WEEKEND TV : Parade of Celebrations, Premieres

Mexican Independence Day and the beginning of a new fall season spice up the weekend television lineup.

“Festival Mariachi,” airing Sunday night at 9 on Spanish-language station KMEX Channel 34, includes singer Jose Luis Rodriguez and several bands performing at a mariachi music convention held in Tucson, Ariz. Between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m., the station will carry live coverage from East L.A. of “Desfile de la Independencia de Mexico,” a parade honoring Mexico’s Independence Day.

KCBS Channel 2 celebrates the holiday Sunday at 5 p.m. with “Viva Mexico ‘90,” a half-hour special that reveals what it’s like to be a Mexican-American in the Southland, as seen through the eyes of prominent Mexican-American politicians, educators and entertainers.

To compete with the Emmy Awards telecast on Fox, ABC and CBS roll out the season premieres or debuts of several series. “60 Minutes” begins its 23rd season on Channels 2 and 8 at 7 p.m. with reports on a Pentagon artillery expert’s murder, actor Charles Dutton and the business of copying artistic masterpiece. The season premiere of “Murder, She Wrote” follows at 8 p.m., and the two-hour debut of “E.A.R.T.H. Force,” which has been described as an environmental “A-Team,” caps the evening at 9 p.m.

ABC (7)(3)(10)(42), meanwhile, brings on a new season of the smash “America’s Funniest Home Videos” at 8 p.m. “America’s Funniest People,” a similar show that travels the country in search of people who do bizarre things, debuts at 8:30 p.m.