Television | The Week Ahead. Television.

What Happy People Don’t Do. Happy people spend a lot of time socializing, going to church and reading newspapers — but they don’t spend a lot of time watching television, a new study finds.

A Sendup of the Season, Some Sincerity Required. To a television world long bereft of the annual holiday cheer spread by a Como or a Crosby comes an unlikely new Christmas champion: Colbert.

For ‘60 Minutes,’ a Jump in Ratings. “60 Minutes” on CBS has been the most-watched program in the nation the last two weeks — including the full episode on Sunday devoted to Steve Kroft’s interview with Barack and Michelle Obama.

TV Decoder: Roger Ailes Renews Contract. The mastermind of the Fox News Channel has renewed his contract with the News Corporation, the company announced Thursday.

Arts, Briefly: Footnotes. Laura Linney has been named the host of “Masterpiece Classic,” a spinoff of the PBS series “Masterpiece Theater,” which was divided into three different shows in 2007.

Arts, Briefly: CBS Wins the Night. “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” led CBS to another victory in the ratings on Wednesday, according to Nielsen’s estimates.

Ailes Agrees to Remain at Fox News 5 More Years. The News Corporation announced Thursday that Roger Ailes, the chairman and chief executive of Fox News, had signed a new five-year contract with the company.

CW Says It Is Retaking Control of Its Sunday TV Lineup. he CW network has canceled its low-rated Sunday lineup and ended a $15 million deal with Media Rights Capital, the company that produced the shows.

Television Review | 'A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All': Unwrap the Presents, Unleash the Parody. Stephen Colbert is delightful, a few of the song parodies are clever, but over all, the show is too long and more than a little strained, much like the holiday specials it mocks.

Television Review | '24: Redemption': Saving the World in Less Than a Day. Kiefer Sutherland is back as Jack Bauer in “24: Redemption” on Sunday on Fox, but the title is a bit misleading.

Arts, Briefly: United States Appeals Wardrobe Ruling. The United States government has appealed a federal court’s finding that CBS was not liable for Janet Jackson’s 2004 wardrobe malfunction to the Supreme Court.

Arts, Briefly: A CBS Sweep on Thursday. CBS remained No. 1 in the ratings on Thursday, its fourth consecutive victory on that night during the sweeps period.

Arts, Briefly: Bloom Is Off ‘Daisies,’ as ABC Shuffles Its Schedule. ABC has performed an extreme makeover on its prime-time schedule.

Habitats: Home, Hangout, Departure Lounge. Daniel Vosovic, who was a finalist on the second season of “Project Runway,” shares an apartment on the Lower East Side that seems ready-made for television.

The Way We Live Now: The Screening of America. Will all the new digital devices kill cinema?

Actors’ Union Talks Break Down. The Screen Actors Guild inched closer to a strike after two days of talks with an alliance of Hollywood studios apparently broke down.

DVD: Like ‘The West Wing,’ Only With Sports. “Sports Night” was Aaron Sorkin’s effort to reimagine the traditional situation comedy as something that could be literary and not necessarily laugh-a-minute funny.

Television: Her Life as a Mom, an Actress and a Boy. From “Californication” to cartoons, Pamela Adlon’s most prominent roles are very different from her life.

Television Review | 'The Rape of Europa': Art, Lost and Found. “The Rape of Europa,” a documentary, released last year, about the Nazi pillaging of art and the Allied effort to return it, airs on PBS stations on Monday.

Show Winner, Now Bankrupt, Will Keep Vow. Kathy Cox, the Georgia state schools superintendent who won $1 million on a game show, filed for bankruptcy, but plans to fulfill her pledge to donate her winnings to local schools.

Arts, Briefly: Football vs. All Comers. Despite the largest audience for ABC’s broadcast of the “American Music Awards” in four years, NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” appeared to edge past it in the night’s ratings.

Fox Ends Saturday-Morning Cartoons. The company said that children’s programming was no longer viable on network television, because of competition from cable channels.

Hannity to Go It Alone, Without Colmes. Sean Hannity would be the sole anchor of the Fox News Channel’s “Hannity & Colmes” upon the departure of Alan Colmes, people close to the network said.

Television Review | 'The Hugo Chávez Show': Political Agent of Change, the Latin American Edition. “The Hugo Chávez Show,” a new “Frontline” installment on PBS, shows through its depiction of Venezuela’s recent past how volatile political change can be.

Rosie O’Donnell’s Special, a Test for Variety Format. “Rosie Live,” a one-hour special that will air on NBC on Wednesday, is one of a handful of network attempts to gauge modern viewers’ affection for variety television.

Arts, Briefly: Koppel's Deal With Discovery Ends Early. Ted Koppel’s production deal with the Discovery Channel is ending six months before his contract was to expire.

Television: ‘The Shield’ Wraps Up, All the Bills Coming Due. In its seven seasons on FX, “The Shield” has shown what child’s play all those other vigilante narratives have been.

Holiday Gift Guide: Video Games. In challenging economic times, it may come as a surprise that a well-chosen video game can be one of the most cost-effective gifts.

Television: A New Life for TV’s Killers and Thrillers. Each week seems to bring more releases of television series and specials on DVD. While it is impossible to see everything, a critic can still cull the best of the year, even if from a vaguely arbitrary list.

TV Review | 'Rosie Live': Something for Everyone, Including the Enemies. In between skits, celebrity cameos and hokey novelty acts, the legendarily thin-skinned Rosie O’Donnell found time to take potshots at some of her favorite targets.

TV Casting May Feel an Obama Effect. After years of dramas sprinkled with nonwhite supporting actors, the excitement surrounding Barack Obama could usher in more minorities in leading dramatic roles.

‘Family Guy’ Sidekick to Be Spinoff Star. “The Cleveland Show,” which will feature Seth MacFarlane’s co-creator and fellow “Family Guy” writer Mike Henry, illustrates Mr. MacFarlane’s clout at Fox.

‘Mentalist’ Is a Hit, but Who Can See Into Its Future?. Positioned as it is among the 10 top-rated shows, there is a danger that CBS’s latest sleuth series may have nowhere to go but down.

Television: Is It a Talk Show if the Host Sings?. On “Spectacle,’’ Elvis Costello’s new talk show, yes, there will be jams.

Arts, Briefly: That’s All, She Wrote. Rosie O’Donnell’s homage to television variety shows of the 1970s, “Rosie Live,” seems destined to be a one-night-only event.

‘Lipstick’ Fans’ Delayed Gratification. Whether NBC’s “Lipstick Jungle” returns later this season or next season will largely depend on whether it increases its overall audience, and not just among those watching on a delayed basis.

Arts, Briefly: Football Dominates the Nightly Ratings. Football topped the ratings on Sunday, boosting CBS and NBC during prime time.

Report Ties Children’s Use of Media to Their Health. A review of 173 studies found that more time with television, films, video games, magazines, music and the Internet was linked to rises in childhood obesity, tobacco use and sexual behavior.

Television Review | 'Shatner’s Raw Nerve': Captain’s Log: Celebrity Universe Probed for Signs of Offbeat Life. William Shatner’s latest cultural contribution, a talk show titled “Shatner’s Raw Nerve,” begins Tuesday on the Bio channel.

The TV Watch: A Concession Wrapped in an Acceptance. For some viewers, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s speech was the moment when she finally conceded the election for real.

Getting to Carnegie via YouTube. A project that will allow users to audition by uploading videos of themselves performing a composition by Tan Dun was announced on Monday in London and New York.