WORTH NOTING ON TV

This guide is designed to alert readers to the scope and variety of programming coming up. Listing is not meant to represent blanket endorsement. Viewers are urged to be selective. FRIDAY

Blunt (Arts & Entertainment/cable, 8-10 p.m.; repeated at midnight): British dramatization of 1979 real-life spy story in which art expert Blunt was implicated in the Burgess-Maclean-Philby scandal.

Master Harold ... and the Boys (PBS, 9-10:30 p.m.): Repeat of 1984 cable production of 1982 Broadway drama by Athol Fugard about the human toll of apartheid.

Joan Baez (PBS, 10:30-11 p.m.): Conversation, archival photographs, and concert footage with controversial performer and human rights activist.

SATURDAY

US Women's Open (ABC, 2:30 p.m.; Sunday, 3:30 p.m.): Women's golf, live from Plainfield, N.J.

Evening at Pops (PBS, 8-9 p.m.): An evening of song and comedy with the Canadian Brass, Marilyn Horne, the Mills Brothers, Benjamin Luxon, and Rich Little.

Carly in Concert (HBO/pay cable, 11 p.m.-midnight): Carly Simon in one of her rare public performances.

SUNDAY

Crime, Punishment ... and Kids (NBC, 7-8 p.m.): NBC News special examines the world of juvenile criminality.

Keith County Journal (PBS, 10-11 p.m.): Naturalist John Janovy Jr. learns lessons from nature in the Nebraska sand hills. (Previewed in adjoining columns.)

MONDAY

Nik and Murray (PBS, 9-10 p.m.): ``American Masters'' chronicles the 35-year artistic collaboration of modern dance choreographers Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis.

Steps (PBS, 10-10:30 p.m.): ``Alive From Off Center'' presents music video director Zbigniew Rybczynski's political satire about Soviet-American relations.

Marshall Islands: Living With the Bomb (PBS, 10:30-11 p.m.): ``The Human Face of the Pacific'' series profiles the Micronesian natives evacuated from Bikini.

TUESDAY

Bravo, Bread, and Circuses (PBS, 9-10 p.m.): Segment of ``South American Journey'' focuses on three celebrities - a bullfighter, a boxer, and a soap opera star.

WEDNESDAY

A Tribute to American Music: Cole Porter (PBS, 9-10 p.m.): ``In Performance at the White House'' presents Mel Torm'e and Kaye Ballard singing Porter for President and Mrs. Reagan.

The Battle for Afghanistan (CBS, 10-11 p.m.): Dan Rather narrates documentary on this ``dark and distant war.''

Drums Along Balmoral Drive (Arts & Entertainment/cable, 9-10:30 p.m.): British Academy Award-winning drama about a white couple in emerging Zimbabwe.

Listings are in Eastern time; other zones may vary. Please check listings for all PBS programs since local option often results in differing days and times.