BY CLIF GARBODEN

THURSDAY 29

8:00 [2] JACK PAAR: SMART TELEVISION | TV’s underappreciated talk-show host from the 1950s through the mid-’60s. Paar’s guests were not all plugging movies. He interviewed everyone from Fidel Castro to Woody Allen to Robert Kennedy. He also had a recurring roster of peculiar New York "personalities," who seemed to contribute little to society except their charm. | Until 9 pm

FRIDAY 30

9:00 [2] AMERICAN MASTERS: JUDY GARLAND: BY MYSELF | Lots of Garland film clips (Turner gave the American Masters producers access to the entire MGM film library) plus Judy’s life described in Judy’s own (possibly slurred) words culled from recordings she made to prepare for a never-published autobiography. | Until 11 pm

NEW YEAR’S EVE 31

4:00 [10] KRISTI YAMAGUCHI FRIENDS AND FAMILY | Nothing so much disrupts a skater’s center of balance as pregnancy, so Yamaguchi, a month from delivery when this show was taped, will stay on the sidelines with co-host Scott Hamilton and special guest Kenny Rogers (also not skating). On ice will be Nancy Kerrigan, Kurt Browning, Ilia Kulik, Ekaterina Gordeeva, Daria Grinkova, Tonia Kwiatkowski, Josef Sabovcik, Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, and Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow. | Until 6 pm

4:30 [12] FOOTBALL | The Denver Broncos versus the San Diego Chargers.

8:00 [6] SNOW DOGS | movie | Cuba Gooding Jr. stars as a dentist from Miami who winds up owning a sled-dog team. Okay. And the supporting cast makes it all sound even less likely: James Coburn (our man Flint), Sisqo (of "Thong Song" fame), Nichelle Nichols (Lieutenant Uhuru on the original Star Trek), Graham Greene (the Indian, not the novelist), and Michael Bolton (of whom it is often said, "Hmmm"). Rumored to be a comedy. | Until 10 pm

8:15 [44] HUD | movie | Director Martin Ritt’s 1963 Paul Newman classic, with tall Paul playing a reckless modern-day cowboy at odds with his straight-arrow family. Melvyn Douglas and Patricia Neal also star. | Until 10:15 pm

10:00 [6] DICK CLARK’S PRIME-TIME NEW YEAR’S ROCKIN’ EVE 2006 | The 34th NYE with Dick Clark, who’s making his first TV appearance in a year. The prime-time component includes reports from Times Square and highlights of what Dick considers this year’s important music tours — Duran Duran and Green Day. American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest, the heir apparent to this annual gig, will co-host. | Until 11 pm

10:15 [44] THE BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI | movie | Going all the way back to 1955, we get this Korean War action drama about one man’s fears. The title bridges are a well-fortified set of spans that the US military has targeted for a desperate bombing raid. William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March, and Mickey Rooney star. | Until 2006 or so.

11:00 [64] FOX NEW YEAR’S EVE SPECIAL | Hosted by Regis Philbin. Enough said. Seacrest goes to ABC; Philbin goes to Fox. Just for tonight. Live from New York | Until 12:30 am

11:30 [10] NEW YEAR’S EVE WITH CARSON DALY | Daly’s guests include Diddy, stand-up comic Wanda Sykes, and Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. Plus reports from Times Square. | Until 12:10 am

11:35 [6] DICK CLARK’S NEW YEAR’S ROCKIN’ EVE 2006 | part one | Dick and Ryan (see 10 pm above) soldier on into 2006 with some West Coast help from Hilary Duff. ’Round midnight (EST), we’ll have the traditional Times Square countdown. This year’s musical acts include the Bangles, Chris Brown, Sean Paul, the Pussycat Dolls, Sugarland, Three Doors Down, and 311. | Until 1:05 am

MIDNIGHT [2] AUSTIN CITY LIMITS | Featuring music from Coldplay (with guest Michael Stipe of R.E.M.). | Until 1 am

1:05 AM [6] DICK CLARK’S NEW YEAR’S ROCKIN’ EVE 2006 | part two | More of the same (see 11:35 pm above) with the same acts and hosts. | Until you’re sick of Hilary Duff or 2:05 am

NEW YEAR’S DAY 1

1:00 [12] FOOTBALL | The Pats versus the Miami Dolphins.

4:00 [64] FOOTBALL | The Washington Redskins versus the Philadelphia Eagles. No 1 pm game on Fox this week because of the Pats being on CBS.

8:00 [2] GREAT PERFORMANCES: FROM VIENNA: THE NEW YEAR’S CELEBRATION 2006 | And if by now you’ve tired of rockin’, take a step, or three, back in time with the 22nd annual Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Day concert from the Musikverein. Walter Cronkite hosts and Mariss Jansons guest-conducts. The program, as always, is mostly Strauss polkas and waltzes. Plus some ballet bits (choreographed by John Neumeier) performed by the Vienna and Hamburg State Opera Ballets. To be repeated tonight at midnight and 3 am on Channel 44. | Until 9:30 pm

9:00 [12] SURRENDER DOROTHY | This is not, we’re pretty sure, the little 1998 film about a heroin addict. More likely it’s a 2005 TV-movie weeper about a woman coming to terms with her daughter’s death. Either way, Happy New Year! Alexa Davalos and Diane Keaton star. | Until 11 pm

MONDAY 2

11:00 AM [6, 10] THE TOURNAMENT OF ROSES PARADE | Some traditions never die. Could this event have been invented today? | Until 12:30 (on 7) and 1 pm (on 5)

12:30 [10] FOOTBALL | Louisville versus Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl.

1:00 [6] FOOTBALL | Auburn versus Wisconsin in the Capitol One Bowl.

4:30 [6] FOOTBALL | Ohio State versus Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.

8:30 [6] FOOTBALL | Georgia versus West Virginia in the Sugar Bowl.

TUESDAY 3

8:00 [2] NOVA: THE MUMMY WHO WOULD BE KING | People are always asking, "Whatever happened to Rameses I?" Turns out he may well have been languishing on a dusty shelf at a Niagara Falls museum since looters lifted his dried remains from the 13th-century-BC ruler’s tomb way back when such looting was fashionable. Archaeologists from Emory University in Atlanta use all the CSI tools and tricks to investigate. To be repeated tonight at 1 am on Channel 44, and at 4 am on Channel 2, and at 5 am back on Channel 44. | Until 9 pm

8:00 [6] FOOTBALL | Penn State versus Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

9:00 [2] FRONTLINE: THE TORTURE QUESTION | Among the many "privileges" claimed by the Bush administration after September 11 was the right to convince people they were our enemies by beating, mutilating, and humiliating them. This show looks at how that policy was arrived at. Who said you never expect the Spanish Inquisition? | Until 10:30 pm

10:30 [2] FRONTLINE: THE OTHER DRUG WAR | That’s the war on sick people being waged by drug companies to win all our money. | Until 11:30 pm

WEDNESDAY 4

8:00 [6] FOOTBALL | USC versus Texas in the Rose Bowl.

9:00 [2] YESTERDAY | movie | A poignant Oscar-nominated film from Africa — and the first international release shot in the Zulu language. Leleti Khumalo stars as Yesterday, a poor Zululand mother who’s been diagnosed with AIDS but is determined to live long enough to see her daughter, Beauty, go to school. To be repeated tonight at 1 am on Channel 44, and at 2 pm on Channel 2, and at 4 am on Channels 2 and 44. | Until 11 pm

THURSDAY 5

8:00 [2] WALKING THE BIBLE: FROM CREATION TO ABRAHAM | A TV series based on Bruce Feiler’s book Walking the Bible, in which he recounts his travels through 10 countries to track down the people and places of the Bible texts. Tagging along is Biblical archaeologist Avner Goren. Tonight the two wander into Jerusalem, where hands-on evidence is hard to find. To be repeated tonight at 2 am | Until 9 pm