Daily Best Bets

1) “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” 8-11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. to 2:13 a.m., ABC. The music comes from all directions tonight. In Times Square, Ryan Seacrest has Post Malone, BTS, Sam Hunt and Alanis Morissette … in New Orleans, Billy Porter has Usher and Sheryl Crow … in Hollywood (taped in advance), Ciara has Paula Abdul, Kelsea Ballerini, Green Day, Dan + Shea, Dua Lipa, Salt-N-Pepqa, Ava Max and more. And in Miami, the first performance of the new year is from the Jonas Brothers (shown here). Read more…

1) Orange Bowl, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN. Here’s one of the bowl giants. This one goes back to 1935, tying it with two others (Sugar and Sun) for the second-oldest bowl game, behind only the Rose. For 9th-ranked Florida (shown here), this Miami game is almost a home game, facing Virginia (No. 24). That wraps up an ESPN bowl day that has Western Michigan and Western Kentucky at 12:30 p.m. ET and Louisville and Mississippi State at 4. Also at 4, California face Illinois – those are big states, you know – on Fox. Read more…

1) “Flirty Dancing” debut, 8 p.m., Fox. The holiday season hasn’t finished yet, but tonight TV has two new series – one silly and one not. Here’s the silly one (shown here), based on a British series: Two singles learn their halves of a dance; then they’re brought together to perform it without talking. Romance may or may not ensue. Jenna Dewan, the dancer-actress who hosted “World of Dance,” hosts. After this debut, “Flirty” will borrow a Wednesday slot until “The Masked Singer” returns in February. Read more…

1) College football, 4 and 8 p.m. ET, ESPN. Sure, we’ve had some funny little bowl games – ones with funny names and little stadiums. But now comes the battle for the national championship. First, the Peach Bowl has top-ranked LSU (with quarterback Joe Burrow, shown here) and fourth-ranked Oklahoma; then the Fiesta Bowl has Ohio State (No. 2) and Clemson (No. 3). The winners collide Jan. 13, in the Superdome. Read more…

1) “The Godfather” (1972) and “Casablanca” (1942), cable. It’s a dandy day for film buffs: These are the No. 2 and 3 movies on the American Film Institute’s all-time list, trailing only “Citizen Kane.” You can catch “Casablanca” at 6:15 p.m. ET on Turner Classic Movies; “Godfather” (shown here with Marlon Brando) is 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on AMC. And a bonus: “The Godfather, Part II” (1974) is at 1 p.m., 9:30 p.m. and 2 a.m.; it’s ranked No. 31 by the AFI, the only sequel on a 100-movie list. Read more…

1) “The Moodys,” 9 and 9:30 p.m., Fox. This has been a surprise – a three-hour Christmas tale with subtle layers of comedy, drama and character depth. On Wednesday, Fox reran the first two hours; here’s the rest: It’s been hectic for everyone. Dan (Francois Arnaud of “Midnight, Texas”) broke up with his girlfriend — twice and fell for his friend’s girlfriend (Maria Gabriela de Faria, shown here with him) … his sister cheated on her husband … his brother’s scheme (sending the ashes of a deceased via fireworks) has sputtered. Now their dad has a key job at Mass and invites a homeless couple for dinner. Chaos ensues. Read more…

1) Disney Parks parade, 10 a.m. to noon ET, 9-11 a.m. in all other time zones, ABC. Christmas Day starts – once the gifts are unwrapped – with lots of upbeat pop music. That’s taped in advance from the parks, with Sting, Shaggy, Pentatonix, Portugal, Ingrid Michaelson, Ally Brooke and Grace VanderWaal. Hosting the parade are Matthew Morrison and Emma Bunton (they’re shown here) plus Jesse Palmer. Read more…

1) “A Christmas Story” (1983), 8 p.m., TBS, 9 p.m., TNT. In Ralphie’s 1940s world, winter is precarious. Santas are scary (shown here) … tongues get stuck on metal poles … and kids want BB guns, despite warnings that they’ll shoot an eye out. All of this is wryly recalled in the script by Jean Shepherd, who also narrates. Alternately warm and cynical, it’s rerun every two hours on the Turner stations, for 24 hours. This time, they stagger the starts, so you can catch the beginning at the top of any hour. Read more…

1) “Same Time, Next Christmas,” 8-10 p.m., ABC. As Olivia (Lea Michele) sees it, “White Christmases are for suckers.” Ever since childhood, she’s has Hawaiian holidays; that’s where she had her first kiss, as a teen, with Jeff. Now he (Charles Michael Davis, shown here with Michele) is back; they’re grown-ups, with complicated lives. Making its broadcast debut after airing on Freeform, this has a predictable story, but is gorgeous enough to have us re-examine our holiday plans and/or our lives. Read more…

1) “A Home For the Holidays,” 9 p.m., CBS. Each year, this blends great music with passionate stories about adoption. This time, the music is from Idina Menzel (who hosts), Adam Lambert (shown yere), Kelly Rowland and Ne-Yo; in the stories, we meet: A couple that married later in life and adopted siblings, 4 and 2 … A couple that already had four sons, then adopted two ballerinas, 5 and 3 … And a single man who adopted sisters, 9 and 7. A fourth story will be told, followed by its adoption ceremony. Read more…