1) “Great Performances: Holiday Inn,” 9 p.m. PBS. With a shutdown on Broadway and beyond, we appreciate a vibrant burst of musical memories. This one happens to have a weak story, brightened by some terrific Irving Berlin songs. A 1942 movie told of an inn that’s open only on holidays. Berlin inserted some songs he’d written previously (“White Christmas” and “Easter Parade”) and wrote more. This stage production (shown here) also added his “Blue Skies,” “Cheek to Cheek” and more.
2) “The New York Times Presents: The Teenager Who Hacked Twitter,” 10 p.m., FX. The tweets came flying out in July. Suddenly, the nation’s leaders – Obama, Biden, Musk, even Kanye West – were asking their followers for money. The mastermind behind this: A Florida 17-year-old. After making a fortune scamming others via videogamers, he managed to get Twitter info and, an investigator says, “could have destroyed the economy.” The report manages to be both chilling and oddly entertaining.
3) “MacGyver,” 8 p.m., CBS. Here’s the show’s final rerun, before Christmas specials next Friday and the season-openers for all three Friday dramas a week later. First, this showdown: Mac and Riley are working undercover with Codex, at the same time that Russ, Desi and Phoenix try to destroy it.
4) “20/20,” 9-11 p.m., ABC. Linking with the Courier Journal in Louisville, “20/20” offers a fresh look at the killing of Breonna Taylor during a police raid in March. Interviews include Taylor’s mother, sister, aunt, boyfriend, previous boyfriend and others. ABC says it also has footage, not shown previously, from that night.
5) “Small Axe,” any time, Amazon Prime. Steve McQueen, the “12 Years a Slave” Oscar-winner, has made five films about Londoners with West Indian roots; here are the first two. Also streaming today: the movie “Run” (Sarah Paulson as a manipulative mom) on Hulu and “The Pack” (dogs in a global competition) on Prime. That’s one day after HBO Max launched Billie Piper’s comic “I Hate Suzie” series … and five days after the fourth season arrived for Netflix’s brilliant “The Crown.”
– Mike Hughes, TV America