Come and get your Christmas Cookie as Taraji P. Henson hosts the special “Taraji’s White Hot Holidays” (Fox, 8 p.m.), with songs from Smokey Robinson, Pharrell Willams, Alicia Keys, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg, Ne-Yo, Jussie Smollett, TLC, Tyrese Gibson and Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC among others.
A couple of the better animated holiday specials in recent years play back to back: “Toy Story that Time Forgot” (ABC, 8 .m.) and “Shrek the Halls” (ABC, 8:30 p.m.).
Online, Bryan Cranston returns as the voice of an aging superhero on the special “SuperMansion: War on Christmas” (Crackle, streaming), a stop-motion animation parody that looks like a “Robot Chicken” spin-off, featuring voices from Seth Green, Keegan-Michael Key and Jim Parsons.
Thursday Night Football has Oakland at Kansas City (NBC, 8:25 p.m.).
The life and work of Pablo Picasso is explored in the documentary “Picasso, the Legacy” (Ovation, 7 p.m.), co written by a grandson of the Spanish artist.
Thirty volunteers undergo training by Special Ops vets on the new reality show “The Selection: Special Operations Experiment” (History, 10 p.m.). It comes after the third season premiere of “Alone” (History, 9 p.m.).
It’s bread night on “The Great American Baking Show” (ABC, 9 p.m.), but that also means Chrismas stollen.
With Ginny reaches her pitching limit on “Pitch” (Fox, 9 p.m.).
Network synchronicity: John tries out for “Survivor” On “Life in Pieces” (CBS, 9:30 p.m.).
“DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” (The CW, 8 p.m.) travels to 1927 Chicago.
Lucifer still needs to be defeated on “Supernatural” (The CW, 9 p.m.).
“Pure Genius” (CBS, 10 p.m.) has its Christmas episode.
The 15 remaining chefs try a shrimp boil on “Top Chef” (Bravo, 10 p.m.).
A gunshot victim goes missing on “Nightwatch” (A&E, 9 p.m.).
Pepe catches Egypt in a lie on “Growing Up Hip Hop” (We, 9 p.m.).
“Gangland Undercover” (A&E, 10 p.m.) begins its second season. And yet I don’t remember a thing about the first.
Burton pursues the woman in red on “Falling Water” (USA, 10 p.m.).
Designers don’t quite expect the challenge they receive the week before the finale on “Project Runaway” (Lifetime, 9 p.m.).
Jack must serve as social media manager on “The Great Indoors” (CBS, 8:30 p.m.).
Say goodbye to “Notorious” (ABC, 10 p.m.), the one fall series that almost certainly won’t be back after tonight’s season finale.
Christmas movies include “Elf” (Freeform, 7 p.m.), “A Christmas Story 2” (CMT, 8 p.m.), “A Dream of Christmas” (Hallmark, 8 p.m.), “Tyler Perry’s a Madea Christmas” (Oxygen, 8:30 p.m.) and “A Christmas Carol” (Freeform, 9 p.m.),
Turner Classic Movies has a night of movies based on Tennessee Williams plays by showcasing a rare 1966 TV broadcast of “The Glass Menagerie” (8 p.m. and 12:15 a.m.) that hasn’t been seen in a half century, featuring Shirley Booth — “Hazel” herself — as Amanda Winfield, and Hal Holbrook as her son. Also: “Period of Adjustment” (10:15 p.m.) and “A Streetcar Named Desire” (2:30 a.m.).
NBA action includes Minnesota at Toronto (TNT, 7 p.m.) and San Antonio at Chicago (TNT, 9:30 p.m.), and in the D-league, Delaware at Westchester (ESPNU, 7 p.m.).
Men’s college hoops include Fordham at St. John’s (Fox Sports 1, 6:30 p.m.), Vanderbilt at Middle Tennessee (CBS Sports, 7:30 p.m.), Iowa State at Iowa (ESPN2, 8 p.m.) and Nicholls at Florida State (ESPNU, 9 p.m.).
Daytime Talk
Kelly Ripa: Annette Bening, Rita Ora, Sarah McLachlan, Scott Wolf. The View: Jodie Sweetin, Andrea Barber. The Talk: Lori Laughlin, Lindsay Miller, Grace Vanderwaal. Chelsea Handler: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garrett, Gael Garcia Bernal, Miley Cyrus. Harry Connick: Jonathan & Drew Scott, Bellamy Young. Ellen DeGeneres: Will Smith, Macklemore. Wendy Williams: Laurie Schacht. The Real: Pitfall, Evelyn Lozada.
Late Talk
Stephen Colbert: Octavia Spencer, Travis Scott. Jimmy Kimmel: Jennifer Aniston, Tom Ford, Frenship. Jimmy Fallon: Robert De Niro, Pharrell Williams. Seth Meyers: Taraji P. Henson, Lola Kirke, Bret Baier, Abe Cunningham. James Corden: Stephen Fry, Lukas Graham. Carson Daly: Damien Gazelle, Black Lips, Sean Teale. Trevor Noah: DJ Khaled. Conan O’Brien: T.J. Miller, Anna Camp, the Lemon Twigs.