Best Classic Movies on TV This Week: December 23-28
With the dozens of movie channels included in a standard cable package, your favorite classic movies are surely airing somewhere this week. But how the heck are you supposed to find them?! Nothing is more disappointing than flipping through the channels and finding out your favorite film is airing … and started 45 minutes ago.
Our weekly guide gives you a day-by-day breakdown of some of the best classic movies showing on broadcast networks and cable channels in primetime this week plus other notable programming highlights. Check out the week ahead, and see if you can catch your favorite classic movie!
Classic Movies on Monday, December 23
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Editor’s Pick: Holiday Affair
TCM, 8pm
Robert Mitchum may be better known for his tough-guy roles in films noir, Westerns and dramas, but he displays a nice comic touch with a change-of-pace role for him in this 1949 Yuletide-flavored romantic comedy. Mitchum plays department store clerk Steve Mason, who ends up getting fired after he lets war widow Connie Ennis (Janet Leigh), who is also a comparison shopper for a rival store, off the hook for returning a pricey train set. But Steve is determined to make a Christmas gift of the toy to give to Connie’s young son — and to go to war for her affections against her sort-of steady (Wendell Corey). Harry Morgan, Henry O’Neill and Esther Dale also star.
Everett Collection
6pm The Santa Clause 2 (2002, Family) Tim Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell FX
8pm Elf (2003, Children) Will Ferrell, James Caan AMC
8pm Holiday Affair (1949, Romance-comedy) Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh TCM
8pm The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006, Family) Tim Allen, Martin Short FX
8pm Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971, Children) Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson TNT
9:30pm You’ve Got Mail (1998, Romance-comedy) Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan E!
10pm Christmas With the Kranks (2004, Comedy) Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis AMC
Classic Movies on Tuesday, December 24
Catch Several Christmas Classics!
This Christmas Eve, Santa has brought a lot of great gifts for fans of classic movies, and you might find yourself hard-pressed to open them all:
Christmas Marathon Continues
Everett Collection
TCM, beginning at 6:45am
TCM’s Christmas movie marathon continues today, beginning in the early morning and featuring highlights such as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947), Christmas in Connecticut (1945), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), The Bishop’s Wife (1947), A Christmas Carol (1938) and more.
Best Christmas Marathon
C. 1997 Miser Bros Press/Rick Goldschmidt Archives
AMC, beginning at 5:45am
Among the holiday favorites AMC has slated today and running through tomorrow are Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July (1979), The Polar Express (2004), Elf (2003), National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974) and more.
A Very Shirley Christmas Eve
MOVIES!, beginning at 6:30am
MOVIES! is celebrating the holiday with an 11-film lineup of movies led by Shirley Temple that can’t help but put you in a happy mood: The Blue Bird (1940), Stowaway (1936), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938), Wee Willie Winkie (1937), Heidi (1937), Bright Eyes (1934), The Little Princess (1939), Susannah of the Mounties (1939), Captain January (1936), Curly Top (1935) and an encore of Wee Willie Winkie.
24 Hours of “A Christmas Story”
TBS, beginning at 8pm; TNT, beginning at 9pm
It’s a Wonderful Life
NBC, 8pm
NBC is once again the exclusive broadcast home for It’s a Wonderful Life, airing this evening. Frank Capra’s beloved, Oscar-winning 1946 holiday classic stars Best Actor Oscar nominee James Stewart as George Bailey, a discouraged and despairing building-and-loan manager who contemplates suicide before a guardian angel named Clarence (Henry Travers) intervenes and allows him to see what George’s small town of Bedford Falls would be without him — and all that is right in his world. Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore also star.
Universal/courtesy Everett Collection
7:30pm A Christmas Carol (1951, Fantasy) Alastair Sim, Kathleen Harrison FXM
7:30pm Back to the Future (1985, Comedy) Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd SYFY
8pm A Christmas Carol (1984, Children) George C. Scott, Angela Pleasence MGM
8pm A Christmas Story (1983, Family) Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin TBS
8pm Home Alone (1990, Family) Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci ABC
8pm It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, Comedy-drama) James Stewart, Donna Reed NBC
8pm National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989, Comedy) Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo AMC
8:30pm Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005, Fantasy) Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint USA
9pm The Santa Clause (1994, Family) Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold FX
10pm A Christmas Story (1983, Family) Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin TBS
10pm Back to the Future Part II (1989, Comedy) Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd SYFY
11pm The Santa Clause 2 (2002, Family) Tim Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell FX
Classic Movies on Wednesday, December 25
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TCM Christmas Marathon Concludes
TCM, beginning at 6am
TCM’s weeklong Christmas movie marathon wraps up today with a lineup featuring Never Say Goodbye (1946), All Mine to Give (1957), Little Women (1933), In the Good Old Summertime (1949), Holiday Affair (1949), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941) and more.
MOVIES! Christmas Marathon
Among the highlights on MOVIES! today are A Christmas Carol (1951), An American Christmas Carol (1979), The Night They Saved Christmas (1984), Mrs. Santa Claus (1996), Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and more.
6pm A Christmas Story (1983, Family) Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin TBS
7pm A Christmas Story (1983, Family) Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin TNT
7pm Clueless (1995, Comedy) Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash VH1
7pm It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, Comedy-drama) James Stewart, Donna Reed E!
7pm The Holiday (2006, Romance-comedy) Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet BRAVO
8pm How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966, Children) Boris Karloff NBC
8:30pm Elf (2003, Children) Will Ferrell, James Caan AMC
8:30pm How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000, Children) Jim Carrey, Jeffrey Tambor NBC
10pm Love Actually (2003, Romance-comedy) Hugh Grant, Laura Linney BRAVO
10pm Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971, Children) Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson TBS
10:30pm Christmas With the Kranks (2004, Comedy) Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis AMC
> 9 Delicious Facts About ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’
Classic Movies on Thursday, December 26
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Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month: Mickey Rooney
TCM, beginning at 6am
Turner Classic Movies’ monthlong Thursday celebration of beloved star Mickey Rooney concludes with another daylong marathon today. You knew TCM couldn’t let a Rooney celebration go by without showing at least one of the movies featuring his most famous role as Andy Hardy, right? Well, today you get all 16 of the films in that franchise, in order, beginning with the first title, 1937’s A Family Affair, to the final installment, 1958’s Andy Hardy Comes Home. A few of the titles in between re-teamed Rooney with costar Judy Garland as Betsy Booth, before Garland took off as a major star in her own right: Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), which also features Lana Turner in an early role, Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940) and Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941).
Paramount/Everett Collection
6pm The Wedding Singer (1998, Romance-comedy) Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore COMEDY
6:30pm Elf (2003, Children) Will Ferrell, James Caan AMC
8pm Andy Hardy’s Private Secretary (1941, Comedy) Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney TCM
8pm Billy Madison (1995, Comedy) Adam Sandler, Darren McGavin E!
8:30pm Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, Adventure) Harrison Ford, Karen Allen CMT
10pm Happy Gilmore (1996, Comedy) Adam Sandler, Christopher McDonald E!
10pm Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941, Comedy-drama) Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney TCM
Classic Movies on Friday, December 27
2024 In Memoriam
TCM, beginning at 8pm
Turner Classic Movies offers an evening of films starring or produced by great talents we lost in 2024 (who have not already been honored with stand-alone tributes on the network). Remembered during this night will be French actor Alain Delon, in the 1967 crime thriller Le Samouraï; actress/producer Shelley Duvall, in writer/director Robert Altman’s psychological thriller 3 Women (1977), costarring Sissy Spacek and Janice Rule and making its TCM premiere; character actor M. Emmet Walsh, in Ethan and Joel Coen’s first film, the 1984 neo-noir crime thriller Blood Simple; French actress Anouk Aimée, in the romantic drama Lola (1961); actress/singer Janis Paige, in the musical romantic comedy Romance on the High Seas (1948), also featuring Doris Day in her film debut; and actor Darryl Hickman, in the biographical drama Fighting Father Dunne (1948).
6:30pm The Verdict (1946, Crime drama) Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre TCM
7pm National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983, Comedy) Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo AMC
7:30pm Shrek (2001, Children) Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy SYFY
8pm Le Samouraï (1967, Crime drama) Alain Delon, Nathalie Delon TCM
8pm Top Gun (1986, Action) Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis CMT
9pm Vegas Vacation (1997, Comedy) Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo AMC
9pm You’ve Got Mail (1998, Romance-comedy) Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan BRAVO
9:30pm Shrek 2 (2004, Children) Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy SYFY
10pm Wedding Crashers (2005, Comedy) Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn COMEDY
10:30pm Twister (1996, Action) Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton CMT
11:30pm Planet of the Apes (1968, Science fiction) Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall SYFY
11:30pm You’ve Got Mail (1998, Romance-comedy) Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan BRAVO
Classic Movies on Saturday, December 28
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Two for One: Nicole Holofcener
TCM, beginning at 8pm
TCM primetime host Ben Mankiewicz is joined by director/screenwriter Nicole Holofcener (Walking and Talking), who introduces two films of her choosing. Holofcener will offer commentary on each title’s cultural significance and its influence on other films, behind-the-scenes stories, and her own personal reflections on them. The titles she has chosen are Coming Home (1978), the Best Picture Oscar-nominated drama from Best Director nominee Hal Ashby, led by Best Actor winner Jon Voight, Best Actress winner Jane Fonda and Best Supporting Actor nominee Bruce Dern, followed by The Last Detail (1973), a comedy/drama also directed by Ashby, and starring Best Actor nominee Jack Nicholson and Best Supporting Actor nominee Randy Quaid.
6pm Vegas Vacation (1997, Comedy) Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo AMC
7:30pm Goldfinger (1964, Action) Sean Connery, Gert Frobe BBCA
8pm Beetlejuice (1988, Comedy) Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin VICE