Weekend TV : All Three Networks Are Offering an Embarrassment of Programming Riches

It’s a weekend that calls for some shrewd use of the VCR as all three major networks roll out some unusually enticing programming at the same time.

Sunday at 9 p.m, ABC (7)(3)(10)(42) premieres David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks,” the most anticipated network series of the season, at least by TV critics. The weird, moody murder-mystery soap opera, whose cast includes Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Ontkean, Piper Laurie and Joan Chen, moves into its regular time slot Thursday at 9 p.m.

CBS (2)(8) counters at 9 p.m. Sunday with Peter O’Toole and Mare Winningham in “Crossing to Freedom,” a new TV movie about a man who leads a troop of children on a chase from the Nazis across France during World War II.

NBC (4)(36)(39) engages the programming battle with an encore screening of Franco Zeffirelli’s 1977 miniseries, “Jesus of Nazareth,” beginning at 8 p.m. Sunday and then continuing Monday at 9 p.m. and Tuesday at 8 p.m. The acclaimed eight-hour film stars Robert Powell as Christ.

Meanwhile, the 12-hour concert “Farm Aid IV” begins at 9 a.m. today on the Nashville cable channel. Willie Nelson, Don Henley, Bruce Hornsby, Guns N’ Roses and LL Cool J are scheduled to perform.