What's On TV

Listings are not necessarily recommended by the Monitor. All times Eastern, check local listings.

Saturday 2/27

Lansky (HBO, 8-10 p.m.): This is an offer you can refuse. Much talent is misspent in this biography of Meyer Lansky, the infamous racketeer, bootlegger, casino owner, and organized-crime kingpin, who thinks he was mistreated by the government. Told through perplexing flashbacks, the story stars Richard Dreyfuss, Eric Roberts, and Ileana Douglas. (TV-MA)

Golf: The Anderson Consulting Match Play Championship (ABC, 2-6 p.m.): Match play. It's back in golf after a 40-year hiatus. And the general response is, "What took so long?" For the first time in a major golf event since the 1958 PGA Championship, the game's top 64 players square off in a head-to-head, single-elimination competition.

Sunday 2/28

The Little Mermaid (ABC, 7-9 p.m.): Lilting ballads, buoyant music, and a feel-good story make this one of the best cruises in the history of animated moviemaking. Ariel, the love-struck mermaid, longs to swim out of the sea and walk into the arms of Prince Eric. (TV-G)

Masterpiece Theatre - Cider With Rosie (PBS, 9-10:30 p.m.): Masterpiece Theatre presents a marvelous adaptation of British poet Laurie Lee's autobiography. The luscious tale about a boy in a large female household is a loving and realistic look at English middle-class country life. At the center of his world is his vibrant mother, Annie (Juliet Stevenson, pictured above), who is left to raise nine children after her husband abandons the family. The drama is delightful and poignant without indulging in sentimentality. (TV-PG)

Alice in Wonderland (NBC, 8-11 p.m.): A clever adaptation by Peter Barnes alters the classic tale slightly, adding a twist that makes more sense on screen (see story above). (TV-PG)

Summer's End (Showtime, 8-10 p.m.): A thoughtful and poignant drama. A north Georgia lakeshore community's racist past flares up when a retired black doctor returns and befriends a fatherless boy. The script takes some extra footage to shift gears, but good performances by James Earl Jones and the young Jake Ledoux keep the minutes ticking. (TV-PG, V)

Monday 3/1

The Big Dig (The History Channel, 10-11 p.m.): Five thousand hard hats, 3,000 engineers, 150 cranes, 430 dump trucks, 275 cement trucks. And billions of dollars. That's all part of the Big Dig, the construction of a new highway system for Boston, to be completed by 2004. This one-hour special, while informative, paints too rosy a picture and fails to show the other side - the effect on the people who live near the construction, which goes on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (TV-G)

Wednesday 3/3

20/20 (ABC, 9-11 p.m.): Monica Lewinsky talks with Barbara Walters about her relationship with Bill Clinton and the year of the scandal in this two-hour special edition of "20/20."