Be Here to Love Me
Friday, 8 p.m., Documentary
Chances are you've never heard of Townes Van Zandt. But if you're a fan of the blues, in particular the brand of country blues sung by the likes of Willie Nelson, Emmy Lou Harris and Lyle Lovett, then you've almost certainly heard Van Zandt's music. The self-destructive, manic-depressive singer/songwriter, considered by many to be a genius for his haunting lyrics and melodies, drank himself to death in 1997 at age 50. Despite his prodigious talent, Van Zandt shunned commercial success in favour of living in run-down trailer parks and sniffing glue to get high. "I don't envision a long life for myself," he once observed, adding: "There's heaven, there's purgatory, there's hell and then there's the blues." -
COMEDY
Barbarella
Tuesday, 9 p.m., Drive-In Classics
This cheesy 1960's sci-fi spoof starring a doe-eyed, leggy Jane Fonda is pure camp. Director Roger Vadim sends his first wife on a low-budget odyssey to bring peace to the universe. But the movie is really a chance for Fonda to model a succession of fetchingly brief outfits. Worth watching for the opening credits alone.
I'm Alan Partridge
Tuesday, 9:40 p.m., BBC Canada
In this episode, not-so-lovable loser and radio host Alan Partridge finds himself the only guest in the motel as it closes temporarily for repairs. Soon the bored staff starts doing undignified impressions of him. But Alan's last iota of dignity probably fell out of his pocket during a pub-crawl 20 years ago.
DRAMA
Thieves Like Us
Monday, 7 p.m., BookTV
One of Robert Altman's lesser known gems, Thieves Like Us, brings Depression-era rural Mississippi to life with the story of three convicted killers on the lam from prison. Shelley Duval plays an ingenuous farm girl who falls for Keith Carradine, the youngest of the escapees, as they embark on a spree of bank robberies and killings.
The Guardian
Wednesday, 10 p.m., CourtTV
Hotshot lawyer Nick Fallin (Simon Baker) continues to chip away at the 1,600 hours of community service he's been sentenced to after being arrested on a cocaine charge. This week he gets caught up in a case involving a 13-year-old accused of murdering his mother.
NEWS & DOCS
Mondo Montreal
Thursday, 12:45 a.m.
Not much has changed in Montreal since this expose of the underbelly of one of Canada's largest cities was made in 1991. Starring Richard Glenn, Sylvia Costal and the girls from Nick's Place, the documentary gets inside the strip clubs and looks at everything from prostitution to Satanic worship in the urban jungle.
Diameter of the Bomb
Friday, 10 p.m., Documentary
On June 18, 2002, a suicide bomber climbed aboard a Jerusalem bus and blew it to smithereens, killing 20 people and injuring 50. Diameter of the Bomb deconstructs the event in gruesome, heart-breaking detail, interviewing everyone from emergency workers at the scene to relatives of the victims, many of whom were school children.
MOVIES
Seven
Saturday, 9 p.m., IFC
This 1995 thriller provided Brad Pitt with his breakout role. The movie has aired about a million times and has long been out on DVD, video and even Laserdisc, so why bother mentioning it? Well, fans may want to know that it's a special Pop-Up Trivia Edition.
I Shot Andy Warhol
Sunday, 9 p.m., CourtTV
Hell hath no wrath like a woman scorned. Pop artist Andy Warhol learned this the hard way after spurning a screenplay written by the mentally unbalanced, man-hating Valerie Solanas. This is the story of the anti-establishment scribe whose Scum Manifesto provided a window onto 1960's New York avant-garde.
OTHER
Valerie Pringle Has Left the Building
Monday, 9 p.m., Travel
Watching the peripatetic Valerie Pringle chow down on fine New Zealand cuisine and kayak remote fiords is the next best thing to actually visiting this exquisite island country with its perfect climate, stunning scenery and excellent food and wine . . . Or, at least for most of us, it will have to do.
Adventures of Robert Louis Stevenson
Friday, 2 p.m., BookTV
The author of such fictional adventures as Kidnapped, Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was no stranger to dangerous exploits himself according to this BBC biography. His travel lust led him to brave the high seas and embroil himself in civil war on a tropical island paradise.