WORTH NOTING ON TV

May 5, 1994

* THURSDAY

Evening News From Moscow (C-Span, 6-6:30 p.m. EDT): A report in Russian with simultaneous English translation. * FRIDAY

This Is Garth Brooks, Too! (NBC, 8-9 p.m.): When it was aired in January 1992, ``This Is Garth Brooks'' easily leaped out of the country-music category to become the season's highest-rated one-hour special of any kind. This new program, a follow-up to the earlier special, culls some of the most crowd-pleasing numbers from a recent three-night stand by the Grammy-winning Brooks at the Dallas Stadium in Texas.

You won't confuse the show with drawing-room chamber music: At one point Brooks sings while flying 100 feet in the air across the stadium. From his latest album, ``In Pieces,'' he performs ``Standing Outside the Fire'' with flames leaping out from the stage. His hit ``The Thunder Rolls'' is sung amid stage effects of thunder, lightning, and rain.

The program also includes a look at Brooks behind the scenes.

Making Welfare Work (PBS, 9-10 p.m.): A national debate is raging over how to reform a welfare system that increasing numbers of people - despite their compassion for the poor - feel is running amok. President Clinton says he wants to ``end welfare as we know it.'' No comprehensive national welfare system is currently in operation, but several states are testing welfare-reform systems. This program, hosted by Walter Cronkite, highlights the lives of some of the families directly affected. One of the experiments examined, for instance, is Greater Avenues for Independence, a project in Riverside, Calif. that urges recipients to take available jobs and lowers benefits for those who don't.

The program also offers comments by welfare policymakers like Gov. Mario Cuomo (D) of New York, Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) of Wisconsin, and David Ellwood, co-chairman of President Clinton's Working Group on Welfare Reform.

Please check local listings for these programs.