"Ten Things Wrong with TV!" (8:30 p.m., Nickelodeon): Kids may watch a lot of television, but they

"Ten Things Wrong with TV!" (8:30 p.m., Nickelodeon): Kids may watch a lot of television, but they are hardly noncritical observers. Neither is TV news veteran Linda Ellerbee, whose special edition of "Nick News" is titled "Ten Things Wrong with TV!" It takes a critical look at the medium that plays such an important role in how children see the world as well as themselves. Ellerbee also addresses the impact of advertising on television and its viewers.
"America's Tsunami -- Are We Next?" (9 p.m., Discovery): Want something else to worry about? Discovery Channel pours it on with its new documentary. It discloses new geological evidence from a recent scientific expedition that declares the cause of the Asian tsunami a year ago (sea floor uplift from the 9.2-magnitude Great Sumatra earthquake -- not a giant underwater landslide, as was previously thought). Meanwhile, newfound data shows a striking similarity between the Indian Ocean fault zone and a fault zone lying just miles off the coast of Northern California, Oregon and Washington.
"Wasteland: The Innocent Victims of Meth" (9 p.m., MSNBC): The government reports that more than 12 million Americans have used methamphetamine. But many nonusers of this cheap, powerful drug are also suffering its consequences. In the past five years, roughly 14,000 children have been discovered living in meth labs nationwide, while new scientific research suggests that being in a meth lab is akin to entering a hazardous waste site.
"Tom Brokaw Reports: To War and Back" (8 p.m., NBC): Tom Brokaw's latest NBC News special probes the personal costs and tragic consequences for the soldiers from the war in Iraq -- while raising the issue of leaders' neglect. It focuses on seven lifelong friends in an all-American town in upstate New York. These teenage pals joined the New York Army National Guard with the hope of a paid-for college education. Then in March 2004 they were sent to Iraq, together as always, as part of the Nighthawk platoon. Only six would make it home to Glens Falls, three of them seriously wounded.
"Young Scientist Challenge" (noon, Discovery): Forty middle school students from around the country brought their knowledge and creativity to the nation's capital in October, vying for the title of Top Young Scientist of the Year. Competing in teams, they faced challenges that included simulated hurricanes, fog banks and tsunamis, all designed to tap their ability to cope with natural disasters. The winner will be revealed on the hour-long program.
"The Christmas Blessing" (9 p.m., CBS): If happy holiday movies just aren't your thing, this movie -- a sequel to 2002's "The Christmas Shoes" -- bills itself as an old-fashioned tear-jerker. Neil Patrick Harris plays Nathan Andrews, the child from "Shoes," who's now grown up and working as a medical resident. A patient's death sends Nathan into depression -- and just as a pretty young teacher (Rebecca Gayheart) begins to change Nathan's outlook on life, he discovers that two of the people he loves suffer from life-threatening ailments and need Christmas Eve transplants.
"All Out Christmas" (9 p.m., HGTV): "National Lampoon's" Clark Griswold labored lovingly, if ineptly, over his rooftop lights, but the folks featured in this special are serious seasonal decorators. They use handmade animated ballerinas, holiday dinosaurs, hordes of inflated Christmas characters and, of course, lights, lights, lights -- a Florida family has 610,000 of them.
"The Simpsons" (8 p.m., Fox): The trilogy storytelling of "Treehouse of Horrors" gets a yuletide spin with this episode. In other words, Bart's in a manger.