Some Old Favorites Begin New Season

Several popular shows kick off their new seasons this weekend, while CBS introduces its new Friday night lineup.

After two high-rated specials, CBS has turned “Kids Say the Darndest Things” into a weekly series, Friday at 8 p.m. on Channel 2. Bill Cosby hosts the show--a variation of Art Linkletter’s old “House Party”--in which Cosby chats with youngsters. CBS also is moving “The Gregory Hines Show” to 8:30 p.m. and “Family Matters” to 9 p.m.

Whoopi Goldberg is the scheduled guest on the season premiere of HBO’s Emmy Award-winning “Dennis Miller Live,” Friday at 11:30 p.m.

“HBO Comedy Half-Hour” returns for its fourth season, Friday at midnight, with comic Dave Chappelle.

“The Statler Brothers Show,” the Nashville Network’s highest-rated series, kicks off its seventh season Saturday at 6 p.m.

Charles Osgood hosts PBS’ “A Science Odyssey,” Sunday at 8 p.m. on KCET-TV Channel 28, a five-part look at scientific discovery through the 20th century. The series continues through next Thursday.

Today

A&E;’s “The New Explorers,” at 6 and 10 p.m., presents the documentary “Betrayal at Little Big Horn.” Using advanced scientific techniques and a reenactment, the documentary sheds new light on the fact that a rescue of Gen. George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Calvary could have been possible.

Friday

“Louis Rukeyser’s 1998 Money Guide,” at 9 p.m. on Channel 28, features the “Wall Street Week” host previewing this year’s U.S. economy.

Saturday

Lou Rawls hosts “An Evening of Stars,” at 7 p.m. on KCAL-TV Channel 9, a four-hour telethon for the United Negro College Fund. Debbie Allen, Alfre Woodard and Louis Gossett Jr. are co-hosts. Toni Braxton, Luther Vandross, Michael Bolton and Sinbad are among the performers.

The Learning Channel presents “Audrey Hepburn Remembered,” at 7 and 10 p.m. The documentary on the late Oscar-winning actress features clips from her films and interviews with family and friends.

Robert Vaughn, who co-starred in the 1960 classic western “The Magnificent Seven,” guests on the new CBS series based on the movie, at 8 p.m. on Channel 2. Vaughn plays a respected judge who tries to stop a cattle rancher from taking over a town.

David Caruso, John Leguizamo and Linda Fiorentino star in the Movie Channel thriller “Body Count,” at 9 p.m.

Sunday

“Siskel & Ebert” offer their Oscar recommendations, at 6:30 p.m. on Channel 7.

The Learning Channel looks at “The Secret World of Las Vegas,” at 7 p.m.

E! Entertainment Television presents “Sylvester Stallone: Celebrity Profile,” at 8 p.m.

Rosanna Arquette stars as a defense attorney who finds herself embroiled in a web of rape and the law in the ABC movie “I Know What You Did,” at 9 p.m. on Channel 7.

Ray Romano and Reba McEntire host CBS’ 24th annual “The People’s Choice Awards,” at 9 p.m. on Channel 2. The winners are chosen by a poll conducted by the Gallup organization. Whoopi Goldberg is set to receive the Special Tribute Award and Garth Brooks is scheduled to perform. Among the top TV show nominees are “ER,” “NYPD Blue,” “Seinfeld” and “The X-Files.”

Donna Mills stars in the Family Channel’s “Moonlight Becomes You,” at 9 p.m. The thriller, based on the novel by Mary Higgins Clark, finds Mills playing a photographer who discovers a series of deaths at a retirement home.

Lifetime offers an “Intimate Portrait” of two-time Oscar-winning actress Jessica Lange, at 10 p.m.

The gay and lesbian magazine series “In the Life” presents its year-in-review edition, at 11 p.m. on Channel 28.