Tonight's TV Hot List: Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009

CNN & Essence: Reclaiming the Dream
8/7 CT CNN
Expanding upon her insightful Black in America 2 reports, Soledad O'Brien hosts a forum discussion focused on African-American issues at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. Participants include CNN's Roland Martin, Essence editor-in-chief Angela Burt-Murray, NAACP president Benjamin Jealous, philanthropist Malaak Compton-Rock (Angel Rock Project) and activist Phill Wilson (Black AIDS Institute). — Jeff Gemmill
Bill Engvall Show
9/8 CT TBS
For Bill and his belle, it's the way they were. Susan longingly recalls her dating years and young love with Bill, that exciting and electric time of glowing early romance. Sadly, sometimes blunt reality, the passage of time and years of marriage have a way of dulling that glow, so Bill sets out to re-create their greatest dating memories. Elsewhere, Lauren and Trent are tasked to babysit cerebral sibling Bryan — but they both have movie dates. Race-car driver Carl Edwards gears up for a guest-star turn as a club manager. — Dean Maurer
Mrs. Washington Goes to Smith
9/8 CT Hallmark
Cybill Shepherd stars in this original movie as Alice Washington, a middle-aged divorcée who decides to return to college to finish up her degree. Her academic pursuit gets off to a rough start, however, when Alice meets her roommate, a pink-haired rebel who came to school specifically to get away from her parents. The complications continue to stack up for Ms. Washington as sparks begin to fly with her dashing poetry professor (Jeffrey Nordling) — a romance that's a big no-no on campus. — Brie Hearn
Face the Ace
9/8 CT NBC
This new series is like a combination of Let's Make a Deal and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, with a poker theme. Amateur poker players choose one of four doors to open, out of which pops one of the world's top poker stars. Contestants who win can keep the money or open another door and take their chances. Three wins over pros such as Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson or Huck Seed and the amateur walks away with a million bucks. (Lose even once, though, and all prize money is gone.) — Dave Roeder
Assault in the Ring
10/9 CT HBO
Up-and-coming junior middleweight Billy Collins Jr. is badly beaten in a 1983 bout with veteran Luis Resto. Shaking hands with Resto after the fight, Collins' father (and trainer) calls ring officials over to inspect Resto's gloves, which are found to be missing padding. And that's just the start of this engrossing documentary about the event and its impact on the lives of those involved that night at Madison Square Garden. The previously known story is that Resto was jailed for assault, he and his trainer, Panama Lewis, were banned from boxing, and Collins went into a downward spiral that ended in a fatal car crash. But more details emerge as Resto looks back. — Dave Roeder