TV decorates for Christmas

Red bows, green trees and white snow mean it's time for colorful Christmas specials to show up on television. The number of holiday treats on TV -- old and new -- has grown so large that the networks now start them before Thanksgiving and continue past New Year's Day.

Here's a list of choice choices for your family to enjoy as they trim the tree, wrap packages and mourn the credit card bill:

* "The Christmas Wish," a newcomer among the many repeats, stars Debbie Reynolds as a woman who asks her grandson to find out why her late husband wrote in his diary about "Lillian" (Dec. 6, CBS).

* "Christmas in My Home Town," starring Melissa Gilbert and Tim Matheson, brings a corporate Scrooge to a small town where he eventually finds love instead of cutbacks (Dec. 8, CBS).

* "The Story of Santa Claus" offers an animated look at a new theory on why the jolly old elf started delivering gifts -- with voices by Ed Asner, Betty White and Tim Curry (Dec. 10, CBS).

* "Merry Christmas George Bailey" is the radio version of "It's A Wonderful Life," performed on stage by Bill Pullman, Martin Landau, Sally Field and Nathan Lane (Dec. 10, PBS).

* "Frosty the Snowman" and "Frosty Returns" will bring the round fellow back to life twice in one night (Dec. 11, CBS).

* "Christmas Glory with Kiri Te Kanawa" lets the opera singer burst forth at St. Paul's Cathedral in London with such selections as "O Come, All Ye Faithful," "O Holy Night" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" (Dec. 11, PBS).

* "Kathie Lee: Christmas Every Day" links the talk show host/singer with the likes of Pam Tillis and former President Ford (Dec. 16, CBS).

* "Christmas in Washington," performed before President and Mrs. Clinton, features the U.S. Academy Glee Club and Army Band (Dec. 18, NBC).

* "It's A Wonderful Life" needs no explanation for anyone who has watched TV at Christmastime for the last 20 years. It's a ritual to include a viewing of this Frank Capra film as part of our annual celebrations (Dec. 19, NBC).

* "Teletubbies Christmas" is a full week of holiday shows for little ones by the puffy, stuffy, antennaed ones (Dec. 21-25, PBS).

* "A Holiday Homecoming" brings opera star Jessye Norman to Augusta, Georgia, where she sings spirituals and carols -- and shows us her hometown (Dec. 21, PBS).

* "I'll Be Home for Christmas" stars Ann Jillian, Robert Hays and Jack Palance in a romance about high school sweethearts who rediscover each other at the holidays (Dec. 22, CBS).

* "The Christmas Box," starring Richard Thomas and Maureen O'Hara, has become a tradition after only three years. It tells the story from the best-selling book about a family that moves into a mansion and discovers the secret of the elderly woman who lives there (Dec. 23, CBS).

* "Christmas with Robert Shaw" (the conductor, not the actor) features the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus performing secular and sacred music (Dec. 23, PBS).

* "A Christmas Gloria," hosted by Roma Downey of "Touched by an Angel," includes music performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Canadian Brass (Dec. 23, PBS).

Be sure to double-check the schedule for each of these shows. Commercial networks like to switch holiday programming at the last minute, and PBS stations in different places carry shows at different times.

(CBS will broadcast "God & the Mass Media," Dec. 6, to mark the 50th anniversary of religious programming on that network. Panelists who will discuss how the media handle religion include Father Elwood Kieser of Paulist Pictures and Kenneth Woodward of Newsweek. The U.S. Catholic Conference cooperated in the production of this half-hour special. Check local listings for time.)

(12-03-98)

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