For Better or Werts : TV Worth Watching

HOT SPOT: Elvis Costello's quadruple 'Spectacle'

If you haven't seen Elvis Costello's smart Sundance Channel interview/ performance series Spectacle, here's a great chance to catch up.

Wednesday night holds four straight episodes 6-10 p.m. ET, spanning the wide range of artists Costello probes in fresh, insightful conversation.

Here's the Sundance Channel lineup:

The Police (Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET) -- Costello's Watching the Detectives rocks anew with Sting, Andy and Stewart backing him. Flip it over for Walking on the Moon. They discuss musical influences from Charles Mingus to Arab sounds. And the host isn't above digging into their various breakups/makeups, either.

Rufus Wainwright (Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET) -- Yes, he's gay. Get over it. But hear the Memphis Skyline singer-songwriter talk about it first. (And perform his hit.)

Kris Kristofferson, Rosanne Cash, Norah Jones and John Mellencamp (Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET) -- They were country before and after country was/wasn't cool. Now hear about the influences that shaped their art and careers.

Renee Fleming (Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET) -- In this new hour, the American soprano assesses the impact of pop culture on opera. Hear her invoke The Lord of the Rings. (Repeats Thursday night at midnight ET.)

Upcoming guests include jazz master Herbie Hancock (Feb. 4); She & Him (featuring Zooey Deschanel), Jenny Lewis and Jakob Dylan (Feb. 11); Costello's wife, singer/pianist Diana Krall, interviewed by series executive producer Elton John (Feb. 18), and Motown legend Smokey Robinson (Feb. 25).

Clips galore at the Spectacle series official site. Check your cable provider's On Demand listings for anytime viewing.

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Diane Werts has been glued to the tube since she can remember, growing up in a household where the TV came on first thing in the morning and stayed on till bedtime and beyond. She worked for the USA Film Festival, then for The Dallas Morning News writing about everything from Shakespeare to macrame art to rock music (and has the hearing loss to prove it). She moved to New York's Newsday to edit their glossy TV magazine, then returned to writing about television, specializing in its stranger permutations. She's a past president of the Television Critics Association.

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