Kennedy Center Honors
9/8c CBS
The 32nd annual gala, hosted by Caroline Kennedy, salutes Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, Grace Bumbry, Robert De Niro and Bruce Springsteen. The five diverse honorees are feted by a stellar lineup of performers and presenters, including Meryl Streep, Martin Scorsese, Sting, Matthew Broderick, Aretha Franklin, John Mellencamp, Carl Reiner, Jon Stewart, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Melissa Etheridge, Herbie Hancock and Martin Short. The evening promises to be heavy on music, with four of the five honorees involved in either musical theater, opera, jazz or rock.
Read on for previews of Nova, 20/20, Tabatha's Salon Takeover and One Big Happy Family.
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Leverage
10 pm/ET TNT The seedy and the greedy keep taking down the needy, and Nate Ford and his Ford-tough subordinates render yet another high-tech scam to stop it. Tonight their mark is an investment broker who apparently bilked a charity. The crew's scheme involves tricking the financier to enter a rehab facility for his long list of various vices, which include addictions to nicotine patches, porn, gambling, lying and eating. Sadly, it turns out rehab might be a suitable place for one of the team members, too.
Read on for previews of American Idol, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Nip/Tuck and Nova.
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Happy New Year, Charlie Brown
8 pm/ET ABC
Although not a holiday perennial like A Charlie Brown Christmas, this 1986 special is charming.
Read on for previews of Kennedy Center Honors, Rudolph's Shiny New Year, Nova and Eli Stone.
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You may not know the faces, but if you’re a fan of NPR’s automotive call-in show “Car Talk,” you certainly know the voices (and the frequent laughs) of Tom and Ray Magliozzi, aka Click and Clack, the Tappets. The boisterous brothers — who’ll get animated this summer for their very own PBS cartoon following their off-the-air lives — make a rare TV appearance on tonight’s Nova (8 pm/ET, PBS) to look at the “car of the future” and what will power it: ethanol, hydrogen or electricity.
TVGuide.com: You do so little TV. What attracted you to this installment of Nova?Ray Magliozzi: The idea of the car of the future intrigues us. I was promised by reading Popular Science and
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The days are getting shorter, the leaves are falling, and the air is thick with the smell of Bengay. Yes, it’s marathon season. On Saturday, the Olympic Team Trials race will select the three U.S. runners for the event at next summer’s Beijing Games. The following day is the 38th New York City Marathon. NBC will show the Olympic Trials start live on the Today show, at 7:35 am/ET, as well as same-day highlight shows for both races.To get an idea of what goes into preparing for the race, check out tonight’s surprisingly touching episode of PBS’ Nova, titled “Marathon Challenge.” The hour-long show explores both the psychological and physiological challenges of training for the 26.2-mile race. It features a group of 13 nonrunners participating in a 40-week training program for the Boston Marathon. They’re an unimpressive bunch at the start — the group’s coach refers to them as “dog meat” — and they face a variety of obstacles ...
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