Possibly because of a sly medley of “Silent Night” with his own “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis,” a 1979 episode of Tom Waits on “Austin City Limits” (PBS, 11 p.m., check local listings) makes for the perfect oddball Christmas delight.
Also on the setlist of the 1978 performance to promote his album “Blue Valentine,” is “Small Change,” “Romeo is Bleeding,” “I Wish I Was in New Orleans” and a medley of “Summertime” with “Burma Shave.” The band includes Herbert Hardesty, Arthur Richardson, John Thomassie and Greg Cohen.
Sunday Night Football comes a day early so as not to compete with Christmas Eve. It’s Vikings at Green Bay (NBC, 8:20 p.m.). Earlier, it’s Indianapolis at Baltimore (NFL, 4:30 p.m.).
The restoration of the shrine in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem believed to be the tomb of Jesus is chronicled in the documentary “Secrets of Christ’s Tomb” (National Geographic, 10 p.m.).
The one made-for-TV movie is of course on Hallmark, “Christmas Getaway” (Hallmark, 8 p.m.), in which Bridget Regan plays a single travel writer who has to share her holiday cabin with a widower (Travis Van Winkle) and his daughter because of a reservation mistake.
The backstory of “The Post” is told in the documentary “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg” (MSNBC, 9 p.m.).
This week’s “The Great Christmas Light Fight” (ABC, 8 p.m.) gets a replay.
A New Year’s Eve shooting is subject of a two hour “48 Hours” (CBS, 9 p.m.).
The training of service dogs takes up a couple of episodes of “Pit Bulls & Parolees: Waiting for a Forever Home” (Animal Planet, 8 and 9 p.m.), leading up to “Pit Bulls & Parolees: Marry Pitmas” (Animal Planet, 10:07 p.m.), where I hope they bark their carols.
Christmas episodes past are among the offerings in an all-day marathon of “Doctor Who” (BBC America, noon), leading up to this year’s Christmas Special Monday.
Crime TV gets into the spirit with shows like “Silent Night, Violent Night” (Investigation Discovery, 8 p.m.) and “Murder Under the Mistletoe” (Investigation Discovery, 9 p.m.).
The Brown family celebrates the season in their way on “Alaskan Bush People” (Discovery, 8 p.m.).
To tie in with the new movie, there’s the last one, “Pitch Perfect 2” (FX, 8 p.m.).
Miss Robbie tries retirement on “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” (OWN, 9 p.m.).
“Ten Days in the Valley” (ABC, 10 p.m.) returns to the scene of the crime.
A couple renews their wedding vows after 25 years on “Checked Inn” (OWN, 10 p.m.).
Christmas movies include “Tiny Christmas” (Nickelodeon, 7 p.m.), “Christmas Mall” (ION, 7 p.m.), “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (Freeform, 7:10 p.m.), “Scrooged” (AMC, 8 p.m.), “The Best Man Holiday” (FXM, 8 p.m.), “The Holiday” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.), “Office Christmas Party” (Showtime 2, 8 p.m.), “A Prince for Christmas” (ION, 9 p.m.), “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (Freeform, 9:20 p.m.), “Royal Christmas” (Hallmark, 10 p.m.) and “Black Nativity” (BET, 11:10 p.m.).
It might as well be a holiday movie: “Frozen” (Disney, 8 p.m.). And back for another taste: “The Wizard of Oz” (TNT, 8 p.m.).
The subtext of a holiday weekend is going home, so on Turner Classic Movies, there is “The Quiet Man” (8 p.m.), “My Favorite Wife” (10:30 p.m.) and the musical “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” (12:15 a.m.). Then, a subject that is not the subtext of the holiday weekend, roller disco, with “Xanadu” (TCM, 2:15 a.m.) and “The Unholy Rollers” (4 a.m.).
College bowl games today include Texas Tech vs. South Florida (ESPN, noon) in the Birmingham Bowl, Army vs. San Diego State (ESPN, 3:30 p.m.) in the Armed Forces Bowl, and Appalachian State vs. Toledo (ESPN, 7 p.m.) in the Dollar General Bowl.
Men’s college basketball includes Alabama A&M at Georgetown (Fox Sports 1, noon), Tennessee at Wake Forest (ESPN2, 12:30 p.m.), Ohio State vs. North Carolina (CBS, 1:30 p.m.), Connecticut at Auburn (ESPN2, 2:30 p.m.), Wagner at Dayton (NBC Sports, 3 p.m.), Kentucky vs. UCLA (CBS, 4 p.m.), Illinois vs. Missouri (ESPN2, 8 p.m.), Southern Illinois vs. Duquesne (Fox Sports 1, 8:30 p.m.) and San Francisco vs. Nevada (Fox Sports 1, 11 p.m.).
In the Diamond Head Classic, it’s Middle Tennessee vs. USC (ESPN2, 4:30 p.m.), New Mexico State vs. Miami (ESPN2, 10 p.m.) and Davidson at Hawaii (ESPNU, 12:30 a.m.).
A rerun of the Kuamail Nanjiani episode of “Saturday Night Live” (NBC, midnight) with Pink, comes on late, after football.