By OnMilwaukee Staff Writers   Published Nov 19, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Watch Tim Cuprisin's On Media on Time Warner Cable's Wisconsin on Demand Channel 411, with new episodes posted Fridays.

In the long-ago dark ages before the digital TV era, you'd need cable or satellite to get wall-to-wall help with your Thanksgiving dinner preparations.

But thanks to digital sub-channels, even a simple set of rabbit ears now opens you to a world of turkey possibilities on Milwaukee Public TV's Channel 36.4. Starting at 5 a.m. Saturday with "Burt Wolf: A Taste of Freedom," the channel offers a  24-hour marathon of cooking programs.

The channel, "MPTV Create," airs a 24-hour schedule of cooking and how-to shows, some of which also air on the main Milwaukee Public TV stations.

Of course, there's still a whole Food Network, if you're a cable or satellite viewer, and Thanksgiving is one of its biggest seasons.

Among the countless Thanksgiving shows being aired over the next week is a series of specials called "Dear Food Network."  The episode airing tonight at 8 handles viewer questions on Thanksgiving deserts. Friday at 8, the show looks at Thanksgiving "disasters."

Fine Living is Martha Stewart's cable and satellite home, and she has a couple specials airing Saturday. "Martha Stewart's Thanksgiving Special" airs at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, 8 p.m. Sunday, and 7 p.m. Wednesday. "Martha Stewart’s Thanksgiving Desserts" airs at 9 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Sunday.

And since Martha runs a media empire, you can also find her on Sirius XM Satellite radio.  She offers a "Thanksgiving Hotline" starting Monday, to listener questions and tips for holiday cooking. It'll air through Wednesday from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sirius channel 112 and XM channel 157, repeating at 6 p.m. nightly on the subscription radio service.

On TV: Channel 12's Portia Young details how she lost 50 pounds on the ABC station's 10 p.m. news tonight.  "I was hesitant to do this story," she said on the air Wednesday. Yes, we're still in November sweeps until next Wednesday night.

  • HBO has ordered an eighth season of "Real Time with Bill Maher." It'll be back Feb. 19 in a an earlier slot, 8 p.m. Fridays.
  • NBC is moving the Emmy Awards telecast several weeks, scheduling it Aug. 29 instead of the usual mid-September air date.
  • Comedy Central is giving "Daily Show" funnyman John Oliver his own show. Six episodes of "John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show" will start airing in January. He's also a regular on NBC's "Community."

Nora loses, this time: Talented Nora Collins is out of the running  in Country Music Television's "Music City Madness" video competitions.

But don't count out the Brookfield 15-year-old, who continues to perform 6 p.m. Saturdays at the Potbelly's at 124th and Capitol Drive. She's almost old enough to audition for "American Idol."

Nora ended her run in the competition with a classy thank you video, for fans who voted for her. The video follows below.