1) “Buccaneers,” Apple TV+. A week from the terrific finale, we finds lives in chaos. Nan loves two good men – Theo (a decent Duke) and Guy (his longtime friend and sometime foe). She also hates her sister Jinny, who revealed a secret to the world: Nan — shown here at the left with Theo — isn’t really descended from wealth; she was adopted at birth and “illegitimate,” a damning thing in the high society of the 1870s.
2) Quantum Leap,” 8 p.m., NBC. In the original version of this show, someone could only time-travel within his lifetime. Not any more: Tonight, Ben leaps all the way to 1693. He’s occupying the body of a teen girl, in a town like Salem, where girls are eyed warily as potential witches. It’s an interesting hour, marred by a solution that defies belief, even by time-travel standards.
3) “That’s My Jam” holiday special, 10 p.m., NBC. This game-show hour is filled with “Saturday Night Live” alumni — Jimmy Fallon (who hosts and produces), Rachel Dratch, Fred Armisen, Ana Gasteyer and Melissa Villasenor,
4) Republican debate, 8-10 p.m., CW. It’s the fourth debate and a first for CW, which doesn’t have news people. The CW owners, however, have NewsNation, an upstart cable channel; it will simulcast the debate and provide Elizabeth Vargas (the former ABC anchor). She’ll be a moderator, with Megyn Kelly (formerly of Fox News and NBC, now of Sirius Radio, which also carries this) and Eliana Johnson, editor of the Washington Free Beacon website.
5) ALSO: Two dramas – “Sullivan’s Crossing” and “The Spencer Sisters” – have the week off, to make room for the debate. However, there’s a new “Magnum PI,” at 9 p.m. on NBC, with friends asking for favors – find an escaped murder suspect and a missing dog-walker. And there’s a new “Santa Clauses” today on Disney+, setting up next week’s season-finale. That’s on the same day that Freeform has the “Santa Clause” movies, at 4:15, 6:25 and 8:55 p.m.
— Mike Hughes, TV America