Amazon Prime Video, 3:00 a.m. ET
SEASON PREMIERE: The actual Season 2 premiere of Transparent won’t occur until Dec. 11, when the entirety of the second season is available to stream on Amazon Prime. But beginning today, Amazon is offering Prime members a chance at a sneak peek: you can see the Season 2 premiere episode any time, starting now. Jeffrey Tambor stars, returning to his Emmy-winning role.
CW, 8:00 p.m. ET
Part 2 of 2. Look! Up on the tube! It’s a Flash! It’s an Arrow! It’s a backdoor pilot for a new DC Comics spinoff! Tonight’s episode of Arrow, concluding a story that began last night on The Flash, is all of those, setting up yet another new superhero series to premiere next year. What will they think of next? Usually, what someone already thought of at least once before…
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
This special first was shown on NBC in 1965, to mark Frank Sinatra’s 50th birthday. It’s Sinatra in a studio, and a small invited audience, backed by a full orchestra. That’s it, but who needs anything more? Now, somewhat amazingly, another 50 years have passed – and tonight, TCM repeats this special in its entirety, followed by many of Sinatra’s movie ventures, starting at 9 p.m. ET 1955’s Guys and Dolls, in which he co-stars with Marlon Brando.
NBC, 9:00 p.m. ET
Yesterday, ABC Family showed the 2000 live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas movie, starring Jim Carrey. Tonight at 9 ET, NBC presents the original animated Christmas Grinch special from 1966, also based on the beloved Dr. Seuss story and character. And this is indeed a special special: Chuck Jones directs. Boris Karloff narrates and plays the Grinch. June Foray, the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel on The Bullwinkle Show, plays Cindy Lou Who. And the producers are Chuck Jones and Ted Geisel – the latter producer better known by his pen name, Dr. Seuss.
Fox, 9:00 p.m. ET
FALL FINALE: Actually, “fall finale” is one of those recently coined terms, designed, I suspect, to make the network practice of vanishing for the holidays, and not showing any fresh episodes for a month or so, sound more like a favor than an imposition. Here, look! It’s the “fall finale” of Empire! See you again next year!
FX, 10:00 p.m. ET
We may or may not learn the identity of the Ten Commandments killer tonight, as on-air promos have teased – but after a week’s hiatus, at least we’ll get closer. And so will John (Wes Bentley), the man on the case…