TV HIGHLIGHTS

Movie: A Christmas Story 2, 6 PMon IFC: Some people may well question why this sequel is needed almost 30 years later, but here it is. Braeden Lemasters inherits the pivotal role of Ralphie, now a teen whose obsession with a BB gun has given way to his desire for a convertible car. If you thought Mom (Stacey Travis) was worried before, imagine her level of concern here. The gruff family patriarch also is present again, with Daniel Stern assuming the shoes and sharp tongue of Darren McGavin.

Movie: Smallfoot, 7 PM on TOON: Based on an unpublished children’s book by Sergio Pablos, this charming 2018 computer-animated musical comedy from director Karey Kirkpatrick follows a band of Yeti whose peaceful life in the Himalayas is disrupted when they encounter a human airplane pilot (voice by Jack Quaid) whose plane has crashed. They’re stunned because, of course, up until now they thought humans were mythical creatures. The large voice cast also includes Channing Tatum, James Corden, Zendaya, Common, LeBron James and Gina Rodriguez.

History’s Greatest Mysteries, 9 PM on HIST; 1:03AM on HIST: The new episode “Roswell: The First Witness — The Writer” takes investigator Ben Smith to the hometown of the late U.S. Army

Major Jesse Marcel, who was the first officer on the scene after a “flying disk” crash landed in New Mexico in July 1947. Marcel died in 1986, but Smith seeks to talk with surviving family members who have information that supports Marcel’s story of a subsequent government cover-up. Laurence Fishburne is the narrator.