CHANNEL SURFING

"In My Life": Before we get to Beatles producer George Martin's
ultrabizarre new project (including "A Hard Day's Night" by Goldie Hawn), a
word about marijuana use on television. Some years back, when I was more
impressionable and youthful, I watched a very special "The Facts of Life"
episode about the hazards of pot. One of the girls -- Blair or Tootie or
Natalie, but, given her name, probably Tootie -- smoked some and wrote what
she thought was the best paper of her life. The next morning, when the drug
haze had cleared, she realized she had only written one word per page. From
this, I was able to come to a profound conclusion about marijuana: It has
very harmful effects on the ability of television writers to tell the
truth. This comes to mind because the WB's "The Wayans Brothers" Thursday
night (7 p.m., WGN-Ch. 9) tackles pot use in a less sophisticated fashion
than that. Friendship with a hot young reefer-mad actor leads Marlon to be
tempted by the weed himself -- on the eve of his biggest acting audition.
You know the rest. As for the Martin documentary (8 p.m., Bravo), I didn't
get advance tape, but it promises to explain how the "In My Life" album,
featuring new versions of Beatles songs done by people ranging from Hawn to
Jeff Beck to Celine Dion to Sean Connery, came to be. Maybe this one will
offer the true lesson about marijuana use.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson