PRIEST

If you missed it when it played in theaters, or if it’s been some time since you’ve seen it, Priest is airing on Sundance in August. • British stage veteran Linus Roache plays Father Greg, a young, idealistic Catholic priest whose strict adherence to church dogma is challenged when he arrives in a poor Liverpool parish. It seems that a fellow pastor (Tom Wilkinson, In the Bedroom) has casually abandoned his vow of chastity to live in a domestic relationship with the housekeeper (Cathy Tyson). However, Father Greg’s crisis of faith gets personal when he visits a gay bar. • This timeless and controversial drama was directed by Antonia Bird and written by Jimmy McGovern. • Priest airs on the Sundance Channel on Wednesday, August 7, 8 p.m.; Sunday, August 11, 10 p.m.; Friday, August 16, 12:30 a.m.; Thursday, August 22, 8 p.m.; and Monday, August 26, 2:05 a.m. For more information, visit www.sundancechannel.com.

CHASTITY

If you can’t wait till August 21 to see Cher (in her Houston concert at Compaq Center), The Movie Channel Extra East is showing Chastity, the 1969 film in which Cher stars as a lonely teen hitchhiker hitting the road in hopes of finding her own way in life. She winds up in a Mexican whorehouse owned by a strange lesbian (Barbara London). Though the two “get it on,” it’s not what Chastity wants. (Three things here: One, doesn’t this part sound like Cher’s real life, what with her girl-on-girl experimentation? Two, isn’t it just a little weird that Chastity doesn’t want be a lesbian, but Cher’s real-life daughter, whose name is also Chastity, wants to be a lesbian? And three, the film was written by Sonny Bono! It’s all so … uh, so Cher.) • Chastity airs Saturday, August 10, at noon, and Sunday, August 18, at 11:15 a.m. Still need to see Cher after the concert? Repeat airings: Monday, August 26, at 1:15 p.m., and Thursday, August 29, at 5 p.m.

THE WIRE

It’s a war on drugs in west Baltimore, complete with wiretaps and surveillances, all told from the point of view of both the police and their targets. And the police just happens to include narcotics detective Shakima Greggs (Sonja Sohn), an out lesbian whose sexuality is seen with curiosity among her peers. In a recent interview in The Advocate, Sohn says, “I think it’s important that we have realistic portrayals of people on television, whether it be lesbians or black detectives or gangsters…, because it helps break stereotypes, hopefully broadening the viewpoints of people who don’t have the opportunity to be exposed to any type of diversity—cultural, racial, or sexual—in their lives.” Though Sohn is straight, she says that playing a lesbian is no big deal, that “I run with a pretty ultraleft, ultraliberal, crazy kind of crew of people.” Suits us. The Wire can be seen on Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO, with repeat airings during the month. Runs through September 18.