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 Dance in America: David Gordon's Made in America (PBS, 9-10 p.m.): ``Great Performances'' presents Mikhail Baryshnikov and members of the David Gordon Pick-up Company performing three modern ballets. The Annual Report of the Defense Secretaries (PBS, 10-11 p.m.): All seven former defense secretaries meet to discuss how US foreign policy is made.

SATURDAY All-Star Gala at Ford's Theatre (ABC, 9-10 p.m.): Bea Arthur hosts annual benefit taped in June. Nancy Reagan dances with Baryshnikov. Billy Joel From Leningrad, USSR (HB0/pay cable, 10 p.m., 4 a.m.; also Tuesday and Friday): Rock concert taped in August in the Soviet Union.

SUNDAY National Geographic Explorer (WTBS/cable, 9-11 p.m.): Short documentaries for the whole family, including one on Bikini atoll, and an update on explorations of the site of the sunken Titanic. Family Sins (CBS, 9-11 p.m.): Original family tragedy with James Farentino and Jill Eikenberry. The Passage of Gifts (PBS, 10:30-11 p.m.): Premi`ere of five-part series, ``Make Prayers to the Raven,'' exploring how traditional values guide day-to-day lives of Alaska's Athabascan Indians.

MONDAY The Phantom of the Opera (Arts & Ent. cable, 8-9:30 p.m.): The original 1925 Lon Chaney film scarer. See it before the new musical version arrives from London. The Storyteller (NBC, 8:30-9 p.m.): John Hurt tells a family-oriented tale of a boy who set out to find what fear is. Drive, She Said (PBS, 10-10:30 p.m.): Original drama in ``Trying Times,'' an original drama-comedy series celebrating the humor of coping with life's changes.

TUESDAY Top Flight (CBS, 8-9 p.m.): Documentary hosted by William Shatner salutes Air Force on its 40th birthday. Japan's Favorite American (PBS, 8-9 p.m.): ``Nova'' profiles modern-day solar-cell scientist Stanford Ovshinsky. Change (PBS, 9-10 p.m.): Second program in the six-part series ``The Ring of Truth,'' about the inner workings of science.

WEDNESDAY Unseen Worlds (PBS, 8-9 p.m.): First of series of specials on the adventure of scientific exploration, using special visual effects. A `Firing Line' Special: The Republican Presidential Candidates (PBS, 9-11 p.m.): Hosts William F. Buckley Jr. and Robert Strauss present the first joint appearance of Republican candidates for the presidency.

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.