What's on TV Thursday: 'Heisman Trophy Finalists Reveal'

Dec. 23, 2020 5 PM PT

During the coronavirus crisis, the Los Angeles Times is making some temporary changes to our print sections. The prime-time TV grid is on hiatus in print but an expanded version is available in your daily Times eNewspaper. You can find a printable PDF online at: latimes.com/whats-on-tv.

SPECIALS

2020 Heisman Trophy Finalists Reveal Show Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Florida’s Kyle Trask and Alabama’s Mac Jones, DeVonta Smith and Najee Harris are likely to have their names and numbers called in this new special. 4:30 p.m. ESPN and 9 p.m. ESPN2

HOLIDAY SPECIALS

61st Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration (N) 3 and 7 p.m. KOCE

Wheaton College Christmas Festival: Messiah, Prince of Peace Students from Illinois’ Wheaton College Conservatory of Music recount the story of the Nativity through Christmas music and carols. 8 p.m. KVCR

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Animated, based on the song by Johnny Marks. 8:50 p.m. Freeform

Disney Prep & Landing 10 p.m. ABC

All Is Bright: A Concordia Christmas 10 p.m. KOCE

The St. Olaf Christmas Festival: A New Song of Grace and Truth 10 p.m. KLCS; 11 p.m. KOCE

Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice 10:30 p.m. ABC

Christmas Eve Mass Coverage of Pope Francis’ mass from St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. 11:34 p.m. NBC

SPORTS

College Football New Mexico Bowl: Hawaii versus Houston, 12:30 p.m. ESPN

TALK SHOWS

CBS This Morning (N) 7 a.m. KCBS

Today COVID-19; Jon Bon Jovi; Bryan Ford; NORAD Santa tracker. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC

KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA

Good Morning America Director Patty Jenkins; chef Millie Peartree. (N) 7 a.m. KABC

Good Day L.A. (N) 7 a.m. KTTV

Live With Kelly and Ryan Anthony Anderson (“black-ish”); MMA fighter Juan Archuleta. (N) 9 a.m. KABC

Rachael Ray Party planner Mary Giuliani; the Cringe performs. (N) 10 a.m. KTTV

Amanpour and Company (N) 11 p.m. KCET; midnight KVCR; 1 a.m. KLCS

Nightline (N) 12:37 a.m. KABC

HOLIDAY MOVIES

Elf The Encore channel opens its Christmas Eve marathon of the holiday favorite starring Will Ferrell, Bob Newhart and James Caan with a sing-along/cheer-along version. 8:20 a.m., 10 and 11:40 a.m. and 1:20, 3, 4:40, 6:20, 8, 9:40 and 11:20 p.m. Also airs on AMC at 6 p.m.

Christmas in Connecticut A popular lifestyle journalist (Barbara Stanwyck) is seen by her readers as the sweetest, most efficient homemaker in the countryside, but she’s really a chain-smoking city woman living in an apartment. When she’s assigned to host a war hero on leave for the holidays, she needs to come up with a home, a child and cooking skills fast. Dennis Morgan and S.Z. Sakall costar in the 1945 romantic comedy. 3 p.m. TCM

It’s a Wonderful Life Small-town guy George Bailey (James Stewart) defers his dreams to run the family business and marries a local girl (Donna Reed). Facing financial ruin, he’s pulled from suicidal despair by his guardian angel, Clarence (Henry Travers), who shows him how the world would have been had he never lived. Lionel Barrymore also stars in director Frank Capra’s 1946 classic. 8 p.m. NBC

Bad Santa (2003) 11 a.m. 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. MTV

Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas (2009) 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. KVCR; 11 a.m. KOCE and KPBS

Home Alone (1990) 12:30 p.m. Freeform

Scrooged (1988) 2 p.m. AMC

White Christmas (1954) 2, 4:45, 7:30, 10:15 p.m. Sundance (marathon continues Friday)

The Polar Express (2004) 4 p.m. AMC

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) 8 p.m. AMC

A Christmas Story (1983) The annual 24-hour marathon airs on two channels every two hours starting at 8 p.m. on TBS and 9 p.m. on TNT

A Christmas Carol (1938) 9 p.m. TCM

MOVIES

The Greatest Showman In the 1800s, P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) indulges his imagination to create the Barnum & Bailey circus in director Michael Gracey’s 2017 musical. Zac Efron, Michelle Williams and Zendaya also star. 8 p.m. ABC

Back to the Future Part III (1990) 8:30 a.m. A&E

Winter’s Bone (2010) 9:31 a.m. Cinemax

The Godfather (1972) 10:25 a.m. IFC

EMMA. (2020) 10:50 a.m. HBO

Jurassic Park (1993) 11 a.m. A&E

In the Good Old Summertime (1949) 11 a.m. TCM

Your Sister’s Sister (2011) 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. TMC

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) 11:26 a.m. Syfy

Rudy (1993) 12:45 p.m. Epix

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) 1 p.m. TCM

The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) 1 p.m. TMC

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) 2:28 p.m. Syfy