Fans of “24” who can’t wait for the series to return in January can console themselves with a glance at star Kiefer Sutherland’s extracurricular activities, chronicled in the documentary “I Trust You to Kill Me” (8 p.m. today, VH1). Sutherland admits readily that working as the star and executive producer of “24” has consumed much of his time. He shows viewers his rather Spartan trailer, where his emotional life has been reduced to sleeping with his “24” teddy bear.

So Sutherland has channeled his energies into forming his own independent record label and promoting the rock-and-roll band Rocco DeLuca & the Burden. Sutherland talks freely about his emotional relationship to music and shares stories about traveling on the road with his actor father, Donald Sutherland, when he was just a boy, including being on the set of the 1970 war picture “Kelly’s Heroes” (9:15 p.m. today, TCM). Sutherland isn’t exactly confessional here, but it’s more than you would expect from taciturn super-agent Jack Bauer.

The documentary’s title refers to one of the Burden’s songs, and the film does a good job of showing the difficulty of life in a touring band. We also see how difficult it is to break into a music business geared toward post-adolescent pop music.

¢ Veterans Day programming includes “Combat Hospital” (7 p.m. today, CNN), a look – both grim and inspiring – at the work of five doctors, 14 nurses and 22 medics in a Baghdad emergency room that treats wounded soldiers fresh from the combat zone. Not for the squeamish, “Combat” shows soldiers at crucial moments in their care, when life-and-death decisions are being made. In one case, we learn that the doctors decide not to amputate a soldier’s leg. But the patient dies of a heart attack weeks later in a U.S. hospital after several complex operations to save that leg. It’s impossible not to admire the dedication of the medical professionals and the stoicism and dark humor of the wounded soldiers. One soldier says it’s his third visit to the hospital. Or, as he puts it, “This isn’t my first time at the barbeque.”

¢ Showtime also commemorates Veterans Day with “Home Front” (6:30 p.m. today, Showtime), about the return and rehabilitation of a Pennsylvania soldier severely wounded in Iraq.

Today’s highlights

¢ College football action (7 p.m., ABC).

¢ Cooking tips for the big meal on “Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade Thanksgiving” (8 p.m., Food).

¢ “Unwrapping Macy’s” (9 p.m., WE) offers an inside look at the Thanksgiving Day parade.

¢ Alec Baldwin hosts “Saturday Night Live” (10:30 p.m., NBC).

Sunday’s highlights

¢ Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., CBS): immigrations and small towns; wild tigers and poachers.

¢ The Giants host the Bears on “Sunday Night Football” (7 p.m., NBC).

¢ Good gravy and more on “Emeril’s Traditional Thanksgiving” (7 p.m., Food).

¢ Gabrielle mulls a career move on “Desperate Housewives” (8 p.m., ABC).

¢ Justin receives a disturbing missive on “Brothers and Sisters” (9 p.m., ABC).