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BEST BETS FOR DECEMBER 25, 2007
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TBS, all day The 24-hour marathon of showings of 1983's A Christmas Story continues... and continues, and continues. Darren McGavin as the harried dad is a particular treat, but there's nothing about this movie - set at a time when no child's toy was recalled for being potentially dangerous - that doesn't amuse. After all, what's more innocent than a little boy's covetous quest for a BB gun as a Christmas gift? Peter Billingsley stars. |
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Various stations, 9 a.m. ET The Yule Log TV tradition, begun in 1966 by New York station WPIX-TV, continued until the 1990s, when the station finally shelved it as an annual tradition: hours of Christmas carols and crackling fire noises, played without commercial interruptions as a film loop played of a roaring fire. It was revived, after fan intervention and a groundswell from this new thing called the Internet, in 2001, and has grown in popularity ever since. Last year, on CW11 (the new designation for WPIX), the Yule Log show was the most-watched program of the entire day. You can find it, or its equivalent, on various local stations today, and on Comcast cable networks, and you can even stay warm by carrying a Yule Log fire with you today. CW11 has a web page where you can download the Yule Log free on your video iPhone. Yule be glad you did. |
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NBC, 8 p.m. ET This special two-hour Christmas edition includes lots of specially packed suitcases and gifts - think Deal or No Deal crossed with a bit of The Price Is Right - and other holiday gimmicks. Best of all, perhaps, is that all the case-toting Deal ladies are dressed in appropriate Christmas attire. |
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TCM, 8 p.m. ET This 1961 costume epic gives Jeffrey Hunter the role of Jesus Christ in this reverent retelling of the New Testament story. And look who's playing Barabbas: familiar TV character actor Harry Guardino. |
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Fox Movie Channel, 10 p.m. ET Edmund Gwenn stars as a particularly authentic department-store Santa in this 1947 holiday classic. Maureen O'Hara stars, and so does a very, very young Natalie Wood. But that's not all: Another familiar face in the cast is William Frawley, who played Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy. |
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LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN CBS, 11:35 p.m. ET I begged for this, and here it is: Failing a last-second special dispensation from the striking Writers Guild of America, the folks at Letterman's Worldwide Pants have scheduled a rerun of one of his traditional late-night holiday specials. Darlene Love is here to sing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," and Jay Thomas is here to hurl the football at the top of the Late Show Christmas tree. Since this is from last year, there's no suspense as to whether he hits that monster meatball, or Love hits those monster notes - but it's all fun anyway. If, by some chance, you've never seen one of these annual holiday Letterman specials, please correct that oversight tonight. Consider it my gift to you, for visiting today. Merry Christmas! |
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