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It's a wonderful lineup

Think stockings get stuffed this time of year? That's nothing compared to the tube's cramming of holiday shows

Diane Werts | GLUED TO THE TUBE

December 3, 2006

It's all in the numbers now.

"25 Days of Christmas."

"24-hour Merrython."

"20 Merriest Christmas Videos."

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"Studio 60" and "Adam-12."

So those last two are titles of series whose holiday episodes air this week. You get the point. The tube hosts so much Christmastime merriment, it has to be collected, categorized and counted down.

Have yourself a lengthy little Christmas - "Ugly Betty" aired a Christmas photo shoot episode way back on Oct. 19. You missed it? ABC aired a different holiday outing on Thursday. Still weren't ready? Catch up at abc.com or iTunes. We aren't even counting those alternative TV delivery outlets - online, podcasts, on-demand - and we're still overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tube tales unreeling around Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and the politically handy winter solstice. So many shows, so little time. Unless you start airing 'em before Halloween.

And they say Christmas is being deleted from the season? When we started tracking yule tube airings some 15 years ago, we could fit the Christmas-show listings on one newspaper page. They've long since stretched to a length only Newsday.com can accommodate. Today, we're wondering if there's enough room in cyberspace to catalog all the series episodes, TV-movies, music specials, cartoons for both kids and adults, even documentaries ("Christmas in Yellowstone" on PBS' "Nature"), reality shows (Discovery's new holiday "MythBusters") and talk-fests (Jerry Springer loves yule, too).

The holiday sure provides a handy programming peg for cable channels itching for attention among hundreds of competitors.

ABC Family started its annual "25 Days of Christmas" stunt Friday, showcasing something seasonal every night in prime time. That includes vintage Rankin-Bass animation, Christmas sitcoms and holiday films to go along with two new TV-movies - "Santa Baby" (next Sunday) with Jenny McCarthy as the fat man's executive daughter and "Christmas Do-Over" (Dec. 16) with Jay Mohr as a holiday screwup reliving his wrongs till he rights them.

Hallmark Channel has holiday films nightly at 9 p.m., including new ones next Saturday ("What I Did for Love") and Dec. 16 ("Love's Abiding Joy").

Lifetime airs Christmas TV movies nightly at 9 p.m. Eight new productions include "A Christmas Wedding" (Dec. 11) with Sarah Paulson ("Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip") and Eric Mabius ("Ugly Betty").

TV Land divvies up its seventh annual Merrython of classic TV into two separate 24-hour events, this weekend ( till 10 p.m. Sunday) and Dec. 24-25 (6 p.m.-6 p.m.). Its original "Top 10 Holiday Moments" special airs among vintage faves from all the decades - the 1960s ("The Andy Griffith Show," "Green Acres"), the '70s ("The Brady Bunch," "All in the Family"), the '80s ("The Cosby Show," "Murphy Brown") and the '90s ("Cheers," "MacGyver").

Nick at Nite's All Nite Holiday Party runs Thursday and Dec. 24 with classic sitcom celebrations - "Full House," "Fresh Prince," "Roseanne," "Designing Women."

The i network (formerly PAX, on WPXN/31, Cablevision Ch. 3) broadcasts vintage Christmas episodes all this week at 6:30 p.m., including such rareties as "The Flying Nun" (Wednesday) and "McHale's Navy" (Thursday). Saturday night is devoted to dramas ("Adam-12," "Dragnet," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents").

Kids' holiday festivals appear on Nickelodeon (Dec. 16 and 24-25), Disney (Dec. 24-25) and Starz Kids & Family (Dec. 24-25).

Other Christmas-themed marathons spotlight sitcoms (FX Dec. 23), game shows (GSN Dec. 24) and adult animation (Adult Swim Dec. 24).

And then there's the venerable Yule Log. WPIX/11 has it once again, in high-definition, at 9 a.m. Christmas Day. (There's even the bio-profile "The Yule Log: A Log's Life" airing on Ch. 11 Dec. 23, 24 and 25.) The video fireplace also goes national in high-def on INHD, airing 24 hours from 7 a.m. Christmas morning. It's even available on demand from some cable providers (check your digital on-screen listings).

Our Christmas 2006 program listings now extend toward infinity at Newsday's info-packed TV blog newsday.com/tvzone, where they're broken down by categories (episodes, movies, music, animation), so you can more easily locate your faves. Some of ours are highlighted here.

Happy viewing!