Lily Tomlin

TV tonight: Tomlin, Hanks get Kennedy Center Honors

Robert Bianco

USA TODAY

Tom Hanks is among the performers in the spotlight on the broadcast of The 37th Annual Kennedy Center Honors on CBS.

Network Mini-Marathons
ABC, Fox, NBC, 8 ET/PT

ABC offers three episodes of Forever; NBC has three of Chicago Fire; and Fox has two each of New Girl and The Mindy Project, including the Mindy that boasts Rhea Perlman as Danny's mom. The best advice? Bounce between ABC and Fox, depending on which episodes you've already seen, and let NBC burn alone.

The Flash
CW, 8 ET/PT

Then again, there's The Flash, which is entertaining enough to watch twice. In this outing, the Flash battles an old nemesis and gains a new (or at least new in public) name.

The Kennedy Center Honors
CBS, 9 ET/PT

Al Green, Tom Hanks, Patricia McBride, Lily Tomlin and Sting are the honorees on a program that outstrips most other award shows in both class and emotion. As usual, the praise for the winners is well deserved, and the winners bask but don't talk, which is a bonus. Among the highlights are a rousing salute to Green and a great tribute to prima ballerina McBride led by a witty Christine Baranski. Stephen Colbert hosts the show, which is produced — for the 37th and last time — by George Stevens Jr, who announced at the event that he was being replaced. Change is inevitable, but let's hope whoever comes next only changes what isn't working and leaves the rest alone.

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