Critic's corner

By Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff  |  July 22, 2008

8:30 p.m., Sundance Channel
Curiosity alert. Isabella Rossellini wrote and stars in this collection of eight short films about bugs that have been airing on the Internet for a few months. Specifically, the childlike pieces are all about insect sex, how fireflies and spiders and the like actually fornicate. In each little piece, Rossellini dresses up in a bug costume and innocently describes the acts in detail.

8 p.m., Channel 7
Ed McMahon appears, as part of his Subprime Summer Tour.

10 p.m., A&E
Doesn't do windowpane.

9:30 p.m., Food Network
Another episode bites the dust.

11 p.m., Soapnet
Something's always happening in Port Charles. The "General Hospital" spin-off returns for a second season tonight, with the promise of a few classic "GH" guest stars in coming episodes. Look for Antonio Sabato Jr. as Jagger Cates and Tristan Rogers as Robert Scorpio. This series is Soapnet's highest rated programming.

10 p.m., Oxygen
There's no place like lame.

11:35 p.m., Channel 4
Jon Hamm. I so want to make a green eggs joke.

Encore
Conventional but smartly paced, satisfyingly performed Brit caper comedy about trapped thieves hiding out in a convent disguised as nuns. Eric Idle, of Monty Python fame, suggests an English Gene Wilder with his bulging eyes and electrified hair, and roly-poly Robbie Coltrane is endearingly naughty as his larcenous partner. (PG-13; runs through July 31)