All times Eastern.
MONDAY, Dec. 19
Are You a Risky Drinker?
Nearly one-third of adults in the U.S. engage in problem drinking at some point in their lives. This holiday season, this cautionary documentary—produced in cooperation with the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism—challenges viewers to recognize when drinking may be putting them (and others) at risk, and offers information that could help millions lead healthier lives (8 p.m., HBO).
Cake Wars
The epic final battle finds two remaining teams—each made up of an expert cake artist, sugar sculptor and master food carver—duking it out to create amazing, edible Christmas cards and the ultimate Christmas front yard…and jingle all the way home with the $50,000 grand prize (9 p.m., Food Network).
TUESDAY, Dec. 20
Terry Crews Saves Christmas
After spying the makings of a real Christmas mess, comedy star Terry Crews puts a “hopeless” holiday enthusiast through a crash course in how to do it right, taking over with a crew of food, beverage and design experts for tips and tricks to make this Christmas one friends and family will remember for years (8 p.m., The CW).
The Year: 2016
Robin Roberts and ABC News anchors take a look back at the year’s most unforgettable moments in politics, celebrity romance, pop trends, viral videos and more, plus original interviews and guest commentary from Mark Cuban from Shark Tank, O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark and comedians Iliza Schlesinger, Michelle Buteaa and Brett Erlich (9 p.m., ABC).
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 21
Undercover Boss
The eighth season of the popular bosses-in-disguise reality show kicks off with two new back-to-back episodes in which the CEOs of Build-a-Bear Workshop, which gives customers the opportunity to make their own stuffed animals, and New York & Company, a women’s fashion retailer, masquerade anonymously alongside rank-and-file employees at their own companies (8 p.m., CBS).
Surprise! Instant Xmas Carol
Get into the holiday spirit as celebrities—Conan O’Brien, Rashda Jones, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Jane Lynch, T-Pain, Kenny G, Ludacris and many more—hit the road to surprise listeners with unique renditions of Christmas classics (10 p.m., TBS & TNT).
THURSDAY, Dec. 22
The Big Bang Theory
Everyone must choose sides when a disagreement between Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Shelton (Jim Parsons) erupts into a heated fight during a get-together (8 p.m., CBS).
Project Runway Junior
More young fashion-design hopefuls show off their stuff—competing for a scholarship, a home studio, $25,000 and more—in the season two premiere for co-hosts Tim Gunn and supermodel Hannah Jeter and judges Kelly Osborne, Christian Sirano and Seventeen Magazine’s Aya Kanai (10 p.m., Lifetime).
FRIDAY, Dec. 23
Babes in Toyland
Get up early, stay up late or set the DVR for this 1934 closet classic starring the comedy duo of Laurel and Hardy, based on an early 1900s operetta about young lovers Tom-Tom and Bo Peep and set in a fantasyland of storybook characters, including Mother Goose, Mother Hubbard, Jack in the Box, the Three Little Pigs…and a battalion of life-size marching wooden soldiers (1:15 a.m., TCM)
Mythbusters Marathon
Watch Adam, Jamie, Kari Grant and Tori in all 259 episodes of the Emmy-winning series, which ended its 14-year run earlier this year, in this chronological-order marathon that begins tonight and runs through Jan. 3. Tune in or you may miss the Simpsons Special, the President’s Challenge featuring President Obama, Diet Coke with Mentos, Star Wars: The Myths Strike Back, the James Bond Special or Bullet Baloney! (8 p.m., Science Channel).
SATURDAY, Dec. 24
Christmas for Cowboys
Saddle up with Clint, the Duke and more for this an all-night roundup of The Outlaw Josie Wales, The Cowboys, The Sons of Katie Elder, Joe Kidd, Two Mules for Sister Sarah, The Shootist, El Dorado, Big Jake and Rio Bravo (8 p.m., AMC).
A Christmas Story Marathon
It’s the 20th anniversary of a Christmas Eve tradition: 24 back-to-back hours of the 1983 movie—about young Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) and his Christmas dreams of a Red Ryder BB gun—that became a bona fide holiday classic after it began airing on television in the late 1990s (8 p.m., TBS & TNT).
SUNDAY, Dec. 25
The Disney Parks’ Magical Christmas Celebration
Julianne and Derek Hough take viewers on a magical ride down Disneyland’s Main Street and beyond with a parade, musical performances from Trisha Yearwood, Garth Brooks, Kelly Clarkson and others, surprise celebrity guests and heartwarming holiday stories (10 a.m., Disney Channel).
Alaska: Water and Ice
Intrepid fun seekers in our northernmost state, where the average temperature is 26 degrees, dive into icy natural waterparks, wakeboard on icebergs and surf on glaciers—brrrrr! (9 p.m., Travel Channel).
NEW ON DVD
A gripping psychological thriller based on true events, The Disappointments Room (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment) stars Kate Beckinsale as a mom who moves with her young son from the big city to a rural, run-down Southern mansion hoping to make a fresh start. But their dream home becomes a nightmare when she discovers a hidden room in the attic, unleashing a torrent of unexplainable events and shocking secrets from the past.
Tom Hanks stars as captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who in 2009 glided his disabled airplane onto the frigid waters of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 passengers and crew member aboard, in Sully (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment), directed by Clint Eastwood and also featuring Aaron Eckhart. Bonus content includes a profile of the real Sullenberger and a documentary on shooting the splashdown sequence in the actual Hudson River as well as Universal Studio’s Fall’s Lake, where some of Jaws was filmed.
An ensemble cast—led by Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt, and including Ethan Hawk, Vincent D’Onofrio and peter Sarsgaard—saddles up for The Magnificent Seven (Sony Pictures Home Entertainent), director Antoine Fuqua’s modern take on a classic Western. Extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes and onscreen commentary from the stars and director.
AT THE MOVIES
Bryan Cranston, James Franco, Zoey Deutch, Adam Devine, Megan Mullally and Kegan-Michael Key star in Why Him, a rollicking comedy about a rivalry between an overprotective dad and his daughter’s rich young boyfriend.
Denzel Washington gives a powerful leading performance in (and also directs) Fences, based on the acclaimed, Tony-winning Broadway play, about a Pittsburgh garbage collector in the 1950s who struggles to come to terms with the changing times and events that distance him from his wife (Viola Davis) and his children.
In Gold, a failing mining businessman (Matthew McConaughey) teams with a luckless geologist (Edgar Ramirez) to venture deep into the uncharted jungle of Indonesia in search of riches.
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