1) Football, ESPN. The bowl season starts this morning – yes, morning – with the Bahama Bowl at 11:30 a.m. ET; two 6-6 teams collide, with Miami of Ohio (shown here) and Alabama-Birmingham. That’s followed at 3 p.m. by the Cure Bowl, with 11-2 teams. Texas – San Antonio (ranked No. 25) faces Troty (the one in Alabama, not the one in Greece), No. 24. Seven more bowls follow on Saturday.
2) “The Greatest @Home Videos Holiday Special,” 9 p.m., CBS. Born of pandemic necessity, these hours have been gently pleasant. This new one, like the previous ones, is a mixed blessing. It has some hilarious moments involving kids, animals or clever adult concoctions; it also has lots of time-fillers. CBS surrounds it with reruns – the fun, animated “Reindeer in Here” at 8 p.m. and a “Blue Bloods” (from 14 month ago) at 10, with Frank making an arrest that goes viral.
3) “Lopez vs. Lopez,” 8 p.m., NBC. At Christmastime, George’s ex-wife likes lots of cake and decorations; he prefers lots of alcohol. Can their daughter merge them into one party? The result has lots of heavy-handed humor, as usual, but it closes with a treat for Lopez’s long-time fams. Also for the holiday: “Young Rock” (8:30 p.m., NBC) and “Hollywood Christmas Parade” (8-10 p.m., CW).
4) “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” Netflix. After directing two straight best-picture Oscar-winners (“The Birdman” and “The Revenant”), Alejandro Inarritu paused. Now he’s directed his first film in seven years – a two hour, 40 minute, Spanish-language marathon that has drawn mixed reviews. Also arriving today is “Nanny,” on Amazon Prime. It’s a Sundance Film Festival winner, with a Senagalese native caring for a Manhattan girl.
5) More streaming. This is the week for cooking competitions. Netflix debuts “Cook at All Costs” today, shortly after the arrivals of Peacock’s “Baking It” and Amazon Prime’s “Dr. Seuss Baking Challenge.” Also new this week: a Disney+ series spinning off “National Treasure” … a Hulu mini-series based on the acclaimed fantasy novel “Kindred” … and the second half of Netflix’s compelling (if controversial) “Harry & Meghan” mini-series.