Fireworks, food and William Katt: July 4 weekend TV

The Independence Day weekend on TV means what it always does: Fireworks shows on the broadcast networks, hot dog-eating on ESPN and a whole bunch of all-day marathons on cable.

Here's a rundown of some of the highlights from the long weekend.

Fireworks

- "The Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular" on CBS features host Craig Ferguson and a performance by Toby Keith. 10 p.m. ET Sunday (July 4).

Justin Bieber and members of the "Twilight: Eclipse" cast make the "Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular," hosted by Alison Sweeney and Nick Cannon, the most squeeee!-worthy of the July 4 specials. Enrique Iglesias and LeAnn Rimes will be there too. It's at 9 p.m. Sunday on NBC.

Jimmy Smits hosts "A Capitol Fourth" on PBS from Washington, featuring former "American Idol" finalist David Archuleta, Gladys Knight, Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker. Check local listings.

Food

- The 95th annual Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest airs live on ESPN at noon ET/9 a.m. PT Sunday. Defending champ Joey Chestnut is back, but his Japanese rival, Takeru Kobayashi, will not because of a contract dispute. Yes, big-name competitive eaters have contracts.

- An eight-hour "Iron Chef America" marathon starts at 8 p.m. ET Saturday on Food Network.

- Get your fill of "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern" with a nine-hour marathon on the Travel Channel starting at 6 p.m. Saturday. On Sunday and Monday, you can watch lots and lots of "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations," leading up to the premiere of a new season at 10 p.m. Monday.

Marathons

- Syfy has a whole weekend of themed programming on tap: Disaster movies (including "NYC: Tornado Terror" and "2012: Supernova") fill the schedule on Saturday, 20 episodes of "The Greatest American Hero" starting at 9 a.m. ET Sunday. Monster movies -- including "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus" (starring Debbie Gibson!) air during the day Monday, followed by all three "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.

- Save for an infomercial block in the wee hours of Sunday, Discovery is all "Deadliest Catch" all the time Saturday and Sunday. "Dirty Jobs" fills the air on Monday.

- Comedy Central has stand-up specials all day Saturday and Sunday, featuring the likes of Lewis Black, Dane Cook, Aziz Ansari, Daniel Tosh and Lisa Lampanelli.

- MTV has eight hours of "16 and Pregnant" on Saturday, six hours of "Made" on Sunday and eight hours of "True Life" on Monday.

- "Behind the Music" fills VH1's schedule for 14 hours starting at 11:30 a.m. Sunday. The marathon includes several airings of a new installment about Jennifer Lopez, plus Courtney Love, Jennifer Hudson and 50 Cent.

- On TLC, 12 hours of "Dateline: Real Life Mysteries" kicks off at 3 p.m. Saturday. "Extreme Forensics" and "Untold Stories of the E.R." dominate Sunday, and Monday is all about "Cake Boss."

- A&E has "Dog the Bounty Hunter" all night Saturday (starting at 6 p.m.), "Criminal Minds" from noon to 11 p.m. Sunday and "Intervention" from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday. Uplifting!

- AMC is celebrating July 4 with The Duke, airing John Wayne movies including "The Wings of Eagles," "McLintock!," "The War Wagon" and "The Shootist" all day Saturday and Sunday. Also, five episodes from the first season of "Mad Men" unspool starting at 8 p.m. Monday.

- After a full day of "House" on Saturday, USA will feature "NCIS" from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday.

- It wouldn't be a long weekend without a "Law & Order" marathon. TNT obliges with 10 hours starting at 10 a.m. Monday.

- Spike TV is showing all six "Star Wars" movies in their episode-number order (which means "The Phantom Menace" is up first) beginning at 9 a.m. Sunday. Then on Monday, the full "Band of Brothers" miniseries begins at 9:30 a.m.

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Photo illustration by Zap2it. 'Greatest American Hero' courtesy ABC