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Baxter’s double whammy; PBS airs Anne Bronte’s ‘Wildfell Hall’; Homer marks Halloween big-time

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

“Let Me Call You Sweetheart” / 7 p.m. Family Channel

“Miracle in the Woods” / 9 p.m. CBS

It’s a rare night when one actress stars in two films airing on cable and broadcast TV. The lucky winner of this mini-film fest is veteran Meredith Baxter, the former star of “Family Ties.” In suspense author Mary Higgins Clark’s “Sweetheart,” Baxter plays a prominent prosecutor who reopens an 11-year-old murder case that resulted in a conviction for the victim’s husband. And in “Miracle,” two sisters (Baxter and Patricia Heaton of “Everybody Loves Raymond”) discover an old woman (Della Reese) living on land they inherited from their mother. Anna Chlumsky (“My Girl”) plays Baxter’s daughter.

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“The Simpsons” / 8 p.m. Fox

What would Halloween week be without a new “Treehouse of Horror” trilogy? This year’s show offers parodies of three big-screen films. Homer battles mutants in “The Homega Man,” Bart sports wings in “Fly vs. Fly” and a bewitching Marge is linked to the horrific history of the fright night in “Easy-Bake Coven,” a spoof of “The Crucible.” And look for “Simpsons” repeats at 7 and 7:30 p.m.

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“Masterpiece Theatre” / 9 p.m. KCET

On the heels of Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” on A&E; comes sister Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall,” the 1848 novel about a marriage gone awry. Tara Fitzgerald (“Brassed Off,” “Sirens”) plays Helen Graham, a woman whose attempts to liberate herself and her son from an abusive marriage stunned a Victorian society in which such behavior defied both convention and the law. The cast includes Rupert Graves as Helen’s husband and Toby Stephens as a smitten farmer.

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Wednesday

“The Metropolitan Opera Presents” / 8 p.m. KCET

A new season of the venerable PBS series opens with “Fedora,” Umberto Giordano’s 1898 opera of murder and revenge among the Russian nobility. Mirella Freni sings the title role as the princess with a flirtatious cousin (Ainhoa Arteta). As for star power, the production boasts Placido Domingo as Loris Ipanov, the accused murderer of Fedora’s fiance who sings “Amor ti vieta” (“Love forbids you not to love”), an aria first sung with resounding success by the renowned Enrico Caruso.

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“PrimeTime Live” / 10 p.m. ABC

Remember the Dilleys? They’re the nation’s first set of surviving sextuplets featured in three previous installments of the ABC newsmagazine. Now 4 years old, active look-alikes Adrian, Claire, Ian, Brenna, Julian and Quinn have learned to talk and (uh oh!) exert their will. The oh-so-cute “six-pack” chat with Diane Sawyer, who is obligated to perform at one point. “I’ve had politicians dodge my questions, but they didn’t make me tap dance,” she says. Sawyer also discovers that parents Keith and Becki have taken three jobs to make ends meet.

Friday

“Monster Mania” / 7 and 9:30 p.m. AMC

A veritable monster mash, this cable documentary chronicles the creation of Hollywood’s greatest ghouls. Never flashy but informative nonetheless, this hour hosted by Jack Palance serves as a primer on the early films of Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolfman and all the creature features that followed. That, of course, means a history lesson on the chilling work of Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney, among many others. In addition, there are related segments on Hammer Films, movie merchandising and rampaging reptiles from Godzilla to Gorgo.

Saturday

“Sleepwalkers” / 9 p.m. NBC

Last--if not least, but definitely somewhere in between all the fall newcomers--this hourlong drama joins the network’s lineup of “thrillogy” shows. Bruce Greenwood, coming off his short-lived UPN series “Nowhere Man,” plays Dr. Nathan Bradford, the founder of an institute that explores dreams. The premise is interesting though not unique (remember the Dennis Quaid film “Dreamscape”?) and its cast is likable but dull. Naomi Watts, “ER’s” Abraham Benrubi and Jeffrey D. Sams co-star.

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