The Zapper

From as far back as 1969, when Charlie Brown misspelled the word beagle in A Boy named Charlie Brown, spelling has been anathema ("Anathema, a-n-a-t-h-e-m-a, anathema") to television. But the National Spelling Bee (ESPN, Thursday, 1 p.m.) promises precocious proponents of English, tense moments and the odd dipthong. (Note to Walters: It's spelled diphthong—Ed.) Winning words the last two years: xanthosis (yellow discoloration of the skin from abnormal causes) and vivisepulture (the practice of burying alive).