Frosty and Santa battle it out for your TV attention

By Gwen Ihnat | November 24, 2017 | 6:00am

TV Lists What's On Tonight

Frosty and Santa battle it out for your TV attention

Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Friday, November 24 through Sunday, November 26. All times are Eastern. As God is our witness, we thought turkeys could fly.

Top picks

Frosty The Snowman (CBS, 8 p.m.)/Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town (ABC, 8 p.m.): We hope you have TiVo, because otherwise you have the Sophie’s choice of Christmas specials tonight. Do you go with the delightful 2-D Rankin/Bass illustration of the Frosty The Snowman bio, narrated by Jimmy Durante, complete with magic hat and tragic ending saved by Santa? Or Santa’s own backstory in delightful 3-D Rankin/Bass stop-motion, narrated by postman Fred Astaire, with an evil wizard and sad, grubby children with no toys? It’s a toss-up. But Santa’s hour-long time period may push it ahead a little, since Frosty is followed by the inferior Frosty Returns, with Jonathan Winters, John Goodman, and baby Elisabeth Moss! Maybe get a TiVo for yourself as an early holiday present if you don’t already have one. Because NBC will be showing How The Grinch Stole Christmas at the same time, hoping for a lead-in into its new Trolls holiday special. It’s only November 24: Can’t we spread these out a bit?

Regular coverage

As The A.V. Club, like the rest of America, will be on Thanksgiving break this weekend, we are compressing the Friday/Sunday editions of WOT:

The Punisher (Netflix)
Future Man (Hulu)
Z Nation (Friday, Syfy, 9 p.m.)
Saturday Night Live (Saturday, NBC, 11:30 p.m.)
Outlander (Sunday, Starz, 8 p.m.)
The Walking Dead (Sunday, AMC, 9 p.m.)
Shameless (Sunday, Showtime, 9 p.m.)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (Sunday, HBO, 10 p.m.)
Search Party (Sunday, TBS, 10 p.m.)

Wild cards

Feast Your Eyes: 37 Shows To Stream For Thanksgiving 2017: Or, just forget this weekend’s new episodes! Our TV Club team has posted an extensive list of other options for your holiday binge-watching. From every single season of It’s Always Sunny to a pair of Anne With Green Gables adaptations to some family shows that will either make your relatives seem like royalty or a collective dumpster fire in comparison, you’re bound to find a compatible option in our list of 37 shows to stream over the long weekend. So have a wonderful holiday, and we’ll see you back here in this space on Monday. (And if you’re still looking for Thanksgiving-themed entertainment, we’re happy to report that the greatest turkey-related TV episode of all time is available on Hulu.)