Blame it on Dan Brown. Now history can’t simply be learned, appreciated or discussed. It has to be “decoded.” “Brad Meltzer’s Decoded” (9 p.m., History) will refract past events through a prism of lost, hidden and secret symbols and conspiracy theories. Over the course of a season, “Decoded” examines the mystery of the White House’s missing cornerstone. And some believe that Thomas Jefferson’s use of codes may have been responsible for the death of Meriwether Lewis of the famous team of Lewis and Clark. What secrets and cryptic meanings are hidden in plain sight on the Statue of Liberty? Did Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth survive and outlived his victim by more than 40 years?

The History Channel will unspool ten episodes of “Brad Meltzer’s Decoded.” Why 10? Is there significance in that number of episodes beginning on the second day of the 12th month of the tenth year of first decade of the 21st century? Does it all add up to a conspiracy?

l Kevin Sorbo, (“Andromeda,” “Hercules”) stars in the 2010 holiday bauble “The Santa Suit” (7 p.m., Hallmark). In this spin on “Scrooge” meets “Trading Places” by way of the “Santa Clause,” Sorbo’s Drake Hunter (CEO of Hunter Toys) has to leave his fancy suits and lifestyle behind once he slips into a Santa suit, taken for a vagrant and forced to live on his wits at a homeless shelter, dependent on the kindness of strangers he never much respected.

Holiday highlights

• Tim Allen stars in the 1994 comedy “The Santa Clause” (6 p.m. and 8 p.m., Family).

• The voices of Fred Astaire and Mickey Rooney animate the 1970 special “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” (7 p.m., ABC).

• A cruel TV exec (Bill Murray) learns the errors of his ways in the 1988 comedy “Scrooged” (7 p.m., and 9 p.m., AMC).

• Rob Lowe and Kimberly Williams star in the 2002 made-for-television weepy “The Christmas Shoes” (8 p.m., Lifetime).

Tonight’s other highlights

• Death by the dashboard lights on “Bones” (7 p.m., Fox).

• “High School Musical” (7 p.m., Disney) star Vanessa Hudgens sticks to the all-too-familiar in the 2009 musical “Bandslam” (7 p.m., The Movie Channel).

• Jack thinks Liz should enter therapy on “30 Rock” (7:30 p.m., NBC).

• Evidence from a slain teen points to a mystery suspect on “CSI” (8 p.m., CBS).

• Michael becomes consumed by geopolitics on “The Office” (8 p.m., NBC).

• The team discovers a device that allows them to communicate between realms on “Fringe” (7 p.m., Fox). “Fringe” moves to Friday nights in January.

• Todd suffers from football withdrawal on “Outsourced” (8:30 p.m., NBC).

• Cooking competitions can be murder on “The Mentalist” (9 p.m., CBS).

• Michael steps up to save Nate on “Burn Notice” (9 p.m., USA).

Cult choice

• Suburban swingers (Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver) couple joylessly, oblivious to their angst-ridden children in “The Ice Storm” (7 p.m., IFC) in director Ang Lee’s glum 1997 take on the not-so-happy face of the early 1970s.