Packers-Patriots Top Super Television Lineup

Are you ready for a rumble?

The Green Bay Packers take on the New England Patriots, Sunday at 3 p.m. on Channel 11, in Super Bowl XXXI from the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. It’s the first time since 1968 that the Pack has been in the Super Bowl. The Patriots lost to the Chicago Bears in 1986. Pat Summerall and John Madden will call the game, which is Fox’s first.

The Super Bowl festivities actually kick off today at 1 p.m. with MTV’s “Rock N’ Jock Super Bowl,” featuring rock stars, celebrities and NFL stars in team competition.

Comedy Central presents the comedy special “Offside at Super Bowl XXXI,” tonight at 10, featuring Nick Bakay, Roy Firestone and Chris Elliot.

Fox’s “Mad TV,” tonight at 11 on Channel 11, presents a Super Bowl-themed installment.

Airing prior to the kickoff on Sunday is John Madden’s “All-Time All-Madden Super Bowl Team,” 10 a.m. on Channel 11. Joe Namath, Roger Staubach and Walter Payton are among the pro football greats picked by Madden.

CNN’s “NFL Preview,” Sunday at 8 a.m., offers viewers a look at the stories that will shape the Super Bowl. Vince Cellini hosts.

There’s plenty of alternative programming for non-football fans. Beginning Sunday at 6 a.m., American Movie Classics offers a 24-hour sneak peek of its new cable service, Romance Classics. AMC will air an episode of the TV series “Peyton Place,” the first installment of “The Thorn Birds” and several films, including “How to Steal a Million.”

TBS presents its annual 16-hour, 32-episode “The Andy Griffith Show” marathon, Sunday at 7:05 a.m.

The Family Channel serves up the “Stupendo Bowl of Comedy,” beginning with “Animals Are the Funniest People” at 11 a.m.; Three Stooges shorts from noon-2 p.m.; “Carol Burnett and Friends” at 2, 4 and 6 p.m.; and “Carson’s Comedy Classics” at 3 and 5 p.m.

The Cartoon Network features the “Stupid Bowl,” Sunday from 3-6 p.m., featuring three hours of the animated series “2 Stupid Dogs.”

After the Super Bowl at approximately 7 p.m., Fox will air a special episode of its Golden Globe-winning “The X-Files” on Channel 11.

Public Affairs: TODAY: Mike Ferguson of the Catholic Campaign of America is on “Saturday Journal,” 5 a.m. C-SPAN. . . .

“Today” discusses the O.J. Simpson civil trial, winter vacations and snowmobiles, 6 a.m. (4)(36). . . .

Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) guests on “Evans & Novak,” 2:30 p.m., repeats Sunday at 7 a.m., CNN. . . .

Sensationalism in the media is the topic on “John McLaughlin’s One on One,” 2:30 p.m. (28). . . .

Sen. Rick Santorium (R-Pa.) visits “Capital Gang Saturday,” 4 and 10:30 p.m. CNN. . . .

Helen Gurley Brown fields questions on “Larry King Weekend,” 6 and 11 p.m. CNN.

“The McLaughlin Group” looks at Al Gore in the year 2000, the punishment of House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the ABC-Food Lion case, 6:30 p.m. (4).

SUNDAY: “Sunday Today” reports on Alzheimer’s disease and interviews actor John Malkovich, 6 a.m. (4)(36). . . .

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Gov. Roy Romer of Colorado will guest on “Meet the Press,” 7 a.m. (4)(36). . . .

“CBS News Sunday Morning” discusses the Richard Nixon tapes, interviews jazz musician Joe Lavano and profiles mystery writer James Ellroy, 7:30 a.m. (2). . . .

“Late Edition” looks at campaign finance with Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), 9 a.m. CNN. . . .

Secretary of Defense William Cohen guests on “This Week,” 9:30 a.m. (7), 3 p.m. (3)(42). . . .

“Life & Times” forecasts the coming year in Congress and how it will affect California, 10:30 a.m. (28). . . .

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), attorneys Leslie Abramson and Alan Dershowitz, and CBS news legal consultant Laurie Levenson appear on “Face the Nation,” 4:30 p.m. (2). . . .

“60 Minutes” is preempted for a repeat of “Cronkite Remembers,” in which newsman Walter Cronkite recalls highlights of his career, 7 p.m. (2).

Specials and Movies: The Family Channel repeats the glorious, Emmy Award-winning 1989 miniseries “Lonesome Dove,” tonight at 7. Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Anjelica Huston and Danny Glover star in this adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Sports: College Basketball: UCLA at Louisville, today, 1 p.m. (2); Cincinnati at USC, Sunday, 1 p.m. (7)(3)(42). . . Pro Basketball: Heat at Knicks, Sunday, 9 a.m. (4)(36); Lakers at Seattle, Sunday, noon (4)(36). . . . Golf: Phoenix Open, 2 p.m. today, 1 p.m. Sunday, ESPN.

For a complete list of sports events on TV, see Section C.