WEEKEND TV : Tribute to Landon at Emmys

After a serious week witnessing the struggle for power in the Soviet Union, television jokes and celebrates itself as the “The 43rd Annual Emmy Awards” emphasizes TV comedy past and present.

Dennis Miller, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jerry Seinfeld will host the show, which honors television’s best from the 1990-91 season, beginning Sunday at 8 p.m. on Fox (11)(6). Comedians Sam Kinison, Gilbert Gottfried and Kevin Nealon will also appear, along with clips from such television classics as “The Jack Benny Show,” “The Red Skelton Show,” “All in the Family” and “Taxi.” The telecast, which airs live in the East but is delayed three hours here, will also feature a tribute to Michael Landon.

Channel 11 will carry an hourlong Emmy preview show beginning at 6 p.m. hosted by Mark Thompson and Robin Young. Entertainment Television (E!) features a live two-hour pre-show analysis beginning at 3 p.m. E! will then enthuse over the winners and losers in a one-hour wrap-up at 11:30 p.m.

“World of Audubon,” meanwhile, laments the toxic pollution buried in the mud of the Great Lakes Sunday at 7 p.m. on TBS. “Great Lakes, Bitter Legacy,” hosted by James Earl Jones, reports that chemicals dumped in the lakes have traveled up the food chain and resulted in sterile fish, deformed birds and perhaps long-term negative effects on humans.

KSCI Channel 18 conducts a three-hour telethon, beginning at 1 p.m. today, to raise money for the victims of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines.