1) “All Creatures Great and Small” season-finale, 9 p.m., PBS. On Christmas Eve, nerves are tattered. The widowed Siegfried frets about courtship … his brother (shown here) suspects the veterinary school has flunked him … their housekeeper wonders if her son will visit … and James, the new vet, is forlorn: He never told Helen he loves her; now she has a Christmas Day wedding. Each of these stories is written and acted with subtle skill; it’s a great finish to a good first season.
2) “Miss Scarlet and the Duke” season-finale, 8 p.m., PBS. Her father’s image had loomed over Eliza’s life. He taught her a detective’s tricks; she still imagines talking to his ghost. And she rejects the official explanation that he died in the street, after passing out drunk. Now that case is wrapped up, in a fairly good episode that has some great moments near the end.
3) “Allen v. Farrow” opener, 9 p.m., HBO, rerunning at 10. In 1992, Mia Farrow found that her lover, Woody Allen, had taken nude photos of her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, 21 He was 56 and admitted they’d been having sex. Aftershocks included charges that Allen had sexually abused Farrow’s 7-year-old daughter. And now? Allen and Previn have been married 23 years; Ronan Farrow, his son, is a Pulitzer Prize-winner, writing about sexual abuse. This four-week film views a tangled story.
4) “Rush Limbaugh: His Words,” 10 p.m.ET, Fox News Channel. Whether you liked him or hated him – and both views were common – you must grant that Limbaugh had a huge impact. He died of cancer Wednesday, at 70, two weeks after Donald Trump gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Long before the rise of Trump (or Fox News), he became a dominant conservative radio host. This hour views his life and impact; three other Limbaugh films are on the Fox Nation streaming service.
5) And more: At 8 p.m., ABC’s “American Idol” had its second set of auditions and CBS’ “The Equalizer” has its third episode. And from 9-11 p.m., NBC concludes its five-hour “The Widower,” a documentary about a man whose four wives died, two with $360,000 and $500,000 insurance policies.