WORTH NOTING ON TV

FRIDAY Richard Nixon Reflects (PBS, 9-10:30 p.m.): The president who renewed US ties to China when that was a radical move reflects on the communist world, and on topics like George Bush, the media, and, yes, Watergate. Film clips from the Nixon archive and from his own home accompany Morton Kondrake's interviewing. SUNDAY `The Untouchables' (CBS, 9-11:30 p.m.): Potent, sometimes violent 1987 feature-film version of the popular TV series (1959-63) about the grim learning experience of federal agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner), as he battles crime in Prohibition-era Chicago. The cast also includes Sean Connery in an Oscar-winning performance, and Robert De Niro as an expansive Al Capone.

MONDAY Skyscraper (PBS, 8-9 p.m.): It's even better than being a sidewalk superintendent as you see through the eyes of the construction team in this five-part series that walks, talks, and climbs you through the creation of Worldwide Plaza, a 47-story office complex in midtown Manhattan. The premi`ere, ``Rock and Paper,'' covers design, computer-imaging, and ... oh yes, raising $550 million. Local Heroes, Global Change (PBS, 10-11 p.m.): First of a four-parter that looks at the struggle against worldwide poverty and environmental change and finds something to cheer about: ``local heroes,'' individuals - from farmers to bank employees - who are taking concrete steps toward progress.

WEDNESDAY Chimps: So Like Us (HBO cable, 8-8:30 p.m.): World-renowned chimpanzee authority Jane Goodall revisits her old haunts in Gombe National Park, along the shores of Tanzania's Lake Tanganyika, in a personal, sometimes dramatic, often moving documentary with some heartbreaking scenes in a US research lab.

Please check local listings for all programs, especially on PBS.