TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS

Friday, March 24, 2006

· George Mason and Georgetown hope to advance as the NCAA tournament continues on WUSA.

· The movie "Cow Belles" and the debut of "Hannah Montana" on Disney Channel.

· And the season finale of "What I Like About You" on WBDC.

Sports

Exhibition Baseball. Washington at Atlanta (Channel 20 at 7).

College Basketball. NCAA tournament regional semifinals: George Mason vs. Wichita State (Channel 9, 7:25); Georgetown vs. Florida (Channel 9, 9:40).

Figure Skating. The World Championships: women's short original dance and dance free skate (ESPN, 7:30).

Public Broadcasting

White House Chronicle. CBC's Henry Champ, Proceso's Jesus Esquivel and Alec Russell of the Daily Telegraph preview President Bush's summit with Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Channel 32 at 6).

Washington Week With Gwen Ifill and National Journal. Topics are Iraq, the Bush agenda and key congressional races (Channel 26 at 8).

Evening Exchange With Kojo. With Mary Frances Berry, former chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (Channel 32 at 8; Sunday, 7:30).

Now examines the Paul Wolfowitz-created Pentagon program Threat and Local Observation Notice (Channel 26 at 9).

Local Public Affairs

The Politics Program With Mark Plotkin. John Feinstein, author of "Last Dance: Behind the Scenes at the Final Four," discusses the NCAA basketball tournament (NewsChannel 8 at 11 p.m.; heard live at 10 a.m. on WTOP (1500 AM and 107.7 FM).

Newsmagazine

20/20 looks into whether healthy menu options offered at large chain restaurants are good for you, and a segment on the asexual movement (Channel 7 at 10).

Prime-Time Movie

Cow Belles (2006). Singing sisters Alyson and Amanda Michalka (better known as Aly & AJ) star as spoiled girls forced by their dad to work in his dairy factory, where they wind up saving the business (Disney Channel at 8).

Cable Premiere

Hannah Montana. Miley Cyrus, daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, stars as a seemingly normal teen who lives a secret double life as a world famous pop star (Disney Channel, 9:30).

Season Finale

What I Like About You. Trapped in a spa on her wedding day, Val must find a way to make it to the church on time (Channel 50 at 8).

Series

Living With Fran. Fran is forced to confront Riley at a wedding (Channel 50, 8:30).

In Justice. Brianna takes the side of a man serving 30 years for stealing a case of vodka because it was his third strike (Channel 7 at 9).

Reba has laser eye surgery, leaving her temporarily blind (Channel 50 at 9).

Modern Men. Stangel pushes Tim to break up with his extremely boring girlfriend, Marci (Channel 50, 9:30).

Conviction. A big-time rap producer is charged with murder (Channel 4 at 10).

Late Night

Real Time With Bill Maher. The roundtable guests are actor Jason Alexander, author Reza Aslan and Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), plus an interview with journalist Michael Ware (HBO at 11).

-- John Maynard The TV Column will return.