BY CLIF GARBODEN

THURSDAY 9

7:30 (44) Viewer Favorites. Assuming there are any left — viewers or favorites. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:30 (2) John Denver: The Wildlife Concert. Yeah, yeah. (Until 11:05 p.m.)

1:15 a.m. (2) The Kennel Murder Case (movie). Director Michael Curtiz’s 1933 Philo Vance murder mystery set at a Long Island dog show. With William Powell and Mary Astor. (Until 2:29 a.m.)

FRIDAY 10

12:05 a.m. (2) Get Down Tonight — The Disco Explosion. Repeated from last week. KC and the Sunshine band host this dance marathon with help from Frankie Valli, Karen-Lynn Gorney (the leggy co-star of 1977’s Saturday Night Fever tours that movie’s Brooklyn shooting locations), Danny Terrio, Barry Williams, and Irene Cara. Also in tribute to SNF, we have clips of the Bee Gees "Stayin’ Alive" (which eluded some of them), plus Yvonne Elliman doing "If I Can’t Have You" (with the accent on the "You"), the Trammps with "Disco Inferno," and Taveres praising "More Than a Woman." But that’s not all. As an extra added bonus, A Taste of Honey perform the tone poem "Boogie Oogie Oogie," Wild Cherry’s Rob Parissi does "Play That Funky Music," Norma Jean Wright and Luci Martin recall "Le Freak," and Leo Sayer crawls back from wherever the hell he’s been to explain "You Make Me Feel like Dancing" (Until 2:32 a.m.)

2:32 a.m. (2) Blackmail (movie). A 1929 talkie version of a Hitchcock silent murder mystery about a woman who kills an assailant and ends up being blackmailed even as her boyfriend investigates the case. This was the first talking picture produced in England (and the first by Hitchcock). Starring Anne Ondra (but not her voice), Sara Allgood, and John Longden. Well, 1929 was one heck of a long time ago. To be repeated on Monday at 2:30 a.m. (Until 4 a.m.)

SATURDAY 11

1:30 (12) Basketball. Indiana versus Kentucky followed by Stanford versus Michigan State.

2:30 (2) Alone in the Wilderness. Repeated from last week. A fantastic DIY-quality documentary based on woodsman/craftsman Richard Proenneke’s self-imposed exile to the Alaskan wilderness. The adventure began in 1968, when Proenneke built a cabin on a remote Alaskan lake using (mostly) native materials. The guy’s ability to fashion a household out of stumps, moss, and raw lumber puts any Boy Scout (and most general contractors) to shame. Better than any episode of This Old House. To be repeated this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. on Channel 44. (Until 4 p.m.)

7:00 (2) André Rieu: Live in Tuscany. We don’t mind that he’s alive, and we don’t care that he’s in Tuscany. What gets us is his godawful performance. (Until 9 p.m.)

7:30 (44) Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Repeated from last week. Julie Andrews hosts a replay of the 1957 television production of R&H’s musical Cinderella, which attracted what was then the largest TV audience ever to a given show. To be repeated on Monday at 4 a.m. (Until 9:30 p.m.)

8:00 (10) The Last Ride (movie). Some sort of elaborate ad for Pontiac GTOs starring Dennis Hopper as an ex-con out to take revenge on the guy who set him up for arrest with the help of his grandson but hindered by his son (a cop raised by the guy who set Hopper up for arrest). And somehow the whole thing hinges on the retrieval of a 1969 GTO, the search for which is accomplished in a 2004 GTO. It’s a sad world after all. Sleazy rider? (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Josh Groban Live at the Greek. Another survivor. Actually, this guy had his US reputation made by PBS appearances. This concert comes from some early–September shows at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Josh, not content with being a prodigy singing sensation (he’s now 23) is turning into an international Wayne Newton. He even does a drum solo. (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (12) The Story of Santa Claus. An animated musical holiday special covering Santa’s biography. (Until 10 p.m.)

9:30 (44) George Jones: 50 Years of Hits. Repeated from last week. George has had more songs on the Billboard charts than any other performer (format aside). Trace Adkins, Kenny Chesney, Harry Connick Jr., Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, Alan Jackson, Kris Kristofferson, Patty Loveless, Shelby Lynne, Martina McBride, Aaron Neville, Randy Travis, Tanya Tucker, Wynonna Judd, and more gather in Nashville (in September 2004) to pay tribute to the 73-year-old country master. (Until 11 p.m.)

11:00 (2) In the Life. According to the ITL people, this show is devoted to segments on gay marriage. According to the WGBH Web site, this show isn’t even airing. But according to the program schedule, it is. So you take your chances, but we figure Josh will have wrapped it up by now. The gay-marriage show includes reports on the legal impact of marriage and even lets the morons on the religious right have their benighted say. On the other hand, this could be a show about gay undercurrents in comic books. (Until midnight.)

SUNDAY 12

Noon (44) 12:30 (2) Viewer Favorites. For almost a month we’ve lived without PBS; now it won’t even tell us what we’re missing. (Until midnight.)

1:00 (12) Football. The Pats versus the Cincinnati Bengals.

4:00 (64) Football. The St. Louis Rams versus the Carolina Panthers.

8:00 (10) National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo take the extended Griswald clan through the holiday season with predictable non-stop disaster. Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie steals the show. From 1989. (Until 10 p.m.)

Midnight (2) And Then There Were None (movie). Whew! Now that we’ve survived all those viewer favorites . . . The WGBH program-schedule blurb writers think this early Agatha Christie adaptation was made in 1940. In fact, it was 1945. Sort of a Survivor motif (10 potential victims on an island) with real death instead of banishment as the booby prize. Starring Barry Fitzgerald, Roland Young, Walter Huston, Judith Anderson, and Mischa Auer. (Until 1:37 a.m.)

1:00 a.m. (44) Sing We Now of Christmas: A Festival of Carols. Repeated from last week. Watch you now the 100-voice First Presbyterian Church of Davenport, Iowa, Choir (plus symphony orchestra, kids’ choirs, and bell choir). Listen to you now as they sing them now all the familiar carols. To be repeated tonight at 4 a.m. on Channels 2 and 44. (Until 2 a.m.)

1:37 a.m. (2) Algiers (movie). A 1938 remake of the 1937 Jean Gabin classic Pépé le Moko, with Charles Boyer in that film’s title role. Going with Chas to the Casbah is the fetching Hedy Lamarr. Joseph Calleia, Alan Hale, and Gene Lockhart also star. (Until 3:30 a.m.)

MONDAY 13

7:30 (2, 44) Viewer Favorites. Gilfaethwy the Intrepid But Basically Unpronounceable confronted Edith the Half-Blind Sorceress at the Ancient Great Gate of Thuen. "Hye!" cackled Edith. "You shall not pass without answering two out of three questions." "Ask away, foul gatekeeper," replied Gil. "Name the Seven Deadly Dwarfs," challenged Edith. "Ah . . . ," said Gil. "Time’s up," returned Edith. "Name the 10 Little Indians." "One-Li’le, Two-Li’le, Three-Li’le . . . ," answered Gil. "Oh, all right," interrupted Edith. "Everybody gets that one. Now, who was the starting catcher for the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates?! Huh?!" Gilfaethwy the Intrepid But Basically Unpronounceable thought and thought. Was it Smoky Burgess or Danny Kravitz? Or perhaps Smoky Kravitz? His mind whirled. He took his best shot. "Burgess. Sm-Smoky Burgess," he stammered. Strobe lights flashed above the Ancient Great Gate of Thuen. Chimes rang out that could be heard as far away as Glen Blovven. "Bonus Round! Ronus Bound!" taunted Edith. "What was Smoky’s real name? Answer this correctly and you shall pass through yon Gate of Thuen in a brand new 2005 Pontiac Aztec, the Edsel of the 21st century — an embarrassment now, but bound to be a collectors’ item by 2030." "Oh, screw this. I’ll take the long way around through the forest," muttered Gil as he turned to walk away. "Did you say Forrest?!" cried Edith. "That’s correct! Forrest Harrill Burgess! You may pass." "Thanks, Edith," said Gilfaethwy, "but keep the hideous car. I’m just going to the library. See you tomorrow." (Until 11 p.m.)

9:00 (6) Football. The Kansas City Chiefs versus the Tennessee Titans.

TUESDAY 14

8:00 (2) Nova: Deep Sea Invasion. It would seem there’s more lurking at the bottom of the sea than just rusty ocean liners and Godzilla. Caulerpa taxifolia, for example — a kind of killer algae that destroys all other marine life. A look at its discovery (by French biologist Alexandre Meinesz in the Mediterranean), its cause, and its possible cure. To be repeated tonight at 4 a.m., and at 1 and 4 a.m. on Channel 44. (Until 9 p.m.)

8:00 (6) I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown. Snoopy is captured by terrorists, and Charlie goes to the pound to find a replacement in time for Christmas. (Until 9 p.m.)

9:00 (2) Frontline: Dangerous Prescription. An investigation of the Food and Drug Administration, which has approved several medicines only to have to recall them after patients have died or been otherwise inconvenienced. To be repeated tonight at 4 a.m. on Channel 44. (Until 10 p.m.)

9:00 (44) Alan Alda in Scientific American Frontiers: Losing It. Sort of a public-TV version of The Biggest Loser with Alda moderating a study involving a variety of fat people and a variety of weight-loss programs. (Until 10 p.m.)

10:00 (44) Nova: Killer Disease on Campus. In which we’re reminded that college can be as dangerous as the bottom of the sea. A look at meningococcal meningitis, a bacterial infection that can take a body from queasy to deceased in a matter of days, and how it seems to thrive on the poorly nourished but well educated teens of America. (Until 11 p.m.)

5:00 a.m. (44) Independent Lens: Girl Wrestler. A film about Texas high-schooler Tara Neal and her crusade to wrestle on boys’ teams. (Until 6 a.m.)

WEDNESDAY 15

8:00 (2) This Is a Game, Ladies. And this is one game lady. A documentary about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team and its coach, C. Vivian Stringer, who came to wider prominence recently as part of the coaching team behind the 2004 Gold Medal US women’s Olympic basketball squad. The focus is on the Scarlet Knights’ 2000–2001 season. To be repeated tonight at 4 a.m. on Channels 2 and 44. (Until 10 p.m.)

8:00 (44) The Civil War: The Cause (1861). In another breathtaking display of innovation, PBS is replaying Ken Burns’s landmark 1990 multi-part documentary on the American Civil War, with some remastering and soundtrack upgrading. This first installment looks at the slavery issue, the states’-rights issue, the impact of the election of Abe Lincoln, and the firing on Fort Sumter. (Until 10 p.m.)

THURSDAY 16

8:00 (2) Peter and Paul and the Christian Revolution: The Rock and the River. This series about the early days of the Christ movement follows Sts. Peter and Paul through persecution and propaganda as they spread the new faith throughout the Roman Empire. With New Testament readings, expert commentary, and some re-enactments. (Until 9 p.m.)

10:00 (2) Soundstage: Chris Isaak Christmas. Isaak records his highly personal Christmas album with help from Stevie Nicks, Brian McKnight, and Michael Bublé. (Until 11 p.m.)