SUNDAY, 7 p.m.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

ABC In this special two-hour season premiere, host Ty Pennington, his crew and hundreds of volunteers build a new home in Rockville, Md., for Felicia Jackson, her four children and her 10 nieces and nephews, whom she took in four years ago to fulfill her sister Cassandra’s deathbed wish that the kids stay together and out of foster care.

MONDAY, 9 p.m.

Secret Towers of the Himalayas

SCIENCE CHANNEL Sichuan-based French explorer Frederique Darragon roams Tibet to study its several hundred massive, star-shaped, sturdy stone towers, some of which are 150 feet high. Most were built 900-1400 A.D., and many date from the era of the Mongol invasions of China (1211-1279 A.D.) Re-airs 4 p.m. Tuesday, 4 a.m. Wednesday.

WEDNESDAY, 9 p.m.

Get Ready for Digital TV

PBS In this special, This Old House handymen Norm Abram and Kevin O’Connor, along with Maria Hinojosa from Now on PBS, explain the nationwide switch from analog to digital TV, which is set for Feb. 17, 2009.

THURSDAY, 8 p.m.

Factory Floor with Marshall Brain

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL Thanks to economic freedom, thousands of people cooperate in making the components of every product we buy. Today we learn about the design, manufacture and testing of tennis balls, pencils, hot dogs and fireworks.

THURSDAY, 9 p.m., live

The Vice-Presidential Debate

ALL MAJOR NETWORKS Pro-life Republican Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, and pro-abortion Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., will discuss domestic and foreign policy, with Gwen Ifill of PBS as the moderator, in this two-hour debate at Washington University in St. Louis.

FRIDAY, 4 p.m.

G.K. Chesterton: Apostle of Common Sense

EWTN The brilliant English journalist, author and poet G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), who converted to Catholicism in 1922, left us millions of words in defense of the Church and Western civilization, and in refutation of modern errors. In this episode, host Dale Ahlquist, president of the American Chesterton Society, examines Chesterton’s writings about St. Francis of Assisi.

SATURDAY, 8 p.m.

Animal Planet Dog Championships

ANIMAL PLANET Our canine pals are the stars of this three-hour special, a national competition from Houston. We also see doggies, owners and trainers backstage.

Dan Engler writes from
Santa Barbara, California.