TWISTER (1996) 7:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Syfy. A decade before storm chasing became the subject of an ill-fated Discovery Channel reality series, Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt played tornado hunters — who are also a couple on the brink of divorce — in this loud thriller. Jan de Bont, fresh off directing “Speed,” kept his foot on the gas as he brought to life the quick-moving, Oklahoma-set screenplay, written by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin, which follows Paxton and Hunt’s characters as they deal with maelstroms of both environmental and emotional varieties. In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin called the result “a gale-force movie with the energy to blow audiences right out of the theater,” writing that Crichton “delivers his familiar mix of hurtling pace, by-the-numbers character development and exotic science.” Tornado-chasing “suddenly takes on a sex appeal not usually associated with horrendous storms,” she noted.

BATTLE OF THE 80S SUPERCARS WITH DAVID HASSELHOFF 8 p.m. on History. For a more nostalgic view of the ’80s than “Snowfall” will give you, hop over to History and watch David Hasselhoff ogle a bunch of cool cars. The climax of the special is a race in which Hasselhoff goes head-to-head with Erik Estrada and Dirk Benedict.