Friday’s TV Highlights: ‘A Christmas Story’ on TBS
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TV listings for the week of Dec. 19 - 25 in PDF format (alternate link)
Weekly TV Listings can also be found at: www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv
HO, HO, HO: Peter Billingsley, right, confers with a department-store Santa (Jeff Gillen) in the annual 24-hour marathon of 1983’s “A Christmas Story,” which gets underway at 8 p.m. on TBS.
SERIES
Phineas and Ferb: On Christmas Eve, the boys (voices of Vincent Martella and Thomas Sangster) are hard at work turning Danville into a shimmering thank-you card to Santa Claus, but Dr. Doofenshmirtz (Dan Povenmire) covers the town in a cloud of naughtiness (10:05 p.m. Disney).
SPECIALS
Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration: Music and dance groups from around the region take part in the event at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (3 and 8 p.m. KCET).
Observances: “A Christmas for Everyone” (11:35 p.m. CBS); “Christmas Eve at St. Peter’s Basilica” (11:35 p.m. NBC); “A Gospel Christmas” (12:35 a.m. early Saturday, CBS); “Christmas Liturgical” (2 and 5 a.m. early Saturday, NBC); “Service of Lessons and Carols From Historic Trinity Church on Wall Street” (2:06 a.m. early Saturday, ABC).
MOVIES
Miracle on 34th Street: In the 1947 holiday classic, Edmund Gwenn stars as a Macy’s Santa who gets into trouble when he claims he’s the real Kriss Kringle, and finds no one — not even a little girl (Natalie Wood) — willing to believe in him. Maureen O’Hara and John Payne also star (10 a.m., 3 and 8 p.m. AMC and 7:30 p.m. WGN America).
It’s a Wonderful Life: There are worse ways to spend Christmas Eve than revisiting George Bailey (James Stewart) and his journey out of suicidal despair as an angel (Henry Travers) shows him what the world would be like if he were never born. Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore also star in director Frank Capra’s 1946 comedy-drama (8 p.m. NBC).
Battle of the Bulbs: Feuding neighbors (Daniel Stern and Matt Frewer) go to extremes to win an annual Christmas decoration contest in this 2010 TV comedy (8 p.m. Hallmark).
SPORTS
College basketball: Cancun Governor’s Cup, Consolation Game (4 p.m. ESPN2); Cancun Governor’s Cup, Final (6 p.m. ESPN2).
College football: Sheraton Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii vs. Tulsa (5 p.m. ESPN).