WEEKEND TV : ‘Parade’ Telethon for College Fund

It’s the season of giving and “Lou Rawls Parade of Stars� arrives asking for donations for the United Negro College Fund. The six-hour telethon begins today at 6 p.m. on Channels 13 and 10, 5 p.m. on WGN. Bill Cosby, Chaka Khan and James Ingram are among those performing.

Stand-up comedian Sinbad leads another parade of African-American entertainers tonight at 8 (7)(3)(42) in “Sinbad & Friends All the Way Live . . . Almost.� This variety special also includes appearances by Kim Wayans of “In Living Color� and rappers Heavy D. & The Boyz.

Earlier at 4 p.m., the Nashville Channel has a look at a different kind of music as hosts Lorianne Crook and Charlie Chase review the past 12 months in “This Year in Country Music.� The hourlong special pays special attention to Garth Brooks and the breakup of the Judds.

Dennis Potter’s acclaimed six-part series, “The Singing Detective,� airs in its entirety from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. tonight on KCET Channel 28. The musical drama, starring Michael Gambon, chronicles the imaginative world of a bed-ridden writer of detective novels who fancies himself a film noir gumshoe.

ABC (7)(3)(10)(42) airs the first two hours of Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 movie spectacle, “Spartacus,� Sunday at 9 p.m. The film, starring Kirk Douglas, concludes Monday at 9 p.m.