TUESDAY’S BEST PICKS
4 PM ( NFL) NFL Football Two AFC North rivals fighting hard for Wild Card berth get down to business tonight in Cleveland, where Baker Mayfield and the Browns hope the home field works to their advantage against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. Jackson looked every bit the defending NFL
MVP in these teams’ first meeting in Week 1, throwing for 275 yards and three touchdowns as the Ravens trounced the Browns 38-6.
8 PM ^ Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas With Vanessa Williams Vanessa Williams is both host and a featured vocalist in this new one-hour music special that pays tribute to one of the most iconic Christmas albums ever released by jazz great Ella Fitzgerald. Other performers include Dee Dee Bridgewater, Norm Lewis, Carmen Ruby Floyd, Nova Payton, Dave Detwiler and Morgan James.
8 PM $ Play On: Celebrating the Power of Music to Make Change Kevin Bacon joins actress and rapper Eve to co-host this new one-hour concert special, a benefit to raise money for two philanthropic organizations: the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) and WhyHunger. During the broadcast, viewers can make donations via text. The program will feature artists performing from three venues: the Ambassador in Los Angeles, the Apollo Theater in New York and the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tenn. Scheduled performers include Snoop Dogg, Machine Gun Kelly, Maren Morris, Sheryl Crow, and Bon
Jovi, among many others. 8 PM ( AP) Walking with Elephants Explorer and conservationist Levison Wood follows elephants on their epic annual migration across Botswana to the Okavango Delta in this three-part miniseries, airing tonight in its entirety. The journey for the huge herd begins in the salt pans of the Kalahari Desert, and Wood — along with Kane Motswana, his safari guide — gives Animal Planet audiences a thrilling sense of that trek by these resilient animals, who face danger from poachers, animal predators and dehydration.
8 PM ( AMC) MOVIE Scrooged Bill Murray portrays Ebenezer Scrooge — called Frank Cross here — in another adaptation of the Charles Dickens tale. This 1988 version follows the story of a greedy TV executive who figures since he hates Christmas, no one else should enjoy it. But his outlook is changed after a visit from three ghosts on Christmas Eve. Directed by Richard Donner, the movie also stars Karen Allen, John Forsythe, Carol Kane and Alfre Woodard. 8:25 PM ( FREE) MOVIE Disney’s A Christmas Carol One of the most enduring of all holiday stories gets a screen workout from director Robert
Zemeckis and Jim Carrey in this inventive retelling. As expected, Carrey plays miser Ebenezer Scrooge, but thanks to the “motion capture” technique Zemeckis also used on “The Polar Express,” the actor takes on several other characters of the Charles Dickens classic as well. Gary Oldman and Colin Firth also lend their likenesses and voices.
9 PM ( OWN) MOVIE Cooking Up Christmas Chloe (Meagan Holder), an Atlanta-based chef, is dismayed when she loses her job at a fine-dining restaurant just weeks before Christmas. With few options, she reluctantly accepts a gig working as a home chef for pro baseball player Donovan Jackson (Lamman Rucker, “Greenleaf”), a single dad who needs Chloe’s help to get through the holidays with his kids. While she takes the job strictly to earn some cash, Chloe is surprised to find that her extended stay with the Jacksons offers her a holiday lesson in the importance of family.
1 AM J Christmas at Belmont Grammy Award-winning musician Michael W. Smith and beloved gospel artist CeCe Winans are the guest artists for this 2019 holiday concert, which was recorded at Schermerhorn Symphony Center in
Nashville, Tenn. The festive program features nearly 800 musicians and performers, including Belmont University students and the Nashville Children’s Choir. Musical selections include both classic carols such as “Joy to the World” and “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” and such popular seasonal hits as “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and “White Christmas.”