TV REVIEW : Is There Really a Santa Claus? Channel 4 Knows and Tells at 4

Stuffed with turkey, replete with pumpkin pie, what better time to quietly ponder the existence of that jolly fat man in a red suit? An “investigative” report, “There Really Is a Santa Claus,” does just that at 4 p.m. today on KNBC Channel 4.

But Scrooges be warned: Only the wide-eyed and sentimental will find this hour easily digestible.

Jack Perkins hosts a potpourri of eyewitness accounts, expert opinion and action footage, answering questions about Santa’s existence and modus operandi.

A scientist describes cave drawings as perhaps “the first tracings of Santa Claus in the human consciousness.” A biochemist discusses the possibility of flying reindeer. Stevie Wonder sings “Jingle Bells,” joining Florence Henderson, Lou Gosset Jr., Loretta Lynn and Ed McMahon, among others, in accounts of their own personal experience with Santa.

“Santa’s helpers” are interviewed, including the Marines with their “Toys for Tots” program, the U.S. postmaster general, who sees that all Santa’s mail is delivered and the president of a toy company. “Santa Claus,” Perkins says, “is the inspiration that results in the manufacture of millions of toys each year.”

And you thought it was profits.

But manage to hang in, either by design or overstuffed stupor, and you’ll be rewarded with flashes of real Christmas spirit: through interviews with children, confident in their belief; through the awed voice of a disabled boy in a wheelchair who talks to Santa over a short-wave radio.

“He knows me,” the boy joyfully reports, his face aglow. Try to say “bah, Humbug” after that.