WEEKEND TV : ‘Parade’ Telethon for College Fund

It’s the season of giving and “Lou Rawls Parade of Stars” arrives asking for donations for the United Negro College Fund. The six-hour telethon begins today at 6 p.m. on Channels 13 and 10, 5 p.m. on WGN. Bill Cosby, Chaka Khan and James Ingram are among those performing.

Stand-up comedian Sinbad leads another parade of African-American entertainers tonight at 8 (7)(3)(42) in “Sinbad & Friends All the Way Live . . . Almost.” This variety special also includes appearances by Kim Wayans of “In Living Color” and rappers Heavy D. & The Boyz.

Earlier at 4 p.m., the Nashville Channel has a look at a different kind of music as hosts Lorianne Crook and Charlie Chase review the past 12 months in “This Year in Country Music.” The hourlong special pays special attention to Garth Brooks and the breakup of the Judds.

Dennis Potter’s acclaimed six-part series, “The Singing Detective,” airs in its entirety from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. tonight on KCET Channel 28. The musical drama, starring Michael Gambon, chronicles the imaginative world of a bed-ridden writer of detective novels who fancies himself a film noir gumshoe.

ABC (7)(3)(10)(42) airs the first two hours of Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 movie spectacle, “Spartacus,” Sunday at 9 p.m. The film, starring Kirk Douglas, concludes Monday at 9 p.m.