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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘Once’ looks at Kirk, Michael Douglas

Kevin McDonough United Feature Syndicate

It’s not easy having two Oscar winners in the same family. Kirk and Michael Douglas bicker about movies and women in the documentary “A Father … A Son … Once Upon a Time In Hollywood” (8 p.m. tonight, HBO) directed by family friend and actress Lee Grant.

Nearly 30 years after Michael won a Best Picture Oscar for producing “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Kirk still resents him for not casting him in the part played by Jack Nicholson. I guess we can all relate to that.

Filled with film clips and home movies, “Hollywood” includes frank talk about Kirk’s womanizing and Michael’s alcohol abuse. Kirk talks about his emotionally distant father, his decision to produce his own movies, and his struggles to speak and express himself since suffering a stroke.

Equal parts film history and Douglas family dynamics, this feature continues HBO’s recent onslaught of programming by, for and about Hollywood insiders.

Way back in 1987, the year of Fawn Hall and “Dirty Dancing,” the slapstick comedy “Night Court” was a regular part of NBC’s must-see Thursday lineup. It was the seventh most popular show that season. Airing between “Cheers” and “LA Law” didn’t hurt.

“Night Court” buffs and fans of Harry Anderson (Judge Harry Stone), Richard Moll (Bull) and Markie Post (Christine Sullivan) can catch 96 consecutive episodes as part of a 48-hour “Night Court” marathon beginning 6 a.m. today on TV Land.

“Night Court” also introduced television viewers to the brash District Attorney Dan Fielding, played with insouciant smarm by John Larroquette. The comic actor has recently returned to prime time (and to the legal genre) in “McBride” (7, 9 and 11 p.m. Sunday, Hallmark) a series of two-hour murder mystery movies.

In Sunday’s installment, “Tune In For Murder,” McBride takes on the seemingly hopeless case of defending a shock jock accused of murdering his insulting on-air partner. But as McBride sniffs around the radio station, he learns that just about everybody who worked with the deceased had motives to see him permanently canceled.

The summer silly season continues with “My Kind of Town” (9 p.m. Sunday, ABC), a traveling celebration of small towns and cities and the undiscovered talents and quirks of their citizens.

The debut episode of “Town” takes place in Greenville, Ala., where residents will be challenged to appear in comedy skits and engage in feats of skill.

Jimmy Kimmel acts as master of ceremonies at the “Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson” (10 p.m. Sunday, Comedy Central). Joining Kimmel is a virtual “Surreal House” of comedians and bold-faced names including Bea Arthur, Andy Dick, Nick DiPaolo, Greg Giraldo, Elon Gold, Eddie Griffin, Lady Bunny, Tommy Lee, Lisa Lampanelli, Courtney Love, Jeffrey Ross and Sarah Silverman.

Tonight’s highlights

Gymnastics Championships (8 p.m., NBC)

Years before his Oscar for “Ray,” Jamie Foxx impressed audiences and critics in the 1999 sports drama “Any Given Sunday” (8 p.m., ABC), starring Al Pacino and Cameron Diaz.

A detective (Lou Diamond Phillips) finds himself in hot water when aliens hijack a train in the 2005 made-for-cable thriller “Alien Express” (9 p.m., Sci Fi).

Dennis Farina and Richard Belzer star in a crossover episode of “Law & Order: Trial By Jury” (10 p.m., NBC).

Sunday’s highlights

Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (7 p.m., CBS): Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger; trade schools that don’t deliver; Hilary Swank.

Geoffrey returns to the scene of his theatrical meltdown on “Slings & Arrows” (8 p.m., Sundance).

A best-selling book still provokes questions about church tradition and art history on the special “The Real Da Vinci Code” (5 p.m., Discovery Times).

Engagement changes everything in the 2001 romantic comedy “The Brothers” (8 p.m., WB).

One of the returned is implicated in a terror plot on “The 4400” (9 p.m., USA).

A medium (Ted Danson) helps police in the 2002 two-part miniseries “Living with the Dead” (9 p.m., CBS), concluding next Sunday.

Keith feels protective on “Six Feet Under” (9 p.m., HBO).

Suspicions fall on a shut-in neighbor (Jeremy London) on “Crossing Jordan” (10 p.m., NBC)

Lesley Ann Warren guest-stars on “Desperate Housewives” (10 p.m., ABC).

Vince takes acting lessons on “Entourage” (10:15 p.m., HBO).