BY CLIF GARBODEN

THURSDAY 3

7:30 (2) Basic Black: Conversation with Anita Hill. Host Darren Duarte talks with the woman who shook up Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing on the lingering impact of that nomination and the continuing role of sexual harassment in the military, education, the government, and the workplace. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (2) Cuba Mia: Portrait of an All-Woman Orchestra. A film covering the Camerata Romeu as it prepares to perform classical music from Latin composers at the Basilica of St. Francis in Havana. To be repeated tonight at 10 p.m. on Channel 44, and on Friday at 2 p.m. on Channel 44. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Masterpiece Theatre: The Lost Prince, part two. An encore presentation of Stephen Poliakoff’s look at the youngest child of George V and Mary, brother to Edward VIII (the one who abdicated) and George VI (Elizabeth II’s father) but secluded from the world because he was epileptic and had a learning disability. Definitely worth catching if you missed it first time around. (Until 11 p.m.)

FRIDAY 4

8:00 (44) Sid Caesar Collection. Saturday night didn’t come alive with Chevy Chase. Sid Caesar’s weekly 1950s sketch-comedy show Your Show of Shows gets credit for reinventing comedy for the small screen at least a decade earlier, when Lorne Michaels was in the peanut gallery. Okay, granting the undeniably mighty Caesar all that credit is going a bit far. What YSOS did was cram vaudeville into the tube, where its jokes became so immediate that even the bloopers were funny. And Caesar himself was unstoppable. A look back at vintage clips featuring the first names in television comedy, plus commentary and recollections from Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Nanette Fabray, Larry Gelbart, Neil "Pipe Down!" Simon, Howard Morris, and Carl Reiner. (Until 9:30 p.m.)

9:30 (44) On Stage at the Kennedy Center: Mark Twain Prize: Lorne Michaels. Repeated from last week. NBC’s Saturday Night Live — ratings wise — has been the most successful late-night comedy show in TV history. It fed at least two generations of audiences with stars for all occasions and survived some really bad material with a really remarkable reputation. And behind it all, from way back in the mid ’70s when it was an explosion of from-the-heart humor with a mission, creator Lorne Michaels has somehow made it — or perhaps allowed it to — happen. For this, someone deserves a prize. G.E. Smith is on hand to lead the band. Guests with speaking parts include Dan Aykroyd, Candice Bergen, US Senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut), Tina Fey, Darrell Hammond, Steve Martin, Tim Meadows, US Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), Conan O’Brien, Paul Simon, David Spade, and Christopher Walken. To be repeated on Sunday at 1 a.m., and at 4 a.m. on Channels 2 and 44. (Until 11 p.m.)

SATURDAY 5

2:00 (12) Basketball. Pittsburgh versus Notre Dame or Alabama versus Mississippi State followed by Illinois versus Ohio State.

3:00 (2) Suze Orman: For the Young, Fabulous, and Broke. Gee, Suze, where do we sign up? Better question: how do we escape? To be repeated this afternoon at 6 p.m. on Channel 44, and tonight at 10:30 on Channel 44, and on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. on Channel 2, and then at 8 p.m. back on Channel 44, and on Tuesday at 4 p.m. on Channel 44, and on Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Channel 44, and on Thursday at 9 p.m. on Channel 2. (Until 5 p.m.)

6:30 (2) Ageless Skin: Secrets from Dr. Denese. The next infomercial on PBS. Clear up that skin and you won’t mind being fabulous and broke. To be repeated on Monday at 1 p.m. on Channel 44, and on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. back on Channel 2. (Until 8 p.m.)

8:00 (2) Funny Blokes of British Comedy. You remember the PBS fundraiser show about the "funny ladies of Brit TV"? Well, this is like that except the highlights involve Rowan Atkinson in Blackadder, John Cleese in Fawlty Towers, and Geofffey Palmer in As Time Goes By. Bloke Lenny Henry (Chef) hosts. (Until 10 p.m.)

8:00 (6) Jerry Maguire (movie). Tom Cruise stars as a young, fabulous, and broke sports promoter who gets religion, finds love, and stops just short of teaching us the True Meaning of Christmas. With Cuba Gooding Jr. (Best Supporting Actor Oscar) and Renée Zellweger, from 1996. (Until 11 p.m.)

8:00 (44) My Music: The ’60s Experience. The difficult-to-explain side of the 1960s with old performances clips and remakes of Procol Harum’s "A Whiter Shade of Pale," Janis Joplin’s "Piece of My Heart," and Hendrix’s "Purple Haze." The roster of performers includes Roger McGuinn (the Byrds), Eric Burdon (the Animals), Chuck Negron (Three Dog Night), and John Kay (Steppenwolf). To be repeated on Sunday at 5:30 p.m., and on Monday at 2:30 p.m., and on Monday at 7:30 p.m. on Channel 2. (Until 10:30 p.m.)

10:00 (2) My Music: Funky Soul Superstars. Patti LaBelle, Isaac Hayes, and Vivica A. Fox host fellow FSSs. Hayes does the Shaft theme (accompanied by comments from Richard Roundtree himself); Cuba Gooding Sr. resurrects the original Main Ingredient for "Everybody Plays the Fool"; and original Stylistic Russell Thomkins Jr. sings high and tight on "You Are Everything." To be repeated on Sunday at 3:30 p.m., and on Wednesday at 10 p.m. on Channel 44. (Until 12:30 a.m.)

12:30 a.m. (2) Fiesta in the Sky. In celebration of what is probably the worst week of programming in public-television history since the 1953 debut of Ya! Das Sure Is Russian Poetry!, we have this inescapable half-hour documentary on the proper use of the colorful hot-air balloon. Which at least give us an excuse for a flight of fantasy. Gilfaethwy the Intrepid But Basically Unpronounceable sat alone on the long-deserted battlefield, where, generations ago, his ancestors had fought bravely to defend their homeland against the invading Whirling Corleones, and he thought dark thoughts. Spenserkins the Often Annoying Elf-Wizard sat beside him. "Answer my riddles three?", Spenserkins suggested. "Screw your riddles three," retorted Gilfaethwy. "I’ve no time for guessing. See now how darkness settles upon the land." "But, ’tis evening, good sir," explained Spenserkins. "Surely, one must expect . . . " "I expect no one named Shirley," interrupted our distracted hero. "I expect the return of my niece, Becca the Winsome Blonde, and her friend Li’le Bran-Bran from their heroic journey to the very depths of time and space." And as he spoke, a colorful hot-air balloon sailed onto the battlefield, bumped into a rather large rock, and tipped, dumping two young passengers at Gilfaethwy’s feet. "Whew! We have returned from the very depths of time and space," explained Li’le Bran-Bran. "Hold thy tongue," said Becca. "We must never lie to my uncle. It’s true we took a quick turn around the depths of time and space, but then we saw the sweaters on sale and spent the rest of the afternoon at the mall." "You are a good and noble niece," gushed Gilfaethwy "and will be rewarded for your honesty. You, Li’le B-B, are another matter, and as punishment will be forced to ride home in the back seat with Spenserkins guessing his tedious riddles three." "Oh that’s so-o-o-o easy," answered Li’le Bran-Bran. "Fourteen wounded ushers; Bonnie Fitzwillie’s garden elf; and another man’s cheese." "Got ’em in one," said Spenserkins with a wink. (Until 1 a.m.)

SUNDAY 6

Noon (12) Basketball. Michigan State versus Indiana followed by UCLA versus Notre Dame or Florida versus South Carolina and then Oklahoma State versus Kansas.

1:30 (6) Basketball. The Dallas Mavericks versus the Houston Rockets followed by the Detroit Pistons versus the Sacramento Kings.

3:30 (44) Magic Moments: The Best of ’50s Pop. And if we can’t get the best, we’ll take what has survived. A combo concert of old clips and "live on stage again just the way they were before you forgot them" reunions: the McGuire sisters, Debbie Reynolds ("Tammy"), Patti Page ("Old Cape Cod"), the Crew Cuts ("Sh-Boom"; do they have crew-cut wigs?), the Four Lads, Aces, and Coins, and Gogi Grant. Plus tributes to 1950s icons Dean Martin, Perry Como, Rosemary Clooney, and Johnny Ray. Taped at Trump’s in Atlantic City. To be repeated on Tuesday at 2 p.m. (Until 5:30 p.m.)

9:00 (6) Their Eyes Were Watching God (movie). Halle Berry, Michael Ealy, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and Ruby Dee star in an Oprah-backed adaptation of a novel by Zora Neale Hurston about one African-American woman’s difficult search for love in 1920s America. (Until 11 p.m.)

11:00 (44) Austin City Limits. Featuring music from Wilco and Bright Eyes. (Until midnight.)

MONDAY 7

8:00 (44) Great Performances: One Night with Rod Stewart. Apparently, Rod has finally let himself in on the joke for this concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Dame Edna hosts. Rod performs backed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and the London Community Gospel Choir. Plus special guests Chrissie Hynde, Ron Wood, and Amy Bell. To be repeated on Thursday at 4 p.m. (Until 9:45 p.m.)

9:45 (44) California Dreamin’: The Story of the Mamas and the Papas. A history of the remarkably influential West Coast band who transitioned radio pop into drug music before the grown-ups even noticed. Classic performances, clips, and interviews featuring John Phillips, Michelle Phillips, Denny Doherty, and Cass Elliot, plus commentary from record producer Lou Adler and fellow ’60s survivors John Sebastian and Barry McGuire. To be repeated on Tuesday at 9 p.m. on Channel 2, and on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. back on Channel 44. (Until 11 p.m.)

TUESDAY 8

7:30 (2) Cabin Country: Lumberjack Sky Pilot. No description of this program has been provided, but the title alone should draw a crowd. Consider the popularity of, say, SpongeBob SquarePants, for example. To be repeated on Thursday at 1 p.m. on Channel 44. (Until 9 p.m.)

10:00 (44) Great Performances: Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival. Clapton invited a bunch of blues musicians he wanted to jam with to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas — and they all showed up. A sweltering show featuring Robert Cray, Vince Gill, Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin, John Mayer, Carlos Santana, James Taylor, Jimmie Vaughan, Joe Walsh, and ZZ Top. (Until 1 a.m.)

WEDNESDAY 9

1:00 a.m. (2) Globe Trekker. Arab Gulf States, Globe Shopper, and Best Beaches. The all-time low for PBS programming this evening, but things pick up at 1 a.m. with a series of repeat Globe Trekker shows. (Until 4 a.m.)

THURSDAY 10

1:00 a.m. (2) Globe Trekker. Hungary and Romania, Great Festivals, and the American Rockies. Another night of WGBH skin-care tips — then an overnight dose of Globe Trekker shows. (Until 4 a.m.)