It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Christmas has television pretty much all to itself for the next 2 1/2 weeks. Due to the quirks of the shifting Jewish calendar, Hanukkah finished unusually early this year; Kwanzaa, as always, doesn’t start until Dec. 26. So for the next 17 days, anyone who watches TV will be excused for singing “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.”

Today alone, broadcasters and cable companies are airing 50 shows somehow relating to Christmas. For the week, the total is close to 300. True, some of these are the same program shown over and over, but on the other hand we’re not even counting the home shopping networks and Christian broadcasters, both of which are feasting on holiday fare almost nonstop.

The range of offerings is as broad as the diversity of channels that are available: from the star-studded specials the broadcast networks offer to the minutiae of wreath-building HGTV (Home & Garden TV). There’s even a smattering of too-late Hanukkah and too-early Kwanzaa shows.

Because even the most avid tube-watcher will have difficulty figuring out what to see, we’ve put together this highly selective sampling of a week’s worth of holiday programming, divided into four key categories. (We’re ignoring animated shows, which are spotlighted in this week’s TV Times.) And because this is a season of giving and receiving, we’ll also note some not-so-obvious gifts in these holiday offerings.

Star-studded specials

Andy Dick (“Less Than Perfect”) offers “O Christmas Tree,” John Ritter (“8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter”) sings “Deck the Halls” (accompanied by Kenny G) and “The Bachelor’s” Aaron Buerge offers piano accompaniment to “The Bachelorette’s” Trista Rehn on “Jingle Bells” on “ABC’s Christmas in Aspen” at 7 tonight.

Gifts to: stars of ABC shows who get a chance to be seen out of character.

“Blockbuster Hollywood Christmas Spectacular”: “Fear Factor’s” Joe Rogan and “Dog Eat Dog’s” Brooke Burns host this revamped entertainment show that is based, loosely, at the down-on-its-luck Hollywood Christmas Parade, which airs at 7 tonight on NBC.

Gifts to: NBC for getting some fairly cheap holiday programming, and a West Coast complement to its Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Barbara Walters interviews President Bush and tours White House Christmas decorations on ABC’s “20/20” at 10 p.m. Friday.

Gifts to: Walters, for scoring this exclusive “get” two years in a row.

Special episodes

Sitcoms are especially inspired this year. ABC’s “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter,” “Life With Bonnie,” “Less Than Perfect” and “George Lopez” all have holiday-themed episodes. So does “Everybody Loves Raymond” on CBS, and “Friends,” “Will & Grace” and “Hidden Hills” on NBC, as well as the WB’s “Reba.” Even some of the dramas are getting into the spirit: NBC’s “Ed,” “The West Wing” and “ER”; CBS’ “The District”; and PAX’s “Just Cause,” among them.

Gifts to: writers for these shows, who have an easy hook to hang an episode on.

Scripted series are easy. Special mention, though, must go to NBC’s “reality” hit “Fear Factor,” airing a special installment in which the main challenge is to eat reindeer testicles.

Gifts to: not sure, but definitely not the reindeer.

Hands-on

How-to mainstays HGTV and the Food Network are pretty much decking every hall and roasting every chestnut, respectively. We know we won’t miss Food Network’s “All Stars Holiday,” at 9 tonight, in which nearly all of the cooking channel’s celebrity chefs are on board. Notably missing is Emeril Lagasse; he has his own special, “Emeril Live: Hilda’s Holiday Traditions,” on at 8, during which he’ll celebrate his mother’s cooking prowess.

Gifts to: dieters, who can look rather than touch.

For kids

Animal Planet has perhaps the most novel original show: “Animals of the Nativity,” airing at 5 p.m. Thursday. Everyone knows about the three wise men, and the various shepherds who attended the Nativity, but little has been said about the camels and lambs and other animals that were there. Until now.

Gifts to: as always with this channel, animal lovers.

But no listing would be complete without also mentioning “A Flintstone Christmas,” which airs at noon Saturday on Cartoon Network. In this repeat episode, Fred and Barney deliver toys after Santa sprains his ankle in Bedrock.

Gifts to: anyone who can explain how even the most modern Stone Age family could celebrate a holiday that wouldn’t start for thousands more years. Just another case of Christmas magic.