TV This Week, Dec. 25-31: The annual ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas special and more

SUNDAY

Get toasty! Images of a blazing “Yule Log” are accompanied by holiday music in two annual telecasts. 6 a.m. KTLA, KCAL

Get frisky! Puppies and kitties cavort in front of a “Super Cute Yule Log” to the strains of holiday music in this new special. 7, 8 and 9 a.m. Animal Planet

The annual 24-hour marathon of 1983’s “A Christmas Story” continues and concludes. 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. TBS and TNT

Original “American Idol” and holiday-special MVP Kelly Clarkson performs as part of “The Disney Parks Magical Christmas Celebration.” Julianne and Derek Hough are the hosts, and Alessia Cara, Sofia Carson, Gavin DeGraw and Jordan Fisher are also featured. 9 a.m. ABC

A Christmas stocking stuffed with “NBA Basketball” match-ups includes the Golden State Warriors battling the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Lakers hosting their Staples-mates the Clippers. 11:30 a.m. ABC, 7:30 p.m. ESPN

On the “NFL Football” tip, the Denver Broncos challenge the Kansas City Chiefs. 5:20 p.m. NBC

Nonnatus House staffers head from London to South Africa on a mission of mercy in the annual “Call the Midwife Holiday Special.” 7:30 p.m. KOCE

A tale as old as time is retold in Disney’s 1992 animated musical “Beauty and the Beast.” 8 p.m. ABC

“When Calls the Heart” airs a special two-hour Christmas episode that serves as a preview of the frontier-era drama’s fourth season. With Erin Krakow, Daniel Lissing and Lori Loughlin. 8 p.m. Hallmark Channel

His kingdom for a horse! Benedict Cumberbatch portrays Shakespeare’s Richard III when the “Wars of the Roses” edition of “The Hollow Crown” concludes on “Great Performances.” 9 p.m. KOCE

He loves New York: The Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capladi) is tasked with saving the Big Apple as the venerable British sci-fi drama “Doctor Who” presents its annual Christmas Day special. 9 p.m. BBC America

It’s grown-ups versus kids on a special edition of “Holiday Baking Championship.” Bobby Deen hosts, and Duff Goldman, Lorraine Pascale and Nancy Fuller are the judges. 9 p.m. Food Network

MONDAY

“Every Brilliant Thing” worth living for is named and numbered in this filmed version of British comic Jonny Donahoe’s poignant and very personal off-Broadway show about life, love and loss. 8 p.m. HBO

“Hotel Impossible” host Anthony Melchiorri has a license to chill in the new special “Ice Hotels ... Not Impossible.” 9 p.m. Travel Channel

Indian American comic and actor Ravi Patel resists his traditional Hindu parents’ efforts to arrange a marriage for him in the documentary “Meet the Patels” on a new “Independent Lens.” 10 p.m. KOCE

TUESDAY

Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen, famed for his Gateway Arch in St. Louis, is profiled on the season finale of “American Masters.” 8 p.m. KOCE

Hoo-ah! Oscar winner Al Pacino joins James Taylor, Mavis Staples, the Eagles, and pianist Martha Argerich as honorees for “The 39th Annual Kennedy Center Honors.” Stephen Colbert hosts. 9 p.m. KCBS

“Frontline” looks at the waves of refugees fleeing the Middle East and elsewhere for hopefully better and brighter futures in Europe in the new episode “Exodus.” 9 p.m. KOCE

WEDNESDAY

Shaggy elephant story: Host Josh Gates and his team search for DNA for use in the possible cloning of the long-extinct woolly mammoth on a new “Expedition Unknown.” 9 p.m. Travel Channel

Pyramid scheme: See how “Egypt’s Treasure Guardians” preserve, protect and defend their nation’s ancient artifacts and monuments in this new special. 10 p.m. KOCE

Kids collect the darndest things — vacuum cleaners, fishing lures and such — in the new special “My Kid’s Obsession.” 10 p.m. TLC

THURSDAY

Host Don Wildman dives into the details surrounding the sinking of the once-thought-unsinkable Titanic in a special edition of “Mysteries at the Museum.” 9 p.m. Travel Channel

It’s too close for comfort and then some in the new reality-TV spinoff “Tiny House Nation: Family Edition.” 10 p.m. Lifetime

FRIDAY

Dove Cameron, Kristin Chenoweth, et al., are back for an encore of the made-for-cable fantasy musical “Descendants.” 8 p.m. Disney Channel

“The Perfect Stalker” doesn’t exist, so a mentally unstable woman has to invent him in this new thriller. With Danielle Savre and Jefferson Brown. 8 p.m. Lifetime

SATURDAY

Washington battles the Crimson Tide of Alabama in the “Peach Bowl” and Ohio State plays Clemson in the “Fiesta Bowl,” with the winners of each game to meet in 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 9. Noon and 4 p.m. ESPN

This just in: Silver fox and sassy redhead reunite in Times Square for “New Year’s Eve Live With Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin.” 5 and 10 p.m. CNN

“Today” gal-pals Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb raise a glass or three in the star-studded special “A Toast to 2016!” 8 p.m. NBC

The prime-time and after-hours editions of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2017” feature a slew of performers including Mariah Carey and Lionel Ritchie. 8, 10 and 11:30 p.m. and 1:09 a.m. ABC

Should Rodgers & Hammerstein be forgot and never brought to mind? The New York Philharmonic salutes the famed Broadway duo on a New Year’s Eve edition of “Live From Lincoln Center.” 8 p.m. KOCE

Jennifer Lawrence, Arnold Schwarzenegger, “SNL’s” Leslie Jones and the aforementioned Kelly Clarkson will be on hand for a “Late Night With Seth Meyers New Year’s Eve Special.” 10 p.m. NBC

Old married couple Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally host “Austin City Limits Hall of Fame New Year’s Eve.” Performers include Willie Nelson and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. 11 p.m. KOCE

Alicia Keys, Blake Shelton, Jennifer Lopez and a capella group Pentatonix perform for “NBC’s New Year’s Eve With Carson Daly.” 11:30 p.m. NBC

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