WEEKEND TV : Johnson’s Disclosure Puts Focus on AIDS

Thrust onto the front page and the sports page by Magic Johnson’s stunning retirement Thursday, AIDS is undeniably on just about everyone’s mind.

The news might be bad, but the timing couldn’t have been more fortuitous for the first-ever “AIDS CableThon,” airing on cable systems throughout California Sunday from 6 to 9 p.m. The fund-raiser will benefit the Los-Angeles based AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

Guests on the telethon include: Marlee Matlin, Sharon Gless, Joan Rivers, Phil Donahue and Edward James Olmos. Check with your cable operator for the channel on which they plan to carry the program.

The impact of Magic Johnson’s disclosure that he has tested positive for HIV is the topic on “Midday Sunday,” 11 a.m. Sunday on Channel 11. Lee Klosinski, assistant project manager of AIDS Project Los Angeles, is the guest.

And on “This Week with David Brinkley,” Sunday at 11:30 a.m. (7)(3), 11 a.m. (42) and 10:30 a.m. (10), Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, basketball star Kevin Johnson discuss “Magic Johnson: A New Understanding of AIDS?”