WEEKEND TV : Addict Athletes, Hope, Garland and Sinatra

A sobering program about drug abuse sprinkles a bit of realism on this otherwise boisterous weekend of big-time Hollywood cheer.

“Athletes & Addiction: It’s Not a Game,” Sunday at 4 p.m. on ABC (7)(3)(10)(42), features football stars Dexter Manley and Chuck Muncie as well as famed figure skater Tai Babilonia discussing their own experiences with drug addiction and treatment programs.

“Bob Hope Christmas” begins the festive side of the weekend from Bermuda tonight at 10 (4)(36)(39) with guest stars Dixie Carter, Joan Van Ark, Loni Anderson, the Associated Press All-American football team and the 1991 Rose Parade Queen.

The Disney Channel will air the 1963 television special “The Judy Garland Christmas Show” Sunday at 9 p.m. This vintage program includes Mel Torme, Jack Jones and Garland’s children: Liza Minnelli and Lorna and Joey Luft.

And in a special taped earlier this month, “Sinatra 75: The Best Is Yet to Come” pays tribute to the “Chairman of the Board,” beginning at 9 p.m. on Channels 2 and 8. Tony Bennett, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and Harry Connick Jr. are among those who will entertain with their own renditions of Frank Sinatra classics.