The XXIX Olympics begin with the Opening Ceremony (6:30 p.m., NBC) from National Stadium in Beijing. You know a show is important and ratings-worthy when Roman numerals get involved. The Super Bowl is the only other spectacle to throw around those Latin X’s and L’s, and it always attracts a whopper audience.

But while the Super Bowl lasts only 3-1/2 hours (while seeming much longer), the games run for more than two weeks. NBC Universal promises 3,600 hours of coverage of the summer games on its many cable outlets and NBCOlympics.com.

To put that into perspective, if you added up all of the American TV coverage of every Olympic summer game, you’d still be 1,000 hours short of 3,600. Since there are only 384 hours in the Olympics’ 16 days, you have to assume that most of those 3,600 hours will be in the form of multiple streams on the Internet. You’d have to create five clones of yourself to take in all of these sporting events. Not even Bob Costas could handle that!

Speaking of Costas, he and Matt Lauer will anchor tonight’s coverage of the opening ceremonies.

Since the sports heroes of the games have yet to emerge, it’s interesting to speculate on what images and lessons the games will provide. China is clearly the star of the Olympics, and its government wants the world to see it in the best light.

Sometimes Olympics do just that. The 1964 games showcased Japan fewer than two decades after the end of World War II and announced that nation’s arrival as a major economic power.

But sometimes the message gets mangled. The 1972 games were intended to help Germany turn a page and help the world forget the 1936 Nazi games, but they remain best remembered for the terrorist attack on the Israeli team. The 1980 Olympics were supposed to be Moscow’s proudest moment. But that didn’t happen. Few seem to recall that the 1968 summer games went on despite brutal political violence in the streets of Mexico City, when police and the military opened fire on student demonstrators, killing hundreds.

So what China will we see? The gleaming capital of go-go capitalism? Or the goose-step of communist authoritarianism? It’s no small irony that NBC will be streaming so many hours of games from a country where the Internet is censored rigidly.

And not even Mao’s heirs or the richest tycoons can control the weather. Many fear that China’s rapid growth has unleashed a climatic nightmare that could literally overshadow the games.

Whatever happens, NBC is hoping it becomes the greatest show on Earth.

¢ A 24-hour salute to James Garner (“Maverick”) includes the hipster amnesia whodunit “Mister Buddwing” (6:45 a.m., TCM), “Support Your Local Sheriff” (7 p.m.) and “The Americanization of Emily” (2 a.m., early Saturday).

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ The clumsy and cute compete in the three-hour counterprogramming block “The Puppy Games 2008” (5 p.m. and 8 p.m., Animal Planet).

¢ Ron Perlman stars in the 2004 comic-book adaptation “Hellboy” (7 p.m., Fox).

¢ “NOW” (7:30 p.m., PBS, check local listings) looks at problems with Pakistan.

¢ Tom Cruise stars in director Steven Spielberg’s 2005 adaptation of “War of the Worlds” (7:30 p.m., ABC).

¢ A boxer’s fears are realized on “Monk” (8 p.m., USA).

¢ Bruce and Susan make a getaway on “Swingtown” (9 p.m., CBS).

¢ The guys hunt for buried treasure on “Psych” (9 p.m., USA).