that, a collector in Bristol, England, has an old jukebox that once belonged to the First Beatle, and it’s still programmed with his top 41 faves. These include Wilson Pickett’s "Midnight Hour," Fontella Bass’s "Rescue Me," and Otis Redding’s "My Girl." This special reviews those fabulous ’60s singles and traces their influence on the Beatles oeuvre. (Was John sampling, stealing, or just paying homage?) To be repeated tonight at 4 a.m. and on Thursday at 1 a.m., and, on Channel 44, at 1 and 5 a.m. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) American Masters: Good Rockin’ Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records. The likes of Jimmy Page, Third Eye Blind, and Paul McCartney recreate (in their derivative fashions) the legendary sounds that came out of Sam Phillips’s Sun Studios in Memphis and gave birth to commercial rock. And if you’re ever in Memphis and have a choice between visiting Graceland or Sun Studios, go for Sun Studios. To be repeated Thursday at 2 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.)

THURSDAY 9

8:00 (10) Joey. The season opener for what should be a sitcom doomed by the heady expectations associated with its stars: Matt LeBlanc, extending his Joey character from Friends, and the totally appealing Drea de Matteo (Adriana on The Sopranos). But give it a shot. These are seriously talented people and they might be in good hands. (Until 8:30 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Wide Angle: Young, Muslim, and French. Just as American schools forbid gang colors in the classroom, French schools recently banned the wearing of traditional Islamic garb. French Muslims take a dim view of this religion-based restriction; educators say it prevents trouble. The BBC’s Mishal Husain explores the issue up close at a school outside Paris. (Until 10 p.m.)

9:00 (6) Football. The Pats versus the Indianapolis Colts.

10:00 (10) Medical Investigations (Pilot). Riding the CSI bandwagon, here’s the season opener of a show about National Institutes of Health investigators who respond to threatening outbreaks of dread diseases. Starring Boomtown’s Neal McDonough and The Practice’s Kelli Williams. (Until 11 p.m.)