Steve Allen’s 75th Birthday Bash Tops Varied Lineup

This weekend’s television specials feature an eclectic list of music, dance, documentaries and a birthday party.

Steve Allen--wit, composer, author and the first host of “The Tonight Show”--is the guest of honor on the PBS special “Steve Allen’s 75th Birthday Celebration,” at 7:30 tonight on KCET-TV Channel 28. Bill Maher is the master of ceremonies at the event, taped earlier this fall at USC. It features tributes from Milton Berle, Jackie Mason, Rodney Dangerfield and Steve Martin. Allen will also appear in-studio during KCET’s pledge-drive breaks.

Todd Newton and Jules Asner host “Entertainers ‘97,” Saturday at 6 p.m. on E! Entertainment Television. The program celebrates celebrity achievement for 1997.

HBO presents “Stomp Out Loud,” Saturday at 8 p.m., a family special starring the popular dance troupe Stomp, which creates beautiful, unique noise and dance movements on the rooftops, billboards, alleys and warehouses of New York City.

PBS’ “Gael Force: An Irish Music Event,” Saturday at 9 p.m. on Channel 28, features Irish performers Sinead O’Connor, the Chieftains, Christy Moore and Mary Black in concert. Following at 10 is “Fleetwood Mac: The Dance,” the reunion concert that aired last summer on MTV, with six songs not heard on the cable special.

Ricky Jay, the amazing sleight-of-hand artist, is the host of A&E;’s “The Story of Magic,” Sunday at 5 and 9 p.m. The two-part chronicle of the history of illusion concludes Tuesday at 6 and 10 p.m.

Other weekend fare:

Today

Peter Jennings hosts “Dangerous World: The Kennedy Years,” an ABC News special surveying the career and legacy of President John F. Kennedy, at 8 p.m. on Channel 7.

Danny Aiello’s CBS private eye series, “Dellaventura,” moves from Tuesday to Thursday nights at 10, opposite NBC’s “ER.”

Friday

TBS presents the 1966 animated classic “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” at 5:05 p.m.

CBS reprises the animated special “Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too,” at 8 p.m. on Channel 2.

Saturday

Bravo offers a two-day marathon of its CableAce Award-winning series “Inside the Actors Studio,” beginning at 8 a.m.

ABC presents three college football games that will crown the champions in the WAC (Colorado State vs. New Mexico at 10 a.m.), the Big 12 (Nebraska vs. Texas A&M; at 1:30 p.m.) and the SEC (Tennessee vs. Auburn at 5 p.m.).

MTV presents all 23 episodes of the sixth season of its popular reality-based soap opera on “The Real World Marathon,” noon to 11:30 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 7:30 p.m.

CBS kicks off its college basketball coverage when Kentucky plays at Indiana at 12:30 p.m. on Channel 2.

Sunday

The Cartoon Network presents 10 classic Dr. Seuss TV specials, beginning with “Butter Battle Book,” at 7 a.m.

Sportscaster Jack Whitaker hosts the “Arete Awards for Courage in Sports,” at noon on Channel 2.

Jim Hill hosts “CBS 2 Sports Center,” at 3 p.m. on Channel 2, a hourlong live sports show covering highlights, and low lights, of premier sporting events.

Danny Glover and Carl Lumbly headline TNT’s “Buffalo Soldiers,” at 5, 7 and 9 p.m. The western chronicles the exploits of the African American U.S. Cavalry Corps and its pursuit of Native Americans.

Richard Thomas, Gerald McRaney, Jonathan Banks and Doris Roberts star in CBS’ “1,000 Men and a Baby,” at 9 p.m. on Channel 2. The holiday drama is based on a true story of a U.S. aircraft crew that rescued an abandoned Korean American war orphan in 1953.

Aidan Quinn and Nigel Hawthorne star in ABC’s “Forbidden Territory: Stanley’s Search for Livingstone,” at 9 p.m. on Channel 7. The drama examines reporter Henry Morton Stanley’s search for explorer David Livingstone in Africa.

Discovery Channel’s “Fleet Command,” at 9 p.m., follows a 10-day military exercise between the United States and five Pacific Rim allies.

Bud Greenspan directed “Atlanta’s Olympic Glory,” Sunday at 7 p.m. on Channel 28, a documentary on the athletes who participated in the 1996 Olympic Games.