1) “Making It,” 9 and 10 p.m., NBC. In a world of noisy reality competitions, this is a quiet delight. Its approach is as basic as its contestants – people who create beauty using anything from wood and paper to noodles and balloons. One host, Nick Offerman, is a master craftsman; the other, Amy Poehler, isn’t. Those two (shown here) produce the show and offer puns and droll humor. Still, the real stars have been the contestants – from a teen drop-out to an airplane engineer – who make things. Tonight, one will win $100,000.
2) “The Masked Singer,” 8 p.m., Fox, and more. On Tuesday, the field trimmed from six singers to five. Now two more will be unmasked, giving us next week’s final three. That’s on a reality-stuffed night that has the “Making It” finale preceded by three 8 p.m. choices – “Masked Singer,” plus CBS’ “Survivor” (also setting up a finale next week) and NBC’s “Ellen’s Greatest Night of Giveaways,”
3) “Modern Family,” 9 p.m., ABC. A great series – five-time winner of the best-comedy Emmy – winds down; this episode is called “The Last Christmas.” Cam doesn’t want to spoil the holiday, so he’s being secretive about interviewing for a football head-coach job out of state . Mitchell is suspicious about his claim that he has to visit his family. Also, Haley is looking forward to being re-united with wine.
4) “The Goldbergs,” 8 p.m., ABC. This is holiday-episode week for ABC – four comedies on Tuesday, two more coming Friday and three tonight — “Modern Family,” “Single Parents” (9:31 p.m.) and this one. The concept is good … but the “Goldbergs” episode isn’t. It turns Adam’s older brother into a total jerk, not worth cariing about. Another story, involving a holiday-photo obsession, is so-so.
5) “The Simpsons,” 3:20 to 5:20 p.m., Freeform. It’s animated-holiday time. The fairly good “Arthur’s Christmas” (2011) is at 1:10 p.m., followed by four “Simpsons” episodes … starting with Bart almost ruining the holiday.