“American Idol” contestants are ancient compared to the talents showcased in the charming short film “The Music in Me: Children’s Recitals From Classical to Latin, Jazz to Zydeco” (6 p.m. today, HBO).

The 30-minute film includes home-movie clips, documentary interviews and concert performances. The talents range in age from 7 to 11. Most are articulate and even eloquent about their love of music and the role it plays in their young lives. Nathan performs Camille Saint-Saen’s “The Swan” on the cello and then discusses the piece with surprising depth of feeling. He is 11.

Elena, 10, is seen playing the flute with a professional jazz ensemble. Neither of her parents plays an instrument. Una, 11, channels her love of guitar and pop music into a strident protest song called “Global Warming.”

Guyland, 7, has been playing the accordion since age 2 and is nothing short of spellbinding. A descendent of an acclaimed Louisiana Zydeco musician, Guyland claims that his great-grandfather visits him in his dreams and teaches him new musical tricks. An older relative jests that voodoo may explain this nocturnal inspiration. “Good voodoo,” he adds.

¢ Filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert spent three years in the jungle documenting a single big cat to produce the film “Eye of the Leopard” (8 p.m. Sunday, National Geographic). They find their leopard when he is only 8 days old. Over the next three years, they follow him, his mother and other cubs as they contend with hostile baboons, hyenas and other predators. We also see how leopards and lions compete for food and cooperate for survival.

Today’s highlights

¢ Major League Baseball divisional playoffs (7 p.m., Fox).

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

¢ “Little People, Big World” (7 p.m., TLC) enters its second season with a birthday party.

¢ A town’s football obsession proves daunting in the pilot episode of “Friday Night Lights” (8 p.m., NBC).

Sunday’s highlights

¢ Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., CBS): airline safety and no-fly rules; ousted Hewlett Packard execs Carleton Fiorina and Pat Dunn.

¢ Competitions in Vietnam on “Amazing Race 10” (7 p.m., CBS).

¢ Major League Baseball Divisional Playoffs (7 p.m., Fox). If a game is not required, Fox will broadcast the 2003 thriller “The Rundown” (7 p.m., Fox), starring the Rock and Christopher Walken.

¢ The Chargers host the Steelers on “Sunday Night Football” (7:15 p.m., NBC)