Brief Presents: The Holidays on TV

11.26.2013

In both TV and decorations, Thanksgiving Day marks the beginning of the holiday season. With all that airs in holiday-related television, it can get overwhelming, so Brief presents an easy guide to what is happening where, all in the name of holiday cheer.

ABC:

Thanksgiving Day kicks off the holiday season for ABC, starting with "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" ("A Charlie Brown Christmas" will air Dec. 18) followed by "Lady Gaga & The Muppets' Holiday Spectacular," which features an uncomfortable love triangle between Kermit, Miss Piggy and Lady Gaga herself. (They also sing carols and holiday songs alongside Gaga's hits).

The next day, Shrek deals with the family during the holidays in "Shrek the Halls" and then ABC teams up with Hallmark for "Christmas in Conway," a film that has Andy Garcia building a Ferris wheel in his back yard. Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland presents the CMA Country Christmas special on Dec. 2, with country stars like Lady Antebellum performing with R&B great Mary J. Blige and "Duck Dynasty's" Willie Robertson.

ABC is also launching a reality competition series this year called "The Great Christmas Light Fight," premiering Dec. 9.

ABC Family:

ABC Family's annual 25 Days of Christmas starts off Dec. 1 with "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Other features include the "Toy Story" saga, "The Santa Clause" trilogy, "Mary Poppins" and original movie "Holidaze" starring Jennie Garth and Cameron Mathison. Sprinkled into the lineup are special holiday-themed episodes of "Melissa & Joey" and "Baby Daddy."

Cartoon Network:

Cartoon Network will present 24 hours of Christmas this year, beginning Christmas Eve, featuring "The Looney Tunes Show: 'A Christmas Carol'" and "Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale," leading up to the "Regular Show" Christmas Special.

CBS:

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," airing Nov. 26, marks the beginning of holiday-related programming on CBS. Then two days later, The Thanksgiving Day Parade will be hosted by "omg! Insider's" Kevin Frazier and Thea Andrews in New York. On Friday, Nov. 29, CBS will air the animated special "Hoops & Yoyo Ruin Christmas" leading into "The Elf On The Shelf: An Elf's Story," based on the popular children's book.

Saturday, the animated special "The Flight Before Christmas" will feature the voices of Emma Roberts and Norm MacDonald. "The Story of Santa Claus" follows on Saturday with the voices of Ed Asner, Betty White and Tim Curry.

"Yes, Virginia," the 2009 film based on the true story of an eight-year-old girl who wrote to The New York Sun asking "Is there a Santa Claus?" will air Dec. 6 on CBS, with Neil Patrick Harris, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Alfred Molina as voice actors. Celine Dion will air her holiday special to raise awareness for adoption from foster care. The "I Love Lucy Christmas Special" consists of two colorized episodes from the classic series.

CBS Daytime is also in the holiday spirit, with holiday episodes of "The Talk" airing Nov. 25-27 with celebrity chefs and party planners, and "The Price is Right" with a Thanksgiving episode on Nov. 27.

Disney:

Disney Channel's Fa-La-La-Lidays coincide with Disney XD's "Winter Wonder What?!" week-long programming, the first with holiday-related episodes of popular shows like "Jessie" and "Austin & Ally," the second also featuring holiday movies like "Disney's A Christmas Carol" and "Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation."

E!:

On Dec. 1, E! will air "Keeping Up with the Kardashians: A Very Merry Christmas," the first-ever Kardashian Christmas special.

Fox:

Fox's holiday-themed episodes include "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," "Dads," "The Mindy Project," "Glee," "Raising Hope" and a night of Christmas Animation Domination. The special "Dreamworks Dragons - Gift Of The Night Fury" is a spin-off of the Dreamworks hit that takes fans of the film to the village during the holidays.

Also airing is "Ice Age - A Mammoth Christmas," with the franchise's characters heading to the North Pole. And in the network Charlie Brown tradition, Fox will air "Happiness Is A Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown" on Dec. 20.

Hallmark Channel:

Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas, which the network airs each year, features re-airings and new original movies. This year's big ones include "Let it Snow" with Candace Cameron-Bure and Alan Thicke; Nicolette Sheridan in "The Christmas Spirit;" Sean Astin as Santa's assistant in "Santa Switch;" and "Finding Christmas," a story about a New Yorker and a southerner who swap houses over the holiday break.

History:

"A Very Shelby Christmas" will focus on Shelby the Swamp Man delivering gifts to everyone in the bayou. Lifetime:

"It's a wonderful Lifetime" this year includes originals starring everyone from Jordin Sparks and Ashanti to Ed Asner and Donald Faison.

"Dear Secret Santa," starring Tatyana Ali, is one of the network's first specials to premiere this season, followed by "Christmas in the City" with Ashley Williams and Ashanti; "Christmas on the Bayou" on Dec. 14 with Hilarie Burton, Tyler Hilton, Ed Asner and Randy Travis; and finally, "A Snow Globe Christmas" starring Alicia Witt, Donald Faison and Christina Milian.

NBC:

After the "SNL" Thanksgiving Special on Wednesday, Nov. 27, and the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thanksgiving Day, December has a lot in store for NBC holiday programming.

Dec. 4 will begin with Christmas in Rockefeller Center followed by the "SNL" Christmas Special. NBC is adding "The Sound of Music Live!" with Carrie Underwood and Stephen Moyer into its holiday mix this year. And performers Kelly Clarkson and Michael Buble, now an NBC Christmas vet, each have Christmas specials, during which they'll welcome other artists to help them ring in the season.

Amid rumors of a sequel (it's not happening), "It's a Wonderful Life" returns to NBC on Dec. 14 and again on Christmas Eve. The network is even bringing back "Hollywood Game Night" with Jane Lynch and guests Ray Romano, Cheryl Hines, Gavin DeGraw, Rachel Bilson, Andy Roddick and Brooklyn Decker.

PBS:

PBS has a variety of things planned for programming around the holidays, including Christmas at Belmont, a musical telecast from Nashville and a holiday special for "Call the Midwife" airing on Dec. 29. PBS KIDS has a holiday week Dec. 9-13, with "Thomas & Friends," "Curious George" and "Arthur."

Starz: No one can watch instant Christmas classic "Elf" too many times, and thus the Will Farrell-starrer returns in the form of a 24-hour marathon on Starz on Christmas Eve.

TBS:

The "Thanksgiving with 'Friends'" marathon will show 14 episodes of the beloved sitcom on Nov. 28, with all of the Thanksgiving-themed episodes of the show plus a few "we were on a break" episodes as a bonus. Then on Christmas Eve, TBS airs its traditional 24-hour "A Christmas Story" marathon.

TCM:

Turner Classic Movies aired 1947's "Miracle on 34th Street" as a special screening in New York outside Macy's Herald Square last week, and continues with holiday films with the 2011 documentary "A Night at the Movies: Merry Christmas!" Later on in December, TCM will also air "Meet Me in St. Louis," "A Christmas Story," "Ben-Hur," "The Greatest Story Ever Told" and "Love Affair."

The CW:

For the first time, The CW will broadcast the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2013 concert on Dec. 18, with artists including Robin Thicke, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez and Paramore.