‘Wuhl’ a fresh look at history

Can a history seminar be funny? Entertaining?

Filmed before real students in a New York University classroom, “Assume the Position With Mr. Wuhl” (10 p.m. tonight, HBO) offers a light take on American history while imparting the lesson that what we believe to be fact is often shaped by prevailing popular culture.

Robert Wuhl, the former star of “Arli$$,” contends that the notion that Christopher Columbus “proved” that the world is round is simply a story invented by Washington Irving in a popular 19th-century novel. He compares Irving and poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to filmmakers like Jerry Bruckheimer.

Speaking of history, the made-for-TV shocker “SS Doomtrooper” (9 p.m. tonight, Sci Fi) combines historical action with monstrous camp. Not long after the D-Day invasion, American soldiers stumble upon supersoldier monsters being engineered by Nazi scientists in a last-ditch effort to defeat the Allies.

Tori Spelling plays an approximate version of herself in the new sitcom “So noTORIous” (10 p.m. Sunday, VH1).

Tired of being typecast as the virginal Donna Martin from “Beverly Hills 90210” and ready to get out from under the shadow of her father, superproducer Aaron Spelling, Tori moves into a modest apartment. OK, how modest can the place be when Farrah Fawcett (appearing as herself) lives next door?

Loni Anderson stars as Spelling’s pampered mother, Kiki, and her absurd quests for domestic perfection are among the show’s funnier scenes.

Today’s highlights

The NCAA Basketball Tournament (3 p.m., CBS) continues.

Scheduled on “Dateline” (8 p.m., NBC): New evidence links a 2005 missing-person case to a 20-year-old crime.

Sunday’s highlights

Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (7 p.m., CBS): expensive and possibly dangerous anti-aging products; illegal aliens blaze new desert trails; an orphanage for baby elephants.

Election Day jitters on “The West Wing” (8 p.m., NBC).