OFF THE WALL: A lotta mamas and finales

Diane Werts | GLUED TO THE TUBE

May 10, 2008

Off the Wall says

"Hi, Mom!"

MAMA DRAMAS. TV celebrates Mother's Day in the strangest ways. "Relative Madness" (today at 11 a.m. and midnight, Sunday at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m., SOAPnet) covers over-the-top behavior by TV and celebrity moms. "10 Most Compelling Mama Dramas" (tonight at 6, E!) counts down everything from Spice Girl paternity battles to Jenny McCarthy's autistic son. Bad parenting is spotlighted as Edina screws up Saffron in the wild Britcom "Absolutely Fabulous" (tomorrow 2-6 p.m., BBC America). Alfre Woodard plays Isiah Thomas' mom in "A Mother's Courage" (tomorrow at 5 p.m., TV One). And Donny and Marie Osmond host "America's Favorite Mom" (tomorrow at 7 p.m., NBC/4), saluting real-life working moms, single moms, military moms and more. Meet 'em at nbc.com/Americas _Favorite_Mom.

'THE OFFICE' IS ALL OVER. So much for "Monk" and "Psych." Their audience skewed old, so NBC is opting to fill Sunday nights the rest of sweeps with repeats of two-parters from "The Office" (tomorrow 8-10 p.m., NBC/4). This weekend, it's the charity "fun run" and the return of Ryan. You also get the season finale on Thursday. If that's not enough, Steve Carell guests on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" (Tuesday night at 12:35 a.m., NBC/4). Watch all Season 4 episodes anytime at nbc.com/theoffice.

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WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN MUSLIM COMICS TAKE THE STAGE? One easy answer is "Stand Up: Muslim American Comics Come of Age" (tomorrow at 10 p.m., WNET/13), an "America at a Crossroads" film about the latest minority group to battle discrimination with laughter. Seen coping with 9/11 fallout via comedy are stand-ups Ahmed Ahmed, Tissa Hami, Dean Obeidallah, Azhar Usman and Maysoon Zayid. Preview clips at pbs.org

/weta/crossroads.

MORE 'TORCHWOOD.' It's another high-def chance to drool over the hot ambisexual hero of "Torchwood" (Monday at 7 and 10 p.m., HDNet). The adult fantasy show's second season has concluded on BBC America, but HDNet now starts encoring both seasons. Full lineup at hdnet.com. Backstage videos, podcasts at bbcamerica .com/torchwood.

SAY SAYONARA. Season

finales start clogging network prime time this week, including: "Samantha Who?" (Monday at 9:30 p.m., ABC/7); "Medium" (Monday at 10 p.m., NBC/4); "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (Tuesday at 10 p.m., NBC/4; preceded at 9 by a repeat of Robin Williams' recent episode); "Women's Murder Club" (Tuesday at 10 p.m., ABC/7); "My Name Is Earl" (Thursday 8-9 p.m., NBC/4); "CSI" (Thursday at 9 p.m., CBS/2); "The Office" (Thursday 9-10 p.m., NBC/4); "Without a Trace" (Thursday at 10 p.m., CBS/2); "ER" (Thursday at 10 p.m., NBC/4); "Ghost Whisperer" (Friday at 8 p.m., CBS/2); "Moonlight" (Friday at 9 p.m., CBS/2); "NUMB3RS" (Friday at 10 p.m., CBS/2). And these reality shows: "Survivor: Micronesia" (tomorrow 8-10 p.m., CBS/2, followed at 10 by reunion show); "The Bachelor: London Calling" (Monday at 10 p.m., ABC/7); "America's Funniest Home Videos" (Fri- day 8-10 p.m., ABC/7). Vids galore at abc.com/primetime/afv.

SEX! That's not just me trying to get your attention. It's the name of a documentary series. The four parts of "Sex: The Revolution" (Monday-Thursday nights at midnight, VH1) examine the seismic transformation in American sexual mores from the 1950s ("Mad Men" time) to the 1970s and 1980s (Studio 54 hedonism), when AIDS shut a lot of the wildness down. The journey travels through Kinsey, Playboy magazine, the Pill, "Sex and the Single Girl," Stonewall, "Deep Throat," Plato's Retreat and much more.

Details at vh1.com/ shows/dyn/sex_

the_revolution/

series_about.jhtml.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

ISRAEL. As the Jewish state celebrates 60 years since its May 14, 1948 birth, we get the new aerial grand tour "Visions of Israel" (Wednesday at 9 p.m., WNET/13; Thursday at 9 p.m., WLIW/ 21). Sundance Channel adds a day of Israel-centric films, including the settlements disengagement documentary "5 Days" (Wednesday at 2 p.m.), the Hasidic comedy "Ushpizin" (3:45 p.m.), the workers doc "Paper Dolls" (5:30 p.m.), and "The

Hebrew Lesson"

(7 p.m., all on Sundance), about a Tel Aviv language immersion class. Sneak a "Visions" peak at visionsof.org/israel.