Worth noting on TV

August 1, 1985

SATURDAY To Kill A Cockroach (PBS, 7:30-8 p.m.): ``Innovation'' celebrates the summer season with an updating of the war against insects. Not exactly a channel-ful of laughs for a summer's evening . . . but you'll feel more secure as this timely program offers hints for thinning out the patter of tiny feet in the dark.

The Champ (CBS, 9-11 p.m.): John Voight and Ricky Schroeder in a repeat of one of the all-time teariest tear-jerking films. SUNDAY

Evening at Pops (PBS, 8-9 p.m.): Conductor John Williams and his Boston Pops back up legendary folk singer Joan Baez in a program of traditional songs as well as Beatles music.

Rolling (PBS, 10-10:30 p.m.): Romantic comedy, originating at Boston's WGBH, concerns a schoolteacher summering at a local cable station, assigned to produce a show titled ``Couples in the '80s.'' She learns a lot.

Doris Chase: Portrait of an Artist (PBS, 10:30-11 p.m.): Profile of the 30-year career of an artist, focusing on both her work and her personal life. MONDAY

Crossing the Distance (PBS, 9-10 p.m.): Repeat of ``Smithsonian World'' program on the challenge of travel, including a now-classic David McCullough interview with one of the world's most sensitive and incisive travelers, Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

Alive From Off Center (PBS, 10-10:30 p.m.): New ``avant-garde'' dance works, all in the open air. Try telling the ancient Greeks that's avant-garde. TUESDAY

The Wall (CBS, 8-11 p.m.): Repeat of superb adaptation of John Hersey novel about the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 1943.

Hiroshima Remembered (PBS, 8-11 p.m.): A full evening commemorating the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Features award-winning documentary ``The Day After Trinity,'' as well as live footage from Japan.

American Almanac (NBC, 10-11 p.m.): Anchor Roger Mudd and Connie Chung host a new try at a ``different'' NBC newsmagazine. WEDNESDAY

Steel Collar Man (CBS, 8-9 p.m.): A robot vs. a government agent in this failed pilot. See if you can figure out why CBS has not picked it up for a series.

Anything for Love (NBC, 9:30-10 p.m.): As long as we're watching failed pilots, here's another one . . . about small-town beauticians, with Vicki Lawrence and Lauren Tewes. It may be easier to see why this one failed to be picked up.

The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God (PBS, 9-10 p.m.): Three contemporary Shakers paint a vivid portrait of 200 years of Shaker life. David McCullough of ``Smith- sonian World'' narrates effectively and unobtrusively, as usual.

Check local listings for all programs, especially those on PBS, where local option often results in varying days as well as times.