Holiday TV Schedule 2019

It’s time for Christmas to have its annual TV takeover.

That starts with one parade (New York City on Thanksgiving morning) and continues through another (Disney parks on Christmas morning), four weeks later. In between are cartoons, competitions, music and movies.

Lots of movies, actually. In a typical week, there are at least nine new ones – three on the Hallmark networks, three on Lifetime, two on Ion, one on UPtv – plus approximately one zillion reruns.

Indeed, Hallmark and Lifetime have already been filling their days with Christmas. And that’s before Dec. 1, when Freeform starts its annual “25 Days of Christmas.”

Each year, there are a few changes. Now we find more competition shows; people compete in holiday decorating, singing, wrapping, baking and beyond. We find two of the standbys – Frosty and Rudolph – being shared by two networks, CBS and Freeform. And we find Fox with a counterpunch: “The Moodys” (originally “Moody Christmas”) is a six-episode comedy with a semi-dysfunctional family.

Mostly, though, things will be the same – Grinch and Charlie Brown and Santa and such. Expect some happy endings.

PARADES

Dec. 13: Hollywood Christmas Parade, 8-10 p.m., CW. This claims (Hollywood-style) to be “the largest Christmas celebration in America.” Mario Lopez is grand marshal.

Dec. 25: Christmas Day Parade, 10 a.m. to noon, ABC. That’s from the Disney Parks, with Matthew Morrison, Emma Bunton and Jesse Palmer hosting.

COMEDY

Dec. 4: “The Moodys,” 9 and 9:30 p.m., Fox, continuing Dec. 9 and 10. Originally called “Moody Christmas,” this is a six-episode series, with Denis Leary and Elizabeth Perkins as parents of three grown children. One (Jay Baruchal) lives at home; the others arrive for the holidays.

Dec. 5: “Saturday Night Live Christmas Special,” 9-11 p.m., NBC.

Dec. 9: “Studio C,” 8 p.m., BYUtv. Comedy sketches riff on holiday shows.

Dec. 20: “I Love Lucy” Christmas special, 8 p.m., CBS. As always, this has two episodes with color added by computer – the 1956 Christmas one and one other. This year, the second one (also from 1956) is set in Paris.

Dec. 22: “Kids Say the Darnedest Things” special, 8 p.m., ABC, with kids telling us about Christmas.

CARTOONS

(First, the classics people always ask about)

Dec. 2: “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer,” 8-9 p.m., CBS.

Dec. 3: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” 8 p.m., NBC; also 8 p.m. Dec. 25 on NBC. Also, on TNT at 7:30 p.m., Dec.7; 7 p.m., Dec. 13; 7:30 p.m. Dec. 17. And on TNT, 8 p.m. Dec. 14.

Dec. 5 and 17: “A Charlie Brown Christmas” 8 p.m., ABC. The hour is rounded out with short “Charlie Brown Christmas Tales.”

Dec. 6 and beyond: “Frosty” and “Rudolph” back-to-back on Freeform: 8 and 8:30-9:30, Dec.6; 6:15 and 6:45 p.m. Dec. 7; 5:45 and 6:15 p.m. Dec. 20; 12:55 and 1:25 p.m. Dec. 21; 8:20 and 8:50 p.m. 17 Dec. 24; 3:10 and 3:40 p.m. Dec. 25.

Dec. 14: “Rudolph” (8 p.m.) and “Frosty” (9), CBS, with the “Frosty” sequel at 9:30.

OTHER KEY HOLIDAY CARTOONS

Nov. 29: “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer,” 8 p.m., CW; repeats Dec. 19.

Dec. 1: “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town,” 8 p.m., ABC. It then moves to Freeform: 4:45 p.m. Dec. 3; 1 p.m. Dec. 4; 11:50 a.m. Dec. 21; 9:55 p.m. Dec. 24; 4:45 p.m. Dec. 25.

Dec. 11: “Simpsons” holiday marathon, 3:20 p.m, Freeform. Also, 11 a.m. Dec. 14, 1:10 p.m. Dec. 18; and midnight as Christmas Eve becomes Christmas Day.

Dec. 12: “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure” and “Toy Story That Time Forgot,” 8 and 8:30 p.m., ABC. “Olaf” is also at 9 p.m. Dec. 17, with “Shrek the Hall” at 9:30.

Dec. 14: “Trolls Holiday,” 8:30 p.m., NBC.

Dec. 14: “Elf on the Shelf,” 8:30 p.m., TBS; Also, 7 p.m. Dec. 17, TNT.

Dec. 19: “Prep & Lansing” and its sequel, 8 and 8:30 p.m., ABC. These are fast-paced shows about Santa’s advance crews. Also, the sequel is 9 a.m. Dec. 16 and Dec. 25 on Freeform.

Dec. 20: “Toy Story That Time Forgot,” 11:25 p.m., Freeform; also, 4:35 p.m. Dec. 21.

Dec. 22: “I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown,” 7 p.m., ABC.

COMPETITIONS

Nov. 29: “Sugar Rush Christmas,” Netflix. It’s a six-episode fight to make holiday confections.

Nov. 29: “Top Elf,” 8 p.m., Nickelodeon. Seven kids compete to be Santa’s top helper; that continues for three more Fridays, then concludes Saturday, Dec. 21.

Dec. 2, 9, 16: “The Great Christmas Light Fight,” 8 and 9 p.m., ABC. Here are wildly expansive (and expensive) outdoor displays. Each hour, a judge (Carter Oosterhouse or Taniya Nayack) sees four homes and gives one $50,000.

Dec. 2, 9: “Wrap Battle,” 9 and 10 p.m., Freeform. This three-Monday, six-hour series started Nov. 25, with nine gift-wrappers. Sheryl Underwood hosts, with judging by Carson Kressley, Wendi Wan and guests … including Candy Spelling (Tori’s mom) whose home reportedly has three gift rooms.

Dec. 6, 13, 20: “The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition,” 9 and 10 p.m., ABC. This copies a British show, even using one of its judges, Paul Hollywood. Other judges are newcomer Sherry Yard and double-spice – “Spice Adams” and Emma Bunton, formerly Baby Spice. The opener reruns Dec. 8

Dec. 15: “The Christmas Caroler Challenge,” 8 and 9 p.m., CW; continues Dec. 22-23. This six-hour show has a dozen groups, ranging from traditional to offbeat. Dean Cain and Laura McKenzie host.

Dec. 21: “Battle of the Christmas Movie Stars,” Lifetime. In holiday-themed games, actresses compete to be named Queen of Lifetime Christmas.

And several on the Food Network. “Santa’s Baking Blizzard,” starting at 9 p.m. Nov. 28, has bakers and ice sculptors. Upcoming debuts are “Holiday Wars” and “Holiday Gingerbread Showdown,” 9 and 10 p.m. Dec. 1; and “Kids Baking Championship: North Pole Edition,” at 8 p.m. Dec. 8.

MUSIC

The New Music Shows

Dec. 1: “Christmas Under the Stars,” 7 p.m., BYUtv, with John Legend. The movie “Christmas Jars” follows at 8.

Dec. 3: “CMA Country Christmas,” 9-11 p.m., ABC. Tricia Yearwood hosts, with mixes people from gospel (CeCe Winans, King & Country), pop (Tori Kelly), Broadway (Kristin Chenoweth) and country – Lady Antebellum, Rascal Flatts, Runaway June, Chris Janson, Brett Young, Chris Young and more.

Dec. 4: “Christmas in Rockefeller Center,” 8-10 p.m., NBC. Along with the tree-lighting, there’s music by Legend, Menzel, Gwen Stefani, Brett Eldredge, Chicago, Ne-Yo, Lea Michele and more.

Dec. 13: “Disney Channel Holiday Party,” 8-8:30 p.m., Disney. Shaggy and Pentatonix perform, plus people from the channel – Meg Donnelly, Isaac Ryan Brown, Ruby Rose Turner and Kylie Cantrall.

Dec. 16: “Christmas With the Tabernacle Choir,” 9-10 p.m., PBS, with Kristen Chenoweth. A 90-minute version will be 7 p.m. Dec. 19 on BYUtv, which has frequent reruns of last year’s special (Sutton Foster) and other concerts.

Dec. 16: “Holiday With the Houghs,” 10 p.m., NBC, rerunning 9 p.m. Dec. 23. Derek (the dancer) and his sister Julianne (the dancer-turned-singer) host.

Dec. 19: “iHeartRadio Jingle Ball,” 8-9:30 p.m., CW; repeats 8 p.m. Dec. 25.

Dec. 22: “A Home For the Holidays,” 9 p.m., CBS. Menzel hosts and performs in this adoption-oriented hour. Also performing are Adam Lambert, Kelly Rowland and Ne-Yo.

Dec. 23: “Christmas at Belmont,” 9 p.m., PBS; repeats at 8 p.m. Dec. 24. CeCe Winans and Michael W. Smith host, with almost 700 student musicians at Belmont University in Nashville.

(Here are Your Music Reruns)

Dec. 12: “A Legendary Christmas,” 10 p.m., NBC. There’s humor, as people pop into the home of John Legend and Chrissy Teigen. There’s also music from Legend, Stevie Wonder and Esperanza Spalding.

Dec. 21: The AXS Channel reruns a string of holiday specials from other channels … including the 2008 one in which Faith Hill debuted the epic “A Baby Changes Everything,” with a 31-piece orchestra. The concerts are: “Heart & Friends,” noon, 5:50 and 10:10 p.m.; Trans-Siberian Orchestra, 1:05 and 9:05 p.m.; Twisted Sister, 2:20 and 11:15 p.m.; Hill, 3:40 and 6:55 p.m.; Rod Stewart, 4:45 and 8 p.m.

Dec. 24: AXS reruns in a different order: Hill, 10:30 a.m. and 9:20 p.m.; Heart, 4:30 and 10:25 p.m.; Trans-Siberian Orchestra, 5:35 and 11:30 p.m.; Stewart, 6:45; Twisted Sister, 8.

Dec. 25: AXS again: Hill, 10:30 a.m. and 2:50 and 6:40 p.m.; Stewart, 11:35 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.; Heart, 12:40, 5:35 and 10:10 p.m.; Trans-Siberian, 1:45 and 7:45 p.m.; Twisted Sister, 8:50 and 11:15 p.m.

MOVIES

(First, some classics; not all have Christmas connections, but people expect them during the holidays)

Nov. 28: “The Wizard of Oz” (1939), 6 and 8:15 p.m., TBS. It’s also on TNT at 8 p.m. Dec. 6; 5:15 p.m., Dec. 7; and 8 p.m. Dec. 17.

Dec. 15: “The Sound of Music” (1965), 7 p.m., ABC.

Dec. 20: “A Christmas Story” (1983), 7 and 9 p.m., TBS. Then comes the annual 24-hour marathon. This year, the film runs every two hours, starting at 8 p.m. Dec. 24 on TBS and 9 p.m. on TNT.

Dec. 24: “A Christmas Story Live,” 8 p.m., NBC. Well, it won’t be live this time, but it was originally. This is NBC’s fun production of the Broadway musical, with Matthew Broderick as the adult Ralphie.

And lots of “A Christmas Carol.” The 1951 version (Alistair Sim as Scrooge) is 8 p.m. Dec. 1 on Turner Classic Movies; the 1992 one (Michael Caine and Muppets) is 7:30 a.m. Dec. 2 on Freeform; the 1999 one (Patrick Stewarr) is 8 and 10 p.m. Dec. 5 on TNT. And the 1938 one (Reginald Owen) is noon Dec. 8 on TCM, plus midnight as Christmas Eve becomes Christmas Day.

(Now some new ones)

Nov. 28: “Merry Happy Whatever,” Netflix. Dennis Quaid plays a dad who is less merry when his daughter (Bridgit Mendler) arrives with her boyfriend. Netflix also has “Holiday Rush” on Nov. 28, “A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby” on Dec. 5 and “A Family Reunion Christmas” on Dec. 9. Also on streaming, Disney+ recently debuted “Noelle,” with Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader.

Dec. 4: “Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas,” 9-11 p.m., Freeform. Aisha Dee (“The Bold Type”) has a good excuse for ignoring a guy: After a great first date, she was killed in a car crash. Now she needs help from the only living soul who sees her. Also, 2:05 p.m. Dec.16.

Dec. 5: “Same Time, Next Christmas,” 9-11 p.m., ABC. Lea Michele plays a young woman who meets her childhood sweetheart during her family’s annual vacations to Hawaii. Also, 8-10 p.m. Dec. 23 on ABC, often on Freeform.

Dec. 7: “A Christmas Love Story,” 8 p.m., Hallmark. Yes, there are lots of Hallmark films, but this is under the “Hall of Fame” banner, with a bigger budget. Kristen Chenoweth and Scott Wolf star.

Dec. 8: “Dear Santa: I Need a Date,” 7 p.m., TVOne, rerunning at 9.

Dec. 16: “Good Trouble,” 9 and 10 p.m., Freeform. It’s not quite a movie, but close. The family from “The Fosters” visits the daughters in Los Angeles, where there are secrets and a big Christmas project.

Dec. 25: “Call the Midwife Holiday Special,” 9-10:30 p.m., PBS.

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Many more movies on …

… Hallmark and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. Both have Christmas films every night, with a new one on one of the channels – 8 p.m. on Hallmark, 9 p.m. on its sister channel – on Fridays through Sundays, plus some Thursdays. On a musical weekend, Hallmark has “Christmas at Dollywood” (with Danica McKellar and Dolly Parton) at 8 p.m. Dec. 8; before that, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries has “A Homecoming For the Holidays,” with Broadway’s Laura Osnes, at 9 p.m. Dec. 7.

… Lifetime. On Thanksgiving (Nov. 28), it starts a string of four nights of new movies at 8 p.m. Then it has new ones at 8 p.m. Fridays through Sundays), through Dec. 22. Highlights include “You Light Up My Christmas Lights” on Dec. 1, with Kim Fields starring, producing and bringing back her “Facts of Life” co-stars for cameos… And “A Christmas Song” on Dec. 14, with Ashanti.

… Ion, with new movies at 7 p.m. on Dec. 1, 8, 14-15 and 21-22.

… And UPtv. It debuts Christmas movies at 7 p.m. Sundays, rerunning them at 11. A Christmas-movie rerun is wedged in at 9 … with lots more reruns throughout the week.

(And occasionally, a Christmas movie is surprisingly good; here are a few worthy reruns.)

Dec. 13: “Chasing Christmas” (2005), 7 p.m., Ovation, with Tom Arnold, Andrea Roth and Leslie Jordan. Ovation doesn’t do new movies, but it has 7 p.m. reruns Dec. 9-13, 16-19 and 23-34. Roth also stars in “Crazy For Christmas” (2004) on Dec. 18; it co-stars Yanick Bisson, whose “Murdoch Mysteries” Christmas movie (2015) reruns that day at 5.

Dec. 19: “Snowglobe” (2007(, 8:30 a.m., Freeform

Dec.20: “Snow” (2004), midnight on the night of Dec. 12, Freeform; also, 7 a.m. Dec. 20, with its sequel (2008) at 9.

ON A SERIOUS NOTE

Dec. 2: “King of Kings,” 5 p.m., Turner Classic Movies.

Dec. 24: Christmas Mass from St. Peter’s Basilica, 11:30 p.m., NBC.

Dec. 25: “The Greatest Story Ever Told” (1968), 7:30 a.m., Ovation.

RANDOM SPECIALS

Dec. 7: “Homicide For the Holidays,” 7:30 p.m., Oxygen. You knew someone would Scrooge things up. This series relates real-life crimes. It continues at 7 p.m. Dec. 14, 21 and 28.

Dec. 8: “The Nutcracker,” 6 p.m., BYUtv. Ballet West performs.

Dec. 9: “Beat Shazam” special, 8 p.m., Fox. Jamie Foxx mixes in some holiday classics.

Dec. 10-12: “Ellen’s Greatest Night of Giveaways,” 8 p.m., NBC; repeats 8-11 p.m. Dec. 18. Imagine opening your door and finding Michelle Obama – or Jennifer Aniston or Jason Momoa – bearing gifts. That happens to various deserving souls, including some in the studio audience.

Dec. 16: “Greatest Holiday Commercials,” 9 p.m., CW.

Dec. 18: “Masters of Illusion: Christmas Magic,” 9 p.m. Dec. 18, CW.

HOME AND TREES AND SUCH

Dec. 9: “National Christmas Tree Lighting,” It’s 8 p.m. on Reelz, 9 p.m. on Ovation.

Dec. 13: “A Chef’s Life Holiday Special” with Vivian Howard, 10 p.m., PBS.

Dec. 16: “A Very Brady Renovation,” 10 p.m., HGTV; also 1 p.m. Dec. 22, Food Network. Now that they’ve fixed up their old TV home, the six people who played Brady siblings will catch a holiday there. They’ll work with Jasmine Roth of “Hidden Potential” on decorations and Ree Drummond of the Food Network’s “Pioneer Woman” on the food.

Dec. 17: “The Ornament of the World,” 8-10 p.m., PBS. This views the eight, artful centuries when Muslims, Christians and Jews co-existed in Medieval Spain.

Dec. 25: “12 Days of Tudor Christmas,” 8 p.m., PBS.