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What: Ted Turner’s guest appearance on HBO’s “Arliss”

When: Tonight at 11.

Is Ted Turner a good sport? Has his hatred of Rupert Murdoch cooled? Well, check out tonight’s episode of “Arliss,” the popular, farcical HBO series about fictional sports super-agent Arliss Michaels, played by Robert Wuhl. The answer seems to be yes.

Not to give the plot away . . . Oh, what the heck, why not? Arliss is trying to get away from his office for a secret meeting with Turner. Arliss calls it “operation closure.” But a series of crises keeps him from leaving. First, one of his loyal employees, Stanley, threatens to resign and join a rival agent. Then a top baseball client, Sammy Stilton, referred to by guest sportscaster Chris Berman as Sammy “Rumble” Stilton, is in trouble for smashing a wad of bubble gum into an umpire’s eye.

Meanwhile, Lisa Leslie shows up unexpectedly. Her problem: a Nike commercial shoot that conflicts with an NBC assignment. Brett Favre makes a guest appearance, too, as part of a subplot involving the unscrupulous Kirby, a not-so-loyal Arliss employee.

One by one, Arliss, as he usually does, finds unusual solutions to his problems. For instance, he gets an “annoying charity guy” by the name of Skip Lewis to bring in a deaf girl to lip-read a videotape of the umpire’s racial slur directed at Stilton. Eventually, Arliss makes it to his meeting with Turner. Although it’s not made clear to viewers, Turner is vice chairman of Time Warner, which owns HBO, and a fierce competitor of Murdoch and his television holdings.

Turner gives Arliss 30 seconds.

Arliss: “OK, a collection of stories about my exploits as a sports super agent are about to be published, and I think it would make a hell of a TV series.”

Turner: “Hate it. Who’d watch dumb . . . stories like that.”

Arliss: “No, you’re wrong. This would be a home run, a slam dunk, a no-brainer.”

Turner: “I’ve got to go.”

Arliss: “Don’t make me give it to Rupert.”

Turner gets up and starts humming and doing the tomahawk chop.

Arliss says, “You’re not even listening. My idea is, every episode would start out, ‘My name is Arliss Michaels and I represent athletes. These are my stories.’ ”

Maybe it’s not such a bad idea after all.