The Broadway producer director of shows that include “West Side Story,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Cabaret,” “Compay,” and “Evita” gets a profile, “Harold Prince: The Director’s Life” on “Great Performances” (PBS, 9 p.m., check local listings). Among the interviewees are Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Mandy Patinkin, John Kander and Angela Lansbury.
Having explained George Clinton in a previous episode this season, “Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus” (Cinemax, 10 p.m.) focuses on his flashy bass player, Bootsy Collins.
Rupert Grint stars in the imported British series “Sick Note” (Netflix, streaming) a black comedy about a guy misdiagnosed with cancer, who uses it to his advantage.
The latest to check into “Room 104” (HBO, 11 p.m.) is a woman plagued by ailments who is comforted by a disembodied woman’s voice in the wall.
Christmas romances have been playing all month but here comes the onslaught of TV Christmas specials, more than a month before the holiday:, with the 1969 “Frosty the Snowman” (CBS, 8 p.m.) with its 1995 sequel “Frosty Returns” (CBS, 8:30 p.m.); the 1970 “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” (ABC, 8 p.m.); the 1966 animated “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (NBC, 8 p.m.), now 40 minutes to accommodate additional commercials; and last year’s “Dreamworks Trolls Holiday” (NBC, 8:40 p.m.) and, from 2000, “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” (CW, 9 p.m.).
Hallmark continues to borrow tropes of Jane Austen to sell its generic and tiresomely repetitive Christmas romance movies. After last month’s “Christmas at Pemberly Manor,” here’s “Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe” (Hallmark, 8 p.m.), in which Lacey Chabert, the heroine, is named Darcy.
Opposite it is the made-for-TV holiday romance “Poinsettias for Christmas” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.) which has the same plot: Young woman played by Bethany Joy Lenz returns home to help family concern only to find love. It’s followed by another new one, “Every Other Holiday” (Lifetime, 10 p.m.), in which a divorced mom takes her ex-husband home for the holidays for the sake of the kids.
Keeping true to its original mission – women in peril – is the other made-for-TV movie of the night, “Killer Vacation” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.).
The biggest holiday movie on TV this season may be Kurt Russell as Santa Claus on the big budget “The Christmas Chronicles” (Netflix, streaming), which started yesterday.
Also on tonight: “Love Actually” (TBS, 8 p.m.) and “Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas” (USA, 8 p.m.).
On the Spanish import “Fugitive” (Netflix, streaming), a woman tries to escape her husband’s enemies by pretending to have been kidnapped.
PTSD is reported upon from the vantage point of the reporter, Ben Anderson, on “Vice” (HBO, 7:30 p.m.).
On “Z Nation” (Syfy, 9 p.m.), the heroes arrive in the agricultural heartland
The mansion of wealthy millennials gets a redesign on “Sweet Home” (Bravo, 9 p.m.).
A Tribeca loft gets a redesign on “Get a Room with Carson and Thom” (Bravo, 10 p.m.).
Scarlet and Vanessa battle the Third Elder on “Van Helsing” (Syfy, 10 p.m.).
“Ghost Adventures” (Travel, 9 p.m.) figures correctly that there’s a lot of war dead in Vicksburg, Miss.
Basketball has Houston at Detroit (NBA, 7 p.m.) and Utah at Lakers (NBA, 10:30 p.m.).
Hockey includes Rangers at Philadelphia (NBC, 1 p.m.) and Chicago at Tampa Bay (NBC Sports, 7:30 p.m.).
A whole lot of college men’s basketball includes Villanova vs. Oklahoma State (ESPN2, 11:30 a.m.), Oklahoma vs. Dayton (ESPN, 11:30 a.m.), Wisconsin vs. Virginia (ESPN, 2 p.m.), Miami vs. Fresno State (ESPN2, 2 p.m.), LSU vs. Florida State (ESPN2, 4:30 p.m.), La Salle vs. Northwestern (ESPNU, 4:30 p.m.), Louisville vs. Marquette (ESPN2, 7 p.m.), George Mason vs. Cincinnati (CBS Sports, 7 p.m.), Middle Tennessee vs. Stanford (ESPNU, 7 p.m.), Cleveland State at Ohio State (Fox Sports 1, 8 p.m.), Tennessee vs. Kansas (ESPN2, 9 p.m.) and Baylor vs. Mississippi (CBS Sports, 9:30 p.m.).
There’s more than a few college football games, too, with Houston at Memphis (ABC, noon), Nebraska at Iowa (Fox, noon), Texas at Kansas (Fox Sports 1, noon), Akron at Ohio (CBS Sports, noon), Buffalo at Bowling Green (ESPNU, noon), Arkansas at Missouri (CBS, 2:30 p.m.), Virginia at Virginia Tech (ABC, 3:30 p.m.), East Carolina at Cincinnati (CBS Sports, 3:30 p.m.), Oregon at Oregon State (Fox Sports 1, 4 p.m.), Oklahoma at West Virginia (ESPN, 8 p.m.) and Washington at Washington State (Fox, 8:30 p.m.).
Daytime Talk
Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest: Kevin Hart, Faith Ford (rerun). The View: Jason Segel, Geraldo Rivera (rerun). Ellen DeGeneres: Benedict Cumberbatch, Cher, Yara Shahidi, Justin Willman (rerun). Wendy Williams: Jeremy Parsons, Mercedes Sanchez, Nico Tortorella. The Real: Mario (rerun).
Late Talk
All reruns: Stephen Colbert: Lady Gaga. Jimmy Kimmel: Emily Blunt, Taron Egerton, Kane Brown. Jimmy Fallon: Justin Timberlake, Sunny Suljic, Pistol Annies. Seth Meyers: Tracy Morgan, David Redneck. James Corden: Cher, William H. Macy. Carson Daly: Jameela Jamil, Suki Waterhouse, Abra, the Record Company, Penn Badgley.