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Hairspray HBOE 6:00 pm ET

It started as a John Waters-directed movie, then transitioned into a hit stage musical. Now it comes full circle by taking movie form again in its more tuneful incarnation. The entertaining tale lets John Travolta make an amusing gender switch as Edna Turnblad, mother of aspiring 1960s dance-show participant Tracy (newcomer Nikki Blonsky). Others (Michelle Pfeiffer, Brittany Snow) don't want plus-sized Tracy to have a spotlight.

Journey to the Center of the Earth MAX 6:50 pm ET

A science professor and volcanologist and his nephew encounter strange creatures and stranger lands as they travel beneath the Earth's surface. Professor Anderson (Brendan Fraser) is supposed to care for his nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) for 10 days. Instead it seems more like 100 million years, as they plummet through the Earth's layers and encounter bad-tempered dinosaurs.

House FOX 8:00 pm ET

Now here's a patient House (Hugh Laurie) can relate to. In this episode, he and his team try to figure out what's wrong with a man suffering from chronic pain -- something House has lived with for years. Foreman and Thirteen (Omar Epps, Olivia Wilde) deal with their budding relationship, and Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) gets a lesson in juggling work and parenthood in "Painless."

Santa Who? ABCF 7:00 pm ET

So if he doesn't know who he is, can we call him Shirley? Leslie Nielsen stars as Santa Claus in this limp 2000 comic variation on the "Miracle on 34th Street" theme. Like the Kriss Kringle of "Miracle," he's a store Santa who's actually the genuine article. But unlike the 1947 Kringle, who knew he was real even if nobody else did, this Claus is clueless, thanks to a fall from his sleigh that left him with amnesia. He'd better snap out of it soon, or there'll be a lot of disappointed kiddies on Christmas morning.

NBA Basketball ESPN 8:00 pm ET

A rematch of last season's Eastern Conference semifinals is on tap in Boston as Kevin Garnett and the Celtics host Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. The Magic got the better of the Celts when they met in May, winning in seven games, but that was with the now-departed Hedo Turkoglu getting the shots in key moments. For the Celts, the big question is if Garnett is his old self after last year's knee woes, but Rasheed Wallace's presence should help.

Smallville CW 8:00 pm ET

Tess (Cassidy Freeman) kidnaps Lois (Erica Durance), determined to find out where she went when she disappeared for weeks. Chloe (Allison Mack) forms a resistance group with Oliver (Justin Hartley), while Clark (Tom Welling) makes a significant decision about Zod (Callum Blue) after learning of Lois' memory of the future in the new episode "Pandora."

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus ABCF 9:00 pm ET

OK, some Christmas specials and movies based on songs of the season are adorable -- lookin' at you, "Rudolph," "Frosty," "Little Drummer Boy." Others, like this 2001 comedy, are just laughable, and not in a good way. A little boy sees his mom in a lip lock with a certain red-suited gent and assumes his folks are splitting up. Wouldn't most kids jump at the chance to have Santa for a stepdad? Good thing Connie Sellecca has some good Christmas movies on her resume, so she can be forgiven for this one.

Medium CBS 9:00 pm ET

When Allison's (Patricia Arquette) eyes develop a sensitivity to light, the sunglasses she dons display numbers that may be linked to the life expectancy of those she looks at. Life expectancy also is on the mind of Joe (Jake Weber), who starts taking better care of himself after Allison dreams about his father in the new episode "The Future's So Bright." Miguel Sandoval, Sofia Vassilieva, Maria Lark and David Cubitt also star.

Platinum Babies WE 9:00 pm ET

The new episode "Betsy & Brad" features a doting Southern California husband who is only too happy to indulge his wife's dream of a baby shower in the form of a $20,000 tea party, complete with $5,000 in baby props, accompanied by harp and violin music. And the free spending continues as they select a state-of-the-art birthing suite, where their daughter is born, captured by a $31,000 baby photographer, as well as hiring a pricey "baby-proofer to the stars."

NUMB3RS CBS 10:00 pm ET

When robbers strike a diamond exchange and take hostages, Don (Rob Morrow) and his team think the culprits are copying a convict's criminal strategies, and they find an unlikely ally in convicted bus hijacker John Buckley (Fisher Stevens, reprising his guest role). David Krumholtz, Judd Hirsch and Alimi Ballard also star in the new episode "Con Job."