Critic's picks
American Music Awards 8 p.m., Channel 5
Who'll win? Who cares. Performers will include Alicia Keys (above), Coldplay, Pink, Taylor Swift, and the Jonas Brothers. Also, Jimmy Kimmel's handling the hosting duties. The ceremony is preceded, at 7 on Channel 5, by a live red-carpet extravaganza.
Cold Case 9 p.m., Channel 4
"Lost" alert. A new actress joins the cast of this CBS cop procedural as a lab technician, and her name is Tania Raymonde. Oh yeah, it's Alex Rousseau, helping out with the 1953 murder case of a pinup girl.
True Blood 9 p.m., HBO
Sookie Longstocking.
24: Redemption 8 p.m., Channel 25
Hack Bauer.
A Grandpa for Christmas 9 p.m., Hallmark Channel
Earnest Borgnine.
Entourage 10 p.m., HBO
The season finale.
A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! 10 p.m., Comedy Central
Watch out for the flying latke. 