CBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
Two new episodes are presented back-to-back – both of them geared to the holidays. And if you’ve been watching this show regularly, you know the holiday episodes tend to be pivotal, and often a little tender. Keep your eye on Robin (Cobie Smulders), who’s lost her way romantically of late.
NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET
SEASON FINALE: Part 1 of 2. The finale actually stretches out over tomorrow as well – that’s when we get the voting results, preceded by yet another live performance show, featuring celebrity guest artists. But if you care more about the contestants than the judges or the guest stars, tonight’s the night to watch. That may, however, put you in the minority. When all the smoke and mirrors have cleared on this show, it’s the judges, not the singers, who walk away as the big winners.
HBO, 9:00 p.m. ET
This 2012 film short stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a dark comedy directed and written by her husband, Brad Hall. The Veep star plays a wife and mother whose children are about to leave the nest empty – a nest she’s been filling with romantic dreams of Paris. But when the time comes, her husband (D.W. Moffett) doesn’t want to go, and doesn’t want her any more, either. So she packs off to Gay Paree anyway, where fantasy clashes with reality. This short movie is darker than you might expect, and more vigorously subtitled – but concludes with a pair of sudden twists. One satisfying, one bizarre – but definitely not mainstream.
NBC, 9:31 p.m. ET
SNEAK PREVIEW: Capitalizing on the flow-through audience inherited from The Voice finale, NBC is presenting a sneak peek of one of its new 2013 comedies. But not the pilot episode – one of the later ones already produced, which may make it more of a challenge. Josh Gad, from The Book of Mormon, is an executive producer and star of this show, which is a sitcom set in the White House. Also starring: Jenna Elfman and Bill Pullman.
Flix, 10:00 p.m. ET
I’d love to report that this is an ultra-rare telecast of the brilliant 1986 Dennis Potter British miniseries – but it’s not. It’s an equally ultra-rare telecast of the 2003 Americanized movie version, which, even though Potter himself wrote the screenplay, is hampered by being severely shortened, poorly cast, and not at all inventively staged. Still, it has moments. And it also has Robert Downey, Jr. in the leading role, which almost makes up for the supporting-player miscasting of Mel Gibson as the psychiatrist and Katie Holmes as Nurse Mills.