They're heeeeere . . .
Up and ready for reading are my continually updated listings for TV airings of all kinds of Christmas shows (and the occasional Hanukkah and kwanzaa program, too).
Look for the new Christmas-on-TV box on our TV Worth Watching home page (down next to For Better or Werts). Here you'll find three handy-dandy links to hundreds of holiday-themed shows soon to be seen on national broadcast and cable channels.
The TV listings come in three separately linked categories --
- Christmas episodes, which means mostly scripted sitcoms and dramas with characters celebrating (or suffering from) the holiday.
- Christmas movies, which includes theatrical films old and new, plus made-for-TV movies, a genre proliferating of late. (Thank you, Lifetime and Hallmark.)
- Christmas specials, which collects just about everything else -- animated specials old and new, Christmas concerts/ballets, seasonal music videos and clip shows, reality/documentary programs, lifestyle shows (food, decor, etc.), tree-lightings, kids shows/cartoons, and other random inclusions.
Easy way to find specific shows:
Call up the Christmas category page, then type the show title into the "search" or "find" function within your browser (Internet Explorer/Firefox/Safari). In most browsers, typing command-F will bring up a search window to type the title in.
These listings may not contain every airing of every show, but I've been collating this massive holiday list for almost 20 years now, first in print at New York's daily newspaper Newsday, and more recently online. I've learned over the years how to track down nearly all of TV's Christmas offerings, but please forgive me for missing the occasional late-night airing or 14th repeat.
If you see any biggies overlooked -- I think I've accounted for all the Rudolph/Grinch/Charlie Brown classics -- please let me know by emailing "diane" at the name of this website.com. (Can't type the actual email address, lest it be spammed to death.)
Please visit our Christmas TV listings frequently -- I'll be adding more Christmas-themed listings continuously till The Big Day.
Also to come: Blog posts detailing where to find Christmas shows streaming online, free yule downloads, and more.
And if you like this yule tube coverage, try losing yourself in my book Christmas on Television, a 272-page love letter to everything festive the tube has had to offer -- from its circa-1950 beginnings through the next six decades, from Father Knows Best to Family Guy. It's a wide-ranging celebration of holiday-themed episodes, specials, movies, soap operas, game shows, commercials -- even Christmas TV in England, Mexico and Japan.
You can buy the five-star hardcover at an Amazon discount by clicking here. Or click anytime on the Christmas on Television book cover on the right side of the TV Worth Watching home page.
Happy holiday viewing!