A Poet, Concerts and ‘Vanity Fair’

Among the weekend’s diverse specials are a lavish new adaptation of William Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair,” a “Scooby-Doo” marathon and a star-studded new VH1 concert.

Women talk about their experiences with breast cancer on “Breast Cancer Journey” tonight at 7:30 on KOCE. Related programming follows until 10.

On “Rumi: Poet of the Heart,” Debra Winger narrates a profile of the 13th century scholar, tonight at 10 on KCET.

Fox Family Channel presents “The World Magic Awards” on Friday at 8 p.m. Magicians vie for awards in 11 categories.

Cartoon Network presents a 24-hour marathon, “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?,” beginning Saturday at noon.

B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Garth Brooks and John Fogerty are among the performers on “The Concert of the Century for VH1 Save the Music,” Saturday at 4 p.m. on VH1. President and Hillary Clinton are expected to attend the concert in Washington, D.C.

Bill Gaither and more than 100 performers sing gospel music on TNN’s “Gaither Gospel Hour: Mountain Homecoming,” Saturday at 9 p.m.

Natasha Little and Nathaniel Parker headline A&E;’s new six-hour adaptation of “Vanity Fair,” William Makepeace Thackeray’s classic satire of Victorian England’s high society, Sunday at 5 and 9 p.m. The series concludes Monday at 5 and 9 p.m.

Movies

Ken Olin stars in the USA drama “Evolution’s Child,” Friday at 9 p.m. The drama deals with a boy who was accidentally conceived from the sperm of a Bronze Age man.

Tony Award-winning Brent Carver plays the timid Yankee schoolteacher who encounters the Headless Horseman in the Odyssey Channel’s new adaptation of the Washington Irving classic “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Saturday at 8 p.m.

Cathy Moriarty, Shelley Duvall and Teri Garr star in a live-action and animated fantasy comedy, “Casper Meets Wendy,” Sunday at 8 p.m. on the Fox Family Channel.

Tim Matheson is the director of the espionage thriller “In the Company of Spies,” Sunday at 8 p.m. on Showtime. Tom Berenger, Ron Silver and Alice Krige star.

Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Greenwood and Ossie Davis star in the mystical romance “The Soul Collector,” Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBS.

Sports

NBC kicks off coverage of the World Series on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

Mike Tyson will probably give opponent Orlin Norris an earful as they duke it out for the World Boxing Council international heavyweight championship, from Las Vegas on Saturday at 8 p.m. on Showtime.

Series

PBS’ “Nature” kicks off its 18th season with a two-part special, “Antarctica: The End of the Earth,” Sunday at 8 p.m. on KCET. The episode concludes Oct. 31.

Lifetime’s “Any Day Now” presents a special two-hour episode Sunday at 8 p.m. that explores modern-day racism. Following at 10 is the special “I’m Not a Racist but. . . .”

“The E! True Hollywood Story” profiles Linda Blair, Sunday at 9 p.m. on E! Entertainment Television.