Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET
MINISERIES PREMIERE: This is the third time animators have taken a stab at presenting a version of author Richard Adams’ deep, allegorical story about rabbits in the English countryside. The narrative covers everything from hero’s journey quests to a rabbit-world equivalent of Nazi domination. This new version, presented in four parts by Netflix, opens with a highly stylized visualization of the rabbit myth, then proceeds to present its rabbit heroes, and villains, in computer-animated photorealistic form. That’s an improvement, at least, upon the 1999 animated series – but not upon the 1978 animated movie, which, though it was made 40 years ago and with mostly hand-drawn animation, remains the best version of Watership Down to date. It, too, started with a highly stylized preamble – but its subsequent images were more lovely and poetic, and its voices (especially Zero Mostel as a seagull) especially charming. The voices on this new version include Ben Kingsley, James McAvoy, Peter Capaldi and Rosamund Pike, so it’s by no means a low-rent enterprise or a subpar effort – but I’d still rather steer you to the 1978 feature film, which you can stream for a few dollars on Amazon Prime Video. And which, as a bonus, features Art Garfunkel’s gorgeous rendition of “Bright Eyes.” Special warning: Not for young viewers, though you might otherwise think so.
Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET
Tonight on The Simpsons, Fox is repeating the show’s first full-length episode, a Christmas special that first expanded Matt Groening’s vision of the Simpsons as a mostly feuding family seen in interstitial breaks during Fox’s The Tracey Ullman Show. “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” was the name of that initial episode, which was televised on Dec. 17, 1989. The animation will look a lot rougher around the edges than it does today, but the wit is just as fresh, and the voices just as delightful. One personal note: I reviewed this episode for The New York Post way back then, and gave one of the few rave reviews (The Tracey Ullman Show received another) I was able to write regarding a show on the then-new Fox network, which, like the Post, was owned by Rupert Murdoch. Another personal note: The show opens with Bart Simpson sabotaging a music-class choir rehearsal by changing the lyrics to a Christmas carol to “Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin lays an egg.” That so delighted by son, Mark, who was then 5 years old, that when our family went to Braddock’s Tavern in New Jersey for a holiday dinner, at one of those places where it’s a colonial atmosphere and women go from table to table singing madrigals and carols, I tipped them substantially to do the Bart Simpson version of “Jingle Bells.” I’m going to ask my kids if they still remember that. I sure do. Oh, and Matt Groening once was one of the regular readers of TVWW. If you still are, Matt, congratulations on a great, amazingly long run -- and it's not over yet!
PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
In England, a lot of the beloved TV shows that take off for a few months or more during the winter nonetheless take the time and effort to serve up new annual holiday episodes. Here’s the latest one from Call the Midwife. Check local listings.
Showtime, 9:00 p.m. ET
Family matters continue to get even more strained, as Mickey tries to enlist yet another of his sons into a questionable scheme. Meanwhile, Ray’s daughter continues to learn more about him, and isn’t very comfortable with what she’s learning.
Showtime, 10:00 p.m. ET
MINISERIES CONCLUSION: Part 5 was a wonder to behold, with some especially impressive photography. Expect no less from tonight’s concluding Part 6, which provides the literal finishing touches.
TCM, 10:00 p.m. ET
Saved for Christmas Eve eve, here’s the classic 1951 movie version of Charles Dickens’ classic Christmas tale, with Alastair Sim as a perfectly miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. Which reminds me of yet another family holiday memory: One year when I was a teenager, and my dad was working until midnight one of the nights before Christmas, he asked me to decorate the house with some outdoor lights around the front bay window. I did – by writing out, in blinking giant letters, the word “HUMBUG.”