Curl up with the Kennedy Center honors
“The 40th Annual Kennedy Center Honors” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) continues a long post-Christmas CBS tradition. This year’s induction includes an acclaimed dancer, two pop stars, a hip-hop pioneer-turned TV star and a 95-year-old television legend.
Of the group, dancer Carmen de Lavallade is probably the least well known. Her more than six decades of professional experience began when she was 17, with the Lester Horton Dance Theater. She appeared in two films with Harry Belafonte, “Carmen Jones” (1954) and “Odds Against Tomorrow” (1959). She has gone on to inspire generations as a dancer and later a choreographer. Carmen and her husband, Geoffrey Holder, were documented in the film “Carmen & Geoffrey” (2005), about their 60-year personal and artistic partnership.
Other celebrated artists include the exuberant Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan, singer and producer Lionel Richie and rapper-turned-“NCIS: Los Angeles” star LL Cool J.
For television buffs, the night belongs to Norman Lear. Actor/ director Rob Reiner salutes the man who cast him on “All in the Family” and forever associated Reiner with the name “Meathead.”
It’s no exaggeration to state that television history can be divided into shows made before or after the arrival of Archie Bunker and “All in the Family.” The medium, once considered bland, inane and inoffensive, became topical, smart and incendiary after millions of viewers tuned in to watch Lear’s characters bridge political, social and generational divides.
Lear was not only controversial; he was also popular, reaching vast audiences. In 1974, five of the top 10 shows were Lear productions. “All in the Family,” “Maude,” “Good Times,” “The Jeffersons,” “Sanford and Son” and “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” collectively reached as many as 120 million viewers per week at their peak in the mid1970s.
A grab bag of culture high and low, these Kennedy Center ceremonies can seem both inspiring and strange, sometimes at the same time. This year’s ceremony takes place without a single host or ringleader to move things along. This 40th annual event, taped on Dec. 3, also unfolds without the customary ceremonial presence of the president and first lady. This marks only the fourth time in four decades that the president skipped the event.
RELIGIOUS WARFARE
Jeremy Irons narrates “The Sultan and the Saint” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-PG), a cinematic reenactment of the 13th-century account of St. Francis of Assisi and the sultan of Egypt, Muhammad al-Kamil, who crossed religious and cultural barriers and risked the wrath of their own people to broker a peace during the bloody Crusades.
In addition to offering a historical profile of both men, “Sultan” explores the psychological and even neurological roots of religious warfare and the way that otherwise reasonable people behave when they are encouraged to destroy a dehumanized foe in the name of their own particular god.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› The gang rings in 1986 in the vintage special “Happy New Year, Charlie Brown” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-G). “Rudolph’s Shiny New Year” (9 p.m., TV-G) follows.
› The trial of Dr. Charles’ shooter begins on “Chicago Med” (10 p.m., NBC, repeat, TV-14).