This series is about to start Season 5, but is serving one extra, special episode after the recent conclusion of Season 4. This is a special, stand-alone Christmas episode, set in 1960, and with everyone preparing for holiday festivities… but with babies, as well as presents, expected to be delivered. Check local listings.

2015

Dec

DOCTOR WHO By David Bianculli

The latest Doctor Who Christmas special is presented tonight, and it’s called The Husbands of River Song. River (Alex Kingston) returns, and she’s paired with the new incarnation of the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) for the first time. But whether it is the first time, for these two, has a lot to do with their relative time streams, which, at this point, continue to be somewhat of a mystery. Perhaps tonight’s episode will explain it, in between the crashing spaceships, headless robots

2015

Dec

IT'S ANOTHER BRITISH INVASION: THE BEATLES ARE STREAMING! THE BEATLES ARE STREAMING! By David Bianculli

Our own David Hinckley already has written about the significance of The Beatles finally offering their music and video catalogue on streaming sites... But where to begin, with such a voluminous and outstanding catalogue at your disposal? I suggest here: a relative rarity called “Hey Bulldog,” recorded by The Beatles in 1968...

2015

Dec

SUDDENLY, THE BEATLES ARE NOT THE WAY THEY USED TO BE By David Hinckley

Forty-five years after they broke up, the Beatles have joined the main stream. As of 12:01 a.m. Christmas Eve, the 224 songs recorded by the Fab Four in the 1960s finally will be available on nine major music streaming services...

2015

Dec

THAT TIME OF YEAR: MY TV TOP 10, BOTTOM 5, AND A 'FRESH AIR' CHAT WITH TERRY GROSS By David Bianculli

It’s that time of the year: holiday visits and visitors, annual Top 10 TV lists, and, tonight on NPR’s Fresh Air, my end-of-2015 debriefing with Terry Gross. Lists, links and holiday greetings follow…

2015

Dec

A CHRISTMAS STORY MARATHON By David Bianculli

Tonight’s Best Bets will be all Christmas, all the time – or, at least, all devoted to Christmas specials and special presentations on this evening’s TV schedules. Start, at 7 p.m. ET on TNT, with the now-annual tradition of a 24-hour nonstop marathon showing of 1983’s A Christmas Story, about little Ralphie’s quest for a Red Ryder B.B. gun. This marathon also runs, beginning at 8 p.m. ET, on sister network TBS, so for a solid day, tonight and tomorrow, you can watc

2015

Dec

MR. MAGOO'S CHRISTMAS CAROL By David Bianculli

Televised in 1962, this was TV’s first animated Christmas special – and it’s still a personal favorite, thanks to a surprising fidelity to the original Charles Dickens story, an even more surprising aptness to Jim Backus’ Mr. Magoo as Ebenezer Scrooge, and some delightful original songs by Jule Style and Bob Merrill. (Two years later, they’d write the music for Broadway’s Funny Girl.) Play your cards right, and change your channels at the right time to the ri

2015

Dec

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE By David Bianculli

Another TV holiday movie tradition, but this one, these days, is repeated only a few times each season, on various networks in the NBC Universal family. Tonight, on NBC, the 1946 Frank Capra film, starring James Stewart, gets a well-deserved, perfectly placed, prime-time showcase on Christmas Eve.

2015

Dec

TV’S FUNNIEST ANIMATED STARS: A PALEY CENTER SPECIAL By David Bianculli

Interviews with animators are interspersed with samples from their work, in this overview looking at the 40 most iconic animated stars… as ranked, at least, by the Paley Center. And though it's not strictly a holiday special, it's shown on Christmas Eve... and if it doesn't include mention of the Peanuts and Mr. Magoo Christmas specials, then I say humbug to it.

2015

Dec

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS By David Bianculli

After watching 1962’s Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol on the CW, flip to ABC at 9 p.m. ET, to enjoy a repeat showing of 1965’s A Charlie Brown Christmas, the other must-see Christmas holiday animated special. Let Linus explain the meaning of Christmas, and you can pretty much leave it at that.

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