BEST BETS FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008

	BEDAZZLED FX, 7 p.m. ET This 2000 remake of the 1967 comedy spin on the Faust legend doesn’t have Peter Cook and Dudley Moore as the devil and his intended quarry – but it does have Elizabeth Hurley and Brendan Fraser in those roles instead. Fraser is more chameleonic, and Hurley, quite simply, is one hell of a devil. Frances O’Connor, as the elusive woman of Fraser’s dreams, demonstrates ample versatility here as well, and this comedy was mysteriously underappreciated when it first appeared. Judge for yourself.
	THE KING AND I Fox Movie Channel , 8 p.m. ET Generations of my family know this movie, and this soundtrack, for one song more than any other: “Shall We Dance?,” which my dad would sing to a series of eager-eyed babies and toddlers. He would hold them aloft and sing the opening query: After the grabbed his outstretched, upright index finger, they were off to the races, dancing a furious waltz across the entire house. Yul Brynner does it here to Deborah Kerr, without the finger, in this 1956 movie version of the classic stage version, and are delightful… but I prefer my father’s version.
	SARAH JANE ADVENTURES Sci Fi Channel, 8 p.m. ET How clever of the Brits. Not only have they kept Doctor Who alive for 45 years by centering their show around a character who “regenerates” into other bodies, but they’ve now mounted spinoffs aimed at two somewhat different audiences. Torchwood, seen here on BBC America, is darker and more mature, like The X-Files. And this series, which started last week and introduced its characters and premise very winningly, stars Elizabeth Sladen – reprising her role as Sarah Jane Smith, a former companion to the time-travelling Doctor back in the 1970s – as a one-woman ambassador (and occasional adversary) to alien cultures secretly visiting Earth. It’s aimed a little younger, which is why teens are front and center as Sarah Jane’s new assistants. It’s fun: Tonight’s plot, for example, concerns a fiery object from space that gets very close – then veers away.
	DOCTOR WHO Sci Fi Channel, 8:30 p.m. ET And here is season four of the latest incarnation of Doctor Who, which stars the dashing David Tennant in the title role. Tonight, he comes across two unexpected celestial bodies in orbit around Earth: a seeming replica of the Titanic, and one of its attractive waitresses, played by veteran Australian pop star Kylie Minogue.
	NEWSNIGHT FRIDAY BBC America, 10 p.m. ET This outstanding British newsmagazine – think of it as their 60 Minutes – presents, as part of tonight’s program, an eye-opening look at something I knew nothing about until I previewed the report. It’s a story about how China is providing tons of financial and engineering expertise in the Congo – building hospitals, schools, universities, and thousands of miles of roads – in exchange for the one thing the impoverished Congo has that the Chinese want: mineral rights to their natural resources. And why in the world would the Chinese stop there?
	BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Sci Fi Channel, 10 p.m. ET So Starbuck has been dispatched to find Earth again, and the various Cylon models have been organized to… what? Tonight’s episode gets Starbuck a bit closer to the former, and us a little closer to learning the answer regarding the latter.