Problem Child (NBC tonight at 9), a...

Problem Child (NBC tonight at 9), a surprise 1990 hit, full of mean gags, grotesque violence and dopey stereotypes, is about an infernally destructive tot (Michael Oliver) and his sappy adoptive dad (John Ritter). It suggests “Dennis the Menace” gone psycho.

The 1988 A Fish Called Wanda (ABC tonight at 9) offers more silly stuff from writer-star John Cleese and Michael Palin: a dottily cynical, hilarious update of “The Lavender Hill Mob,” (directed by “Mob’s” Charles Crichton) in which British twits, flits and snits are undermined and unmanned by American hitmen and tidbits, until the worm, gloriously, turns. With Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Set in 1965, full of wild mugging and corny, violent gags, Floyd Mutrux’s 1980 The Hollywood Knights (KTTV Tuesday at 8 p.m.), is one of the loudest and least of the teens-on-the-town “American Graffiti” knock-offs--though it did manage to introduce or showcase some promising young talent: Tony Danza, Robert Wuhl, Stuart Pankin and, significantly, Michelle Pfeiffer.

An erratic, occasionally pleasant comedy about an African prince and his stateside amours, Coming to America (CBS Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.) showcases star Eddie Murphy’s versatility and camaraderie with chum Arsenio Hall. It was directed by John Landis.

Even though stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito are back aboard, The Jewel of the Nile (ABC Thursday at 8 p.m.), directed by Lewis Teague, is a pretty thin and over-inflated sequel to 1984’s rollicking adventure parody “Romancing the Stone.”

The Pope of Greenwich Village (KTLA Friday at 8 p.m.) A pungent lowlife 1984 odyssey through the mean streets around New York’s Little Italy. Stuart Rosenberg’s direction is only functional, but Vincent Patrick’s dialogue snaps, and the cast--Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Geraldine Page, Kenneth McMillan, Daryl Hannah and Burt Young--is top-notch.

In Alan Pakula’s Klute (KCOP Friday at 8 p.m.), Jane Fonda’s Oscar-winning performance as hard-bitten prostitute Bree is only one attraction of one of the ‘70’s best thrillers: a lady-of the evening-in-distress shocker that’s sleek and metallic on top, smart and compassionate underneath.

State of Siege (KCET Saturday at 11 p.m.), with Yves Montand, was Costa-Gavras’ 1973 film about the kidnaping, interrogation and assassination of an American CIA agent by Uruguay’s Tupamaros. The most controversial, and didactic, of his political thrillers; audiences who loved “Z’s” expose style flinched when the same tactics were applied to U.S. foreign policy.