Best-bets for Dec. 1: New month brings holiday deluge

1) “25 Days of Christmas” begins, Freeform. Ever since 1996, Freeform has turned December into a Christmas marathon. That seemed big at the time … and almost modest now. Still, there’s a lot to see here. “Eloise at Christmas” (11 a.m.) has lovely visuals and Julie Andrews (shown here). “The Star” (1 p.m.), is a cartoon about animals at the nativity. Then Jim Carrey is Scrooge and the Grinch (3 and 5 p.m.), followed at 7 by “Home Alone” films. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 30: A Grinch return, a Golden farewell

1) “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (shown here), 8 p.m., NBC. Let’s put this with “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (now on Apple TV+) as one of TV’s all-time best half-hours. It blends Dr. Seuss’ brilliant story with Chuck Jones’ vibrant animation, adding droll narration from Boris Karloff and a booming song from Thurl Ravenscroft. It will be back on NBC on Christmas Night … after seven runs on TNT and TBS, between Dec. 10 and Dec. 23. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 29: music marathon and the Dodger

1) “Christmas at Graceland,” 10 p.m., NBC. Here’s a new idea: There have been three romance movies called “Christmas at Graceland,” but no concert specials. Now we have one; from the late Elvis Presley’s home (shown here), we hear holiday songs plus others made famous by Elvis. They’ll be sung by Lana Del Rey, Post Malone, Lainey Wilson, John Legend, Alanis Morissette, Kane Brown, Kacey Musgraves and War and Treaty. Read more…

“Prince of Egypt” musical: songs from the summit

Maybe this is where all songs should be created – atop Mount Sinai, viewing miles of expanse and centuries of human history.
That’s where “When You Believe” began. It would become a global hit (having Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey helped); so would the movie it was written for, “The Prince of Egypt.”
Now, 25 years later, the story and songs are back in a new form: “The Prince of Egypt: The Musical”(shown here) was filmed live in London; it’s available Dec. 5, via Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
This was “written a long time ago, from a story thousands of years ago,” songwriter Stephen Schwartz said. It’s also disturbingly current – clashes in the Holy Land, pitting neighbors against each other. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 28: FX crafts potent dramas

1) “Fargo,” 10 p.m., FX; repeats at 11:01, 12:02, 1:03. Last week, we met a quiet Minnesota mom (Juno Temple) named Dot … her gentle husband … his rich and fearsome mom … and the North Dakota sheriff (Jon Hamm, shown here) who said Dot is his runaway wife. Now both sides prepare for a Halloween showdown that airs next week. As always, tonight has great dialog, beautifully played. Read more…

Bet-bets for Nov. 27: Rudolph, Mickey, Wonka, more

1) “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” 8 p.m., CBS. Rudolph (shown here) comes to the rescue: CBS dumped “Loteria Loca” (after just four episodes), leaving a gap on Mondays. Now “Rudolph,” originally set for last Friday, has been moved here. Afterward, it jumps to the Freeform cable channel, where it will run on Dec. 3, 4, 21, 24 and 25. Read more…

Best-bets for Nov. 26: Christmas lights and music

1) “Magical Holiday Celebration,” 8-10 p.m., ABC. Derek Hough and his sister Julianne host and sing, in cheery Disney World and Aulani Resort settings. Mickey Guyton sings alone and with Michael Bolton; Adam Blackstone pairs with Andra Day. Others include Chris Janson, Tori Kelly (shown here), Chrissy Metz, Robin Thicke, Ian Tongi and the Smashing Pumpkins. Read more…

Best bets for Nov. 25: one big game, many little movies

1) College football, noon ET, Fox. This is what sports fans and accountants dream of: Arch-rivals, undefeated and ranked No. 2 and 3 in the nation, collide in a stadium that has held 115,000. Ohio State visits Michigan (shown here); the winner faces Iowa in the Big Ten championship game. Also, top-ranked Georgia visits Georgia Tech at 7:30 p.m. on ABC and Iowa State is at Kansas State at 8 on Fox. Read more…

Here’s the TV Christmas mega-list

For 57 years, people have been singing the Broadway song, “We Need a Little Christmas.”
Now it seems especially true. TV networks and viewers need A LOT of Christmas.
Scrambling to fill voids created by strikes, networks have strained their supply of reruns, reality shows, game shows and other nonsense. They need a break – and a six-week Christmas cruise. Here’s a mega-list, by category and date, of what’s coming. Read more…

When does your show return? Here’s the list

Now that the big-four networks have set their post-strike schedules, viewers can ask the key question: “Hey, when does my show return?”
Maybe you only care about “La Brea” (we won’t judge) or “Celebrity Name That Tune” (well, maybe we’ll judge a little). You can find them in this alphabetical list, which includes shows that are new (including “Elsbeth,” shown here) or returning from last season or simply back from a mid-season break.
Not included here are shows that never left (“60 Minutes,” for instance) or still haven’t been scheduled. Everything is subject to change, via network whim. This follows the usual rules for alphabetizing – ignore any “The”; numbers are presented as if they were spelled out. Here we go: Read more…