Miniseries are all but dead, and CBS, the last network to make TV movies on a regular basis, has abandoned the genre. So cable has taken up the slack. The epic “Blackbeard” (7 p.m. today, Hallmark) will make some recall the golden age of the TV movie as it reunites Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward of “Thorn Birds” fame.

Angus Macfadyen stars in the title role as the swaggering, amoral pirate, and he plays the part with great gusto. But the film belongs to Mark Umbers, a handsome British naval officer sent to suppress the scalawags of the sea. The plot will have him kidnapped and impressed into service by Blackbeard himself, but not before he romances a young lass (Jessica Chastain) who happens to be the adopted daughter of the royal governor (Chamberlain) of a Caribbean isle. Unbeknownst to both, the governor is in cahoots with Blackbeard’s confederates. Chamberlain is great to watch as an effete, bewigged and evil double-crosser. Ward plays a saloonkeeper familiar with the good guys and the pirates. Even Stacy Keach gets into the act as an eye-patch-wearing captain betrayed by the razor-shunning villain. “Blackbeard” offers three hours of big-screen action and adventure, on a Saturday no less, a night all but abandoned by the networks.

¢ What do you get when you combine the symbolic malarkey of “The Da Vinci Code” with the goofball adventure of “The Amazing Race”? Something that resembles “Treasure Hunters” (7 p.m. Sunday, NBC). Five teams set out to find treasure. They will face feats of physical endurance, crack codes and decipher stuff leading to the next destination and set of clues.

Saturday’s other highlights

¢ Game six of the NHL Stanley Cup championship series (7 p.m., NBC).

¢ The voice of Peggy Lee animates the 1955 cartoon romance “Lady and the Tramp” (7 p.m., ABC).

¢ A dusty bottle may yield clues on “The Evidence” (9 p.m., ABC).

Sunday’s other highlights

¢ Worries about the Nova group continue on “The 4400” (8 p.m., USA).

¢ Mel Gibson stars in the 2000 comedy “What Women Want” (8 p.m., CBS.)

¢ “Robo Sapien” (8 p.m., Science) looks at the surprisingly rapid integration between humans and machines.

¢ “The Dead Zone” (9 p.m., USA), starring Anthony Michael Hall, enters its fifth season.

¢ Dallas and Miami meet in game five of the NBA finals (8 p.m., ABC)

¢ The gang checks out the movie opening in an unfabulous locale on “Entourage” (9 p.m., HBO).