Wednesday, April 9

THE SECOND BILL COSBY SHOW (NBC, 9-10 p.m.).*Wearing a long white beard, Cosby becomes Noah--ark-building problems and all; beardless, he's back in his boyhood Philadelphia with friend, "old weird Harold," and Brother Russell.

Thursday, April 10

CBS NEWS SPECIAL (CBS, 7:30-8 p.m.). "Volcano: Birth of an Island" presents stunning scenes of lava erupting from beneath the sea to form the island Surtsey, off the coast of Iceland. Preview of a new series under the general title "Challenge."

NET PLAYHOUSE (NET, 8-9:30 p.m.). A man's obsessive dream and how it ultimately destroys him is the subject of Playwright Robert (A Man for All Seasons) Bolt's Flowering Cherry.

Friday, April 11

EXPERIMENT IN TELEVISION (NBC, 10-11 p.m.). A subway passing ancient Roman ruins, a hippie wedding on an abandoned movie set, sinister characters at the Colosseum at night seem standard elements for a Federico Fellini movie. This time, though, it's "Fellini: A Director's Notebook," the maestro's first attempt at TV. Fellini not only directs but is the subject, aided by his actress-wife Giulietta Masina and Marcello Mastroianni.

Saturday, April 12

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL (NBC, 3 p.m. to conclusion). The season's network telecasts start out with the San Francisco Giants v. the new San Diego Padres at San Diego.

WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS (ABC, 5-6:30 p.m.). The Atlanta 500 stock-car race from Atlanta International Raceway; World Surfing Championships from Rincon, Puerto Rico.

MASTERS GOLF TOURNAMENT (CBS, 5-6 p.m.). Third round of the classic competition at the Augusta (Ga.) National Golf Club. Final round Sunday (4-5:30 p.m.).

Sunday, April 13

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE (CBS, 1-4 p.m.). Stanley Cup playoff.

MAN AND HIS UNIVERSE (ABC, 4-5 p.m.). "The Scientist" focuses on Nobel Prizewinner James D. Watson and associates as they examine the repressor molecule that controls hereditary characteristics. Repeat.

EXPERIMENT IN TELEVISION (NBC, 4:30-5:30 p.m.). Contemporary Madame Butterfly is the theme for "Bye Bye Butterfly," a Japanese film followed through production stages with a special eye for changing (and contrasting) American and Japanese attitudes. Film Maker Pierre Gaisseau put it together in Tokyo.

DICK VAN DYKE AND THE OTHER WOMAN (CBS, 8-9 p.m.). TV Husband and Wife Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore get together again--after three years' separation--to sing, dance and reminisce.

LIKE HEP! (NBC. 9-10 p.m.). Dinah Shore is back for a variety special with Guests Lucille Ball, Rowan and Martin, and Diana Ross without the Supremes.

Monday, April 14

33 1/3REVOLUTIONS PER MONKEE (NBC, 8-9 p.m.). The Monkees host a salute to the evolution of music from a beginning in African rhythms to today's psychedelic musical freakout. Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger and the Trinity are joined by Golden Oldies Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino and Little Richard among others.

NET JOURNAL (NET, 9-10 p.m.). "If I Don't Agree, Must I Go Away?" tells of a young Catholic woman's testing the "new morality," as she lives with a film maker in New York's East Village.

CAROL CHANNING PRESENTS THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS (ABC, 9-10 p.m.). Pastimes like sloth, avarice and lust provide Carol Channing, Carol Burnett and Danny Thomas with material for songs and humor.

415T ANNUAL AWARDS OF THE ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES (ABC, 10 p.m. to conclusion). Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster, Ingrid Bergman, Walter Matthau and Warren Beatty will be on hand when the Oscars are given out at the Los Angeles Music Center.

Tuesday, April 15

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY SPECIAL (CBS, 7:30-8:30 p.m.). A family of five from New Jersey spends a year living on Tahiti, Bora-Bora, Raiatea and Tahaa islands in "Polynesian Adventure."

NET FESTIVAL (NET, 9-10:30 p.m.). The Boston Symphony Orchestra performs "Bartok at Tanglewood: Concerto for Orchestra."

THEATER

On Broadway 1776. There is a degradation of intellect, taste and dignity in this musical, which presents history as if painted by a sidewalk sketch artist; it relies on calcified profiles of the principal signers of the Declaration of Independence rather than on searching character penetration. The score might have led Van Gogh to dispose of his remaining ear, and a brigade of crippled pigeons could perform better dance numbers.

HAMLET. The question has often been asked: "What is Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark?" One answer is given in Ellis Rabb's APA revival. Rabb is the definitive zombie Hamlet, a puppet rather than a mettlesome prince. The production, like the star, is passionless and bloodless.

IN THE MATTER OF J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER is a dramatization of the 1954 Atomic Energy Commission hearings on the security clearance of the renowned physicist. The testimony unfolds like an interminable dream; the play, rather than tingling with the anguish of a man torn between his country and his conscience, is merely misted over with sadness.

CELEBRATION is a beguiling musical fairy tale by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, co-creators of The Fantasticks.

PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM. Woody Allen is the hero of his own play about a neurotic young man, rejected by girls even in his dreams, who is finally coached into bed with his best friend's wife by his fantasy hero, Humphrey Bogart.

FORTY CARATS is precisely the sort of show that people say helps them forget the trials and tribulations of the day. The story of Julie Harris as a middle-aged lady wooed and won by a lad just about half her age is never less than civilized fun.

HADRIAN VII. Alec McCowen gives an elegant performance as Frederick William Rolfe, the English eccentric who imagined himself named Pope.

Off Broadway

INVITATION TO A BEHEADING, as adapted by Russell McGrath from the Vladimir Nabokov novel, is not much of a play--the characters are unreal, the tension is nonexistent, and the humor is heavy. However, Joseph Papp's Public Theater production is an elegant example of inventive staging, costuming and ensemble playing that all but makes up for the script.

STOP, YOU'RE KILLING ME is an apt title for a slightly bloodstained package of three one-act plays by James Leo Herlihy. The title's aptness lies not only in its suggestion of homicide but in its humor as well--each of the three is laughing on the outside while dying on the inside. And the Theater Company of Boston seems to know exactly what the dark and savage satirist is laughing about.

SPITTING IMAGE. Sam Waterston and Walter McGinn play a homosexual couple who, to the dismay of the Establishment, have a baby. Though the play is basically a one-joke affair and has the somewhat inflated air of a short story masquerading as a novel, it is often amusing.

DAMES AT SEA, with a thoroughly engaging cast and some of the most ingenious staging currently on or off Broadway, is a delightful spoof of the movie musicals of the '30s.

ADAPTATION-NEXT. Elaine May directs both her own play, Adaptation, and Terrence McNally's Next in an evening of perceptive and richly comic one-acters.

TO BE YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK is a loving tribute to Negro Playwright Lorraine Hansberry presented by an interracial cast in which whites as well as blacks speak for her.

CINEMA

STOLEN KISSES. Francois Truffaut continues his cinematic autobiography in this lyrical souvenir of adolescence about a young man (Jean-Pierre Leaud) journeying --sometimes reluctantly--into manhood.

THE NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY. The subject of this chilling film is kidnaping, but Director Hubert Cornfield uses it as an excuse for conducting a surreal seminar in the poetics of violence. The uniformly excellent cast is headed by Marlon Brando, who steals the show with his best acting since One-Eyed Jacks.

AM CURIOUS (YELLOW) is the movie everyone has heard about but few will be able to sit through. Its widely and cleverly publicized sex scenes are secondary to a seemingly interminable journalistic narrative about youth (mainly Lena Nyman and Borje Ahlstedt) and politics in Sweden.

3 IN THE ATTIC has echoes of both Alfie and The Graduate, but viewers may find themselves being won over by its own sleazy charm as it spins the unlikely tale of a campus Lothario (Chris Jones) whose best girl (Yvette Mimieux) develops a novel and strenuous plan to punish him for his infidelities.

THE STALKING MOON. A bloodthirsty and ingenious Indian wants to take revenge on Gregory Peck. Such presumption can lead to only one conclusion, but there are thrills along the way.

SWEET CHARITY. A lot of energy obviously went into this project. Most of it, including Shirley MacLaine's performance as a dancehall hostess, goes to waste.

RED BEARD. Japan's Akira Kurosawa, who is counted as one of the world's greatest moviemakers, takes a simple story of the spiritual growth of a young doctor and transforms it into an epic morality play.

THE SHAME. Ingmar Bergman ponders once again the problems of an artist's moral responsibility. This is his 29th film and one of his best, with resonant performances by Liv Ullman, Max von Sydow and Gunnar Bjornstrand.

THE NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKY'S. Some talented players (Jason Robards, Joseph Wiseman, Harry Andrews, Norman Wisdom) have the time of their lives in this affectionate tribute to oldtime burlesque.

BOOKS Best Reading EDWARD LEAR, THE LIFE OF A WANDERER, by Vivien Noakes. In this excellent biography, the Victorian painter, poet, fantasist, and author of A Book of Nonsense is seen as a kindly, gifted man who courageously tried to stay cheerful despite an astonishing array of diseases and afflictions.

THE SECRET WAR FOR EUROPE, by Louis Hagen. As he explores the development of espionage agencies and replays many a cold war spy case, the author presents a detailed view of politics and espionage in Germany since 1945.

REFLECTIONS UPON A SINKING SHIP, by Gore Vidal. A collection of perceptively sardonic essays about the Kennedys, Tarzan, Susan Sontag, pornography, the 29th Republican Convention, and other aspects of what Vidal sees as the declining West.

THE MILITARY PHILOSOPHERS, by Anthony Powell. The ninth volume in his serial novel, A Dance to the Music of Time, expertly convoys Powell's innumerable characters through the intrigue, futility, boredom and courage of World War II.

THE MARX BROTHERS AT THE MOVIES, by Paul D. Zimmerman and Burt Goldblatt. Next to a reel of their films, this excellent book offers the best possible way to meet (or revisit) the Marx Brothers in the happy time when they had all their energy and all their laughs.

THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, by Thomas Wiseman. Wiseman's novel about the friendship between a half-Jew and a Nazi, before and during World War II in Vienna, is a brilliant psychological study of how two very different men can become so fatally entwined that each determines the course of the other's life.

GRANT TAKES COMMAND, by Bruce Catton. Completing the trilogy begun by the late historian Lloyd Lewis, Catton employs lucidity and laconic humor as he follows the taciturn general to his final victory at Appomattox.

THE GODFATHER, by Mario Puzo. For the Mafia, as for other upwardly mobile Americans, the name of the game is respectability and status--after the money and power have been secured. An excellent novel.

TORREGRECA, by Ann Cornelisen. Full of an orphan's love for her adopted town, the author has turned a documentary of human adversity in southern Italy into the unflinching autobiography of a divided heart.

PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT, by Philip Roth. This frenzied monologue by a sex-obsessed Jewish bachelor on a psychiatrist's couch becomes a comic novel about the absurdly painful wounds created by guilt and puritanism.

Best Sellers FICTION 1. Portnoy's Complaint, Roth (1 last week)

2. The Salzburg Connection, Maclnnes (2)

3. The Godfather, Puzo (4)

4. A Small Town in Germany, le Carre (3)

5. Airport, Hailey (6)

6. Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home, Kemelman (5)

7. Force 10 from Navarone, MacLean (7)

8. A World of Profit, Auchincloss

9. Preserve and Protect, Drury (8) 10. The Vines of Yarrabee, Eden

NONFICTION 1. The 900 Days, Salisbury (1)

2. Miss Craig's 21-Day Shape-Up Program for Men and Women, Craig (7)

3. The Arms of Krupp, Manchester (2)

4. The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, Goldman (6)

5. The Money Game, 'Adam Smith' (3)

6. Jennie, Martin (8)

7. The Valachi Papers, Maas

8. The Trouble with Lawyers, Bloom (5)

9. Instant Replay, Kramer

10. The Joys of Yiddish, Rosten (4)

*-All times E.S.T.

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