Collaring Mickey Rourke as a priest; the very last ‘Larry’; an operatic ‘Budd’ cinematic awards on MTV

Sunday

“Thicker Than Blood” / 5, 7 and 9 p.m. TNT

An idealistic teacher and a gifted student relate to each other in this made-for-cable drama based on the Bill Cain play “Stand-Up Tragedy.” Dan Futterman (“Shooting Fish”) plays Griffin, an Ivy League graduate who befriends a promising teen (Carlo Alban) at a school beset by violence and indifference. By focusing on the impressionable Lee, Griffin clashes with the school’s headmaster, a priest played by tough guy Mickey Rourke, who was clearly cast against type.

****

“NASCAR at 50: Good to Go” / 6 p.m. TBS

This hourlong special serves as a pedal-to-the-metal primer on the high-decibel action of auto racing, the nation’s No. 1 spectator sport (believe it or not). The show’s segments examine a quintet of NASCAR personalities, from veteran qualifier Dave Marcis and superstar Dale Earnhardt to owner Jack Roush, crew chief Ray Evernham Jr. and promoter H.A. “Humpty” Wheeler, the president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway, a venue modestly billed as the “Taj Mahal of racing.”

****

“The Larry Sanders Show” / 10 p.m. HBO

Well, Larry’s not going to prison. That much we can tell you about the series finale of this sterling talk-show satire. In a month where viewers have already bid farewell to Ellen, Jerry and Murphy, we now must say so long to Larry, Artie, Hank, Phil and Beverly, as funny a bunch as have ever appeared on television. The unpreviewed swan song is a star-studded affair with Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, Warren Beatty, David Duchovny, Tim Allen, Carol Burnett, Jim Carrey and Sean Penn, among others. Needless to say, no flipping!

Wednesday

“The Metropolitan Opera Presents” / 8 p.m. KCET

The PBS series closes out its 1997-98 season with “Billy Budd,” Benjamin Britten’s two-act opera based on Herman Melville’s 1891 novella about the conflict between good and evil. Dwayne Croft sings the title role as the innocent, able seaman sentenced to death for the accidental murder of the cruel master-at-arms John Claggart (James Morris, re-creating his role from the Met’s 1978 production). Captain Vere, the character obligated to pass judgment on Billy, is played by Philip Langridge.

****

“The Simple Life” / 8:30 p.m. CBS

“Style & Substance” was the first network sitcom to spoof the persona of lifestyle expert Martha Stewart. It was canceled after a short, unlamented midseason run, which does not bode well for this new series with a similar premise. Judith Light of “Who’s the Boss?” stars as Sara Campbell, a domestic diva who moves her multimillion-dollar empire from Manhattan to a farm in upstate New York. Nothing is simple for Sara, who contends with a skeptical mother (Florence Stanley), an underachieving daughter (Ashlee Levitch) and a snobbish producer (James Patrick Stuart).

Thursday

“ALMA Awards” / 9 p.m. ABC

Formerly known as the Bravo Awards, these honors are given out by the National Council of La Raza in recognition of films, TV shows and performers presenting positive portryals of Latinos. The ceremony was held in Pasadena on April 19, but its delayed telecast comes at a time when tons of viewers are treating television as an afterthought. Jimmy Smits and Daisy Fuentes co-host the two-hour program whose honorees include “Selena,” the authorized biopic starring Jennifer Lopez, and “NYPD Blue.”

****

“Film Preservation Festival” / 9 p.m. AMC

Major conflicts of the 20th century, as depicted in a wide array of Hollywood films, comprise the sixth annual event. Among the highlights of the weekend programming: a newly restored version of director Lewis Milestone’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” with Lew Ayres (Friday at 9:45 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.); “Cinema Combat: Hollywood Goes to War,” a new two-hour documentary narrated by Martin Sheen (Friday at 9 p.m.), and AMC’s first broadcast of Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam epic “Apocalypse Now,” airing Saturday at 8:30 p.m.

****

“1998 MTV Movie Awards” / 9 p.m. MTV

Samuel L. Jackson hosts the seventh annual salute to cinema. Inspired film spoofs are an integral part of the insouciant show, whose best movie nominees include “Titanic,” “Face/Off” and “Good Will Hunting.” Best kiss (including the “In & Out” smooch between Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck), action sequence (bugs attack fortress in “Starship Troopers”) and fight sequence (Will Smith rumbles with a cockroach in “Men in Black”) are three of the offbeat categories. Neve Campbell, Chris Rock and Jennifer Lopez are among the presenters.