I've been watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" since I was a kid, and wondering about the source of one particular sound effect in it. There's a scene where Snoopy is in his role as World War I flying ace, shot down behind enemy lines and furtively sneaking around -- to the soundtrack of a moody and quiet flute, accented by a high-pitched, almost screechy noise. Saturday night, I learned how you get that sound courtesy of Dave King, drummer for The Bad Plus: You rub a drumstick around the top edge of a cymbal in a circular motion. Presto!

Something else I learned from The Bad Plus at last night's show is that it really is possible for three people to pull off "The Rite of Spring." This was the world premiere of the Minneapolis jazz trio's version of the 1913 Stravinsky masterwork, which they've been laboring on for the past year, and it was impressive. Most of the heavy lifting fell to pianist Ethan Iverson, who had to replicate or at least suggest the piece's signature melodic elements enough to be recognizable. But all three of them played amazingly, filling in the spaces of music usually rendered by scores of musicians in orchestras.

No, I don't know "The Rite of Spring" backwards and forwards... Okay, I'll admit my knowledge of it basically comes from Walt Disney's "Fantasia." But they did a fantastic job of capturing the essence and full sweep of the piece, as this lay listener knows it.

"Piece o' cake, piece o' cake," Iverson quipped afterward. Maybe I was imagining it, but the posture of all three players suggested relief as they took their bows.

Three Wise Women (8pm, Hallmark) - A hospital administrator (Amy Huberman) is visited by her past and future selves at the behest of her guardian angel (Hugh O'Connor). Their visits are designed to help her realize she's about to marry the wrong man.

I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown (8pm, ABC) - Linus and Lucy's little brother, ReRun, tries to avoid the Van Pelt family's holiday nuttiness by hanging with Snoopy and his own sibling, the desert-dwelling Spike. Based on previously published comic strips by Charles S. Schulz.

The Biggest Loser (9pm, NBC) - The winner of the $250,000 prize is determined in the Season 10 finale, and eliminated players return to weigh in for the $100,000 at-home prize.

The Good Wife (10pm, CBS) - Alicia tries to get a stay of execution for a death row inmate as Peter prepares for his first debate in the state's attorney race.

Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Christmas (10pm, BBC America) - At home with this family, Chef Gordon Ramsay prepares roast turkey, pork-apricot-and-pistachio stuffing and cranberry-apple sauce n the premiere of this instructional cooking series.

There's not much on tonight, so it's an excellent time to introduce your Spongebob-Bratz-Pokemon-loving kids to the classic treasures of Charles Schulz and the Peanut gang.

ABC Family has two feature-length Peanuts films tonight, and both of them deserve permanent residence on your DVR.

A Boy Named Charlie Brown (7pm, ABC Family) - Made in 1969, this is the first feature-length Peanuts film. Some of the classic vignettes include Charlie flying (and crashing) his kite, Lucy giving Charlie psychiatry advice, Linus going through blanket withdrawals, Charlie attempting to kick a football, and Snoopy fighting the Red Baron.

Snoopy, Come Home (9pm, ABC Family) -  Another feature-length cartoon but this one very Snoopy-centric. Snoopy has troubles at the beach, fights Linus for his blanket, and finally, sets off on a cross-country journey to find the hospitalized little girl who was his former owner.