It’s no surprise when a movie called “Android Apocalypse” (8 p.m. today, Sci Fi) lifts plot ideas from “Terminator” and “Blade Runner.” But when it references “The Defiant Ones,” you really have to sit up and pay attention.

Set in a dismal future after a ghastly nuclear war, the city of Phoenix is protected from a hellish atmosphere by a glass dome. Robots and androids toil in the mines and the lifeless desert. Paradoxically, as the machines get smarter, they are assigned more of the dirty and dangerous jobs – even police work.

This doesn’t sit well with the human working class, who don’t like being rendered redundant by creatures they call “cogs.” A burly factory worker and amateur pugilist named Jute (Scott Bairstow) takes out his frustrations on a robot and gets sent to a desert prison named Terminus, where androids are rebuilt and refined, presumably with human parts mined from prisoners like Jute.

In an interesting twist, Jute and a sensitive android, DeeCee (Joseph Lawrence), escape captivity and cross the desert together attached by handcuffs. Their conversations about life, destiny and humanity animate and elevate this often-predictable tale of men and machines at war.

¢ The president says we are addicted to oil. So where’s the 12-step program? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas L. Friedman hosts “Addicted to Oil” (9 p.m. today, Discovery), an hourlong look at the links among oil production, war and dangerous and undemocratic regimes. He also discusses how to change the perception of green politics and conservation policy from wimpy to patriotic.

¢ An emotional Dustin Hoffman is the 200th guest to discuss his vocation with James Lipton on “Inside the Actors Studio” (8 p.m. Sunday, Bravo). He breaks into tears in record time, crying out, “What is this, Barbara Walters?” when discussing his difficult father. According to Hoffman, his father provided plenty of inspiration when playing Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman” and the quirky, cocky movie producer in “Wag the Dog.”

¢ During his “Actors Studio” reminiscence, Hoffman recalls moving to New York and rooming with Gene Hackman, who soon grew weary of his guest and then “palmed me off on his friend Duvall.” That friend, Robert Duvall, stars in the four-hour made-for-TV Western epic “Broken Trail” (7 p.m., AMC, concludes Monday).

If you love Westerns, admire Duvall and miss movies making the most of stunning frontier scenery, then don’t dare miss “Broken Trail.”

Today’s highlights

¢ Ants and grasshoppers square off in a turf war in the 1998 animated comedy “A Bug’s Life” (7 p.m., ABC).

¢ Stand-up observations on life and culture on “Jamie Kennedy: Unwashed” (9 p.m., Comedy Central).

Sunday’s highlights

¢ Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., CBS): Canada’s oil sands; a visit with a musical savant.

¢ Four kids try to get fit on the “Let’s Just Play: Go Healthy Challenge” (7:30 p.m., Nickelodeon).