Tonight's Picks
The 35th Annual People's Choice Awards9:00 PM, CBS
You picked them; now watch them collect their prizes. As the name makes clear, fan votes determine the winners of these awards, which cover movies, music and television. Acting nominees include Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Will Smith, Hugh Laurie and the late Heath Ledger. Up for honors in the music categories are Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Carrie Underwood, Chris Brown and more. Queen Latifah - a nominee for favorite leading lady -- returns as host.
 
Barbara Walters Special10:00 PM, ABC
Patrick Swayze wants the world to know that rumors of his impending death have been greatly exaggerated. In the first interview he's given since his pancreatic cancer diagnosis became public, the 56-year-old actor and his wife, actress Lisa Niemi, chat with Barbara Walters in an effort to set the record straight. Swayze says he's one of the lucky ones whose cancer is responding to treatment, and he has a new TV show, "The Beast," premiering soon.
 
Damages10:00 PM, FXEAST
Sarah Cooper and Nick Carlton, together again! The new season of Glenn Close's legal drama series reunites her with William Hurt, her co-star from "The Big Chill." In the premiere, Close's character, ace litigator Patty Hewes, is taking a break from law after winning a big case. But her hiatus doesn't last long when Daniel Purcell (Hurt), a man from her past, contacts her. It looks like a fairly simple murder case, but wait. Rose Byrne also stars.
 
Running the Sahara7:15 PM, SHO
This documentary tells the story of Charlie, Ray and Kevin, who earlier this year touched the Red Sea just a few hours before sunset. Their quest lasted 111 days and had taken them through six countries: Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya, and Egypt. By their daily GPS record, they had traveled more than 4,300 miles. They fought injury and extreme fatigue in order to reach their goal, which changed them forever. And filmmakers were there.
 
Dead Presidents8:00 PM, MAX
Larenz Tate, Freddy Rodriguez and Chris Tucker star in this riveting story of three young men who leave New York in the late 1960s to serve in Vietnam, only to return to an urban battleground. In a neighborhood ruled by drug lords, the three friends devise an elaborate scheme to attain some power in the form of "dead presidents," aka cash. The movie unflinchingly portrays the way the violence of the war abroad spilled over to struggles on inner-city streets.
 
Great Performances8:00 PM, PBS
You don't have to be a student of French theater to know Cyrano de Bergerac. The title character of Edmond Rostand's play has become an iconic literary figure up there with Hamlet and Captain Ahab. This production, which had a limited run on Broadway about a year ago, stars Kevin Kline as the warrior with the big nose and the way with words. Daniel Sunjata ("Rescue Me") plays Christian, who uses those words to woo the lovely Roxane (Jennifer Garner).
 
The New Adventures of Old Christine8:00 PM, CBS
And we thought he wanted to be an architect. This episode reunites Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who plays Christine, with her "Seinfeld" co-star Jason Alexander, the artist formerly known as George Costanza. Here, he plays Dr. Palmer, Christine's gynecologist, who suspects that his patient's "flu" symptoms are actually perimenopause, leading her to make a decision about her health and hormones in "One and a Half Men."
 
A Walk to Remember9:00 PM, TNT
Strictly for hard-core sentimentalists, this schmaltzy adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' "uplifting" novel stars Shane West ("ER") as a troubled North Carolina teenager whose life is turned around by the saintly and sheltered daughter (Mandy Moore) of a minister. Set in the present, yet so weirdly old-fashioned you may keep waiting for spoofy jokes that never happen, this is ultimately a movie to forget.
 
Mister Roberts9:45 PM, TCM
An unbeatable cast fuels this enormously entertaining 1955 screen version of the stage hit. Henry Fonda reprises his stage role as the title character, a cargo-ship officer who acts as a buffer between the other crew members and their stern captain (James Cagney). Jack Lemmon earned an Oscar for his star-making performance as Ensign Pulver; William Powell plays the ship's doctor, and Martin Milner is among the supporting "sailors."
 
Blown Away10:00 PM, AMC
You probably won't be. This 1994 thriller stars Tommy Lee Jones as a terrorist bomber whose desire for revenge drives him to the edge of insanity. Um, he's a terrorist bomber; isn't he already nuts? Jones' character tracks down a former Irish Republican Army buddy (Jeff Bridges) who has become a member of a Boston bomb removal team. If you like watching people get, you know, blown away, enjoy. But the cliche count is higher than the body count, making this a far less thrilling thriller than it could have been.
 
South Park10:30 PM, COM
The uproar over those cartoon depictions of Muhammad fuels the hilarious two-part story "Cartoon Wars," whose target isn't the Muslim prophet but the lameness of a certain other animated show. Cartman seeks to keep a controversial "Family Guy" episode from airing ... not because he cares about Muslim sensibilities but because he hates the show. Censorship, negotiating with terrorists and the mentality of TV writers also get the satire gun trained on them.
 
-- Zap2it.com

(Times are ET/PT unless otherwise noted)

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Monday, Dec. 29th, 2008 (in millions)
1.
11.87
2.
CSI: Miami (CBS)
11.36
3.
8.78
4.
7.77
5.
7.7
6.
7.29
7.
House (Fox)
6.73
8.
Bones (Fox)
6.58
9.
Alamo Bowl: Missouri vs. Northwestern (ESPN)
6.08
10.
Greatest Holiday Moments (NBC)
6.04
© 2009 Variety, Inc. All Right Reserved
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