WORTH NOTING ON TV

SUNDAY Without Warning: The James Brady Story (HBO, 9-10:30 p.m.): The inevitable TV dramatization of this true story stars Beau Bridges as the tremendously gutsy press secretary to former President Reagan. Crippled by bullets during an attack on Reagan, Brady eventually joined his wife Sarah's long-term fight for gun control, and the production has been updated to include passage by the House of the ``Brady bill.''

Backstage Pass to Summer (Fox, 9:30-10 p.m.): This advance peek at the pop summer music scene offers interviews, videos, and special performances. Cher acts as host and also shows us her own video ``Love and Understanding'' - a single that's part of her upcoming album ``Love Hurts.''

TUESDAY

After the War (PBS, 9-10 p.m.): A peace that seems worse than the war is documented in this Bill Moyers report from the Turkish-Iraqi border, where refugees flee Saddam Hussein's persecution. Besides interviewing Kurds and Americans here and abroad, the documentary asks some tough questions about the large-scale death and misery: Why was US assistance to the Kurds so long in coming - and why were the refugees put in that position in the first place?

WEDNESDAY

Metropolitan Opera (PBS, 8-11 p.m.): Serpents, pyramids, temples, palm trees - they're all part of David Hockney's setting for ``The Magic Flute,'' final show in the Met's TV season. Staged by Guus Mostart and conducted by James Levine, the profound and playful Mozart masterpiece is sung in German with English subtitles. (Simulcast in stereo on FM and AM radio in many cities.)

Please check local listings, especially on PBS.