Hey, it’s the eve of Christmas Eve, and your chances to indulge in sticky holiday movies are quickly running out. Hallmark and Lifetime will continue to grind on with their Yuletide onslaught, but the clock is pretty much ticking for everybody else.
Hugh Bonneville narrates the repeat helping of “Silent Night: A Song for the World” (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG). The special commemorates the 1818 creation of the popular carol by Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber. Composed in Salzburg, Austria, as a song of peace, it has been popular ever since. It has been translated into more than 350 languages. A 1935 recording by Bing Crosby is among the best-selling singles of all time.
“A Song for the World” features performances and appearances by Kelly Clarkson, David Foster, Katharine McPhee, Josh Groban, John Rhys-Davies, Joss Stone, Randy Jackson and Gavin Rossdale. In addition to being a tribute to a 200-year-old-song, it presents an interesting hybrid of 21st-century television. It’s as if “Downton Abbey” and “American Idol” got together to throw a Christmas special.
— The 1944 MGM musical “Meet Me in St. Louis” (8 p.m., TCM, TV-G) is not a holiday film, but Judy Garland’s rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” became a radio hit and an instant standard.
“St. Louis” is a great example of an interesting category of film, the non-Christmas movie with memorable Christmas moments. Millions of words have been spilled debating whether “Die Hard” is a Christmas movie or not.
Both “The Godfather” and its first sequel are haunted by Christmas scenes and music. “Goodfellas” features a memorable Christmas party. The Phil Spector-produced version of “The Bells of St. Mary’s” by the Drifters can be heard when Samuel L. Jackson’s character is murdered after the Lufthansa heist.
There are Christmas moments in “Rocky,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Mean Girls” and “Catch Me If You Can.” I seem to recall a mean commandant making cruel Irving Berlin jokes in the 1953 POW classic “Stalag 17.”
The 1959 melodrama “A Summer Place” is largely set in a warmer season, but it features a great scene when Sandra Dee’s character fights with her controlling mother (Constance Ford) and knocks over the Christmas tree. The scene was re-created with a vengeance by director John Waters in his 1974 bad taste shocker “Female Trouble,” starring Divine as Dawn Davenport.
One doesn’t often think of the 1967 exploitation movie “Hot Rods to Hell” as a Yuletide classic, but it begins with harried salesman (Dana Andrews) cracking up his car on Christmas Eve.
In the 1963 war drama “The Victors,” an American deserter’s execution is accompanied by Frank Sinatra’s version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”
Shot through with feelings of anticipation and nostalgia, longing, joy and melancholy, Christmas packs an emotional wallop. There’s no better way to demonstrate the loneliness of a soldier or prisoner, or how far a fallen character has strayed from childhood ideals. Hallmark and Lifetime milk the holiday in obvious ways. But employed with skill, Christmas can still illuminate the darkness.
— Dolly Parton performs seasonal favorites on “A Holly Dolly Christmas” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG). Parton also produced and appears in the musical extravaganza “Christmas on the Square,” streaming on Netflix.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Sight unseen on the season finale of “I Can See Your Voice” (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG).
— Fred Astaire narrates the 1970 special “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-G).
— Married country superstars perform from the comfort of their home studio on “Garth & Trisha Live! A Holiday Concert Event” (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG).
— A winner emerges on “The Great Christmas Light Fight” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
CULT CHOICE
A wealthy widow (Jane Wyman) shocks her family when she falls for a free spirit (Rock Hudson) in the 1955 Technicolor melodrama “All That Heaven Allows” (2 p.m., TCM, TV-G), directed by Douglas Sirk. There’s a Christmas scene in this too!
SERIES NOTES
Getting used to more than masks on “Chicago Med” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14) … A rookie with promise on “Chicago Fire” (9 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14) … A visiting diplomat needs protection from terrorists on “S.W.A.T.” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14) … A community erupts after a child is shot on “Chicago P.D.” (10 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
“The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” (11 p.m., Comedy Central) is preempted … Nicolle Wallace appears on “Conan” (11 p.m., TBS, r) … Kaley Cuoco, Cazzie David and Valerie Franco visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC, r).
