TV THIS WEEK
Ten shows to watch or record:
■ “The Carol Burnett 50th Anniversary Special” (8 tonight, CBS): Burnett reflects on her groundbreaking variety show — her favorite sketches, guest stars, studio audience Q-and-As and zany bloopers. Original cast members Vicki Lawrence and Lyle Waggoner join her, as do many guests.
■ “The Great Christmas Light Fight” (8 p.m. Monday, ABC): The over-the-top decorating contest features Clark Griswold wannabes competing for prize money.
■ “The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee”
(8 p.m. Monday, HBO): The longtime executive editor of The Washington Post is largely credited with taking down President Richard Nixon in 1974 after the Post broke the Watergate story.
■ “Will & Grace” (9 p.m. Tuesday, NBC): The gang turns back the clock to 1912 for an old-fashioned New York holiday, but the past proves less appealing than expected.
■ “Stripped” (10 p.m. Tuesday, Bravo): Participants in the new reality series surrender clothes, furniture, money, hygiene products and electronic devices during a 21-day journey of self-discovery.
■ “Happy!” (10 p.m. Wednesday, Syfy): Christopher Meloni stars in the offbeat “Happy!” as a boozy, corrupt ex-cop who, after a near-death experience, begins to “see” a relentlessly positive flying blue horse that changes his life.
■ “Knightfall” (10 p.m. Wednesday, History): The compelling period drama centers on the Knights Templar, a powerful, wealthy and mysterious Catholic military order of the Middle Ages that protected the Holy Grail.
■ “The Great American Baking Show” (9 p.m. Thursday, ABC): Ayesha Curry and Anthony “Spice” Adams host the culinary competition that challenges contestants to whip up lots of festive treats. ■ “Blue Bloods” (10 p.m. Friday, CBS): In the midseason finale, Erin (Bridget Moynahan) is conflicted when Jamie (Will Estes) and Eddie (Vanessa Ray) ask her to help drop old charges against a man who has just bravely rescued a female hostage.
■ “Christmas in Mississippi”
(8 p.m. Saturday, Lifetime): A young woman (Jana Kramer) is eager to help plan her town’s holiday festival, but then learns that her former high-school sweetheart is running it.