Fine Hbo Documentary Shows Tough Task Of Parole Officers

`America Undercover,'' HBO's fine documentary series, has come up with another winner with ``Convicts on the Street: One Year on Parole.'' It airs at 10 tonight on cable, with repeats Aug. 9, 13, 22, 25, 28 and Sept. 14.

Filmmakers Ann Hassett and Bob Niemack have created a documentary of quality to match anything on the networks or PBS as it takes a look at the parole system, as exemplified by a year in the life of Alex Estrada, a parole officer in Long Beach, Calif.

The program grabs your attention immediately: Estrada has 50 parolees in his charge, all ``high risk'' ex-convicts, most of whom have multiple charges against them, combinations of drugs, molestation, robbery, rape and murder.

Certainly no one would envy Estrada or his job, one not only high-risk itself but one that seems to go on around the clock seven days a week.

``Convicts on the Street'' is more than just a salute to the impossible task of parole officers. The documentary in no way downplays the crimes for which these convicts were sent to prison, but it also shows how unrealistic it is to expect convicts - released with almost no money, no network of relationships and few social or work skills - to make it in the competitive outside world. Small wonder that during the year, 27 of Estrada's 50 parolees returned to prison, 22 for violating their parole and five for new crimes. Nineteen of the 50 were doing OK - a remarkable number when you realize how the cards are stacked against them.

While most of the convicts are briefly described, there are several longer profiles. You begin to root for one man even though he has been in prison six times. Eventually he succumbs to old habits, however, and you share Estrada's disappointment. I don't think one could have the job of parole officer without eventually experiencing total burnout.

Take that, Ted: Night Rap is one of the funniest shows HBO has offered in a long time; it's everything the station's ``Not Necessarily the News'' isn't. One can only hope the one-time comedy special is a pilot for a future series. HBO repeats it at 11 tonight and again Aug. 12, 16 and 20 and Sept. 14.

``Night Rap'' has wonderful fun spoofing ``Nightline.'' Wayne Satz, who is a bona fide newsman with good credentials, serves as anchor. He doesn't try to imitate Koppel, only his sincerity and urbanity. Using actors who are good enough to make you think they could be the experts you've never heard of, Satz looks at two hot topics - capital punishment and obscenity - and the results are wildly funny, often outrageous.

The subject of capital punishment deteriorates into a discussion of the kind of lighting needed for a successful execution, then moves on to include a talk with a Fox vice president who is planning to make the event into a movie of the week. In the second segment, an attempt is made at defining obscenity according to the ``Thornburgh White Paper.''

It is hilarious - but the hilarity is very pointed. ``Night Rap'' takes advantage of the freedom of cable TV by making trenchant points about its subjects.

Video post cards: Clive James is a British TV personality who falls somewhere between Charles Kuralt and Bill Moyers - he can ask probing questions and have fun with a subject. He shows both skills in the first of six programs that begin at 8 tonight on KCTS-TV, ``Clive James: Postcards.''

Four of the programs will be seen this week at that time, starting with James' visit to Rio de Janeiro tonight. Tomorrow night James visits Chicago, Paris on Wednesday and Miami on Thursday. The remaining shows air next week.

James, who looks rather like Ed Anser, is equally at home with Rio's idle rich (including a woman who puts her faith in God and three Dobermans) or visiting folks who live in the city's slums. He's also at ease interviewing a plastic surgeon or participants in a voodoo ceremony. In addition to the interesting people James interviews, the hour is a visual treat, from the beaches to the famous statue of Christ.

Video notes: PBS repeats an entertaining ``Evening at Pops'' featuring the indefatigable Carol Channing at 7 tonight on KCTS-TV. . . . On the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, NBC airs a TV movie, ``Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes,'' reviewed in Sunday's TV Times, at 9 tonight on KING-TV. . . . Connie Chung interviews author Scott Turow, whose ``Presumed Innocent'' is a new hit movie and whose second novel, ``Burden of Proof,'' is on the way to the best seller list, at 10 tonight on KIRO-TV. . . .

John Voorhees' column appears daily in The Times.