Here is the long list of the programming options to expect on TV this coming week:
The 2-hour season finale of Industry will air on HBO starting at 9 PM on December 21.
On December 21, the Lifetime holiday movie Spotlight on Christmas will debut at 8 PM. Dumped two weeks before Christmas, actress Olivia O’Hara (Tori Anderson) secretly returns to her tiny hometown to hide out, eat cookies and avoid the press. What she doesn’t expect is to be faced with the family she left behind, meeting a charming new guy, Casey Rawlins (Victor Zinck Jr.), and a noisy reporter following her every move. Completely overwhelmed, Olivia contemplates running away from her life once again but with a new found confidence and freedom, Olivia bravely steps up to take the starring role in her own life, realizing that home is where the heart is and that she deserves to be loved for exactly who she really is.
The Christmas High Note is the latest holiday that will debut on Lifetime on December 22 at 8 PM. After being stood up by her partner Brad (William McNamara), Rachel (Jamie Luner) soon meets Michael (Johnny Messner) and his teenage daughter, Sophia. During Christmas Eve pageant rehearsals, Sophia finds herself challenged to hit the high note in her solo of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. Rachel offers to coach Sophia’s performance and discovers a new interest in Michael.
On December 22, the two-hour series finale of NEXT will air on FOX at 8 PM.
The OWN holiday movie First Christmas will debut on December 22 at 9 PM. Given up for adoption and placed in foster care at a young age, writer Halle Downing (Idara Victor) receives the blessing of a lifetime when she is invited to spend Christmas in New Orleans with the biological family she never knew she had: The Moores. Halle’s grandmother “Memaw” (Tonea Stewart) welcomes the young woman with open arms, completely overwhelming Halle with emotion at the significance of finally finding her family. Extremely excited to meet her twin siblings Tiffany (Samantha Smith) and Glenn (Mason Beauchamp) along with younger brother Drew (Peyton Jackson) for the first time, Halle soon faces the hard reality that finding her place in this close-knit family is going to take longer than she thought, something that becomes particularly evident when she witnesses Tiffany’s apprehension about introducing her new girlfriend Paris (Amanda Tavarez) to the family for the first time. However, as Christmas approaches, Halle begins to gain perspective on the Moore family dynamic and ultimately comes to embrace and celebrate her first family holiday with a special gift that tells her she is right where she is supposed to be.
On December 23, the Lifetime holiday movie Christmas at the Castle will debut at 8 PM. This Christmas, Blaire Henderson (Brooke Burfitt), a perfume expert from New York, is sent to remote Scotland to find a rare fragrance, The Heart of the Highlands. But when she arrives, she finds the dashing license owner, Alistair McGregor (Dan Jeannotte) is a stubborn aristocrat who won’t sell. Thinking on her feet, she poses as a documentary filmmaker to learn the secret formula. The more time they spend together, the more sparks fly. With the scent of romance in the air, will Blaire find love where she least expected?
The movie The Midnight Sky will debut on Netflix on December 23. The post-apocalyptic movie follows Augustine (George Clooney), a lonely scientist in the Arctic, as he races to stop Sully and her fellow astronauts from returning home to a mysterious global catastrophe. The ensemble cast includes Felicity Jones, Sophie Rundle, Kyle Chandler, Ethan Peck, David Oyelowo, Demian Bichir, Miriam Shor, Tim Russ and Tiffany Boone.
On December 24, the season finale of Riviera will air on Sundance Now.
The Holiday Quickies Passionflix movie The Package, based on the story by K. Bromberg, will debut online on December 24. Christmas week can’t get any worse for Jules Jilliland (Heather Grace Hancock from Wicked City). Dumped by her boyfriend, rear-ended on the freeway, and fired from her job, she finds herself stuck in an elevator with a handsome stranger (Coby Ryan McLaughlin from General Hospital). When their packages are accidentally swapped, will it end up being a misfortunate accident that suddenly brightens her holidays?
The following movies will all debut on Christmas Day:
My Sweet Holiday on Lifetime at 8 PM
When Sadie’s (Malone Thomas) boyfriend cancels their holiday plans, she decides to spend Christmas with her parents back in her hometown, only to find out they’ve sold the family’s beloved chocolate store to a stranger who knows nothing about chocolate. Begrudgingly, her father convinces her that she’d be the obvious choice to help teach the new owner everything she knows about chocolate. In the middle of planning the perfect retirement party for her parents, she discovers that not everything has to be perfect. And sometimes, when you least expect it, you find love.
Sylvie’s Love on Amazon
Sylvie (Tessa Thompson) has a summer romance with a saxophonist (Nnamdi Asomugha) who takes a summer job at her father’s record store in Harlem. When they reconnect years later, they discover that their feelings for each other have not faded with the years. The cast includes Aja Naomi King, Ryan Michelle Bathe, Eva Longoria, John Magaro, Lance Reddick, Alano Miller, Erica Gimpel and Wendi McLendon-Covey.
The animated movie Soul on Disney+
Joe is a middle-school band teacher whose life hasn’t quite gone the way he expected. His true passion is jazz — and he’s good. But when he travels to another realm to help someone find their passion, he soon discovers what it means to have soul. Voices are provided by Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Questlove, Phylicia Rashad, Daveed Diggs, Angela Bassett, Graham Norton, Alice Braga, Wes Studi, June Squibb and John Ratzenberger.
Call the Midwife Holiday Special on PBS at 9 PM
This year’s Christmas Special is set in December 1965. Everyone at Nonnatus House is looking forward to traditional celebrations with all the trimmings, but nothing goes quite to plan. Sister Monica Joan is rushed to hospital, and Trixie is incensed to receive a subscription to a Marriage Bureau as a Christmas gift. Meanwhile, a surprise reunion for Shelagh involves her in a deeply moving birth, and the Circus arrives in Poplar, bringing new friendships, new experiences, and an exciting adventure for Nurse Crane.
The Holiday Quickies movie The Merry Mistake on Passionflix
Piper (relative newcomer Jacqi Vene) needs to ask Santa for glasses this year, as she accidentally mistakes a gorgeous man (Geovanni Gopradi from The Haves and the Have Nots and Dynasty) resting outside her building for a homeless person in need of lunch, they “get into it.” She was only trying to do a good deed for the holidays, but he called her righteous. She called him something far worse. If only she didn’t have to see him again, but fate had other plans.
Also on Christmas Day, the new period piece drama Bridgerton will debut on Netflix. Based on Julia Quinn’s best-selling novels, this series unfolds in the sexy, lavish and competitive world of Regency London high society. The narrator is voiced by Julie Andrews and the cast includes Polly Walker as well as a lot of fresh faces and newcomers.
We Can Be Heroes, which serves as a stand-alone sequel to The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, on Netflix (moved up one week from its original airdate)
When alien invaders capture Earth’s superheroes, their kids must learn to work together to save their parents and the planet. The adults in the movie include Priyanka Chopra, Pedro Pascal, Christian Slater, Boyd Holbrook, Sung Kang and Taylor Dooley (who played Lavagirl in the original 2005 movie) with a lot of newcomer kids, including YaYa Gosselin (FBI: Most Wanted).
Lastly, the drama series Pennyworth will air on EPIX at the special time of 10 PM on December 27.
Mark your calendars!
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