Critic's picks

July 22, 2008 at 10:02PM

Exploring race Soledad O'Brien didn't know Barack Obama would be the presumptive Democratic nominee for president when she started working on the multi-part documentary "Black in America" (8 p.m., CNN), and in some ways, it didn't matter. The series, which focuses on women tonight and men on Thursday, looks at issues that go beyond politics.

Cast away Olivia Newton-John, Rue McClanahan, Caroline Rhea and Bonnie Bedelia are just part of the strange, strange cast of "Sordid Lives" (9 p.m., LOGO), a new comedy about a Southern family with deep-fried quirks. Newton-John is the weirdest presence here, playing a hard-drinking ex-prisoner who can't stop singing the show's title tune, but Leslie Jordan gives her a run for her money as a cross-dressing psych patient obsessed with Tammy Wynette.

Morris Day's night You won't want to miss our beloved band the Time when it performs on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" (10:35 p.m., KARE, Ch. 11), despite the chance that Leno might pop out of his chair and do "The Bird." Kevin Costner also guests.

NEAL JUSTIN

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