Wednesday, April 27
HALLMARK HALL OF FAME (NBC, 7:30-9 p.m.).* "Lamp at Midnight," a dramatized rendering of Galileo Galilei's 17th century argument with the Roman Catholic Church. Galileo (Melvyn Douglas) said the earth was round; the church and its prelates (George Voscovic, David Wayne) said he was wrong and what's more, a heretic. The Inquisition made Galileo take it back. To assure viewers that all is forgiven, Chicago Archbishop John Patrick Cody gives an introduction to the show.
RED CHINA: YEAR OF THE GUN? (ABC, 10-11 p.m.). A report based on recent visits to China by Western newsmen—the Toronto Star's Mark Gayn, Agence France Presse's Jacques Marcuse, Danish Photographer Ole Neesgaard (who shot some of the color footage)—as well as interviews with recently returned Korean War Defector Morris Wills, Authoress Han Suyin and Secretary of State Dean Rusk.
Thursday, April 28
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY SPECIAL (CBS, 7:30-8:30 p.m.). Orson Welles narrates this report (in color) on the underwater experiments of France's Jacques-Yves Cousteau (The World of Silence), whose Continental Shelf Station III—328 ft. below the surface of the Mediterranean off Cap Ferrat—was the home of six French "oceanauts" for 21 days, 17 hours and 16 minutes, the longest man has ever stayed at such a depth.
THE CBS THURSDAY NIGHT MOVIE (CBS, 9-11 p.m.). Sophia Loren and Cary Grant in Houseboat prove that two real pros can keep just about anything afloat.
Saturday, April 30
ABC'S WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS (ABC, 5-6:30 p.m.). An Indianapolis-type auto race—the Trenton (N.J.) 150—and the World Pocket Billiards Championship at Manhattan's Commodore Hotel.
Sunday, May 1
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY (CBS, 6-6:30 p.m.). The 1942 invasion of North Africa and some of the cloak-and-dagger activity that preceded it. Repeat.
MISSISSIPPI: A SELF-PORTRAIT (NBC, 6:30-7:30 p.m.). A news special investigating the opinions and attitudes of white Mississippians including Ku Klux Klan members, sharecroppers, housewives, millionaires, businessmen and political and religious leaders.
THE MAGIC OF BROADCASTING (CBS, 10-p.m.). Arthur Godfrey takes a long and nostalgic look at the early days of radio (he was "Red Godfrey, the Warbling Banjoist" in 1929) and the precocious but troubled babyhood of television. Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby and John Scott Trotter are among the guests. Old film clips and recordings extend the reach back; some current behind-the-scenes footage brings it up to date again.
Tuesday, May 3 CBS NEWS SPECIAL (CBS, 10-11 p.m.).
"Stravinsky, Man of His Age," a portrait of the composer at 83, including his trip last spring to Warsaw, city of his youth, for the performance of Rite of Spring by the Warsaw Opera Ballet and the Firebird Suite by the Warsaw Philharmonic, with the composer conducting.
THEATER On Broadway MARK TWAIN TONIGHT! When Hal Hoibrook shuffles off the stage at the end of his one-man show, it is as if one were bidding good night to the incorrigible Clemens himself. As penetrating in spirit as it is physically uncanny, this performance is an extraordinary dramatic re-creation of one of Americana's keenest humorists.