Aug. 28: What's on HDTV today

What we're watching and why:

HBO's Rome premiers tonight at 9. It's called "an intimate drama of love and betrayal, masters and slaves, and husbands and wives, (that) chronicles epic times that saw the fall of a Republic and the creation of an empire." You can watch a trailer on the HBO Web site. (You also can download screensavers and a Roman theme for your Firefox browser.) If Rome gets you down, you might want something a little more modern: the Phillies play at the Diamondbacks on ESPN-HD at 8.

Here are some other HDTV programs showing on selected networks today, all in Eastern time:

ABC: Desperate Housewives (10 p.m.)

CBS: Cold Case (8 p.m.), Stone Cold (9 p.m.)

NBC: Law & Order: Criminal Intent (9 p.m.), Crossing Jordan (10 p.m.)

Fox: Malcolm in the Middle (7 p.m.)

ESPN-HD: Baseball Tonight (7 p.m.), MLB: Phillies at Diamondbacks (8 p.m.), SportsCenter (11 p.m.)