This weekend is full of ancient history
Bad monster movies make up for their so-so acting and impossibly stilted dialogue with endless opportunities to combine improbable stories. Take the 2005 shocker “Pterodactyl” (9 p.m., Saturday, Sci Fi). A button-down paleontology professor (Cameron Daddo) takes his pretty assistant (Amy Sloan), a seminar of nerds and a spoiled princess to the wilds of the Turkish-Armenian border to explore a recently erupted volcano. Meanwhile, a team of secret NATO commandos (featuring Coolio, doing his level best to imitate Samuel L. Jackson) is hunting down a terrorist/war criminal/generic Balkan bad guy in the exact same area.
Do you think these two crazy story lines will intersect? Do you suppose both parties will be attacked by prehistoric lizard birds whose eggs have been incubated by the recent eruption? And will the resulting gore and mayhem inspire the shy paleontologist to finally tell his assistant, “I love you”? !
When man took one small step on the lunar surface, President Nixon called it one of the greatest events “since the creation.” But that was then. The “Save Our History” installment “Apollo: The Race Against Time” (8 p.m., Saturday, History) shows how the rockets, spacesuits and other relics of the Apollo program have been allowed to deteriorate in the past three decades, and also celebrates efforts to preserve these historic items for posterity.
Good and often great, the 12-episode series “Rome” (9 p.m., Sunday, HBO) will delight those HBO viewers who have witnessed the network’s growing addiction to trivial Hollywood insiderism with shows that are good (“Entourage”), bad (“The Comeback”) and ugly (“Unscripted”).
For all of its drama about the end of the Republic and the bloody birth of the Roman Empire, “Rome” is worth watching for its small and overlapping personal soap operas. As in the amazing first season of “The Sopranos,” this tale of men and murder is often leavened by the presence by strong and complicated women. Caesar’s niece Atia (Polly Walker) all but steals the show with her brazen, manipulative sexuality and homicidal scheming. And she’s also the chief source of black humor in this political-military saga.
Produced at Rome’s fabled Cinecitta Studios, “Rome” does a wonderful job of evoking the ancient city as a busy, crowded, dirty and dangerous place, filled with thieves, beggars, prostitutes and rival gangs. Ever since the silent movies of Cecil B. DeMille, Roman antiquity has provided filmmakers with an opportunity to expose flesh and explore the jaded sexuality of a “pagan” culture. “Rome” does not deviate from this time-honored tradition. Not by a long shot.
Saturday’s highlights
Piotr Adamczyk portrays Karol Wojtyla as a playwright, intellectual, priest and bishop as his native Poland suffers under Nazi occupation and communist oppression in the epic four-hour 2005 European television drama “Karol: A Man Who Became Pope” (7 p.m., Hallmark).
The Broncos host the Colts in NFL preseason football (5 p.m., CBS).
Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and James Gandolfini star in the 2001 misfire “The Mexican” (8 p.m., ABC).
Country music celebrates urban cowboys from Galveston to Wichita on “20 Greatest City Songs” (8 p.m., CMT).
“Diana’s Legacy” (9 p.m., BBC America) observes the eighth anniversary of the death of Princess Diana.
Sunday’s highlights
The Eagles perform their hits on a “Farewell 1 Tour” (7 p.m., NBC).
A healthy habitat on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (8 p.m., ABC).
Celebrities and performers are featured on the “MTV Video Music Awards” (8 p.m., MTV).
Impossibly good-looking teens adjust to life after high school in the new series “Palmetto Pointe” (8 p.m., i). (The Pax network has changed its name to “i.”)
Tom Selleck and Mimi Rogers star in the 2005 drama “Stone Cold” (9 p.m., CBS).
Saturday series
The Boston morgue unit visits the strip on “Crossing Jordan” (8 p.m., NBC) … … Cast members of “Crossing Jordan” guest star on “Las Vegas” (9 p.m., NBC)… John Walsh hosts “America’s Most Wanted” (9 p.m., Fox) … An abusive cult on “Law & Order” (10 p.m., NBC).
Sunday series
New evidence on “Cold Case” (8 p.m., CBS) … Homer tells fortunes on “The Simpsons” (8 p.m., Fox) … On back-to-back episodes of “Family Guy” (Fox), Lois acts out (8:30 p.m.) and shoplifts (9 p.m.) … A murder investigation leads to a former member of the force on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (9 p.m., NBC).