A Feast for the Eyes on Christmas Eve : Television: Holiday fare includes a 24-hour ‘I Love Lucy’ marathon on TBS, Mass from the Vatican, a multitude of ‘Carols’ and far fewer showings of ‘Wonderful Life.’

Newcomers Harry Connick Jr. and Paula Poundstone join George Bailey, the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, Pope John Paul II, Santa Claus and Ebenezer Scrooge on today’s Christmas Eve television fare, while some traditions find themselves shortened because of reasons financial and otherwise.

Music: For years, the Los Angeles County Holiday Program was a 12-hour extravaganza, televised in its entirety by KCET-TV Channel 28. The Public Broadcasting Service station will still have live coverage of the event in its entirety from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, but this year’s edition has been trimmed to three hours, 7-10 p.m., because of the county’s financial troubles. The finale, the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (“Ode to Joy”), featuring a 150-voice international choir accompanied by the L.A. Mozart Orchestra, is scheduled to begin at 9:30 p.m.

Harry Connick Jr. joins the long list of performers with network Christmas specials (9 p.m., Channels 2 and 8). The musician-composer is joined by Carol Burnett and Aaron Neville for an hour of original songs and seasonal standards.

Cable’s A&E; network presents “Holiday at the Pops” at 9 p.m. John Williams conducts the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra for Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” Suite and Williams’ score from “Home Alone.” Tony Bennett’s selections include “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “The Christmas Song.” Poundstone, a two-time Cable ACE winner whose ABC variety show was canceled after two episodes, returns to cable reading “A Visit From St. Nicholas.” Other performers include the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Boston Boy Choir of St. Paul Church in Cambridge, Mass.

With cable providing a niche for nearly every form of music, country music is represented by “The 12 Videos of Christmas” from the Opryland theme park in Nashville at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. on the Nashville Network. The videos include “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” by Randy Travis and “I Only Want You for Christmas” by Alan Jackson.

Religion: Both CBS and NBC take a night off from the talk-show ratings battle in favor of religious programming.

CBS (Channels 2 and 8) preempts “Late Night With David Letterman” at 11:35 p.m. as Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan celebrates Christmas Mass at the Church of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary in Santa Fe, N.M.

Leno-less NBC (Channels 4, 36 and 39) has “Christmas Eve at St. Peter’s” with Pope John Paul II celebrating Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City at 11:35 p.m.

ABC (Channels 7, 3 and 42) carries “And the Angels Sang,” at 12:06 a.m. Houston’s 24th annual Christmas Pageant includes almost 600 separate costumed characters, a 350-voice choir, a 45-piece orchestra and live animals.

Movies: “It’s a Wonderful Life” aired seven times on Christmas Eve last year and another seven on Christmas Day. But with the movie no longer in public domain and Republic Pictures hesitant to license frequent showings of the Frank Capra classic, it will only be on once tonight, at 7 on KCAL-TV Channel 9 in a colorized version expected to disappear from television after Dec. 31. (Lifetime will also show a colorized version at 8 p.m. Christmas Day.)

With building and loan operator George Bailey pushed to the background, Ebenezer Scrooge becomes the day’s most-seen businessman. He is portrayed in “Mickey’s Christmas Carol,” (2:35 p.m., Disney Channel); the 1938 version of “A Christmas Carol” (7 p.m., 11:45 p.m. TNT); a 1977 BBC production (9:30 p.m., Bravo) and “An American Christmas Carol,” a 1979 version set in New Hampshire during the 1930s (12:35 a.m., Channel 2).

The distinction of the day’s most-played movie goes to one considered to be among the 10 worst ever made, “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians,” airing at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Comedy Central and 9:30 p.m. and 2:15 a.m. on TNT.

Another traditional Christmas movie, “Miracle on 34th Street,” airs at 5 p.m. on WGN.

Other Specials: The season’s perennial “The Nutcracker” airs from 5-6:30 p.m. on KOCE-TV Channel 50 and 10-11:30 p.m. on KCET with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gelsey Kirkland and the American Ballet Theatre.

Olympic gold medalists Brian Boitano, Ekaterina Gordeeva, Sergei Grinkov, Scott Hamilton and Katarina Witt perform in “Disney’s Christmas Fantasy on Ice” at 8 p.m. on Channels 2 and 8. Bronson Pinchot hosts the 1992 performance from Sun Valley, Ida., and Disneyland.

Marathon: TBS begins a 24-hour “I Love Lucy” marathon at 3 a.m. The episodes are grouped by themes with “Husbands & Wives” (3-6 a.m.); “Best Friends” (6-8 a.m.); “Lucy’s Career in Show Biz” (8-11 a.m.), “Lucy Boosts Ricky’s Career” (10 a.m.-noon); “Lucy’s Outrageous Antics,” (noon-2 p.m.); “Lucy & Ricky Have a Baby” (2-5 p.m.); “The Classic Episodes” (5-9 p.m.); “Lucy & Ricky Go to Hollywood,” (9 p.m.-3 a.m.).

Sports: Christmas Eve is usually a silent day and night for sports, but this year is an exception with the John Hancock Bowl (11:30 a.m., Channels 2 and 8) matching Texas Tech (6-5) and Oklahoma (8-3) in a football game.