by Clif Garboden

THURSDAY

7:30 (2) Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers. A 15-year-anniversary airing of the mythic Moyers documentary. The entire series. (Until 11 p.m.)

8:00 (5) A Charlie Brown Christmas. The annual descent into the TMOC (True Meaning of Christmas) using Charlie "Kick Me" Brown as the foil. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (44) Wheel of Life. Repeated from last week. Like Riverdance for kung fu fans. The Shaolin Monks of China’s Henan Province have been around for 1500 years, perfecting the seemingly non-religious art of fighting. Lacking an immediate enemy against whom to apply their faith, they’ve gone on the road as an acrobatic act. To be repeated on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. on Channel 44. (Until 11 p.m.)

FRIDAY

7:30 (2) The American Experience: War Letters. Now that trotting off to foreign countries and killing people is considered cool again, Channel 2 is airing the bejeezus out of this TV adaptation of Andrew Carroll’s book War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars, exposing personal missives from soldiers who served in everything from the American Revolution to the Gulf War. "Dear Mom, Get me out of here . . . " (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (5) Holiday at Pops. Still one of the hottest tickets in town. (Until 10 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 50th Birthday Celebration. Isn’t the guy at least 51 by now? Glenn Close, Michael Ball, Antonio Banderas, Donny Osmond, Elaine Paige, and Sarah Brightman gather to pay tribute to the man who reintroduced the concept of meandering to the art of composition. From the Royal Albert Hall. To be repeated on Sunday at 11 p.m. on Channel 44.(Until 11 p.m.)

SATURDAY

11:00 a.m. (2) Islam: Empire of Faith. Repeated from last week. Ben Kingsley narrates this documentary about the history of Islam, a religion that built an empire that covered a lot of territory — from Spain to India. Re-enactments plus a lot of art portray everything from the birth of Mohammad through the Ottoman Empire and beyond. (Until 2 p.m.)

3:00 (7) Hallmark World Skaters’ Championship. You know we’re getting close to the Winter Olympics when the networks start scheduling figure-skating competitions in prime time. This is just the technical program (from last night); the artistic program will be aired tonight live at 8. You won’t see any Olympic hopefuls on the ice, however, just the usual pro suspects, including Kristi Yamaguchi, Yuka Sato, Nicole Bobek, Kurt Browning, and Ilia Kulik. (Until 5 p.m.)

3:00 (44) Petula Clark in Concert: A Sign of the Times. Pet’s still around — just not real visible in the States. For this new special, she runs through all her hits ("Downtown," "A Sign of the Times," etc.) from so very long ago with help from Lou Rawls and Richard Carpenter. (Until 5 p.m.)

3:30 (2) A Musical Christmas from the Vatican. Together again — Sarah Brightman, Charlotte Church, Tom Jones, and Manhattan Transfer celebrate the Savior’s birth from Rome. (Until 5 p.m.)

5:00 (2) Happy Holidays: The Very Best of the Andy Williams Christmas Shows. Here’s a part of our culture that would otherwise be forgotten. For sporadic seasons from 1957 through 1976 on all three networks and ultimately in syndication, the Williams holiday show was must-see event. Digitally remastered clips give you a chance to see the Osmonds grow up. To be repeated on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. on Channel 44. (Until 6:30 p.m.)

6:30 (2) Blast! Ever in search of the next Riverdance, PBS gives us this stage extravaganza based on the art of drum-corps routines, which — as you know if you’ve checked out the national competitions lately — aren’t just a matter of parading down the field in pinwheel formation while playing "Zacatecas." This production, for example, includes brass-and-choreography versions of Ravel’s Bolero, Copland’s Appalachian Spring, and Samuel Barber’s Medea. Unfortunately, it’s all really unpleasant to watch. (Until 8 p.m.)

6:30 (7) The Prudential Tree Lighting. Okay, so the Pru Complex never turned into Rockefeller Center and Boston didn’t turn into New York. Still, it’s what we’ve got, and the lights are nice — even if the neighborhood features some of the worst high-rise architecture of the 20th century. (Until 7 p.m.)

8:00 (2) Down from the Mountain. Something intriguing for a change. Holly Hunter hosts Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, the amazing Gillian Welch, Colin Linden, and other authentic-like country stars performing selections from the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Until 9:45 p.m.)

8:00 (5) The Parent Trap (movie). Presuming that today’s viewers can’t relate to the 1961 world of the Hayley Mills/Brian Keith original version of this mythic tale of twins reuniting divorced parents, Disney remade it. Lindsey Lohan plays the twins. With Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson. (Until 11 p.m.)

8:00 (7) Hallmark World Skaters’ Championship. The conclusion, live from Washington, DC. See above at 3 p.m. (Until 11 p.m.)

8:00 (44) Charlotte Church, Enchantment. A September 2001 concert from Cardiff. (Until 9:30 p.m.)

11:00 (2) Peter, Paul and Mary Holiday Concert. Christmas and Hanukkah songs from the aging folk trio. Nice, but seen too often. (Until 1 a.m.)

11:00 (44) Life 360: Six Degrees of Separation. Not sure what’s meant by "hidden relationships," but this edition features musings on same by Anna Deavere Smith, comic Jake Johannsen, and writer Ron Suskind. (Until midnight.)

SUNDAY

1:00 (4) Football. The Pats versus the suddenly respectable Cleveland Browns, followed by the New York Jets versus the more-than-respectable Pittsburgh Steelers or the Kansas City Chiefs versus the downright excellent Oakland Raiders.

4:00 (25) Football. The back-from-the-grave Washington Redskins versus the suddenly proficient Arizona Cardinals.

6:00 (2) Rock, Rhythm, and Doo Wop. Repeated from last week. More than 200 rock and R&B stars in an enjoyable but too-long effort. To be repeated on Tuesday at 8 p.m. on Channel 44. (Until 9 p.m.)

7:00 (5) Jingle All the Way (movie). A Christmas movie — even a really lame Christmas movie — is like a trust fund for the actors. It’s bound to show up every year until long after their stars fade away. Beneficiaries of this particular 1996 legacy (neglectful dad faces death in his quest for an action-figure toy for his son) include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sinbad, the estate of Phil Hartman, and Martin Mull. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Three Mo’ Tenors in Concert. A tribute to African-American operatic tenors, with Victor Trent Cook, Rodrick Dixon, and Thomas Young doing jazz, Broadway, opera, soul, and pop from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (4) The Seventh Stream (movie). The time is 1909, and Scott Glenn is a lonely Irish widower grieving for his wife, who was lost at sea. Then Shannon Burrows shows up. Problem solved? Not exactly. She’s a selchie (in Irish legend, a seal who can become human on land). Worse, nasty fisherman John Robinson has stolen her sealskin, without which she can’t return to the sea. Sounds like The Little Mermaid crossed with The Secret of Roan Inish. A 2001 Hallmark Hall of Fame "TV-fantasy." (Until 11 p.m.)

11:00 (44) Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 50th Birthday Celebration. Repeated from Friday at 9 p.m.

2:00 a.m. (2, 44) A Christmas Gloria with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Canadian Brass. Late-late-night holiday music. And simulcast, no less. (Until 3 a.m.)

3:00 a.m. (2, 44) The Atlanta Symphony: Christmas with Robert Shaw. Late-late-late-night holiday music. (Until 4:30 a.m.)

4:30 a.m. (2, 44) The Joffrey Nutcracker. We actually don’t recall this one and wonder why it didn’t get a more popular time slot. Of course, if it’s really just an hour, then the Joffrey will have had to make big cuts in Tchaikovsky’s 85-minute score. You could always tape this trio and find out what’s what. (Until 5:30 p.m.)

MONDAY

8:00 (44) Viewer Favorites. As if fundraising provoked favorites. An evening of unscheduled shows from this past month of hell. (Until 11 p.m.)

8:00 (25) Boston Public: The Holiday Episode. Fyvush Finkel dresses up as Hanukkah Harry and tries to strangle the black principal who insists on playing Santa Claus. Meanwhile, the young guy who teaches in the basement and the lawyer who was hired as a teacher organize a Secret Santa game of spin the bottle for the senior honors students but end up spending Christmas in jail when the loud-mouthed teacher who’s always complaining about being fat calls the vice squad. Or something equally heartwarming and realistic. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (5) Football. The suddenly struggling Indianapolis Colts versus the Miami Dolphins.

TUESDAY

8:00 (44) Rock, Rhythm, and Doo Wop. Repeated from Sunday at 8 p.m.

1:00 and 4:00 a.m. (2, 44) Nova: The Methuselah Tree. It won’t be long before some Republican cuts it down, but for the time being, the world’s oldest living thing — a 5000-year-old bristlecone pine that sprouted at 10,000 feet in California’s White Mountains around the time the Sumerians were moving into Ur — is still standing. An arboreal history lesson. Simulcast on Channels 2 and 44 because, we figure, imagination is in short supply over at ’GBH. To be repeated on Wednesday at midnight. (Until 2 and 5 a.m.)

WEDNESDAY

2:30 (44) Wheel of Life. Repeated from Thursday at 9 p.m.

4:30 (44) Happy Holidays: The Very Best of the Andy Williams Christmas Shows. Repeated from Saturday at 5 p.m.

8:00 (44) Who Cares: Chronic Illness in America. Another Fred Friendly Seminar. This one looks at how victims of long-term illnesses have to suffer with a health-care system that has no capacity to deal with them. (Until 9 p.m.)

Midnight (2) Nova: The Methuselah Tree. Repeated from Tuesday at 1 a.m.

THURSDAY

7:30 (2) Basic Black: A Conversation with bell hooks. Host Darren Duarte interviews the Happy To Be Nappy writer and social critic. (Until 8 p.m.)

7:30 (5) White Christmas (movie). Speaking of Christmas-movie annuities: this 1954 Michael Curtiz classic won’t go away. With Bing, Danny, Rosemary, and Vera-hyphen-Ellen. (Until 10 p.m.)

8:00 (2) J.R.R. Tolkien. Just in time to stir up interest in the Lord of the Rings movie. Coincidence? A documentary celebrating the 100th birthday of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, Oxford professor of pre-modern English, slightly mystical Beowulf scholar, and cult-object fantasy writer. Judi Dench reads from his works. Plus interviews with JRRT himself, Queen Margrethe of Denmark (his biggest royal fan), his children, and others. To be repeated tonight at 10 p.m. on Channel 44. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (44) Antiques Roadshow UK: Wisbech. Wisbech is proud to call itself the "Capital of the Fens" — which is to say that long before there were any wetlands-preservation societies, people drained the swamps around this Eastern England community and turned them from disease-breeding grounds into productive farmland. Be that as it may, there are antiques galore in Wisbech, including a "mourning ring made of hair," which is not as unusual as the Roadshow folks let on — it was pretty common for bereft Victorians to make knickknacks out of their departed loved ones’ locks. Gross perhaps, but common. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) P.O.V.: Promises. A film by Justine Shapiro, Boston native B.Z. Goldberg, and Carlos Bolado in which they interview children in Jerusalem about their perceptions of Arab-Israeli issues. An award winner at this year’s Rotterdam and San Francisco Film Festivals. (Until 10:30 p.m.)

10:00 (44) J.R.R. Tolkien. Repeated from this evening at 8 p.m.

10:30 (2) Race. Filmmaker Brent Lestage’s short drama about one Holocaust survivor’s struggle with guilt. (Until 11 p.m.)

Issue Date: December 6 - 13, 2001

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