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

‘Charles & Camilla’ re-creates early love

Kevin McDonough United Feature Syndicate

Oh, those wacky, tacky Windsors. If you harbor any doubts that the story of the British royal family has digressed from drama to tragedy to farce, they will be dispelled by the 2005 TV movie “Charles & Camilla: Whatever Love Means” (5 and 7 p.m. tonight, WE).

It’s supposed to be a plea for understanding for England’s star-crossed lovebirds, now united in holy matrimony after decades of scandal. But it gets funnier and more absurd as it unfolds, at the same time depicting the royal family as the most dysfunctional bunch this side of Jerry Springer’s couch.

We all know the story.

And we all know how it turned out and who played the witch in that fairy tale gone haywire.

Fans of superior thrillers should clear their calendars. The 10-hour miniseries “Sleeper Cell” (10 p.m. Sunday, Showtime) will air from Sunday to Wednesday and conclude with a two-hour installment Dec. 18.

“Cell” takes viewers into a militant Islamic terrorist group operating in Los Angeles. Early on, we learn that one of the members is actually a mole feeding information to the FBI and fighting with the agency to keep his operation going long enough to prevent an attack on the scale of 9/11.

Given the stakes, the tension and solid performances, it’s easy to think of “Sleeper Cell” as the mirror image of “24.” And it’s easy to get hooked.

Jon Voight stars in the title role in the miniseries “Pope John Paul II” (9 p.m. Sunday, CBS). But he won’t get much screen time until Tuesday.

The first two hours concern the young Karol Wojtyla (Cary Elwes).

Tonight’s highlights

Florida State and Virginia Tech tangle in college football action (5 p.m., ABC).

Laura Prepon (“That ‘70s Show”) stars in the 2005 comedy “Romancing the Bride” (8 p.m., Oxygen).

Country artists celebrate their celebrity on “The Academy of Country Music’s 40th Anniversary Celebration” (9 p.m., CBS).

Witness to an execution on “Medium” (9 p.m., NBC).

Motor City’s musical motormouth performs his hits on “Eminem Live From New York City” (9 p.m., Showtime).

Erin Cottrell stars in the 2005 Western romance “Love’s Long Journey” (9 p.m., Hallmark), a sequel to the earlier films “Love’s Enduring Promise” at 7 p.m. and “Love Comes Softly” at 5 p.m. Can”Love’s Enduring Softness” be far behind?

A comedian who was funny in the 1970s recalls his youth in the 1950s on “Robert Klein: The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue” (10 p.m., HBO).

Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne star in the 2005 drama “Assault on Precinct 13” (10 p.m., Cinemax).

Sunday’s highlights

Scheduled on “Dateline” (7 p.m., NBC): Gretchen Wilson, Mel Brooks, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.

Santos (Jimmy Smits) navigates a racial minefield on “West Wing” (8 p.m., NBC).

A widower receives assistance on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (8 p.m., ABC).

Marcia Gay Harden and John Schneider star in a second helping of the 2005 doll-costume drama “Felicity: An American Girl Adventure” (8 p.m., WB)

Tom Arnold plays a modern Scrooge in the 2005 holiday fantasy “Chasing Christmas” (8 p.m., Family).

A team of experts sets out to understand the architecture and ceremonial purpose of the world’s most famous prehistoric stone circle on the two-hour special “Rebuilding Stonehenge” (6 p.m., National Geographic).

Murder in the software world on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (9 p.m., NBC).

Carlos answers a calling on “Desperate Housewives” (9 p.m., ABC).

“Holiday Windows 2005” (9 p.m., HGTV) showcases glittering department-store displays from New York and London.

Zoologists discover the power of a pride in “Into the Lion’s Den” (10 p.m., Discovery).

Woody falls under suspicion on “Crossing Jordan” (10 p.m., NBC).

Rosanna Arquette guest-stars on “Grey’s Anatomy” (10 p.m., ABC).

Cult choice

A trio of needy misfits follows a 12-year-old girl (Judy Garland) and her little dog, too, in the 1939 musical fantasy “The Wizard of Oz” (8 p.m. tonight, TNT).