CRITICS' PICKS : TELEVISION.

Something to Live For ... : Through this evening, at least: A top-notch edition of ``American Masters'' tonight focuses on one of the century's purest entertainers, Ella Fitzgerald. ``Ella Fitzgerald: Something to Live For,'' narrated by Tony Bennett, employs the usual assortment of archival footage and interviews with musicians and friends to essay what was a surprisingly bittersweet life.

But no one tells the story better than Fitzgerald herself, through a generous chunk of performance footage. Though renowned for her skills with scat and swing music, ``Something to Live For'' makes a compelling case for her artful rendering of ballads. Evocatively melancholy takes of ``Angel Eyes,'' ``Misty'' and ``Something to Live For'' are featured, as well as a truly haunting rendition of ``Summertime'' and a delicately reflective version of ``For Once in My Life.'' We likewise see her at her most spirited in a duet of ``The Lady Is a Tramp'' with Frank Sinatra.

With all those great numbers and more in her repertoire, it's tough to imagine how she remained associated with her early hit ``A Tisket A Tasket'' (which, naturally, is presented here, too). The two-disk companion CD is likewise worth checking out. ``American Masters - Ella Fitzgerald: Something to Live For'' airs at 9 tonight on KCET.

- David Kronke

film

British actress Janet McTeer is getting loads of buzz for her performance in ``Tumbleweeds,'' and most of it is deserved. As a trashy but tender Southern woman whose need for men is matched only by her inability to handle difficulties with them, McTeer pulls out all the flirty, flighty stops.

But it's young Kimberly J. Brown, playing the pubescent daughter, who gives the movie its soul. As in the similar, less credible ``Anywhere but Here,'' the girl is much more practical than the mother. Unlike in that movie, she's no idealized paragon of rationality, either, and as prone to making wrong choices, too.

The two actresses whip up some of the best parent-child chemistry seen in years, and you really can't imagine one performance existing without the other. Although the film smoothes out some of the rougher edges this kind of relationship should logically suffer, what's there is true and suffused with both familial and actorly love.

- Bob Strauss

music

Get Cozy: Sometimes the best way to deal with having the blues is to soak up some of the stuff.

To that end, one of the most promising local gigs takes place tonight when Fabulous Thunderbirds singer Kim Wilson is joined by journeyman blues guitarist Kid Ramos at Cozy's Bar & Grill.

The pair will be backed by a quartet that includes Canned Heat bassist Larry Taylor.

The T-Birds helped popularize Texas roadhouse blues in the '80s and kick-started a blues revival in the process. At one point, the band included guitarist Jimmie Vaughan, until he left to work with his celebrated brother Stevie Ray.

Orange County's Ramos, the son of an opera singer, has played stints in James Harman's band, Roomful of Blues, and the T-Birds, He's now a solo artist.

Cozy's is at 14058 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Show time is 9:30 p.m. and tickets are $12. Information: [phone].

- Fred Shuster

stage

Light it up: It would've been easy for the Pasadena Playhouse to treat its current production of ``Light Up the Sky'' simply as a charming exercise in nostalgia. After all, this 1948 Moss Hart comedy is one of the all-time great poisoned-mash notes to what used to be known in quainter times as ``the theater world.'' Hart's snappy satire, about the antics surrounding a new play opening in Boston, serves up that world with all its backbiting hypocrisies and petty jealousies humorously and mercilessly exposed. Yet even Hart's sometimes scathing depiction has a certain sentimental reverence for Broadway's golden age. Happily, director David Lee, co-creator of TV's ``Frasier,'' keeps this kinetic production pulsing with comic energy. With a canny ensemble cast that includes ``Frasier's'' Dan Butler as tenacious producer Sidney Black, ``Light Up the Sky'' treats the audience to an evening of slam-bang timing and contagious delight in the hammy theatrics of a group of helplessly self-dramatizing people. The production continues through Dec. 19. Call [phone].

- Reed Johnson

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4 Photos

Photo: (1) Fabulous Thunderbirds singer Kim Wilson appears tonight at Cozy's Bar & Grill.

(2) Moss Hart's classic comedy ``Light Up the Sky'' runs through Dec. 19 at the Pasadena Playhouse.

(3) Janet McTeer and Kimberly J. Brown are mother and daughter in ``Tumbleweeds.''

(4) Tony Bennett narrates ``Ella Fitzgerald: Something to Live For,'' tonight on PBS' ``American Masters.''