Holiday viewing on Christmas Eve and beyond

BIG MOVIES Movie must-sees would include 1947's "Miracle on 34th Street" (10 a.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday and 1 a.m. Saturday on AMC; Friday at 1 p.m., Saturday night at midnight, WLNY/55/10), Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" (Friday at 12:15, 5:15 and 10:15 p.m., AMC), "It's a Wonderful Life" (Friday at 8 p.m., NBC/4), Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" (every two hours for 24 hours from 8 p.m. Friday, TBS), and "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 8 a.m., TV Land).

MOVIE MARATHONS Holiday TV movies fill the Friday and Saturday lineups at Hallmark Channel, Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network. Check listings for titles/times.

SCROOGE STORIES Varied tellings include Albert Finney's "Scrooge" (Friday at 6 p.m., TCM), "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (Friday at 8, Saturday at 5 p.m., The Hub), George C. Scott in "A Christmas Carol" (Saturday at 8 p.m. and midnight, Fox Movie Channel), and Vanessa Williams in "A Diva's Christmas Carol" (Saturday at 9 p.m., Lifetime).

ANIMATED SPECIALS WNET/13 kicks things off with "TheCricket on the Hearth" (Friday at 6:30 a.m., repeats 1 p.m., Ch. 13). ABC Family lines up a whole day of favorites starting with "The Life andAdventures of Santa Claus" (Friday at 7 a.m.) and also including "A Flintstone Christmas" (11 a.m.) and "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" (8 p.m.).

SERIES EPISODES Look first to marathons like TV Land's Merrython (today 4:30 p.m.-Saturday 5 p.m., Saturday 8 p.m.-1 a.m., with multiple episodes of "M*A*S*H,""All in the Family,""Roseanne,""Home Improvement" and more). Other channels loading up on holiday episodes include FX ("Malcolm in the Middle," Friday at 7 and 7:30 a.m.), Lifetime ("Frasier," Friday at 9 and 9:30 a.m.), BET ("Everybody Hates Chris," Friday noon and 12:30 p.m.), Sleuth ("Monk," Friday 6-10 p.m.), TV One ("A Different World," Saturday 3:30-5:30 p.m.), and Nick at Nite ("George Lopez," Saturday 10 and 10:30 p.m.). There's even an encore of "TV's Funniest Holiday Moments" (Saturday 8-10 p.m., Fox/5).

LOCAL TRADITION It just isn't Christmas in New York without WPIX's "Yule Log" (Saturday 9 a.m.-1 p.m., WPIX/11). Or Laurel & Hardy in "March of the Wooden Soldiers" (Saturday at 1 p.m., WPIX/11).