BEST BETS FOR THURSDAY, JULY 03, 2008

	WIMBLEDON TENNIS ESPN2, 7 a.m. ET; NBC, noon ET If Serena and Venus Williams can win their respective semifinal matches today, they’ll be facing each other in an all-sisters Wimbledon final for the third time. But to do that, Serena must beat Zheng Jie, now the most accomplished tennis player in the history of China, and Venus must beat Elena Dementieva, the sole remaining Russian in the female field. U.S. vs. China and Russia. Seems like the Cold War all over again.
	NATIONAL LAMPOON's ANIMAL HOUSE AMC, 8 p.m. ET John Belushi hijacked this 1978 screen comedy and never let go. He became a movie star because of his unfettered energy here, but the movie itself also provided a template for a new generation of comedy. More than one generation, actually.
	ALMOST FAMOUS More Max, 9 p.m. ET Cameron Crowe wrote and directed this semi-autobiographical account of his salad days as a young stringer for Rolling Stone magazine (Patrick Fugit plays his alter ego, William). Kate Hudson plays a groupie he met, and with whom he fell in love, along the way. Watch for small but tasty supporting performances by Philip Seymour Hoffman as rock critic Lester Bangs, Zooey Deschanel as William’s older sister, and Jason Lee as a member of a rock band.
	FEAR ITSELF NBC, 10 p.m. ET Elisabeth Moss, who plays the new secretary on Mad Men, has another starter position in tonight’s anthology drama. She plays a rookie cop who’s guarding a serial killer, on a night when something strange invades the precinct house.
	HOPKINS ABC, 10 p.m. ET This second installment has my favorite moment in the entire series. A dual lung transplant is taking place, and the doctor takes time to explain what he’s doing for the camera – pointing out the first replacement lung as they remove the clamp and check to see if it inflates properly. It does. How amazing. How instructive. How cocky.
	SMOKIN' ACES Cinemax, 10 p.m. ET Jason Bateman, currently starring with Will Smith in Hancock, says he got that movie role, in large part, because of his small but flashy role in this fast-moving 2007 action comedy-drama. It’s a movie full of small but flashy roles – including one for singer Alicia Keys, who plays a lesbian hit woman.