Syfy, 6:00 a.m. ET
Today and tomorrow, to end one year and begin another, Syfy is venturing back into The Twilight Zone. Take advantage, and share with the next generation. There are scandalously few shows from TV’s Golden Age, or thereabouts, that are given wide exposure to a younger audience. In my college classes, even The Twilight Zone, despite its annual exposure in these marathons, has been seen by fewer than half the class – and it’s one of the older shows most familiar to them. So watch, especially with a younger relative, and share the joys of talking dolls, tiny aliens, and medical personnel with grotesque faces.
PBS, 8:00 p.m. ET
SPECIAL: The traditional New Year’s Eve specials are available in the usual places, with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen on CNN, Ryan Seacrest on ABC, and whoever’s on NBC – probably Carson Daly. But the special I’d like to recommend for tonight is this Live from Lincoln Center offering, Celebrating Sondheim, which gathers singers and musicians to perform from the canon of Broadway’s best living composer. (And that praise is too faint. When he dies, Stephen Sondheim instantly will become Broadway’s best dead composer. He’s that good.) Among the special performers to watch, and hear, tonight: Katrina Lenk, who will star this spring in an imported version of the bold British production of Sondheim and George Furth’s Company. Under Marianne Elliott’s direction, this new Company takes the male lead, of perennially single 30-year-old Manhattanite Bobby, and reinvents him as her: perennially single 30-year-old Manhattanite Bobbie. It may be too much to hope that she sings that musical’s show-stopping climax, “Being Alive,” on this program… but if so, what a way to end the year. Check local listings.
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
As background, or foreground, this compilation of the best scenes from Hollywood’s classic MGM musicals actually is a compilation of compilations. It begins at 8 p.m. ET with 1974’s That’s Entertainment!, then continues with 1976’s That’s Entertainment Part 2!, showcasing everyone from Judy Garland and Gene Kelly to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. And by the time this dazzling showcase is over, so is 2019. Happy New Year!