“Home for the Holidays”
Friday 8pm, CBS
Even in death Dave Thomas is making the world a better place. I’m not talking about Wendy’s’ Jalapeno Cheddar Double Melt or the Vanilla Frosty (although, now that I think about it, those count too). This special is sponsored by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, which Thomas—an adoptee himself—founded in 1992 to raise awareness of the more than 100,000 American children awaiting adoptive families. Hard to think of a more worthwhile cause, especially at this time of year.
If the heart-tugging doesn’t pull your remote, perhaps you’ll be tempted
by performances from Rod Stewart, John Legend, Five for Fighting, and
the woman who should have been your 2006 American Idol, Katharine McPhee. The Dave Thomas Foundation clearly splurged on the music budget, because, aside from the luminous Rene Russo, the celeb hosts are a pretty paltry lot, including Melina Kanakaredes, Angie Harmon, Cedric the Enter-tainer, and walking mannequin Jeri Ryan.
It’s a Wonderful Life
Sunday 8pm, NBC
NBC does its part to reduce the national Christmas Eve suicide rate by airing the saccharine holiday chestnut right when the severely depressed need it most. In an effort to make the flick more palatable to us hipster Gen X-ers, here’s some fun Wonderful Life trivia from the fine folks at the Internet Movie Database: When the film was first released in 1946, the FBI labeled it as politically subversive with Communist undertones; the film was initially supposed to star Cary Grant instead of Jimmy Stewart; Vincent Price was reportedly up for the role of Mr. Potter; and Dorothy Parker contributed to the screenplay. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
“Kennedy Center Honors”
Tuesday, 12/26, 9pm, CBS
After this ceremony originally took place December 3, celeb gossip rags were all atwitter with stories about professional bimbo Jessica Simpson freaking out during her tribute to Dolly Parton. She reportedly broke into tears and ran off stage after totally flubbing the words to “9 to 5.” (And seriously, Dolly deserves so much better than Jessica goddamn Simpson.) I am sad to report that you will not see that in this TV special. The producers had Simpson re-do her song after the ceremony ended and will cut and paste it with random audience reaction shots from throughout the night. Freaking weak. Anyway, the other national treasures getting props include Steven Spielberg, Smokey Robinson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and conductor Zubin Mehta, who seems kind of outclassed. Just saying.