Holiday Specials Include a Bit of Soul, Frosty the Snowman

If you love Christmas specials, you should get your VCR ready for this weekend’s yuletide shows, including such classics as “Frosty the Snowman” and new specials like “Soul Train Christmas Starfest.”

LeAnn Rimes and Faith Hill guest on “Christmas Time With Eddy Arnold,” tonight at 5 and 7 on TNN.

A reprise of the animated holiday musical “The Story of Santa Claus” airs tonight at 8 on CBS.

CBS dusts off the animated musical classic “Frosty the Snowman,” Friday at 8 p.m. Following at 8:30 is the sequel, “Frosty Returns.”

Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Luther Vandross and Chaka Khan are among the stars performing on “Soul Train Christmas Starfest,” Friday at 8 p.m. on KTLA.

Kathie Lee Gifford celebrates the holidays with her fifth CBS special, “Kathie Lee: Christmas Every Day,” Friday at 10 p.m.

KCOP presents “Holiday Greetings From Disneyland--The Merriest Place on Earth,” Saturday at 7 p.m.

CBS reprises “The Year Without a Santa Claus,” Saturday at 8 p.m. The animated musical features the voices of Mickey Rooney and Shirley Booth.

Movies

Both AMC and TCM celebrate what would have been the 83rd birthday of the late Frank Sinatra on Saturday with all-day film salutes. AMC will air such hits as “Robin and the Seven Hoods” starting at 3 a.m.

Comic Tom Dreesen, who opened for Sinatra, hosts TCM’s celebration starting at 3 a.m. that includes “Ocean’s Eleven” and “From Here to Eternity.”

“The Cater Street Hangman,” Sunday at 6 and 10 p.m. on A&E;, is the first screen adaptation of the “Inspector Pitt” series of mystery novels by Anne Perry. The thriller stars Keeley Hawes and Eoin McCarthy.

ABC’s “The Wonderful World of Disney,” Sunday at 7 p.m., presents the lighthearted mystery “Murder She Purred: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery.” Ricki Lake stars as a mystery-solving postmistress who is the owner of two sleuthing pets: a corgi named Tucker and a cat named Mrs. Murphy.

Scott Glenn and Courtney B. Vance star in Showtime’s “Naked City: A Killer Christmas,” Sunday at 8 p.m., the second of two original films based on the 1948 classic.

Burt Reynolds is the star and director of the TNT thriller “Hard Time,” Sunday at 8 and 10 p.m. He plays a veteran cop who is accused of using excessive force.

Gena Rowlands and Diane Lane headline “Grace and Glorie,” the latest “Hallmark Hall of Fame” presentation, Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBS. Rowlands and Lane play two opposites who become good friends.

Peter Fonda headlines the NBC fantasy “The Tempest,” Sunday at 9 p.m. Based on the classic Shakespeare play, the story has been transferred to the Civil War-era South.

Specials

Diane Sawyer and Connie Chung host the ABC documentary “The Whole World Was Watching,” tonight at 9, a look back at amazing political and cultural events of 1968.

KCET-TV presents “Brian Wilson: Imagination,” tonight at 9:30. The former Beach Boy plays the group’s hit songs as well as original solo work.

The PBS special “Miss Patti Page: The Singing Rage,” Friday at 9 p.m. on KCET, pays tribute to the life and music of the best-selling female recording artist of all time.

Alternative health expert Gary Null talks about his secrets to reversing the aging process on “How to Live Forever, With Gary Null,” Saturday at 6:30 p.m. on KCET-TV.

NBC presents “When You Believe: Music Inspired by the Prince of Egypt,” Sunday at 8 p.m. Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey are among the artists who will be performing songs from or inspired by the new DreamWorks animated film “The Prince of Egypt.”

E! Entertainment Television takes viewers inside the exclusive Fire and Ice Ball, Sunday at 9 p.m., on “Hollywood’s Party for Life: Fire and Ice Ball.”

“A Woman’s Place,” Sunday at midnight on KCET, chronicles the stories of women from three countries who are trying to balance the scales of power so that a man’s place is also a woman’s.

Sports

Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Monica Seles are teamed with celebrities for the charity event “Smash Hits Tennis,” Saturday at noon on NBC.

NBC presents coverage of the “Ironman Triathlon,” Saturday at 1 p.m., which features the world’s greatest athletes competing in a one-mile ocean swim, 112-mile bike race and a full marathon.

ESPN covers the “Heisman Trophy Presentation,” Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

Series

The popular children’s series “Teletubbies,” Sunday at 1:30 p.m. on KCET, features four holiday episodes.

Lily Tomlin and Ed Asner guest as a couple with a secret on Fox’s “The X-Files,” Sunday at 9 p.m.