CRITICS' PICKS.

MUSIC

Tsar is born: Delivering a lively blend of attitude, songwriting and style, local glam-rock quartet Tsar catapulted onto the local music scene two years ago.

Things happened fast. After landing a weekly residency at ultra-cool Silver Lake club Spaceland early last year, the band began drawing label interest, finally signing with Disney's Hollywood imprint.

Tsar's self-titled debut will be in stores June 13. The group appears tonight at Fais Do-Do, a Los Angeles club with a New Orleans feel.

All four members of Tsar grew up in Los Angeles but didn't meet until attending college in Santa Barbara. They played together in high-concept party bands until going their separate ways until 1998 when they formed Tsar.

From the start, the foursome's performances were noted for a reckless energy and glittery stance.

The album ``Tsar'' opens with the anthemic ``Calling All Destroyers'' and moves into the boy-girl tune ``I Don't Wanna Break Up'' and the mini-epic ``The Teen Wizards.'' Other titles include ``Silver Shifter'' and ``Ordinary Girl.''

Fais Do-Do is at 5257 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles. Show time is 10:30 p.m., and admission is $5. Information: [phone].

- Fred Shuster

FILM

She shoots, she scores: ``Love & Basketball'' tells its straightforward story with a lot of conviction and attention to detail. Well-acted and nicely played, it adds a few extra layers of humanity to the sports movie basics.

Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan play Baldwin Hills neighbors who grow up to become fierce athletic competitors, tentative lovers and best friends. He's the son of an L.A. Clipper who feels entitled to his talent; she's a banker's daughter who lets her competitive emotionalism interfere both with the round ball and playing the romance game.

Writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood is a dedicated sportswoman herself, and her love and knowledge of the game gives the film a sense of realism even when it dribbles over the cliche line. Fortunately, she usually recovers gracefully, and keeps her eye on bigger narrative prizes than winning the next game.

- Bob Strauss

TELEVISION

Creative exercises: Following co-star Gillian Anderson's written-and-directed episode, which played like ``The X-Files'' for the Lifetime Channel with its tale of past loves and New Agey, feng shui-embracing lesbians, comes David Duchovny's second scripting and directing effort at 9 p.m. Sunday on Channel 11. Duchovny has said that the only reason to return for an eighth season would be for him to write and direct more episodes, and having seen some mighty uninspired episodes this season, one would have to agree.

The star offers up a cheeky Hollywood parody with inside jokes - Duchovny's wife, Tea Leoni, stars as Scully in a ludicrous movie version of one of their cases, and Duchovny pal Garry Shandling plays Mulder. Duchovny allows the normally dour Scully to lighten up: She even suggests to Mulder that both Leoni and Shandling have a crush on him (echoing a joke begun on ``The Larry Sanders Show''). Funny stuff.

Just how historic it really is may be open to debate, but KWHY-TV, Channel 22, will offer the country's first high-definition TV broadcast in Spanish from 7 to 11 p.m. Sunday with a special from the downtown extravaganza ``Fiesta Broadway 2000.'' Highlights from the street fair and concert schedule will be featured. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

British TV icon Dennis Potter's final work, ``Cold Lazarus,'' begins at 9 tonight on KCET and concludes May 5 at 9 p.m. It's a typically bizarre concoction, a sequel of sorts to his program ``Karaoke''; here, the memories of Daniel Feeld (Albert Finney) become a media football 400 years after his death in a grim, quixotic future where a tycoon wants to broadcast them worldwide. It offers a particularly canny commentary now, when exploitative reality TV is all the rage.

- David Kronke

EGO TRIP

Exhibition with a complex: Sometimes an exhibition isn't just an exhibition. ``Sigmund Freud: Conflict & Culture,'' on view through July 25 at the Skirball Cultural Center, doesn't merely afford a chance to grapple with the legacy of one of the 20th century's most exhilarating and infuriating minds. This multimedia show of original documents, photographs and artifacts also is being supplemented with lectures, film and TV series, dance, music from Freud's Vienna and a May 4 comedy series, ``Mommy Dearest,'' in which comedians Julia Sweeney, Ellen Cleghorne, Merrill Markoe and Beth Lapides will explore some mother- daughter side effects spawned by the founding patriarch of psychoanalysis. So don't slip up. Call [phone] for information and Skirball hours.

- Reed Johnson

FOR KIDS

Acting childish: Stage moms and dads of Los Angeles, unite! You have nothing to lose _ well, apart from a few bucks here and there - and a creatively flexed son or daughter to gain. Kids' Week at the Theatre, a citywide extravaganza of mostly free and low-cost theatrical activities, is back this year, and bigger than ever. Free acting, improv and storytelling workshops, backstage tours and performances at dozens of participating professional theaters will launch the weeklong third annual event April 30. A joint project of A.S.K. Theater Projects and THEATRE League Alliance of Southern Calfornia, the program is designed to develop young theater audiences in a world crammed with entertainment choices. Participating Valley theaters include the El Portal Center for the Arts, Theatre West, Deaf West Theatre, the Falcon Theatre and Eclectic Co. Theatre. For schedules and details about free events, free tickets and special discounts, call [phone], stop by any branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, or visit the official Web site at www.kidsweek.org.

- R.J.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1) Glam-rock foursome Tsar plays at L.A. club Fais Do-Do at 10:30 tonight.

(2) Garry Shandling and Tea Leoni guest star in a comedic episode of ``The X-Files.''

(3) Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan co-star as court rivals turned lovers in ``Love & Basketball.''

(4) Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis - and the Freudian slip - is the focus of a new Skirball Cultural Center exhibit.