Peter Sagal

Tonight, four days after the 50th anniversary of Anne Frank's death--memorialized around the world last week by public readings of her eloquent diaries--South Coast Repertory weighs in with its own Holocaust commentary: a NewSCRipts presentation of Peter Sagal's "Denial." The Harvard-educated writer, 30, believes that the SCR Mainstage reading of his new play could not come at a better time or in a more appropriate place.

SERIES Chuck: Chuck and Sarah (Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski) discover who is trying to destroy Carmichael Industries. Stan Lee guest stars in this new episode (8 p.m. NBC). Gold Rush: A new "Behind the Scenes Special" episode shows fans how four film crews, spread out over some 600 miles, cope with everything the wilderness can throw at them to capture footage for this unscripted series (9 p.m. Discovery). SPECIALS Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me! A Royal Pain in the News: The NPR quiz show comes to TV in a special tied to the year's biggest news stories, with host Peter Sagal, Carl Kasell, Paula Poundstone, Alonzo Bodden and British stand-up Phill Jupitus.

"I got a phone call from a friend," Peter Sagal told me recently, remembering a day in 1997, "who said, 'I know these people who are putting together a new show on public radio. They're looking for funny people who read a lot of newspapers, and I thought of you.'" FOR THE RECORD: Peter Sagal: An earlier version of the photo caption on this article about Peter Sagal and "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me" misspelled Carl Kasell's last name as Kassel. That was "Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me," the popular NPR current-events comedy panel show Sagal has hosted for nearly 14 years.

"I got a phone call from a friend," Peter Sagal told me recently, remembering a day in 1997, "who said, 'I know these people who are putting together a new show on public radio. They're looking for funny people who read a lot of newspapers, and I thought of you.'" FOR THE RECORD: Peter Sagal: An earlier version of the photo caption on this article about Peter Sagal and "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me" misspelled Carl Kasell's last name as Kassel. That was "Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me," the popular NPR current-events comedy panel show Sagal has hosted for nearly 14 years.

SERIES Chuck: Chuck and Sarah (Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski) discover who is trying to destroy Carmichael Industries. Stan Lee guest stars in this new episode (8 p.m. NBC). Gold Rush: A new "Behind the Scenes Special" episode shows fans how four film crews, spread out over some 600 miles, cope with everything the wilderness can throw at them to capture footage for this unscripted series (9 p.m. Discovery). SPECIALS Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me! A Royal Pain in the News: The NPR quiz show comes to TV in a special tied to the year's biggest news stories, with host Peter Sagal, Carl Kasell, Paula Poundstone, Alonzo Bodden and British stand-up Phill Jupitus.

In an episode of "Star Trek," Captain Kirk had to defeat an entity that drew its strength from hate and conflict. In "Denial" at the Actors Alley, Bernard Cooper (Terry J. Evans, alternating with Joe J. Garcia) is such an evil being--a small, unassuming, almost pleasant professor of timber-stress analysis, whose twisted thirst for notoriety feeds his ego and expands his power. Evans slowly reveals this rotten side and his desire to destroy in the Peter Sagal drama.

I am writing in response to Spero Kessaris' Feb. 25 letter, in which he condemns director Bob Rafelson for suggesting that Sir Richard Burton, the hero of Rafelson's film "Mountains of the Moon," might have had a homosexual relationship with John Hanning Speke. Like Kessaris, I am a "Burtonophile," one of the secretive company who believes this great man of the 19th Century represents everything lacking from our world: an insatiable curiosity for the unknown, unbounded intellectual and physical courage, a swashbuckling style.

Early Show Sgt. Matthew Flemister. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Speed skater Katherine Reutter; Rodrigo y Gabriela performs. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America Martin Scorsese; Dana Delany. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Tiger Woods The golfer speaks to friends, fans and reporters. 8 a.m. CNN; Fox News; ESPN; Golf and most major broadcasters. Live With Regis and Kelly Ewan McGregor ("The Ghost Writer"). (N) 9 a.m. KABC The View Bernadette Peters; David Frei.

Forget tradition. But completely . Wake up to non-traditional casting, use of language and, yes, standards. The Cornerstone Theater Company's experiment in theater with the Angelus Plaza Senior Activity Center at the downtown Angelus Plaza housing complex takes the word community to the nth degree of seriously. Its production of "The Toy Truck," which opened Friday on the Plaza promenade, is like nothing Los Angeles has ever experienced.

"Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" is sufficiently original and engaging to be called merely "Havana Nights" but will no doubt get a boost by the reference to the popular 1987 "Dirty Dancing" even though it is actually drawn from the personal experiences of its co-producer-choreographer JoAnn Jansen.

Tonight, four days after the 50th anniversary of Anne Frank's death--memorialized around the world last week by public readings of her eloquent diaries--South Coast Repertory weighs in with its own Holocaust commentary: a NewSCRipts presentation of Peter Sagal's "Denial." The Harvard-educated writer, 30, believes that the SCR Mainstage reading of his new play could not come at a better time or in a more appropriate place.

One of the traumas of an actor's life is being double-cast in a role. It means that rehearsal time is often cut in half, only one actor gets seen by critics, and worst of all, there is the question of who gets to go on on opening night.

The Early Show Robert De Niro; retro New Year's Eve cocktail party. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Bethenny Frankel. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA Good Morning America A preview of Deborah Roberts' interview with Michael Oher. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Good Day L.A. (N) 7 a.m. KTTV Live With Regis and Kelly Repeat segments: Eddie Cibrian; LL Cool J. 9 a.m. KABC The View Teenage millionaires; author Joseph Califano ("How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid")