Ashanti plays a mean department store consultant and it’s up to Ashley Williams to bring back Santa, who is fired, and all the Christmas spirit, as well as landing the guy in the new cable Yuletide movie “Christmas in the City” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.).
It plays opposite “Santa Switch” (Hallmark, 8 p.m.), in which Ethan Erickson plays a dad who is losing his job and his family and tries to get a job as a mall Santa. The real Santa comes to his aid and the he starts working with the head elf played by Sean Astin.
Also on tonight: a couple of movies that premiered earlier this season, “Let It Snow” (Hallmark, 10 p.m.) and “Kristin’s Christmas Past” (Lifetime, 10 p.m.).
Miss the tree-lighting earlier this week? “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” (NBC, 8 p.m.) gets a rerun.
The mystery “Stoker” (HBO. 8 p.m.) with Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska, makes its cable TV premiere. Also on tonight; “Snitch” (Cinemax, 10 p.m.), the crime drama starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
The challenging Charlie Kaufman film “Synecdoche, New York” (Sundance, 8 p.m.), with Philip Seymour Hoffman, is also on.
“48 Hours” (CBS, 9 p.m.) dedicates its hour to Nelson Mandela coverage.
The Florida Keys are the site for films on Turner Classic Movies tonight with “Key Largo” (8 p.m.), “Reap the Wild Wind” (10 p.m.) and “Flipper” (12:15 a.m.). Then they make way for a couple of LSD movies, “Blue Sunshine” (TCM, 2 a.m.) and “The Big Cube” (4 a.m.).
Football once again takes over prime time with Michigan State vs. Ohio State (Fox, 8 p.m.) in the Big Ten championship, Duke vs. Florida State (ABC, 8 p.m.) in the ACC championship and Utah State at Fresno State (CBS, 10 p.m.) in the MWC championship. Also tonight is South Florida at Rutgers (ESPN2, 7:30 p.m.) and Stanford at Arizona State (ESPN, 7:45 p.m.) in the Pac 12 championship.
Earlier championship games include Marshall at Rice (ESPn2, noon) in the Conference USA, Jackson State vs. Southern (ESPNU, 2 p.m.) inthe SWAC and Missouri vs. Auburn (CBS, 4 p.m.) in the SEC. Other footballgames include Central Florida at SMU (ESPN, noon), Oklahoma at Oklahoma State (ABC, noon) and Texas at Baylor (Fox, 3:30 p.m.).
Men’s basketball includes Colgate at Georgetown (Fox Sports 1, noon), Texas at Temple (ESPNU,noon), UCLA at Missouri (CBS, 12:30p.m.), BYU at Massachusetts (CBS Sports, 1:30 p.m.) Bowling Green at Xavier (Fox Sports 1, 2 p.m.), Kansas at Colorado (ESPN2, 3:15 p.m.), Cincinnati at New Mexico (CBS Sports, 4 p.m.), Virginia at Green Bay (ESPNU, 5 p.m.), UNLV at Arizona (ESPN2, 5:15 p.m.), North Dakota at Butler (Fox Sports 1, 6 p.m.), Villanova at Saint John’s (CBS Sports), Alabama at South Florida (ESPNU, 9 p.m.) and New Mexico State at Gonzaga (ESPNU, 11 p.m.).
Widespread Panic plays a replay of “Austin City Limits” (PBS, 9 p.m., check local listings).
Paul Rudd returns to host a new “Saturday Night Live” (NBC,11:30 p.m.) with boy band One Direction as musical guest.