FX, 8:00 p.m. ET
Just in case the Mayans were right, why not turn on your TV and go out with a bang? (And an ironic one, at that.) This disaster movie, made three years ago – when 2012 wasn’t yet a date on all our checks – suggests that solar flares will trigger a sudden planetary apocalypse. John Cusack stars. Bad movie, but perfect timing. Why not go out with a smile? It's the end of the world as we know it... and I feel fine.
Sundance, 8:15 p.m. ET
It must be John Cusack’s night. Not only can he be seen here in 1989’s
Say Anything, an iconic romance movie for the post-Boomer generation, but that film is followed, at 10 p.m. ET, by another Cusack classic:
High Fidelity, Stephen Frears’ 2000 character study about a record-store owner who’s intense about his love for music
and his relationships with women. (And let's not forget the aforementioned disaster flick,
2012.)
ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET
Part I of 2: Tonight and next Friday (if there is one), when ratings don’t matter, ABC deigns to devote chunks of prime-time to a news program that’s actually worthwhile – unlike, say, John Quinones’ worthless What Would You Do? hidden-camera “ethics show.” Amanpour visits ancient sites of importance to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, explains why, and explores their treatment and impact today.
Fox, 9:00 p.m. ET
A fresh episode this close to the holidays? Yes, because Fox can’t burn off these final hours of Fringe quickly enough, even though, currently, it’s the network’s best drama. In tonight’s episode, Walter (John Noble) and the others try to jog the memory of a Boy Observer to glean more clues about how to save, and change, the world. Is it just me, or does this series have more memory-loss issues than The Golden Girls?
PBS, 9:00 p.m. ET
Mormons haven’t made the news much since Election Day – but here’s a prime prime-time showcase: the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s annual music special of Christmas carols and sacred music, straight from Salt Lake City. Featured this year: actress Jane Seymour. Check local listings.