Top pick
It’s A Wonderful Life (NBC, 7 p.m.): There’s a simple reason this film has endured: It’s a stone-cold classic, just the right mixture of holiday schmaltz and bleak fairy tale. Frank Capra might have made a better film, but this is his most timeless. Jimmy Stewart is always a one-man charm offensive, but he meets his match in Donna Reed, and there are enough quotable lines and indelible images to mount a multimedia gallery display. Look at us, we’re handing out wings!
Regular coverage
The Crown (Netflix)
Wild cards, Christmas Eve edition:
I Love Lucy Christmas Special (CBS, 8 p.m.)
A Christmas Carol (AMC, 6:30 p.m.)
Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas (BET, 8 p.m.)
Die Hard (Cinemax, 7 p.m.)
Elf (Freeform, 8:15 p.m.)
The Holiday (Lifetime, 7 p.m.)
A Christmas Story (TBS, 7 p.m.)
A Christmas Horror Story (Netflix)
