BEST BETS FOR DECEMBER 30, 2007

	DAN RATHER REPORTS: THE PRIME MINISTER IN EXILE HD NET, 9 a.m. ET Last fall, before she returned to Pakistan, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto sat for an extensive interview with Dan Rather for his HD Net news series. In the wake of her assassination this week, Dan Rather Reports is repeating the program featuring that interview, augmented by a new introduction and commentary by Rather. What she told him then, about dangers that violent extremists posed to the future stability of her country, seems even truer now, as well as more haunting.
	THE SOUND OF MUSIC ABC, 7 p.m. ET How do you solve a problem like Maria? Christopher Plummer, as Baron Von Trapp, doesn't have a clue - but eventually, he's charmed by her anyway. This 1965 film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical made Julie Andrews a movie star, and the familiar songs include "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," "Edelweiss," "Maria" and, of course, the title song. On this holiday weekend, it's the full-family recommendation of the night. Diabetics beware, though: This period musical is hours and hours of cinematic treacle.
	60 MINUTES CBS, 7 p.m. ET Before the New England Patriots played the New York Giants last night in quest of its perfect season, Steve Kroft recorded this profile of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. And this was before CBS learned it was going to be able, along with NBC and NFL Network, to televise the game. Good call, Kroft!
	BEING JOHN MALKOVICH IFC, 7 p.m. ET Spike Jonze directed this 1999 movie, and did a great job realizing the visual absurdity, and the absurd visuals, of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's astoundingly original plot. John Cusack plays a stubbornly artistic puppeteer who discovers a secret portal into the brain of John Malkovich, who portrays himself. Catherine Keener and Cameron Diaz co-star, and unforgettable set pieces abound. Start with the laughably dark puppet show, dripping with "integrity," that opens the movie - and stick with it through the visit to the small-scale office floor.
	DEAD CALM BBC America, 8 p.m. ET Before Nicole Kidman met Tom Cruise, she was a rising young actress in Australia - and this 1989 thriller was her best early work. She plays a young wife, despondent over a family tragedy, whom her husband (Sam Neill) tries to cheer up by taking her on a remote, lengthy and private trip aboard a sailboat. It's just the two of them - until they come upon a life raft with an unconscious man (Billy Zane) aboard. Why is he there? What happens next? It's too intense, and exciting, to dilute by describing. If you haven't seen Dead Calm, though, this is the night's best bets.
	FARGO Flix, 8 p.m. ET Frances McDormand is fabulous in this 1996 Coen Brothers film, based on actual events, but told so drolly it plays much more like a surrealistic dark comedy. William H. Macy and Steve Buscemi are brilliant, too, in this tale of a planned kidnap that goes horribly, yet comically, wrong.