1) “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946), 8-11 p.m., NBC. Each year, this James Stewart classic (shown here) – No. 20 on the American Film Institute’s best-movie list – gets a Christmas Eve airing on NBC. This year, it also makes the rounds of cable channels aligned with the network. It’s already been on USA and Bravo; at 6 a.m. on Christmas Day, it will start showing every three hours on E.
2) “A Christmas Story” (1983), 8 p.m., TBS, and 9 p.m., TNT. Here’s another annual custom. This gem – viewing a 1940s holiday with a mixture of warmth and caustic wit – starts a 24-hour marathon on each channel. It keeps starting over every two hours.
3) “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman,” 5:45 and 6:50 p.m., Freeform. As kids fidget before Santa’a arrival, they can catch these animated classics. They’re preceded by “Santa Clause is Comin’ to Town” at 4:40 p.m. and followed by the “Santa Clause’ movies at 7:20 pm.. (1994), 9:30 (2002) and midnight (2006).
4) Football. With Christmas on a Sunday, most pro games will be a day earlier than usual. Regional telecasts at 1 p.m. ET will be followed by games at 4:05 p.m. on CBS (Commanders-49ers), 4:25 on Fox (Eagles-Cowboys) and 8:15 on the NFL Network (Raiders-Steelers). There’s also one bowl game, with two 7-5 teams – Middle Tennessee State and San Diego State – in Hawaii, at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
5) ALSO: At 8 p.m., HBO has a big movie – “Black Adam” (2022) – and others have reruns, including “Home Alone” (1990) on ABC and the Lego “Bricktacular” finale on Fox. At 11:29, NBC goes to the Vatican for Christmas Mass. And Turner Cl;assic Movies has a strong line-up, with “Christmas in Connecticut” (1945) at 4 p.m. ET, Judy Garland’s “Meet Me in St. Louis” (1944) at 6, “The Bishop’s Wife” (1948) at 8 and “A Christmas Carol” (1938) at 10.