The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching

Jazz at Lincoln Center: Red Hot Holiday Stomp

Glenn Close hosts an evening of music and storytelling featuring Lincoln Center artistic director Wynton Marsalis, a New Orleans native, along with other musicians from the Crescent City. Highlights include the broadcast premiere of “Music, Deep Rivers in My Soul,” a collaboration between Marsalis and poet Maya Angelou; Law & Order’s S. Epatha Merkerson will read. Monday, Dec. 10, at 8 p.m., PBS

Anthony Bourdain’s Holiday Special

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Bourdain offers an entertainingly twisted take on the traditional Yuletide special as he plans a holiday feast for family and friends (including heavy metal rockers Queens of the Stone Age). The iconoclastic chef and author selects free-range turkeys at a Hudson Valley farm, offers an unapologetic paean to foie gras, and enlists a professional decorating team. Monday,

Dec. 10, at 10 p.m., Travel Channel

Life on Mars

A unique cross between police procedural and sci-fi fantasy, this award-wining series stars John Simm as a Manchester cop who wakes from a car accident to find himself stranded in 1973. As the second season begins, he tries to prevent a murder before it happens—while fearing that,

30 years in the future, the same killer is threatening his own comatose body. Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 8 p.m., BBC America

Independent Lens: The Paper

The Daily Collegian, Penn State’s award-winning student newspaper, is a microcosm for the issues facing all print journalism: In this documentary, the young editors and reporters contend with institutional spin and stonewalling as they ponder whether to address falling circulation by reducing their coverage of hard news. Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 10 p.m., PBS; check local listings

CNN Presents:

We Were Warned—Iran Goes Nuclear

What if Iran had nuclear weapons? That’s the scenario this documentary investigates through dramatization and interviews with such experts as former arms inspector David Kay. Real-life policymakers, including former presidential advisor David Gergen and ex-EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman, simulate the response of a future U.S. administration. Wednesday, Dec. 12, at 8 p.m., CNN

Other highlights

P.O.V.: Wrestling With Angels

Oscar-winning documentarian Freida Lee Mock follows Tony Kushner, the author of Angels in America, through three tumultuous years. Wednesday, Dec. 12, at 9 p.m., PBS; check local listings

Tut’s Treasures

The great-grandson of the discoverer of Tutankhamen’s tomb travels to Egypt for a new analysis of the famed pharaoh. Sunday, Dec. 16, at 8 p.m., National Geographic Channel

Best Science Moments of 2007

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and others look back at the year’s top science stories in this high-def special. Sunday, Dec. 16, at 9 p.m., Science Channel

All listings are Eastern time.

Show of the week

Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale

As this dark comedy series from the creators of Britain’s The Office comes to a close, former television extra Andy Millman has risen to become the star of an inane but popular BBC sitcom. But he longs for legitimacy, which spurs him to attempt a rash career move. Portrayed fearlessly by Extras co-creator Ricky Gervais, Andy is a monster of narcissism who’s just self-aware enough to be a bit ashamed. A supporting performance by Ugly Betty’s Ashley Jensen is superb, while Clive Owen, George Michael, and other celebrities do savage sendups of themselves. Gervais and series co-creator Stephen Merchant have crafted a breathtakingly bleak but deadly accurate assessment of the contemporary cult of celebrity. Sunday, Dec. 16, at 9 p.m., HBO

Movies on TV this week

Monday, Dec. 10

Body Double (1984)

Director Brian De Palma borrows liberally from Hitchcock’s Vertigo and

Rear Window in this thriller about an actor who witnesses a murder. 10 p.m., TMC

Tuesday

Chocolat (2000)

Temptation enters a straight-laced French village in the form of a shop that offers seductively delicious chocolates. Juliette Binoche stars in the hit romantic comedy. 9 p.m., IFC

Wednesday

For Your Consideration (2006)

The stars of a modest independent film contract Oscar fever in this satire from Best in Show director Christopher Guest and his usual talented comedy ensemble. 8 p.m., HBO

Thursday

Notes on a Scandal (2006)

A high school teacher discovers her colleague’s extramarital affair in the film version of Zoë Heller’s novel. Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett were both Oscar-nominated. 8:30 p.m., Cinemax

Friday

To Catch a Thief (1955)

Cary Grant and Grace Kelly make romance in this stylish Alfred Hitchcock romp about a retired cat burglar on the Riviera. 8 p.m., TCM

Saturday

Nobody’s Fool (1994)

Paul Newman earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance as an aging wastrel confronting responsibility late in life. 7 p.m., HBO Signature

New on DVD

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

In this skillfully made thriller, Matt Damon returns to the role of amnesiac agent Jason Bourne, who eludes assassins as he seeks the secret of his own past. (PG-13, $30)