ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET
The best Christmas TV special ever made – for that matter, the best holiday special, period – gets one more unedited airing in 2012, thanks to ABC. Why CBS, the original network to present this Charles Schulz animated delight, ever let it go to a rival network is an amazing example of a stupid, stupid move. A Charlie Brown Christmas may age, but it will never get old.
NBC, 9:00 p.m. ET
SEASON FINALE: A winner is crowned, and two of the four judges, Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera, say their goodbyes to the swiveling red chairs. They’ll be replaced, next year, by Usher and Shakira, as Green and Aguilera step down to spend more time with their families. (Just kidding about that last part – but they will be leaving, if only temporarily.) Guess what will get more screen time tonight: the winning voice or the departing judges?
BBC America, 10:00 p.m. ET
How does this happen? In this new special, temperamental chef Gordon Ramsay opens up his home to a few select guests, and invites TV cameras in, too, to give advice on how to prepare a stress-free holiday meal. If Ramsay acts the way he does on all his other shows, that seems positively antithetical – and impossible. Especially since one of the guests is – ready? – David Hasselhoff. Quick: Hide the eggnog.
HBO, 10:00 p.m. ET
These end-of-year wrap-up specials are always worth watching. Not only does host Bryant Gumbel reconvene all his major correspondents to present, update and comment upon their favorite stories of the year, but he also leads a roundtable discussion about the year’s big topics – which, in football alone, should cover major stories about violence both on and off the field.
TCM, 10:00 p.m. ET
This 1944 film musical is noteworthy for several reasons. On screen, it stars Judy Garland, Margaret O’Brien and Mary Astor in a musical that launched two pop standards: “The Trolley Song” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” And offscreen, it’s directed by Vincente Minnelli. This is the film on which he met Garland, whom he later married. One result of their later collaborations: daughter Liza Minnelli.