Richmond.com’s can’t-miss TV picks for the week of Feb. 20 - 26

# Drama Pick: "Cruel Intentions," airing Saturday at 4 p.m. on UPN

Few guilty pleasure flicks manage to pack in good music, bad acting and great Hollywood rumors. But "Cruel Intentions" has all three: music ("Bittersweet Symphony"), bad acting (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and great Hollywood rumors (that Ryan Phillipe and Reese Witherspoon actually did the deed on set).

# Mike Ward and Katherine HoustounRichmond.comMonday, February 20, 2006Sports pick: 2006 Torino Games airing on NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, USA and Universal HD through Feb. 26.

The final week of Olympics action is wrapping up Sunday, and, if like the rest of the country, you’ve been tuned into "American Idol" instead of the Games, now’s a good time to get into the competition. This week, ladies’ figure skating (which, let’s face it, has always been one of the best events of the winter games) takes center stage with the conspicuous absence of nine-time national champion Michelle Kwan. See whether Americans Sasha Cohen, Kimmie Meissner or Emily Hughes are women enough to bring home the gold.

# Local pick: "American Idol," airing Wednesday at 8 p.m. on FOX

Tivo the Games on Wednesday night so that you can catch Richmonder Elliott Yamin, a 27-year-old Douglas Freeman High School graduate, as he tries to make it through another round of cuts on the fifth season of "American Idol." Tonight, the 12 male finalists go at it again, and viewers receive their first opportunity to send Yamin on, or send him home. (We vote to send him on.)

# Special events pick: "Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp" airing Wednesday at 9 p.m. on TLC.

Fifty would-be rockers become the luckiest wannabes in the music universe as they spend five days and nights learning from true rock ’n’ roll legends: The Who’s Roger Daltrey, all the members of Cheap Trick, Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead and many more. In this two-hour special, hosted by Evan Farmer of The Learning Channel’s hit TV show “While You Were Out,” the cameras follow selected campers as they live out the thrill of a lifetime.

# Family pick: "Wife Swap Changed My Marriage," airing Monday at 8 p.m. on ABC.

ABC’s reality TV show "Wife Swap" seems a deliberate joke on the players; transplanting mothers into distinctly different families, where the kids are forced to endure and adapt to their new maternal force and the moms themselves work to transform their new broods according to their matriarchal instincts. In this special edition, we meet up with some of the participants who attest to the positive efffect the show had on their lives. Perhaps there really are lessons to be learned?

# Reality Pick: "Knight School," airing Sundays at 10 p.m. on ESPN.

If you’re not a sports fan or for some reason don’t know who Bobby "The General" Knight is, then let us give you three reasons to watch this new show in which the Texas Tech coach "lets" 16 high school ballers audition for a walk-on spot on his team. One: Knight’s cute quirks, such as tossing folding chairs across the court when he doesn’t get his way and verbally berating 20-year-old kids until they cry and ask for their mommy and some Sunny D. Two: In 1979, Knight was arrested for assaulting a cop in Puerto Rico after he couldn’t get his Pan American Games team into a locked gym. Three: Knight once made headlines for treating his Game Day sweater like a NASCAR rig, sewing on patches from various sponsors to make a few extra bucks. Pure genius. Expect this and more tomfoolery in Knight’s new six-part reality series.

# In case you find yourself drinking a beer next to a 400-lb. man: "WWE Friday Night Smackdown! airing Fridays at 8 p.m. on UPN

With the WWE filming its second most popular weekly program in the River City on Tuesday night, don’t be surprised if you’re rubbing shoulders downtown with mammoth men sporting spandex and bad goatees. And those are just the fans. (Richmond.com will be at the event - look for coverage on Thursday morning.)

# Comedy: "Weekends with Maury and Connie," airing Saturday at 4 p.m. on MSNBC.

File this one under unintentional comedy. Many people don’t know that former legitimate journalist Connie Chung and trash talk show host Maury Povich are married. Even fewer people know that the pair now host their own "news show" on MSNBC. The hokey rapport and on-camera hand-holding even has Geraldo embarrassed of his profession. You just know Povich tries to slide paternity tests or boot camp segments into each show - he just can’t help himself. Just when you think it can’t get any worse than your local TV news, check out "Weekends with Maury and Connie."