Get into the season's meaning with these picks

Usually by this time of the Advent season, we've had about all the sweets and cookies we can take - and so it is with holiday TV and its monthlong parade of saccharine Christmas messages. Yet the mood always seems to shift in the days leading up to Dec. 25, as though the networks can sense that families everywhere are laying off the sugary stuff and trying to reflect on the season's true meaning. Among the more grown-up holiday offerings this weekend: "The American Red Cross Holiday Music Spectacular" (7 tonight, Channel 4) marries a typical TV variety special to a public service announcement on a grand scale. Among those featured on the program: Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black; Art Garfunkel; Patti LaBelle; and - in the first of two holiday appearances - 98 Degrees. In between numbers, celebrities deliver testimonials to the good works done by the Red Cross (including Bill Cosby, Rosie O'Donnell and "Ally McBeal's" Jane Krakowski). "Holiday Voices" features Kansas Citians singing favorite hymns of the season at area venues. The special airs at 9 tonight on Channel 29 and re-airs Saturday at 6 p.m., or whenever football ends, on Channel 9. The program, produced by midtown studio Trans Digital Interface and area filmmaker Jay Crotchett, also will spread goodwill by allowing viewers to donate to local charitable organizations during the broadcast. "Christmas Kansas City," taped Christmas Eve at Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, airs at 8 a.m. Saturday on Channel 5. Several area chorales perform Christmas favorites under the direction of William Baker. "The Nutcracker," as performed by Chicago's internationally acclaimed Joffrey Ballet, airs in a one-hour version at 7 p.m. Saturday on Channel 19. The performance, taped in 1998 in Chicago, is based on Tchaikovsky's classic tale written by Robert Joffrey, co-founder of the prestigious company, and is set in New York's Washington Square in the mid-19th century. The full cast appears in the televised version, as do all the classic waltzes, but they are edited for length. Parades are usually something you watch in the morning, but the "Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade" is airing this year in prime time, starting at 7 p.m. Saturday on Channel 9. (Among other things, the two-hour special features a fireworks display, which wouldn't show up very well during the daytime.) Harry Connick Jr. will perform, as do the Cirque de Soleil troupe, James Ingram, SHeDAISY and two boy bands, 'N Sync and 98 Degrees. And the composer who seemed to have a timeless song to accompany every American tradition - including Christmastime - is remembered in a new "Biography" special, "Irving Berlin: An American Song," airing at 7 p.m. Sunday on A&E. Berlin produced hits beginning with "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and never left the heart of the pop culture after that, whether capturing the mood of ballroom dancing ("Cheek to Cheek"), the movies ("There's No Business Like Show Business"), the holidays ("White Christmas") and something dear to every immigrant like himself, patriotism ("God Bless America"). Behind the effortless sounds of Berlin's melodies, we learn in this two-hour special, was a ferocious work ethic. By sheer dint, Berlin overcame his inability to read music and was churning out 50 new titles a year starting at the age of 19. His other great asset was his willingness to sentimentalize anything, from the death of his first wife to the then-scandalous ragtime scene. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit TV Barn at www.tvbarn.com