Snowmaggedon
Saturday 9pm, Syfy
Are you sick of touchy-feely holiday movies, what with their morals and sappy endings that make you waste the precious booze in your system by shedding what people with real feelings call tears? This year, forgo the miracles and the wonderful lives and tune in to Syfy Saturday for Christmas films where things blow up, and the only spirit people feel is terror, and maybe shame for the crappy special effects they’re acting opposite. Snowmaggedon is a new original movie featuring David Cubitt (“Medium”) and Michael Hogan (Tigh on “Battlestar Galactica”) as residents of a small town that is besieged by a magical snow globe that wreaks weather-related havoc. This is what happens when American manufacturing moves to China, people. Tune in at 7pm for last year’s Ice Quake, starring Brendan Fehr and Victor Garber.
“Luck”
Sunday 10pm, HBO
This highly anticipated new drama doesn’t officially debut until the end of January, but we’ll get a sneak peek of it following the season finale of “Boardwalk Empire.” The pedigree for this series couldn’t be higher. Michael Mann (The Aviator) directs the pilot, written by David Milch (“Deadwood”), which tells the stories of myriad characters that frequent a horse-racing track. Can you think of a setting with more dramatic potential, between the jockeys, the trainers, the gamblers, and the management? It’s amazing no one has tried it before (that I’m aware of). The cast is almost too good to believe, led by Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte, Dennis Farina, Jason Gedrick, and even guest spots by Joan Allen and Michael Gambon, the artist formerly known as Professor Dumbledore.
“Fear Factor”
Monday 8pm, NBC
Just as “Pop-Up Video” and “Beavis and Butt-head” have returned to the tube in recent months, NBC’s once-popular reality contest “Fear Factor” is back with all new episodes. “Factor” originally aired from 2001 to 2006. The show put regular people through a series of fear-inducing challenges, which ranged from extreme physical stunts to some gag-inducing gross-out scenarios. For instance, one notable stunt involved contestants drinking blended rats, while a military-themed episode tasked hopefuls with bungee jumping off a helicopter. Contestants were whittled down over the course of an episode until someone ended up with a couple thousand dollars for their trouble/humiliation. The new series will once again feature host Joe Rogan, and the preview shows scorpion eating, bees swarming, women sobbing, and things exploding. Same as it ever was!