The difference between the UK and the US is that on Christmas, families there crowd around the TV for special holiday editions of their favorite shows; in the U.S., all the action is at the movie houses, where many big movies open.
Here, the many returns of the day means reruns of the day, sometimes arranged into marathon events. Our saving grace are a handful of new specials, imported from England.
The most popular may be a new, two-hour Christmas “Doctor Who” (BBC America, 9 p.m.). It’s the first one for current doctor Peter Capaldi, above, who meets Santa Claus.
On public television, a “Call the Midwife Holiday Special” (PBS, 8 p.m., check local listings) brings to life the longtime narrator of the series Vanessa Redgrave. It’s followed by a holiday version of “Vicious” (PBS, 9:20 p.m., check local listings) which features a couple of other heavy hitters, Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi, as bickering partners.
“Black Mirror” (DirecTV, 9:30 p.m.) tells darker holiday tales to open its third season with guest actors Jon Hamm and Rafe Spall, kicking off the third season with something called “White Christmas.” If you don’t have the service, catch the first season of the “Twilight Zone”-line anthology series streaming on Netflix).
Among reruns and replays of early holiday specials there is a showcase today for the NBA with a handful of games all day: Washington at Knicks (ESPN, noon), Oklahoma City at San Antonio (ABC, 2:30 p.m.), Cleveland at Miami (ABC, 5 p.m.), Lakers at Chicago (TNT, 8 p.m.) and Golden State at Clippers (TNT, 10:30 p.m.).
Last year’s animated hit was so big they’ve renamed the Disney Christmas Parade the “The Disney Parks Frozen Christmas Celebration” (ABC, 10 a.m.).
It’s far from shark week, but there’s a night of it anyway with “Air Jaws: Fin of Fury” (Discovery, 8 p.m.), “Monster Hammerhead” (Discovery, 9 p.m.) and “Lair of the Mega Shark” (Discovery, 10 p.m.).
The CNN star still has come commitments to his old network, so here’s Anthony Bourdain in “No Reservations, U.S. Files, Vol. 1” (Travel, 9 p.m.), in which he visits California and Louisiana.
Holiday marathons include “Buying Alaska” (Destination America, 8 p.m.), “The Simpsons” (FXX, 8 p.m.) and “The Carbonaro Effect” (TruTV, 8 p.m.). Terrible ones include “Bad Girls Club” (Oxygen, 7:25 p.m.) and “Party Down South 2” (CMT, 8 p.m.).
It’s all Mel Brooks on Turner Classic Movies with “High Anxiety” (8 p.m.), “Silent Movie” (10 p.m.), “To Be Or Not to Be” (11:45 p.m.), “The Twelve Chairs” (1:45 a.m.) followed by Brooks’ appearance on “The Dick Cavett Show” (3:30 a.m.).
But mostly, it’s a last shot at Christmas. A Grinch double feature on ABC pairs the original 1966 “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (ABC, 8 p.m.) with the Jim Carrey live action version “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (ABC, 8:30 p.m.).
Tonight, you can watch both the original “Elf” (ABC Family, 7 p.m.) and this season’s new animated musical version of it, “Elf: Buddy’s Musical Christmas” (NBC, 9 p.m.). This year’s special “How Murray Saved Christmas” (NBC,8 p.m.) was pretty good too.
Also: “Back to Christmas” (ION, 7 p.m.), “Mr. Miracle” (Hallmark, 7:30 p.m.), “The 12 Dogs of Christmas” (The CW, 8 p.m.), “Under the Mistletoe” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.), “Home Alone” (ABC Family, 9 p.m.), “Christmas Under Wraps” (Hallmark, 9 p.m.), “A Perfect Christmas List” (ION, 9 p.m.) and “Santa Con” (Lifetime, 10 p.m.).
The disaster movie “Christmas Icetastrophe” (Syfy, 9 p.m.) gets a replay, right after “Snowmageddon” (Syfy, 7 p.m.).
For that original Christmas appeal, here’s “The Greatest Story Ever Told” (Ovation, 8 p.m.).
Animated fare tonight includes “Bee Movie” (Bravo, 7 p.m.), “Kung Fu Panda 2” (FX, 7 p.m.) and “Shrek Forever After” (FX, 9 p.m.).
Other movies tonight include “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” (Showtime, 7:45 p.m.), “Julie & Julia” (OWN, 8 p.m.), “Evan Almighty” (E!, 8 p.m.), “Shawshank Redemption” (Encore, 8 p.m.), “Now You See Me” (HBO, 8 p.m.) and “Hot Tub Time Machine” (Comedy Central, 8 and 10:15 p.m.).
I can understand a replay of “Christmas with the Tabernacle Choir and Deborah Voight” (PBS, 10 p.m., check local listings), but replaying the tree-lighting of “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” (NBC, 10 p.m.) is only an opportunity to see the decline of Mariah Carey’s voice in the opening song (her range seems to have fallen into her cleavage). How about a tree-taking-down special?
“Comedy Central’s All-Star Non-Denominational Christmas Special” (Comedy Central, 6 p.m.) is repeated, a pretty good compendium of current stars of the network (Key & Peele, Nick Kroll, Nathan Fielder) as well as suddenly former ones (Stephen Colbert).
Amid a full night of reruns on the late talk shows, catch the “The Late Show with David Letterman” (CBS, 12:35 a.m.), a repeat of Friday’s holiday show with the final performance there by Darlene Love of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”
The all-day 007 marathon includes “You Only Live Twice” (Epix, 7:15 a.m.), “For Your Eyes Only” (Epix, 9:15 a.m. and 10 p.m.), “Goldfinger” (Epix, 11:25 a.m. and 8 p.m.), “Live and Let Die” (Epix, 1:15 p.m.), “Skyfall” (Epix, 3:20 p.m.), “The Living Daylights” (Epix, 5:45 p.m.).
The John Wayne marathon features “The Horse Soldiers” (AMC, 9 a.m.), “The Quiet Man” (AMC, noon), “Big Jake” (AMC, 3 p.m.), “The Cowboys” (AMC, 5:30 p.m.), “True Grit” (AMC, 8:30 p.m.) and “The Sons of Katie Elder” (AMC, 11:30 p.m.) and “The Searchers” (AMC, 2:30 p.m.)
Men’s college hoops today in the Diamond Head Classic has Ohio vs. Nebraska (ESPNU, 4 p.m.), Colorado at Hawaii (ESPN2, 6:30 p.m.) and George Washington vs. Wichita State (ESPN2, 8:30 p.m.) in the championship game.
Daytime Talk
Kelly & Michael: Ben Stiller, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Disney On Ice (rerun). The Talk: Wanda Sykes, Big Boy, Camila Alves, Erin Kennedy (rerun). Ellen DeGeneres: Kerry Washington, Tony Goldwyn, Scott Foley, Guillermo Diaz, Darby Stachfield, Joshua Malina, Katie Lowes, Jeff Perry, Bellamy Young (rerun). Wendy Williams: Nicole “Snooki” LaValle, Johnny Gill (rerun). Meredith Vieira: Josh Groban (rerun). Queen Latifah: Denzel Washington (rerun).
Late Talk
David Letterman: Josh Brolin, Jay Thomas, Darlene Love (rerun). Jimmy Fallon: Whoopi Goldberg, Rashida Jones, Tom Colicchio (rerun). Jimmy Kimmel: Mindy Kaling, Ronda Rousey, Rick Ross (rerun). Seth Meyers: John Goodman, Asif Mandvi, Interpol (rerun). Craig Ferguson: Quentin Tarantino, Toni Trucks (rerun). Carson Daly: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, the Front Bottoms, Alex Essoe (rerun). Tavis Smiley: Peter Yarrow & Noel “Paul” Stookey (rerun). Conan O’Brien: Dana Carvey, Cristin Milloti, Gary Gulman (rerun).