WORTH NOTING ON TV
SUNDAYLand of the Eagle (PBS, 8-10 p.m.): Columbus may have come looking for piles of gold, but what he found was lots of land - so vast and overpowering that it was the main fact of life for anyone trying to live there. Native Americans felt they were part of this land, while European settlers wanted - what else? - to wring a profit out of it. These two very different attitudes are examined in an eight-part series premiering its first two shows here. It celebrates the 10th anniversary of the 'Nature' program by taking a comprehensive look at the awesome natural history of North America. Thirty cinematographers traveled 30,000 miles to search out the last of the land's wild places and give viewers some idea of what it may have been like when Europeans first arrived. Airing on consecutive nights, the series illustrates what happened to the land as it was settled. It's not always a pretty picture. Crossing Gang Lines (Fox, 10-11 p.m.): Once again Paul Rodiguez turns his comedy talents toward solving social issues. In an earlier special he explored prison life during a show at San Quentin. This time he interviews Los Angeles gang members - and even gets 400 of them them to call a truce so they can attend a kind of comedy-music peace meeting. It's a feat as formidable as negotiating a Middle East truce, but comedian Rodriguez - who grew up in L. A.'s gang territory - has a rare knack for using enter tainment as an effective disarming device.
WEDNESDAY MTV's 10th Anniversary (ABC, 9-10 p.m.): Now that TV's establishment-baiting music-video channel is 10 years old - and looking more like the establishment all the time - a birthday bash is being thrown by a long list of rock stars, including rare performances on broadcast TV by R.E.M., Aerosmith, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and George Michael. Several new numbers will be offered, along with animation, interviews, a look back at video music's notable images, and a feature on rap as a sociological event.
Please check local listings, especially on PBS.
