1) “Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday Celebration,” 8:30-10:30 p.m., CBS (but 8-10 p.m. on the West Coast).We’ll overlook the fact that Nelson’s 90th birthday was 233 days ago. Any excuse to hear this 12-time Grammy-winner (shown here) is fine. Also performing are his sons, plus stars from country (George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Chris Stapleton) and beyond (Keith Richards, Norah Jones, Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow, Beck, Gary Clark Jr. and Snoop Dogg).
2) “Krapopolis,” about 8 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. PT (after football), Fox. At its best, this show satirizes our world by showing an early civilization. That’s been inconsistent, but tonight hits the mark perfectly. The multi-headed hydra becomes a way people can communicate constantly. They can seek love, seek likes or just spread anonymous conspiracy rumors. The result crackles with clever moments.
3) More animation. Fox also has new episodes of “The Simpsons” at 8:30, “Bob’s Burgers” at 9 (an especially good one, with the family forced to spend Christmas in a remote cabin) and “Family Guy” at 9:30. FXX reruns Christmas episodes of all three shows, from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. — when it has a big deal: “Archer,” an entertaining action-adventure-comedy that ran for 14 seasons, has its finale.
4) “The Sound of Music” (1965), 7-11 p.m., ABC. This splendid musical – winner of five Academy Awards, including best picture – has become a Christmas tradition for ABC … even though it’s not quite a Christmas film. If you insist on one, there are new holiday films at 8 p.m. on Hallmark and Lifetime, at 7 p.m. ET on UpTV and at 8 p.m. ET on Great American Family.
5) ALSO: The interesting, three-part Agatha Christie profile concludes at 8 p.m. on PBS … the same night that FX Movie Channel has two terrific Christie movies: Kenneth Branagh miscast himself as Hercule Poirot, but directed beautifully; “Murder on the Orient Express” (2017) is 5:20 p.m., “Death on the Nile” (2022) at 7:40 and 10:20. Also, TNT has two greats – “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” at 5:03 p.m. and “A Christmas Story”(1983) at 5:33.
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