What's On TV

TV highlights for the week of July 18-24. All times are Eastern; check local listings.

SATURDAY 7/18

British Open (ABC, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.): It may be the most prestigious golf tournament, but it is no paradise. Sand dunes frame just about every hole. The fairways are rough. The wind is gusty. In this abyss, pundits are favoring Tiger Woods and Britain's Lee Westwood. Missing will be Jack Nicklaus, who is ending his streak of 146 consecutive majors. Final round is tomorrow.

Goodwill Games (TBS, 8:05-10:05 p.m.): About 1,500 athletes from 60 countries are expected to participate in this multi-sport invitational event in New York. Competitions will be held in 15 sports including athletics, gymnastics, and figure skating. CBS will pick up weekend coverage. The games end Aug. 2.

SUNDAY 7/19

Oh Yeah! Cartoons! (Nickelodeon, 11-11:30 a.m.): Created by former Hanna-Barbera president Fred Seibert, this lively and creative new series showcases three new cartoons in each episode. In the opener, a young artist battles a bully in an imaginary land where images erased off a chalkboard come to life; a pup sniffs out what makes things funny; and a girl helps her monster cousin adapt to society. (TV-Y)

Thirdspace: A Babylon 5 Adventure (TNT, 8-10 p.m.): The made-for-TV movie, meant to accelerate the action of the series, stands on its own with a gripping tale of an ancient mesmeric evil threatening the space station. A million-year-old artifact of grand proportions produces nightmares, visions, and strange behavior among Babylon's inhabitants, lured by the artifact. Pride and unbridled ambition in one character contribute to the threat of annihilation, and the story gets downright mythic. Aside from sappy moralisms toward the end, the moral of the story resonates with SF tales as different as "Star Wars" and "The X-Files." (TV-PG, V)

The Net (USA, 9-10 p.m.) and Sins of the City (USA, 10-11 p.m.): Before these two shows fill their regular slot on Saturday nights, USA is first launching them on Sunday. "The Net," based on the 1995 movie, is a new action series starring Brooke Langton ("Melrose Place") as Angela Bennett, a computer programmer. When Angela reads an e-mail she isn't supposed to see, her life is "erased" by a high-tech terrorist group. The action is flat, and so are the lines: "They deleted my life. I want it back." Maybe this show will be deleted from the airwaves soon. With "Sins of the City," USA is continuing an action-sex-star formula that the cable channel cashed in with series such as "Pacific Blue," "Silk Stalkings," and "La Femme Nikita." In "Sins," Australian actor Marcus Graham plays an ethically challenged Miami cop who reinvents himself as a private detective to unravel sin and crime.

TUESDAY 7/21

The Sun, the Moon and the Stars (AMC, 10-11 p.m.): "Sometimes it would stop raining long enough for the stars to come out. And it was nice," says Tom Hanks in "Forrest Gump." This thought-provoking special shows how imagination in film helped open the door to space travel. It also includes clips from movies such as "The Right Stuff" and "Apollo 13" as well as actual NASA footage.