WORTH NOTING ON TV

* TUESDAY

P.O.V. - Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (PBS, 10-11:30 p.m.): Films about the epic efforts behind the making of epic films are nothing novel these days, but this independent documentary was unusually well received when it came out in 1992. It chronicles the artistic, financial, and personal struggles of Francis Ford Coppola in creating ``Apocalypse Now,'' his 1979 movie based on Joseph Conrad's short novel.

As that lavishly expensive Coppola film was being shot on location in the Philippines (``Apocalypse Now'' moved Conrad's setting from Africa to the Vietnam War), there were lots of breathless press stories about cost overruns and artistic problems. This ``making of'' film looks for the answers through interviews with major figures involved in the production. It records diary entries, screens footage of the filmmaking - much of it shot by Coppola's wife Eleanor in the Philippines - and goes to other sources in depicting why Coppola himself compared the filmmaking experience to the Vietnam War. * WEDNESDAY

House on Fire: Haitian Crisis (ABC, 10-11 p.m.): In this special, Peter Jennings takes a detailed look at the immediate future and the multifaceted background of the mounting problem in Haiti. Will the United States take military action to overthrow the military regime now in power? If so, is an invasion imminent - despite administration assurances that a decision is weeks away?

In Haiti, Jennings speaks with with US diplomats, members of the military, and supporters of Haiti's elected but unseated president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The program explores several years of clashes and inconsistencies in Washington over US Haitian policy - a maelstrom of lobbyists, bureaucracies, and politicians with axes to grind.

The show is not all talk: Viewers will see ``boat people'' being intercepted at sea and brought to the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well as other scenes showing the reality behind all the political and strategic maneuvering.

Please check local listings for these programs.