TV This Week

SUNDAY

TCM’s weekend-long Memorial Day war-movie marathon includes Gary Cooper as pacifist-turned-World War I hero “Sergeant York” in the 1941 bio-pic, and John Wayne in the 1945 WWII actioner “They Were Expendable.” (TCM, 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.)

Sept. 11th first-responders as well as armed forces members will be saluted at the “National Memorial Day Concert 2011” in Washington D.C., with performers including “American Idol’s” Pia Toscano and Kris Allen. (KOCE, 8 and 9:30 p.m.)

MONDAY

Aspiring tunesmiths hope to write the songs that make the whole world sing — or at least the songs that will impress host Jewel and head judge Kara DioGuardi, formerly of “American Idol” — on the new reality competition “Platinum Hit.” (Bravo, 10 p.m.)

TUESDAY

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice! That joke is probably as old as the venerable NYC venue itself, which celebrates its 120th anniversary with a gala concert on a new “Great Performances.” With vocalist Audra McDonald, above. (KOCE, 7 p.m.)

WEDNESDAY

She’s a pop culture icon, a tabloid fixture and a successful businesswoman. But is Paris Hilton — to use Paris’ parlance — still “hot”? We’ll find out when the socialite, below, launches her latest reality series, “The World According to Paris.” (Oxygen, 10 p.m.)

THURSDAY

It’s finals time, and of course you know we’re talking about the finals of the “2011 National Spelling Bee” from our nation’s capital. But if letters aren’t your thing, there’s the “2011 NBA Finals” — now 100% Lakers-free. (ESPN, 5:30 p.m.; ABC, 6 p.m.)

FRIDAY

The Sea Shepherds add a new boat to their flotilla on the return of “Whale Wars.” If they had a time machine, they could go back and stop Captain Ahab, retroactively sparing us all from having to read “Moby Dick” in high school. (Animal Planet, 9 p.m.)

SATURDAY

With their twinkling eyes, megawatt smiles and movie-star good looks, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz each have plenty of charisma — and even manage a smidgeon of chemistry — in the fast-paced and flirty 2010 action comedy “Knight and Day.” (HBO, 8 p.m.)