ESPN’s ‘Tilt’ adds to winter darkness

I must have missed the memo dictating that all new shows must be shot in Las Vegas.

Just three days after the debut of “Caesar’s 24/7” on A&E, a sports network offers us “Tilt” (6, 7 and 9 p.m., ESPN), a drama set in the seamy world of professional poker.

Michael Madsen (“Kill Bill”) stars as Don “The Matador” Everst, an arrogant poker champion who struts around the fictional Colorado Casino like he owns the place. We quickly learn that the management is very much in cahoots with Everest’s dishonest tactics.

When Lee Nickel (Chris Bauer), an out-of-town cop, accuses the card shark of cheating him, the casino boss quickly erases a surveillance tape so as not to give away their shared fraud.

Everest has also gained the attention of a team of poker professionals dedicated to bringing him down. Eddie Cibrian (“Third Watch”) plays Eddie, a brilliant young talent who can’t rest until he bests The Matador.

I’ve just got one question. Why should I care?

“Tilt” does a credible job of re-creating the dark atmosphere of casino life; there is not one scene shot in daylight. Gosh, that’s just what I want to watch during a long winter night.

I hope ESPN isn’t trying to sell “Tilt” in Sweden.

“Tilt” is also a natural outgrowth of ESPN’s coverage of the World Series of Poker. It’s interesting, strange even, that ESPN is using a fictional show to say that one of the “sports” it covers is notoriously fixed.

But with the exception of “3,” the network’s biography of the late Dale Earnhardt, all of ESPN’s fictional efforts, including scathing portraits of Bobby Knight and Pete Rose, have focused on the negative aspects of sports.

Doesn’t anybody there like the games they cover?

For those who can’t get enough Vegas there’s “Hollywood Heat” (11 p.m., Court TV). Host A.J. Hammer looks at Tinsel Town’s fascination with the gambling mecca’s casinos and adult entertainment industries, and he interviews George Eads, star of the Vegas-based “CSI.”

“Rendezvous with Saturn’s Moon” (8 p.m., Discovery Science) recaps the seven-year mission of the Cassini-Huygens Saturn probe on the eve of its historic landing on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. This marks the first time that a manmade craft has landed on the moon of another planet.

Enveloped in an orange shroud and larger than many planets, Titan is the only moon in the solar system with its own atmosphere. Discovery Science will pick up the action Friday night with “Touchdown on Saturn’s Moon” (8 p.m., Friday).

Other highlights

Sandy bursts into song on “The O.C.” (10:30 p.m., Fox).

Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan star in the 2000 sports romance “Love & Basketball” (8 p.m., WB).

A baby snake in a cadaver’s skull raises eyebrows on “CSI” (9 p.m., CBS).

The gang collects bail money for Jason on the season finale of “North Shore” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG).

A convict vanishes after a prison riot on “Without a Trace” (10 p.m., CBS).

Gang members seize Abby and demand surgery on one of their own on “ER” (10 p.m., NBC).

Scheduled on “PrimeTime” (10 p.m., ABC): germs lurking in gyms; an interview with the family of Lana Clarkson, the actress found shot in Phil Spector’s mansion.

Cult choice

An unhappy playwright (Christopher Reeve) uses mind control to will himself into the past to join a beauty (Jane Seymour) depicted in an old painting in the 1980 weepy “Somewhere in Time” (5 and 11 p.m., WE).

Series notes

Would-be taste arbiters tangle on “Wickedly Perfect” (8 p.m., CBS) … A very special escort on “Joey” (8 p.m., NBC) … Dino faces his emotions on “Life as We Know It” (8 p.m., ABC) … Wrestling on “WWE SmackDown!” (8 p.m., UPN).

Nate is mistaken for a figment of Marni’s imagination on “Committed” (8:30 p.m., NBC).

Making cameos on back-to-back episodes of “Will & Grace” (NBC) – Lily Tomlin (9 p.m.) and Kristin Davis (9:30 p.m.) … Desperate cases require plastic surgery on “Extreme Makeover” (9 p.m., ABC).