Blue Glow

Salon's TV picks for Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2000

By Joyce Millman

Jan 12, 2000 | Series

Jack meets a guy and Dawson has a run-in with Nikki on Dawson's Creek (8 p.m., WB). On The West Wing (9 p.m., NBC), the president collapses while preparing to deliver the State of the Union address. Meanwhile, Leo's old substance abuse problem comes back to haunt him. Kate gets a job as Drew's assistant and proceeds to alienate everybody on The Drew Carey Show (9 p.m., ABC). Remember Lucky Vanous, the shirtless hunk from the soda commercials? He stars in the new action series 18 Wheels of Justice (9 p.m., Nashville Network) -- and you gotta love that title -- as a Justice Department agent forced to go into the Witness Protection Program after testifying against a vicious nutcase criminal (G. Gordon Liddy, typecast again). Lucky gets a new identity as a long-haul trucker driving a state-of-the-art rig, but he's still secretly working for the feds. Oh, yeah -- and Billy Dee Williams is on hand as his boss. The boys go on a class trip to Arkansas (uh-oh) on a new South Park (10 p.m., Comedy Central).

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Specials

The Mark Twain Prize Honoring Jonathan Winters (10:30 p.m., Comedy Central) pays tribute to the impish comedian whose manic style influenced Robin Williams and Jim Carrey. Williams, Sid Caesar, Bonnie Hunt, Richard Belzer, Mark Curry and Eugene Levy are among those joining the celebration.

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Sports

Hockey:
Penguins at Coyotes (9 p.m., ESPN2)

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Talk

Rosie O'Donnell (syndicated) Whoopi Goldberg, Bacon Brothers
David Letterman (CBS) Hillary Clinton, Art Donovan
Jay Leno (NBC) Jessica Lange, Topher Grace
Politically Incorrect (ABC) Chuck Woolery, Betsy Hart
Conan O'Brien (NBC) Sarah Jessica Parker, Robert Wagner
Craig Kilborn (CBS) Ice Cube, Eric Close

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