S P E C I A L S

The new made-for-cable movie The Garden of Redemption (8 p.m. Sun., Showtime) stars Anthony LaPaglia as a cowardly priest in World War II Italy whose sense of duty is awakened by his feelings for a resistance fighter (Embeth Davidtz). Then, LaPaglia is back in his old Los Angeles defense attorney role for a special two-hour edition of Murder One (9 p.m. Sun., ABC). ABC is airing the final six episodes of the canceled series in two-hour blocks on Sunday, Monday and Thursday and calling it a miniseries.

William Shatner, Carrie Fisher, Leonard Nimoy and Dean Cain host Journey into the Unknown (8 p.m. Mon., Fox), a retrospective of sci-fi TV shows. It's a rerun. The celebrated 1983 documentary series Vietnam: A Television History (9 p.m. Mon., PBS) begins another run as part of PBS's "American Experience" series. Frontline (9 p.m. Tues., PBS) updates the 1989 Little Rascals day-care center case, in which seven caregivers faced hundreds of allegations of sexual abuse.

S P O R T S

NHL Playoffs: Red Wings vs. Avalanche, Game 5 (7:30 p.m. Sat., ESPN); Game 6, if necessary (7:30 p.m. Mon., ESPN). Rangers vs. Flyers, Game 5 (2 p.m. Sun., Fox); Game 6, if necessary (7:30 p.m. Tues., ESPN).

NBA Playoffs: Bulls at Heat, Game 3 (3:30 p.m. Sat., NBC); Game 4 (3:30 p.m. Mon., NBC). Jazz vs. Rockets, Game 4 (3:30 p.m. Sun., NBC); Game 5, if necessary (9 p.m. Tues., NBC).

Indianapolis 500: (11 a.m. Sun., ABC).

Baseball: Red Sox at Yankees (8 p.m. Sun., ESPN).

S E R I E S

The canceled Dark Skies (8 p.m. Sat., NBC) returns to NBC's schedule to burn off first-run episodes. This week, a young Colin Powell (Wolfgang Bodison) leads a dangerous Cold War mission to find an alien-controlled Russian communications station. Saturday Night Live (11:30 p.m. Sat., NBC) repeats its best show of the past season, featuring Kevin Spacey and Beck. The new Fox series Beyond Belief (7 p.m. Sun., Fox) re-creates "unexplained" events, then asks viewers to guess which one is a total fabrication. James Brolin hosts. Another canceled series, Life's Work (8:30 p.m. Tues., ABC), returns from extended limbo with new episodes. In case you've forgotten, this sitcom stars Lisa Walter and Michael O'Keeffe as a couple with two careers and two kids. It's actually a pretty funny portrayal of harried parenthood, but don't get too attached.

E T C .

Impress your friends with these fun facts: NBC won the 1996-97 Nielsen season, which officially ended May 21, with a season average rating of 10.5 -- the lowest winning rating in history. CBS came in second with a 9.6 rating; ABC was third with a 9.2; and Fox was fourth with a 7.7, which actually marked a 5 percent increase over Fox's rating last year. (A rating point represents an estimated 970,000 households, or 1 percent of the country's TV homes.) The Big Three networks all lost viewers in the coveted 18-49 age demographic, while Fox posted a gain to tie with ABC for viewers in that category.

In other season-end Nielsen news, the top-rated program of 1996-97 was the Super Bowl on Fox, which drew a rating of 43.3, with a 65 share (65 percent of televisions in use during that time period were tuned to the game). Four of the top five programs were Fox football telecasts; ABC's Academy Awards show came in fourth with a 27.4/46. Episodes of NBC's "ER" occupied slots six through nine, with an episode of "Seinfeld" ranking 10th, at 24.4/36.

B L U E G L O W    F O R    F R I D A Y   M A Y   2 3,    1 9 9 7