By Martie Zad
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 5, 1999; Page Y04 A&E Network's "Biography" kicks off Game Show Week with "Vanna White: Game Show Goddess" Monday at 8 p.m.

The program tells how Vanna Marie Rosich of North Myrtle Beach, S.C., went off to California in 1980 in a rented U-Haul van bent on making it in show business.

Now 42, she is in her 17th year as the gowned letter turner of the syndicated "Wheel of Fortune," where 40 million people see her almost every day.

She was shaken in 1986 when "Playboy" magazine published photos of her taken from a lingerie shoot she had done earlier to pay the rent. That article led to commercials and endorsements for which she began to earn huge fees.

Her first love, soap opera actor John Gibson, was killed in a plane crash. By 1990, what she wanted most was a family. She married restaurateur George Santo Pietro and they now have two children.

"Biography" continues the theme week with profiles of Bob Barker ("The Price Is Right") on Tuesday and Monty Hall ("Let's Make a Deal") on Wednesday, and encores of Regis Philbin ("Regis & Kathie Lee," "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire") on Thursday and host-producer Merv Griffin on Friday. All air at 8 p.m. with midnight repeats.

* Sunday on Disney Channel at 6:30 p.m., Judd Hirsch narrates "Lights," an allegorical presentation of the story of Hanukah featuring the voices of Leonard Nimoy and Paul Michael Glaser.

* Sunday on Fox Family Channel at 8 p.m., "Richie Rich's Christmas Wish," with David Gallagher playing the wealthy boy who is whisked away after wishing that he had never been born. Repeats: Saturday at 8 p.m. and Dec. 17 and 22.

* Sunday on TCM at 8 p.m., the reconstructed version of Erich von Stroheim's 1924 silent masterpiece "Greed," with 115 minutes of von Stroheim's narrative added to the 135-minute movie version. Repeats at 12:30 a.m.

* Sunday on Animal Planet at 8 p.m., "Animal Planet/USDAA Grand Prix of Dog Agility Championships," another in the increasingly popular tournaments, from Dallas. Repeats: Dec. 12.

* Sunday on TLC at 9 p.m., "Countdown 100: The Greatest Achievements of the 20th Century," saluting remarkable political, scientific and social achievements of the past 100 years. Repeats at midnight and Saturday at 6 p.m.

* Monday on Disney Channel at 6 p.m., 2 hours of new Christmas episodes: "PB&J Otter" at 6 p.m., "Out of the Box" at 6:30 p.m., two episodes of "Bear in the Big Blue House" at 7 and 7:30 p.m., and "Rolie Polie Olie" at 8 p.m.

* Monday on Discovery Channel at 9 and 10 p.m., "If We Had No Moon" and "Savage Sun," a pair of shows using computer generated visuals and actual solar system images to explore the sun and the moon and their impact on Earth. Repeats at midnight and 1 a.m.

* Monday on the History Channel at 9 p.m., "The Times Capsule," a freewheeling, creative exploration of people, places and phenomena that will change the way we understand the last millennium. Repeat: 1 a.m.

* Monday through Wednesday on Sci-Fi Channel at 9 p.m., "Stephen King's Storm of the Century" in three parts, starring Timothy Daly, Debrah Farentino and Colm Feore. Airing next week, Monday through Thursday, is King's "The Stand" with Gary Sinise, Laura San Giacomo, Molly Ringwald and Ossie Davis.

* Monday through Thursday on Bravo at 10 p.m., the holiday presentation of Cirque du Soleil. Monday: "We Reinvent the Circus"; Tuesday: "Nouvelle Experience"; Wednesday, "Saltimbanco"; and Thursday at 8, the premiere of "Quidam," which encores Saturday at 6.

* Tuesday on American Movie Classics at 8 p.m., Oliver Stone and William Baldwin host "Censored," an exploration of the link between early movie censorship and today's battles over free speech. Repeats at 1 a.m.

* Tuesday on the Nashville Network at 8 p.m., Clint Black guests on "Kenny Loggins: December," the network's leadoff holiday special taped at Loggins's home in Santa Barbara, Calif.

* Friday on CNBC at 8 p.m., "Gorillas on the Edge," a "National Geographic Explorer" special in which scientists from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International join Geographic's effort to reestablish contact with Rwanda's endangered mountain gorillas.

* Saturday on HBO at 8 p.m., "Witness Protection," a film about a family that has to start over with a new identity and new relationship in the U.S. Witness Protection Program. Tom Sizemore, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Forest Whitaker star. Repeats: Dec. 14, 16, 19 and 24, Jan. 3 and 11.

© Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company

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