Host James Burke makes some dizzying connections

If spending time with a brilliant, if slightly scatterbrained, genius is your idea of good TV, then don't miss the series "Connections3" (10 p.m., TLC, TV-G). Host James Burke approaches science and history much like Web surfers approach the Internet -- he skips from subject to subject connected by thematic links. This breezy, breathtaking approach takes viewers on a dizzying tour of human knowledge and imagination.

In tonight's romp, he meditates on the links between margarine and napalm, the role of sausage-eating in religious conflicts, and the connections between modern gymnastics and Nazi ideology. He also ties together satellite imaging and modern ballet. All the while, Burke manages to infuse bad puns, various silly costumes and a wealth of clever graphics into his presentation. Combining the erudition of a great professor with the appeal of a stand-up comic, Burke travels from the fjords of Norway to New York to Sri Lanka to the Eiffel Tower to make his curious and often obscure points. The series concludes Wednesday and repeats June 27.

Two very different documentaries look at the dangers of growing up in America's cities.

"In My Corner" on "P.O.V." (10 p.m., PBS, check local listings, TV-PG, L) shows that sometimes the toughest neighborhoods breed the most generous mentors. Tucked in a bleak corner of the South Bronx, the Bronxchester Boxing Club is where Luis Camacho and Angel Alejandro spend time with young boys to teach them the discipline of boxing and to give them an alternative to the street life. The film follows the training of young students Joey Rios and Jose Suarez. Although Suarez shows early promise, he is still distracted by his old pals. Filmed from 1995-1997, the film allows us to watch both men mature as boxers and young men. In a happy coda to the film, Rios took home a Golden Glove in April 1999.

"Inside Story: Gangsta Girls" (9 p.m., A&E, TV-PG) provides a relentlessly grim look at the life of two sisters, "Crazy" and "Shy Girl," from a squalid Los Angeles neighborhood. Known as the Vicky's Town Gang, these girls waged an unending guerrilla war with their neighbors, often engaging in shoot-outs and endless muggings to score drug money. Now out of the gang life, "Crazy" takes us on a driving tour of her old stomping grounds and worries about her sister, who has proudly endured dozens of savage beatings to protect her turf. More cautionary than uplifting.

If necessary, Fox will preempt its schedule to broadcast Game Seven of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Tonight's other highlights

Fly fishing and male-bonding loom large in director Robert Redford's 1992 drama "A River Runs Through It" (8 p.m., TNT, TV-14) starring Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer and Tom Skerritt.

Scheduled on "60 Minutes II" (9 p.m., CBS): a series of morphine overdoses among elderly patients; repeat reports on Dutch peacekeepers in Bosnia; a wrongfully convicted woman.

Scheduled on "Fox Files" (9 p.m., Fox): drugs and the rave scene.

Filmmaker Joel Meyerowitz takes his Alzheimer's-stricken father on a driving tour from Florida to his old New York neighborhood in the documentary "Pop" on "Frontline" (9 p.m., PBS, check local listings).

"Dateline" (10 p.m., NBC) looks at weight-loss gadgets and machines.

The precinct feels helpless as Bobby slips away on a repeat of "NYPD Blue" (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14, L, V).

Late night

Scheduled guests: actor Adam Sandler, extreme bike rider Shaun Palmer and musical guest Missy Elliot on "Late Show With David Letterman" (11:35 p.m., CBS) ... anchor Dan Rather, twin actors Cole and Dylan Sprouse, and musicians Ann and Nancy Wilson on "The Tonight Show" (11:35 p.m., NBC) ... radio personality Jimmie Walker, author Kurt Anderson, TV executive Don Ohlmeyer and host Leeza Gibbons on "Politically Incorrect" (12:05 a.m., ABC) ... actress Patricia Arquette, Alan Covert and musical guest Seal on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" (12:35 a.m., NBC).