Stars light up Disney parade
Today’s must-see
“Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade,” 9 a.m., ABC. Under layers of hype, this annual special brings bright settings and bright-faced pop stars. It shows the parade live, plus numbers taped in advance.
Want something large? There’s an opening number from “Dancing With the Stars” people. The Harlem Gospel Choir backs Jessica Simpson in “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” And “High School Musical” co-stars give a holiday twist to “What Time Is It?”
Also scheduled: Miley Cyrus, Katharine McPhee, Josh Groban, Menudo, the Jonas Brothers and Patti LaBelle.
Might-see
“Control Room Presents,” 8 and 9 p.m., MyNetwork TV (Spokane channel 11 or HDTV channel 114). Here’s more pop music, this time with taped concerts.
First is Rihanna in Montreal, doing songs from her “Good Girls Gone Bad” album, including “Umbrella.” Then Avril Lavigne is all-acoustic, from Hollywood’s Roxy Theatre.
Other choices include
“A Christmas Story” (1983), all day (last one is 6-8 p.m.), TBS. At the core is the dark wit of Jean Shepherd, capturing a 1940s kid’s fears and frustrations. Peter Billingsley is terrific in the lead. The result is slyly funny and worth re-seeing; TBS started its marathon at 8 p.m. Monday.
“Santa Baby” (2006), 2 p.m., and “Snow” (2004), 4 p.m., Family. Back to back, we meet Jenny McCarthy as Santa’s sleek and savvy daughter and Tom Cavanagh as his amiable son. The first movie is pleasant enough; the second is quite clever and charming.
“The Incredibles” (2004), 6 and 8:30 p.m., Family. This animated hit has a family of superheroes trying to live anonymously.
“Elf” (2003), 7 and 9 p.m., USA. Will Ferrell stars in this good-hearted movie, discovering that he’s not really one of Santa’s elves.
“The Godfather, Part II” (1974), 7 p.m., Bravo; “Forrest Gump” (1994), 8 p.m., A&E. Two decades apart, these fine films won best-picture Oscars.
“Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003), 8-11 p.m., ABC. Johnny Depp’s richly eccentric performance makes this thoroughly enjoyable, despite its bloated length and endless battle scenes.
“Deal or No Deal,” 8-10 p.m., NBC. Santa shows up, plus Christmas-dressed models and a choral group singing about 12 prizes. One contestant is the mom of sextuplets who are seeing their first Christmas.
“NCIS,” 8 p.m., CBS. In a rerun, the murder victim is someone McGee based a character on, in his novel.
“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” 10 p.m., NBC. Here’s the rerun of a strong episode. With her brother on the lam, Benson deals with an FBI agent (Vincent Spano) and an out-of-town cop (Kim Delaney).