Saluting Tonys, Bob Hope’s 94th Birthday

Rosie O’Donnell goes prime time as the host of CBS’ coverage of the 51st annual Tony Awards, Sunday at 9 p.m. on Channel 2. Telecast from Radio City Music Hall, the awards honor the best of Broadway from the past season.

Top nominees include the musicals “The Life,” “Chicago” and “Steel Pier.” The two-hour program will feature 12 major awards and several musical numbers. Mary Tyler Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Martin Short and Roseanne are among the presenters.

One hour prior to the CBS telecast, KCET-TV Channel 28 will air the PBS special “Broadway ‘97: Launching the Tonys,” which will feature the presentation of 10 Tony Awards, including best director of a play and musical.

The Tonys, though, aren’t the only awards show this weekend. Bonnie Hunt and Charles Shaughnessy host the 1997 Genesis Awards, airing Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on the Discovery Channel. The awards recognize pro-animal messages in films, TV shows, print, music and art. “Ellen,” “Baywatch,” “Dateline NBC” and the feature film “Fly Away Home” are among the 20 honorees.

Elsewhere this weekend:

Today

American Movie Classics celebrates Bob Hope’s 94th birthday today with an all-day tribute featuring some of the comic’s beloved films, including “The Paleface” and “The Road to Morocco.”

“Baby Love,” airing at 2 p.m. on KCET, focuses on teenage motherhood as seen through the eyes of several young women trying to cope with being a single parent.

Friday

Move over, David Copperfield and Lance Burton: Make way for “Disney’s Melinda: The First Lady of Magic,” airing at 8 p.m. on CBS (Channel 2). Shelley Long and Kelsey Mulrooney guest on the one-hour special filled with illusions.

Legendary comics Buddy Hackett and Soupy Sales guest on a repeat of ABC’s “Boy Meets World,” airing at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 7.

Saturday

The documentary “The Lost Children of Berlin,” being shown without commercial interruption at 6 and 10 p.m on A&E;, chronicles the reunion of 50 people who attended the Berlin reopening of a Jewish school that was closed by the Gestapo. The film was produced by Steven Spielberg in association with the Shoah Foundation and Sally Field’s Fogwood Films. Anthony Hopkins narrates.

Vincent D’Onofrio, Billy Bob Thornton and Rebecca DeMornay star in the Movie Channel’s “The Winner,” at 9 p.m. D’Onofrio plays an average guy whose winning streak in Las Vegas is exploited by those surrounding him.

Marie Osmond, John Schneider and Marilyn McCoo host the annual “Children’s Miracle Network Champions,” airing at 10 p.m. on KCAL-TV Channel 9. The eight-hour fund-raiser for children’s hospitals features such celebrities as John Tesh, Diamond Rio and Kenny G.

The star of UPN’s “Malcolm & Eddie,” Eddie Griffin, hosts his third solo stand-up comedy special, “Eddie Griffin: Voodoo Child,” at 10 p.m. on HBO.

Sunday

CBS presents “The World’s Fastest Man: Johnson vs. Bailey,” at 2 p.m. on Channel 2. The event, telecast from the Skydome in Toronto, pits double-gold medalists from the 1996 Olympic Summer Games--America’s Michael Johnson and Canada’s Donovan Bailey--in a 150-meter sprint to crown the world’s fastest man.

A&E;’s “Sea Tales,” at 5 and 9 p.m., looks at the real stories behind famous sea incidents. The first tale examines how coconuts were partially to blame for the famous mutiny on the Bounty. The second hour profiles England’s Capt. James Cook and how he was killed by natives in Hawaii.

Costas Mandylor and Cynthia Gibb star in the Family Channel fantasy “Love-Struck,” at 7 p.m. Mandylor’s Cupid is accidentally struck by his own arrow and ends up falling in love with a dental hygienist whose fiance has left her.

ABC kicks off its new daytime drama, “Port Charles,” as a two-hour prime-time movie special, at 9 p.m. on Channel 7. This spinoff of ABC’s long-running daytime soap “General Hospital” features “GH” stars Lynn Herring, Kin Shriner and Jon Lindstrom. The series will air weekdays at 11 a.m.

The BBC documentary “Behind Enemy Lines: The Scott O’Grady Story,” at 9 p.m. on the Discovery Channel, recounts the harrowing ordeal of the American pilot who managed to elude discovery and capture by Serbian troops two years ago after his F-16 fighter was shot down over a “no-fly zone” in Bosnia.