BEST BETS FOR DECEMBER 17, 2007

	REEFER MADNESS IFC, 7:20 p.m. ET Showtime recently made a movie musical version of this 1936 anti-drug propaganda film, but this isn't the tuneful remake. It's the original article, with warnings about the dangrs of marijuana that are so shrill and exaggerated, you'd think the filmmakers were high on something when they made it. College kids discovered Reefer Madness in the late 1960s, when it started being featured on the college film-festival circuit. Until the advent of home video, it never left - and here it is now, on cable.
	BEETLEJUICE Bravo, 8 p.m. ET With Tim Burton's film version of Sweeney Todd just around the corner, it's a good time to visit one of his first movies, his 1989 comedy starring Michael Keaton as a ghost hired by other ghosts to scare a creepy family from their haunted house. Geena Davis and a very young Alec Baldwin are particularly likable as the loving ghosts who don't like their haunted house's new inhabitants - and Keaton, in this role, is a force of funny demonic nature.
	GREAT PERFORMANCES: "RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF MAHAGONNY" PBS, 9 p.m. ET (Check local listings) There are two teams whose collaborations on tonight's Great Performances are worth noting. First, there are playwright Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, who, in addition to teaming on Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, created the much more famous Threepenny Opera, source of "Mack the Knife." The other team is that of director John Doyle and Broadway star Patti LuPone, who collaborated on his actors-doubling-as-orchestra reworking of Sweeney Todd. Here, they both make their L.A. Opera debuts, with tenor Anthony Dean Griffey as Jim Mahoney, the fabulous Audra McDonald as Jenny, and LuPone as the flashy, fleshy Leocadia Begbick.
	ANIME: DRAWING A REVOLUTION Starz, 9 p.m. ET Some likely and unlikely interviewees are gathered for this overview of the phenomenally popular Japanese animation style. Stan Lee, the editor of Marvel Comics in its prime, is a little of both. But any history that covers the gamut from Speed Racer and Pokemon to today's ambitious full-length animated movies and book series is worth flipping through. Of course, if it's true anime, you're supposed to flip through it backwards, going from back to front. So if you want, record the movie, wait for the end, and rewind.
	SAMANTHA WHO? ABC, 9 p.m. ET Christina Applegate continues to be sweet and winning (except in flashbacks, when she's not supposed to be) in this ABC sitcom, but what's keeping me coming back is the supporting cast. Jennifer Esposito is a riot, Tim Russ is the most dry and funny doorman on TV since James Greene's Davey on The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd.
	LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE HBO, 9:30 p.m. ET This is a movie that's pretty near impossible to do anything but love - and some of the best moments, like some of the film's memorable hugs, are sweetly silent. If you haven't seen this 2006 comedy-drama yet, hop along for the ride. Just like this story's dysfunctional family, you'll find the journey absolutely is worth it. Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin star, and Abigail Breslin deservedly became a star because of her performance in the title role here.