What to Watch This Christmas Week: Doctor Who's Christmas Episode, Amazon's Mozart in the Jungle, and the Season 2 Finale of The Comeback
What to watch on Monday, December 22...
MARATHON, 8pm, FXX
The Simpsons
A four-hour block featuring Christmas-themed episodes. Additional mini-marathons will air on Tuesday from 8pm to 12am, Wednesday from 5pm to 8pm, and Thursday 8pm to 12am.
SEASON 2 FINALE, 8pm, ABC
The Great Christmas Light Fight
The season's final showcases feature a life-sized gingerbread house, a laser-equipped Nativity, and a flame-shooting sleigh. I don't want to tell the producers of The Great Christmas Light Fight how to do their jobs, but I think they may have inadvertently enrolled some supervillains in this year's contest.
8:30pm, CBS
Mike & Molly
Mike and Carl are stuck in the back of a stolen truck in "'Tis the Season to be Molly," jeopardizing Mike's vow to be home in time for Christmas Eve. In other Yuletide wrinkles, Vince's attempts to alter family traditions get Molly's goat.
9pm, TNT
Major Crimes
You'd better watch out, you'd better not cry, you'd better not pout, I'm telling you why: Santa Claus is robbing a bank. The team's efforts to catch the jolly old culprit in "Chain Reaction" are made tougher by a Santa flash mob.
10pm, NBC
State of Affairs
President Payton's diplomatic trip to Qatar takes a calamitous turn thanks to an uninvited guest at the embassy. Elsewhere in "Masquerade," Charlie goes to great lengths to recall details about the convoy attack, and the team pursues a lead on Omar Fatah.
SERIES FINALE, 10pm & 10:30pm, FX
Anger Management
In "Charlie and the Sexy Swing Vote," Charlie and Jordan bring on a new associate, who was clearly never told that taking a new job in a show's penultimate episode isn't the most astute career move. Then "Charlie and the 100th Episode" wraps the series with Charlie facing a tough choice about his future.
WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING TONIGHT?
What to watch on Tuesday, December 23...
SERIES PREMIERE, 12:01am, Amazon
Mozart in the Jungle
A hotshot new maestro (Gael García Bernal) shakes things up at the New York Symphony in this dramedy from co-creators Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola, and Paul Weitz. All 10 episodes are available today to Amazon Prime subscribers.
8pm, NBC
One Direction: The TV Special
Today's hottest boy band is chronicled, complete with musical performances, footage from their 2014 tour, and hijinks that have been calibrated to exactly the right level of market-research-recommended wackiness.
10pm, Bravo
Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce
An LGBT activist (Laverne Cox) honors Max and Ford, while Abby rekindles a romance with a married man (C. Thomas Howell) in "Rule #426: Fantasyland: A Great Place to Visit."
10pm, TBS
Ground Floor
Brody's flabbers are well and truly gasted by the size of his new paycheck in "Space Invader." Needing to tighten his belt, he gives up his apartment and crashes with Jenny—which, naturally, creates a whole different batch of problems.
NEW TIME, 10pm & 10:30pm, USA
Benched
Nina unearths the D.A.'s sinister plot against the city's homeless in "A New Development," leading to an ethical quandary. Then in "Solitary Refinement," Nina sets Phil up with an old friend, while a judge takes a shine to Carlos.
WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING TONIGHT?
What to watch on Wednesday, December 24...
SEASON 2 PREMIERE, 12:01am, Hulu
The Wrong Mans
The fellas return for four more episodes of screwy skullduggery.
8pm, NBC
It's a Wonderful Life
Like this isn't going to be airing on Christmas Eve? You didn't really need me to tell you that.
WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING TONIGHT?
What to watch on Thursday, December 25...
8pm, ABC
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Lock up your presents and hide the roast beast, because the bad banana with the greasy black peel is back for his annual tale of thievery and redemption.
8pm, PBS
Call the Midwife
Chummy steps into a leadership role, Cynthia receives an offer to join the order as a postulant, and Dr. Turner tends to an impoverished elderly couple. Meanwhile, Sunday School Christmas concert rehearsals disrupt the nuns and nurses, and an older and wiser Jenny (series narrator Vanessa Redgrave, making her first on-screen appearance) thinks back on the Nonnatus community.
9pm, BBC America
Doctor Who
"Last Christmas" finds the the Doctor and Clara teaming up with Santa Claus (Nick Frost) to deliver presents to all the world's good little girls and boys. Or possibly to blow some Daleks the heck up. Either way, things should be plenty jolly.
9:30pm, PBS
Vicious
Freddie and Stuart host a holiday bash, with Ash on cooking duty. But the festivities aren't entirely merry and bright, thanks to Violet's usual mischief and a saucy game of truth or dare.
9:30pm, DirecTV
Black Mirror: White Christmas
Jon Hamm stars in a trifecta of tales in this 90-minute special installment. Creepy concepts contemplated in the stories include "blocking" people in real life, using a Google Glass-esque device to look through someone else's eyes, and human cloning. And to all, a good night!
WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING TONIGHT?
What to watch on Friday, December 26...
8pm, CBS
Now That's Funny! On Set With TV's Hottest Comedies: A Paley Center for Media Special
Aisha Tyler hosts this behind-the-scenes look at The big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation and more of today's most notable TV comedies. I would say more, but the title used up like 80 percent of the budget for this blurb.
WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING TONIGHT?
What to watch on Saturday, December 27...
8pm, NBC
WWE Tribute to the Troops
Florida Georgia Line, John Cena, the cast of The Voice and more pay tribute to U.S. Armed Forces stationed around the world in the WWE's 12th annual holiday event.
10pm, TNT
Transporter: The Series
In "T2," Frank must protect a young boy against an unstoppable killing machine sent from the future to… wait, no, that's the wrong "T2." Ah, here it is. In this one, Frank must team up with a rival transporter and a young computer whiz to spirit a vital document out of Crimea.
WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING TONIGHT?
What to watch on Sunday, December 28...
SERIES PREMIERE, 8pm, PBS
The Great British Baking Show
PBS imports one of the U.K.'s favourite cooking competitions, complete with the British spelling of "favourite." The premiere kicks off the contest with 12 amateur bakers conjuring a variety of cakes.
8pm, TNT
The Librarians
In "And the Apple of Discord," Flynn joins the search for a hidden treasure that may prevent sleeping dragons from waking up and annihilating the world. Why it's just like that old adage, "let sleeping dragons lie, or else they'll be cranky and annihilate the world."
9:30pm, CBS
The Mentalist
"The Silver Briefcase" finds Jane probing a closed murder investigation after an encounter with a colonel. Frankly, the evidence that the crime was committed in the conservatory with the lead pipe is circumstantial at best.
SEASON 2 FINALE, 10pm, HBO
The Comeback
"Valerie Gets What She Really Wants" in the hour-long Season 2 finale, which finds her enjoying accolades for her performance in Seeing Red. And although an Emmy weekend party offers opportunities for romance, Mark is the one Valerie really hopes will be by her side on the big night.
10:30pm, CBS
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
In "Dead Woods," the survivor of a decade-old murder-suicide claims that her accused father was innocent of the crime.
WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING TONIGHT?
And now, let's all vote to crown the What to Watch Tonight Episode Title of the Week!
