BY CLIF GARBODEN

THURSDAY 28

8:00 (2) Broadway: I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin (1930-1942) and Oh, What a Beautiful Morning (1943-1960). This is a truly excellent series about the American musical stage — though which editions show up when seems to be a bit of a crap shoot. In any case, it’s not your typical collection of Broadway types talking about themselves; there’s authority to the content here and lots of great old footage. Tonight we look at the escapist Depression-era fare and the more sobering plays of the day, like Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. The second hour moves on to the Rodgers & Hammerstein age, from Oklahoma! to The Sound of Music. (Until 10:30 p.m.)

8:00 (64) Baseball? World Series game #5, if needed.

FRIDAY 29

9:00 (44) Great Performances: Carnegie Hall Opening Night 2004 (?). There’s more than considerable confusion about this concert. WGBH/WGBX has managed to list it every which way but right. If this isn’t a replay of the 2002 CHON celebration of music by Manuel de Falla (Nights in the Gardens of Spain) and Maurice Ravel (Boléro and Rapsodie espagnole) as performed by pianist/conductor Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, then it’s the 2004 concert with Christoph Eschenbach and the Philadelphia Orchestra in Richard Strauss’s Don Juan, Don Quixote (with Yo-Yo Ma), and Vier letzte Lieder (with Renée Fleming). Sometimes it’s just not worth checking. (Until 11 p.m.)

SATURDAY 30

Noon (6) Football. Oklahoma versus Oklahoma State or Penn State versus Ohio State.

2:00 (44) The American Experience: The Crash of 1929. Repeated from last week. Black Monday (October 19, 1929) was the day that capitalist greed got what it deserved and the general public got screwed. A no-myths look at the 20th century’s biggest economic "misstep." To be repeated at 4 p.m. (Until 3 p.m.)

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

3:30 (6) Football. Michigan State versus Michigan, or Texas versus Colorado, or Florida State versus Maryland.

6:00 (44) Lifeboat (movie). Repeated from last week. Classic 1944 Alfred Hitchcock adaptation from a John Steinbeck story about survivors of a passenger ship sunk by the Germans during WW2 floating around the Atlantic with a rescued Nazi sailor. It’s all in the cast here, with one memorable over-delivered line after another from Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, and Walter Slezak. Tallulah says, "Here we are in the middle of the ocean without an ocean liner." Kinda sums it up. (Until 8 p.m.)

7:00 (6) Football. USC versus Washington State.

7:30 (64) Baseball? If the Sox are still playing, you’ll find game #6 here.

8:00 (44) The Quiller Memorandum (movie). A grown-up British-made spy yarn from 1966 starring George Segal, Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow, and Senta Berger about new-Nazi hunting in post-war Berlin. Script by Harold Pinter. (Until 9:45 p.m.)

9:45 (44) The Candidate (movie). Repeated from last week. Robert Redford has the title role in this 1972 comedy/commentary about a longshot US Senate candidate from California who takes the short path between good guy and two-faced pol. Long and a bit tiresome, but almost as worth rewatching as Wag the Dog in this election year. (Until midnight.)

Midnight (2) Soundstage. Featuring music from Fleetwood Mac. (Until 3 a.m.)

NOTE: No more Daylight Savings Time; we’re back to wasting it. (Until spring.)

SUNDAY 31

1:00 (12) Football. The Indianapolis Colts versus the Kansas City Chiefs.

1:00 (64) Football. The Arizona Cardinals versus the Buffalo Bills.

4:00 (12) Football. The Pats versus the Pittsburgh Steelers.

4:30 (10) Professional Bull Riders 2004 Built Ford Tough World Finals Presented by Wrangler. If nothing else, a masterpiece of sponsorship and promotion. (Until 6 p.m.)

6:00 (44) Masterpiece Theatre: The Lost Prince, part two. Repeated from last week. The concluding edition of this two-part Stephen Poliakoff drama about Prince John, the under-publicized epileptic son of Mary and George V, and his life in exile during World War I. The contrast between the feeble heir’s innocent life and the ham-handed political fumblings of Europe’s royal families is even more telling than the portrait of post-Victorian decadence we got in the first half. (Until 8 p.m.)

7:30 (64) Baseball? And if the Sox go to the bitter end . . . World Series game #7.

9:00 (2) Masterpiece Theatre: Talking Heads: The Hand of God. Eileen Atkins delivers a 40-minute Alan Bennett monologue as a greedy antiques dealer who stumbles into a relationship with a dying woman who has a house full of priceless artifacts. Following that, Bennett himself comes on and talks about his growing up in post-war England. To be repeated tonight at 4 a.m., and at 1 and 4 a.m. on Channel 44, and on Monday at 3 a.m. on Channel 2. (Until 10 p.m.)

9:00 (12) Canal Street Brothel (movie). Must be sweeps month, since CBS cancelled an Ashley Judd movie about infidelity for this tale of a three-generation family business in New Orleans that stars Ellen Burstyn, Annabella Sciorra, and Dominique Swain. What’s more, the network seems to have changed the name of this at the last minute; don’t be surprised if it shows up as The Madam’s Family: The Truth About the Canal Street Brothel. Is it a comedy? A pilot for a new reality series? (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (44) Independent Lens: The Political Dr. Seuss. Repeated from last week. A look at Ted Geisel’s early political cartooning. To be repeated on Tuesday at 1:30 a.m. on Channel 2. (Until 10:30 p.m.)

11:00 (44) Austin City Limits. Featuring music from Jonny Lang and Chuck Prophet. (Until midnight.)

MONDAY 1

9:00 (2) Frontline: The Choice 2004. One more time before you head to the polls, though we have to say that if you’re still an "undecided voter," you have got to be one of the stupidest people in America. Frontline’s excellent dual (no pundit) profiles of Bush and Kerry tell you what you already know: Bush is a right-wing fool with a political agenda worthy of a jealous third-grader; Kerry knows better. But it’s fun to have it proved on film. To be repeated tonight at 4 a.m., and at 1 and 4 a.m. on Channel 44. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (6) Football. The Miami Dolphins versus the New York Jets.

9:00 (44) Mystery: Inspector Morse: The Infernal Serpent. John Madden directed this Morse mystery about an environmental scientist who’s murdered just before he was set to deliver a controversial lecture. But was it his views that marked him for murder or some dark family secret? John Thaw stars as Morse; Kevin Whately plays the ever-faithful Sergeant Lewis. To be repeated tonight at 1 a.m. on Channel 2. (Until 11 p.m.)

10:00 (10) Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash. One last chance to laugh at the situation. (Until 11 p.m.)

TUESDAY 2

7:00 (6, 10, 12, 64) Election Coverage. Who will it be? Another four years of death and destruction at the hands of oil-grubbing capitalists. Or not? More wars against people who aren’t our enemies? Fewer allies? Fewer jobs? Or not? Greater Boston begins the evening’s coverage here, but it’ll be inescapable throughout the evening. Let’s just pray for a clean win; those crooked Republicans are all set to screw up the process again so the decision lands with the pro-Bush Supreme Court. But this time, we’re having a revolution instead. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (2) The Great Upset of ’48. Not sure why they picked this particular presidential-election abnormality to feature tonight, but it is interesting to learn how Harry Truman managed to upset Thomas Dewey 56 years ago. The one relevant angle here might just be that 1948 was the last election that didn’t rely on television to spread campaign promises. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (44) Globe Trekker: Amsterdam City Guide. Trekker Jonathan Atherton sets out to see the respectable side of Amsterdam (the canals, the Rijksmuseum, the bike paths) but keeps bumping into the city’s wilder side. To be repeated on Wednesday at 1 a.m. on Channel 2. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) National Geographic Special: Last Stand of the Great Bear. Not just a bruin but a fully functioning rain forest (called the Great Bear) stretching along the coast of British Columbia. It’s a natural wonder of an ecosystem complete with grizzlies, wolves, dolphins, seals, and what-have-you doing what they were meant to do. So of course this precious resource is being threatened by lumbering. A look at the place and at conservationists’ desperate efforts to save it. (Until 11 p.m.)

WEDNESDAY 3

8:00 (44) American Valor. Stories of US service people who’ve won the Congressional Medal of Honor. George Bush is not among them. (Until 9:30 p.m.)

9:30 (44) D-Day: Down to Earth — Return of the 507th. While we’re in a war-like mood, we get this documentary about the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, the folks who jumped into Normandy on June 6, 1944, and fought some of the bloodiest little battles of D-Day. (Until 10:30 p.m.)

10:00 (2) Hidden Art of Hollywood. Not so hidden, actually, just under-rated. A look at Hollywood’s production designers — the people who devise and maintain the look and feel of a film and help interpret its themes through "visual language." Examples include My Fair Lady, The Godfather, Amadeus, and even Dick Tracy. (Until 11 p.m.)

THURSDAY 4

7:30 (2) Basic Black: A Conversation with Cathy Hughes. The owner of Radio One, the world’s largest black-owned broadcasting company, talks about her rise from single teenage mother to corporate success. (Until 8 p.m.)

9:00 (2) American Masters: Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan, and the Blacklist — None Without Sin. Elia Kazan was a great Hollywood director (On the Waterfront, Gentleman’s Agreement), but he was also a HUAC rat who sold out his comrades to the McCarthy mob in 1952. This serious and disturbing documentary explores Kazan’s relationship with the people he betrayed — specifically one-time good-buddy playwright Arthur Miller. To be repeated tonight at 1 a.m. (Until 11 p.m.)