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All Times Eastern. PBS programming varies regionally.
Wednesday, Dec. 18
The Texas Cheerleader Murder Plot
Investigation Discovery, 9pm
This two-hour documentary delves into the notorious murder-for-hire plot concocted by Texas mom Wanda Holloway to eliminate her daughter’s cheerleading rival. Despite capturing the nation’s fascination and even inspiring a made-for-TV movie, the infamous 1991 case remains shrouded in mystery. This special seeks the truth, with Holloway’s daughter, Shanna, revealing for the first time the secret behind what happened.
TCM Birthday Tribute: George Stevens
TCM, beginning at 6am
Catch a Classic!
Legendary director George Stevens was born 120 years ago (in Oakland, California, on Dec. 18, 1904; he died in Lancaster, California, on March 8, 1975, at age 70). TCM remembers the filmmaker today with several movies, including a couple of his most renowned works along with lesser-known earlier ones. Featured titles are Vigil in the Night (1940), a drama led by Carole Lombard; A Damsel in Distress (1937), a musical comedy starring Fred Astaire, George Burns and Gracie Allen; The Nitwits (1935) and Kentucky Kernels (1934), two films led by the comedy duo of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey; Woman of the Year (1942), the classic romantic comedy starring Best Actress Oscar nominee Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy; the comedy Bachelor Bait (1934); and Penny Serenade (1941), the melodrama starring Best Actor nominee Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. The lineup concludes with the 1984 biographical documentary George Stevens: A Filmmaker’s Journey, written and directed by George Stevens Jr.
College Football
ESPN, beginning at 5:30pm Live
Bowl game action today on ESPN features the Boca Raton Bowl in Florida between Western Kentucky and James Madison and the LA Bowl in Inglewood, California, featuring California and UNLV.
NHL Hockey
TNT & truTV, beginning at 7pm Live
Wednesday night NHL action opens with the Philadelphia Flyers at the Detroit Red Wings on TNT and truTV. In the second game, the Florida Panthers are at the Minnesota Wild on TNT.
iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2024
ABC, 8pm
The year’s biggest artists perform in the annual Jingle Ball presented by iHeartRadio.
Survivor
CBS, 8pm
Season Finale!
Find out which castaway outwits, outplays and outlasts all others to win $1 million as Season 47 of the reality competition series wraps up.
The Masked Singer
FOX, 8pm
Season Finale!
Find out which costumed performer will be the last to be unmasked in the Season 12 finale.
Jimmy Fallon’s Holiday Seasoning Spectacular
NBC, 8pm
Jimmy Fallon searches for the holiday spirit in New York, exploring a surreal and magical apartment building where behind every door a different celebrity joins him for a comedic holiday musical performance.
The Floor
FOX, 9pm
Season Finale!
See who conquers the Floor and takes home the grand prize in the Season 2 finale of this game show hosted by Rob Lowe. FOX has ordered a third season.
Don’t Hate Your House With the Property Brothers
HGTV, 9pm
Season Finale!
In “Big Delays,” Drew and Jonathan Scott face their toughest challenge yet as they take on their parents’ house in Los Angeles. Nearly a year in, the project is riddled with guilt and anxiety as delays stretch on, and the dream of their new family home remains out of reach. With emotions running high, the Brothers must balance their parents’ wishes with their own expectations, navigating the highest-stakes renovation of their careers.
A “Saturday Night Live” Christmas
NBC, 9pm
Enjoy two hours of the most memorable Christmas-themed sketches from SNL’s long history. The special encores on Monday, Dec. 23.
NOVA: “Lost Tombs of Notre Dame”
PBS, 9pm
In this episode of the long-running docuseries, archaeologists and historians study remains found in caskets under Notre-Dame de Paris.
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Thursday, Dec. 19
Queens of Christmas
BET+
Original Film!
Doris (Terri J. Vaughn) and Julia (Vanessa Bell Calloway), lifelong friends and feuding neighbors, learn the true meaning of sisterhood and the holidays while hilariously competing for the annual title of “Queen of Christmas.”
Virgin River
Netflix
Season Premiere!
Against the backdrop of Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack’s (Martin Henderson) romantic spring wedding season, Season 6 of this romantic drama promises fresh twists and turns, escalating love triangles, delightful wedding drama and uncovered secrets from Mel’s father’s past that transport viewers to the magic and mystique of Virgin River in the 1970s.
Laid
Peacock
New Series!
A woman (Stephanie Hsu) finds out her former lovers are dying in unusual ways and must go back through her sex timeline to confront her past in order to move forward, with the help of her friend (Girls’ Zosia Mamet).
Star of the Month: Mickey Rooney
TCM, beginning at 6am
Catch a Classic!
Turner Classic Movies’ monthlong Thursday celebration of beloved star Mickey Rooney continues with another daylong marathon today, featuring a wide range of titles from the 1950s to ’70s, and also some character types and film genres that may seem unexpected for the star but definitely show his acting range. One good example of that leads off today’s lineup: the film noir Quicksand (1950), which finds Rooney playing against type as a garage mechanic who descends into a life of crime. Other highlights today include another film noir, The Strip (1951); King of the Roaring 20s: The Story of Arnold Rothstein (1961, aka The Big Bankroll), a crime biopic led by David Janssen as the titular mobster; The Black Stallion (1979), the family drama that earned Rooney his fourth and last Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor; several musicals featuring the famous onscreen pairings of Rooney and Judy Garland: Babes in Arms (1939), which earned Rooney his first Oscar nod (for Best Actor), Strike Up the Band (1940), Babes on Broadway (1941), Girl Crazy (1943) and Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry (1937), the first Rooney/Garland collaboration; and more.
The Great Christmas Light Fight
ABC, 8pm
Season Finale!
The winning family will be chosen for this season’s Christmas light competition in the final episodes of the season.
Ghosts: “A Very Arondekar Christmas”
CBS, 8pm
In the new two-part holiday episode “A Very Arondekar Christmas,” a leaky water heater threatens to ruin holiday plans as Sam and Jay (Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar) prepare to host Jay’s hard-to-please family.
NFL Football: Denver at Los Angeles Chargers
Prime Video, 8:15pm Live
The Los Angeles Chargers host the Denver Broncos in a Thursday Night Football matchup at SoFi Stadium.
Nate Bargatze’s Nashville Christmas
CBS, 9pm
Join Nate Bargatze for a night of comedy and musical performances spotlighting the heart and spirit of Nashville during the holiday season.
Lost Treasures of the Bible
Nat Geo, 9pm
New Series!
This immersive series follows archaeological teams across the Middle East as they embark on a new season of excavations, uncovering the cities and civilizations featured in the Bible. The first episode is “Nineveh — City of Sin,” exploring the new discoveries being made in that city.
Elsbeth
CBS, 10pm
Midseason Finale!
The adventures of attorney Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston) take a break following the midseason finale “Toil and Trouble.” Elsbeth returns from winter vacation with new episodes Jan. 30.
Barry Manilow’s A Very Barry Christmas
NBC, 10pm
In this hourlong special that first aired in 2023, singer, composer and songwriter Barry Manilow performs his classic hits as well as several holiday favorites including “Jingle Bells,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Feliz Navidad” and “White Christmas.” “I think what we’ve got is the best of some of my hits and the best of these Christmas songs,” Manilow shared. “It’s very entertaining. It’s a real feel-good music show, something that I think we all need right now.”
Friday, Dec. 20
Ferry 2
Netflix
Original Film!
This film features the return of drug lord Ferry Bouman (Frank Lammers) and continues the events of the third season of the Belgian crime drama Undercover. After losing it all, Ferry vanished into the shadows. On the surface, he is doing well, but that all changes when his second cousin, Jezebel van Kamp (Aiko Beemsterboer), pleads for help. Redemption beckons, but Ferry knows one secret must remain buried: his part in the murder of Jezebel’s father.
The Six Triple Eight
Netflix
Feature Film Exclusive!
Written and directed by Tyler Perry, this drama is inspired by the first and only Women’s Army Corps unit of color to serve overseas during World War II. Given an extraordinary mission and united in their determination, these unsung heroes delivered hope and shattered barriers. Kerry Washington, Ebony Obsidian, Milauna Jackson and Shanice Shantay lead the cast.
College Football
ABC & ESPN, beginning at 12pm Live
Two college football bowl games today from Florida are the StaffDNA Cure Bowl in Orlando featuring Ohio vs. Jacksonville State, and the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa featuring Tulane vs. Florida, both on ESPN. The first College Football Playoff first-round game (ABC and ESPN) takes place tonight between Indiana and Notre Dame. The three remaining first-round games are tomorrow on ABC, ESPN and TNT.
National Christmas Tree Lighting
CBS, 8pm
The National Park Service and National Park Foundation present the official tree lighting and an all-star lineup of musical performances on the Ellipse in President’s Park in Washington, D.C.
Shrek the Halls
NBC, 8pm
Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas reprise their voice roles from the hit Shrek feature films in this 2007 half-hour holiday special, whose story takes place between Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After.
Classic Christmas Marathon Begins
TCM, beginning at 8pm
Catch a Classic!
Turner Classic Movies’ annual daylong leadup to Christmas begins this evening. Starting tonight, and running through Dec. 25, enjoy several classic movies that are either all about Christmas, or at least feature it in some way. Tonight’s lineup offers Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), In the Good Old Summertime (1949), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), Bachelor Mother (1939), Penny Serenade (1941) and Blossoms in the Dust (1941).
Josh Groban & Friends Go Home for the Holidays
CBS, 9pm
Josh Groban and special guests perform from the Bram Goldsmith Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles to celebrate family and raise awareness of adoption from foster care.
Children Ruin Everything
The CW, 9pm
Two back-to-back episodes air tonight: In “Ego,” Felix (Logan Nicholson) gets in trouble for defacing school property, and in “Memories,” Astrid (Meaghan Rath) realizes how hard she was on Nisha (Veena Sood) during her teenage years and tries to make up for it.
Saturday, Dec. 21
A Christmas Carol
TCM, 10:30am
Catch a Classic!
Among the countless film and television adaptations of Charles Dickens’ classic 1843 novella A Christmas Carol that have been produced, this MGM release from 1938 has been among the most beloved and among the ones most frequently seen on television. Given how familiar the tale has become, and how most adaptations hit a good number of the basic story points known and loved by readers and viewers, when it comes to watching different interpretations of A Christmas Carol, what usually matters most is what the various actors bring to the legendary characters. The cast in this relatively brief (only 69 minutes long) version — which is one of the more family-friendly adaptations, generally excising most of the darker and bleaker aspects of Dickens’ story — is fun, led by Reginald Owen as the miser Ebenezer Scrooge; real-life spouses Gene and Kathleen Lockhart as Bob Cratchit and his wife (with their real-life 13-year-old daughter June Lockhart, making her screen debut, in an uncredited role as a Cratchit daughter); Terry Kilburn as Tiny Tim Cratchit; Leo G. Carroll as the ghost of Jacob Marley; Ann Rutherford as the Spirit of Christmas Past; Lionel Braham as the Spirit of Christmas Present; and D’Arcy Corrigan as the Spirit of Christmas Future.
College Football Playoff: First Round
ABC, ESPN & TNT, beginning at 12pm Live
The College Football Playoff first round concludes today with SMU at Penn State and Clemson at Texas on TNT and Tennessee at Ohio State on ABC/ESPN. Winners advance to the quarterfinal round Dec. 31-Jan. 1 on ESPN.
College Basketball
CBS, ESPN, FOX & FS1, beginning at 12pm Live
Marquee college hoops action today includes Marquette at Xavier (FOX), Syracuse at Maryland (ESPN), Florida Atlantic at Michigan State (FS1), Wake Forest at Clemson (ESPN), Villanova at Creighton (FS1) and Purdue at Auburn (ESPN). The CBS Sports Classic at New York City’s Madison Square Garden has UCLA vs. North Carolina and Ohio State vs. Kentucky, both on CBS.
NFL Football
NBC & FOX, beginning at 1pm Live
A special Saturday afternoon twin bill of Week 16 NFL games has the Houston Texans at the Kansas City Chiefs on NBC, followed by the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Baltimore Ravens on FOX.
A Country Music Christmas
UPtv, 7pm
Original Film!
Songwriter Brooke (Alexandra Harris) has the decision of a lifetime to make when a charming executive makes promises of fortune and glory that require leaving her best friend and writing partner behind.
The Waltons’ Homecoming
The CW, 8pm
John-Boy (Logan Shroyer) embarks on a life-altering journey to find his father on Christmas Eve in this 2021 TV movie.
Christmas in Scotland
Great American Family, 8pm
Original Film!
On a trip to Scotland, an installation designer finds herself helping a small community create a festive light display, despite the interventions of a wealthy heir. Forced to work together, they unite to bring seasonal magic to the town. Jill Winternitz and Dominic Watters star.
Happy Howlidays
Hallmark Channel, 8pm
Original Film!
Mia (Jessica Lowndes), an editor for the Seattle Tourism Board website, finds herself unexpectedly navigating the holidays alone when she encounters a stray dog. After meeting Max (played by the to-be-announced winner of Finding Mr. Christmas), a dog shelter owner, she agrees to let his ailing dog find solace with her newfound companion in exchange for him showing her some hidden gems in Seattle, forcing her to discover new perspectives while forming a meaningful connection.
Saturday Night Live: “Martin Short/Hozier”
NBC, 11:30pm Live; also livestreams on Peacock
Martin Short returns for his third individual SNL hosting appearance, his fifth time overall. He is joined by Hozier, making his second appearance as musical guest. SNL will return with new episodes starting Jan. 18.