1) “iHeartRadio Jingle Ball,” 8-9:30 p.m., CW. Taped last week (on Friday the 13th), this had Taylor Swift (shown here) performing on her 30th birthday. Others included the Jonas Brothers, Camila Cabello, Halsey, Niall Horan, Lizzo, Monsta X, Fletcher, Dan + Shay and Five Seconds of Summer.
2) “A Christmas Carol” debut, 7:30 to 10:45 p.m., FX. Yes, this deserves credit for effort. A richly detailed visit to the Dickens classic, it’s a period piece with a bit of modern sensibility: Scrooge isn’t a craggy loon in a lonely office; he’s a handsome chap (Guy Pearce) who buys and ruins companies. That’s where the credit ends. This “Carol” is painfully long (three hours, 15 minutes) and often just painful. It’s as visually dark, drab and dreary as Scrooge’s soul, which is no place to spend three hours.
3) “Miss America,” 8-10 p.m., NBC. Once a giant ratings hit, this slumped for a while and was passed around between cable channels. It’s been back on broadcast lately, with a modernized touch – no swimsuit competition and more of an emphasis on the talent portion.
4) “Gwen Stefani’s You Make It Feel Like Christmas,” 10 p.m., NBC. Speaking of talent, Stefani has lots of it. In a rerun of her 2017 special, she sings the title song with Blake Shelton – who is her boyfriend, her “Voice” opponent and one of her co-writers on the song. Mixing music and comedy, the special also has Ne-Yo, Chelsea Handler, Ken Jeong and Seth MacFarlane.
5) “The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition,” 9-11 p.m., ABC. It’s the second week of a four-week series, which will nudge beyond the holidays and slightly into the new year. Prior to that, you might catch the animated “Prep & Landing” specials (pretty good ones) at 8 and 8:30 p.m. on ABC … or reruns of “Last Man Standing” at 8 and 8:30 on Fox, where it starts its season in two weeks.