Science Channel, 7:00 a.m. ET
Science Channel has gotten a lot of mileage out of this 2002 Joss Whedon sci-fi series, but – like all Whedon series – it holds up extremely well to repeated viewings. Since this show came and went (too quickly) on Fox, for example, Nathan Fillion, who plays the Rockford-like Captain Mal, has risen to stardom in the title role of ABC’s Castle, and Morena Baccarin, as the for-hire “companion” Inara, has spent the past two years playing Mrs. Brody on Showtime’s Homeland. But this time around, watch, in particular, for the “Our Mrs. Reynolds” episode at 1 p.m. ET. It features a tour de force chameleonic performance by guest star Christina Hendricks (pictured), who, at this point, still was five years away from playing office sexpot Joan on Mad Men.
BET, 8:00 a.m. ET
This 1977 ABC miniseries, a record-breaker whose finale ranks as one of the most popular scripted TV events ever televised, is repeated today by BET in its entirety. The story begins at 8 a.m. ET, with LeVar Burton as Kunta Kinte being captured in Africa and transported to the United States aboard a slave ship – and ends several decades later, in the concluding episode at 6:30 p.m. ET, with the triumphant birth of a new generation.
NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET
This is the second of NBC’s two annual showings of this 1946 holiday fantasy film, a dark drama that inspired a hundred episodic TV variations, predicted the real-estate bubble and ruthless banking systems, and gave Jim Henson the impetus to name two of his beloved Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie.
TBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
The annual 24-hour Christmas Story marathon begins at 8 p.m. ET, with Peter Billingsley still craving that BB gun, and that one-legged lamp still a prominent part of the household.
TNT, 9:00 p.m. ET
This month I’ve highlighted several versions of the Charles Dickens classic holiday story. Here’s one more: the 1999 version starring Patrick Stewart as a perfectly gruff, and perfectly British, Ebenezer Scrooge. I give it the highest of Christmas Carol ratings: four humbugs.