Toxic waste dumping is the subject of...

Toxic waste dumping is the subject of “Incident at Dark River,� a movie for the TNT cable network. Mike Farrell and Tess Harper star as the parents of a girl who falls ill because of exposure to the waste. Also starring is Helen Hunt as a student activist who supports Farrell in his quest to uncover the truth about his daughter’s illness.

David Byrne has directed and scored a one-hour program about the candomble religion of Brazil. Called “Ile Aiye (The House of Life),� it will be shown in July on public television’s “Alive From Off Center� series. The show is described as a musical journey into another culture.

Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw� is being dramatized for a new Showtime series, “Nightmare Classics.� Amy Irving stars as the governess who finds her new place of employment filled with evil. David Hemmings plays the gentleman who hires her.

Public television has arranged to tape the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Wagner’s complete “Der Ring des Nibelungen.� A 1976 production of the “Ring� from the Bayreuth Festival was broadcast on PBS in 1983, but Met general manager Bruce Crawford says, “This is the first time in the history of U.S. television that an opera production of this magnitude--17 hours in all, a virtual ‘opera miniseries’--will be presented in prime time on four consecutive evenings.� Air dates: June 18-21, 1990.

Merle Haggard will be spotlighted in two specials on the Nashville Network cable channel in June. The first, “Merle Haggard: Poet of the Common Man,� will debut June 12 and features him in concert at Nashville’s Starwood Amphitheatre. The second, “Merle Haggard: An Inside Look,� is an interview that will have its first showing June 13.