ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET
SPECIAL: Kristin Chenoweth, who won a Tony Award playing Charlie Brown’s little sister, Sally, in the Broadway revival of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown 16 years ago, is one of the musical performers in this new special, which celebrates the original telecast of the first Peanuts animated TV special – and that was 50 years ago, on Dec. 9, 1965. Sarah McLachlan, Boyz II Men and Pentatonix also appear, and the host is Kristen Bell (pictured), a mean vocalist herself. When I think of Charlie Brown, I don’t think of Boyz II Men, but anything celebrating one of TV’s all-time best specials is fine with me. Especially if an uncut version of that special follows immediately, as it does tonight.
Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET
FALL FINALE: The first half of the Gotham season ends with a showdown of evil armies, and the promise by the show’s producers that not everyone will come out alive. But we know most of them will, because they show up in the comics – so no matter how bad it looked last week for Alfred, Jim Gordon, and the future Batman, all of whom were captured, beaten, stabbed, or some combination of the three, they’re destined to live to fight another day. Others, though, indeed are at risk…
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Satyahit Ray’s The Apu Trilogy – consisting of three movies from the 1950s, widely acclaimed as masterpieces of world cinema – is presented tonight on TCM, in an extremely rare showcase. Two of the three movies have never been shown on TCM before, and all three are being televised in new, pristinely restored Criterion versions. Ray, who co-wrote, produced and directed the films, which are adapted from the novels of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay. Note that Ravi Shankar, years before he crossed the path of The Beatles, provided the film score. The Apu Trilogy tells of a young Bengali boy named Apu, growing up at the turn of the 20th century. The first film in the series, 1956’s Pather Panchali, stars 8-year-old Subir Banerjee (pictured) as Apu, and is shown at 8 p.m. ET. Next up, at 10:15 p.m. ET, is 1957’s Aparajito, about a slightly older Apu. And the trilogy concludes at 12:30 a.m. ET with 1959’s Apur Sansar. Different actors played Apu in all three films, but the trilogy story is a complete one. And if you still want more after that’s over, there’s a documentary on Satyahit Ray shown by TCM at 2:30 a.m. ET.
ABC, 9:00 p.m. ET
The best animated TV special ever made – and 50 years later, to see the half-hour program intact, on commercial broadcast TV, takes an hour, to make room for enough of those commercials. But whatever the cost, so to speak, it’s a family tradition well worth continuing and passing on. A Charlie Brown Christmas, music and message and all, is perfect.
History, 9:00 p.m. ET
I haven’t previewed this new History documentary, so I don’t know if it’s fawning, highly critical, or something in between. But it’s a biography that, at least, is well timed, and ratings for it are likely to be huuuuge.
NBC, 10:00 p.m. ET
SNEAK PREVIEW: This is a warning, not a recommendation. I loved America Ferrera in Ugly Betty, and love her still. But this new NBC sitcom, which premieres officially on January 4 after this oddly scheduled 10 p.m. ET double-header preview, is bad and unfunny – even by NBC’s current low standards. It takes place in a generic we-sell-everything superstore, but all it’s really selling is cardboard characters and lazy, recycled jokes. Midway through the first of two episodes tonight, Ferrera’s character, who stars as the store’s floor manager, reacts to a disaster by screaming, “Shut it down! Shut it all down!” I suggest you take her advice. Or, in advance, take mine, and don’t watch at all.
FX, 10:00 p.m. ET
This is such a marvelous episode of Fargo – and this one makes great use of Jeffrey Donovan, late of Burn Notice, as the quick-to-anger Dodd Gerhardt. It also makes great use of Kirsten Dunst as loopy, self-obsessed Peggy Blomquist. And the best news is, it makes great use of them at the same time, with him as her captive, and with the power dynamic flipped, and fantastic. Oh, and give Jesse Plemons, who plays Dunst’s butcher husband, lots of credit: He’s now snagged, and performed, colorful and complicated roles on three terrific TV series: first Friday Night Lights, then Breaking Bad, and now Fargo. Wow.