Innholdsfortegnelse for December 10, 2018 i TV Guide Magazine

@TVGMMattRoush America’s top TV critic Matt Roush answers your burning questions What’s going on with Linda Hunt (Hetty) of NCIS: Los Angeles? She’s been gone awhile. i hope all is well with her. —Robert MATT ROUSH: This is easily the question I’ve been asked most frequently since the fall TV season began, and an answer finally arrived just before Thanksgiving when CBS issued this update from Hunt that mentions the 73-year-old’s July 2 car accident: “I first want to say how much I appreciate the outpouring of support from the NCIS: Los Angeles fans following my car accident this summer. Though I had hoped to return to playing Hetty at the start of the season, I had to take some additional time to recover. I look forward to returning later…

Giada’s Holiday Handbook SEASON FINALE Sunday, Dec. 16, 11:30am/10:30c, Food Network ITALY COULDN’T HAVE asked for a better ambassador than Giada De Laurentiis. Since making her debut on the Food Network in 2003 with Everyday Italian, the classically trained chef and former food stylist has been winning over home cooks with her high-wattage smile, welcoming demeanor and—of course—penchant for overenunciating words like pancetta and rigatoni. (De Laurentiis comes by her Old World accent honestly: She was born in Rome and moved with her family to Los Angeles at age 7.) Now a longtime member of the culinary media A-list, the 48-year-old keeps a finger in every pot. She’s written nine cookbooks, opened three restaurants, launched her own cookware line and continues to host multiple series, including Giada’s Holiday Handbook, which…

Rudolph or Frosty? Savannah Guthrie: That’s a toughie. I like that Frosty is round and cold. And I like his vulnerability because he melts. But Rudolph, he’s got that red nose. He saved Christmas. Hoda Kotb: I’m going with Rudolph—he’s got those old-school movies. Love Actually or A Christmas Story? Guthrie: Love Actually [below, with Andrew Lincoln and Keira Knightley]. Every time it’s on, I watch it. Kotb: Love Actually, hands down. Fruitcake or gingerbread cookies? Both: Gingerbread cookies. Angel or star on top of the tree? Guthrie: We have a star. Kotb: Ours has always been a star. One holiday wish? Guthrie: I feel all my wishes came true. I have my kids, I have my husband [Michael Feldman], I’m happy as a clam. I can’t wish for any more. Kotb:…

10  Planes, Trains & Automobiles (2/1c, AMC) No Sleep ’Til Christmas (9/8c, Freeform) 11 Frosty’s Winter Wonderland (4/3c, AMC) 12 Disney’s A Christmas Carol (2009) (9/8c, Freeform) 13 Miracle on 34th Street (1947) (7/6c, AMC) Disney Prep & Landing (8/7c, ABC) Saturday Night Live Best of Christmas (9/8c, NBC) 14 Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: A Midwinter’s Tale (Netflix) The Polar Express (7/6c, AMC) The 87th Annual Hollywood Christmas Around the Corner (8/7c, Lifetime) Christmas Parade (8/7c, The CW) I Love Lucy Christmas Special (8/7c, CBS) The Dick Van Dyke Show—Now in Living Color! (9/8c, CBS) 15  How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) (9:15/8:15c, Freeform) 16 Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (11am/10c, Freeform) iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2018 (8/7c, The CW) Meet Me in St. Louis (8/7c, TCM) 17  The Year…

The 12 Pops of Christmas 9/8c, TLC TV is filled with makeover shows that improve people’s lives by helping them lose weight, dress better and fix up their homes. But Dr. Pimple Popper, featuring California dermatologist Sandra Lee (left), realizes the burden that can be lifted from a person’s shoulders (or back, or face) simply by slicing off an errant skin growth—and how weirdly entertaining the often squishy process can be. I’m what Lee calls a “popaholic,” and I’m not sorry about my addiction. Disgusting though some may find it, others clearly are with me. The TLC series averaged 2.7 million total viewers when it debuted this past summer and has even spawned a 2019 companion series called Dr. Foot Fixer. What’s the Pimple Popper appeal? Lee’s passion for her…

5 SECRETS OF HALLMARK HOLIDAY MOVIES A Gingerbread Romance MOVIE PREMIERE 8/7c, Hallmark Channel Small Town Christmas MOVIE PREMIERE 9/8c, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Santa is amazing. But even the big guy and his elves can’t claim to put the same dedication into making the Yuletide gay as the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. Their annual deluge of heartwarming original holiday flicks (a record 37 for 2018, out of 232 over the past 17 years) is as eagerly anticipated as the gifts under the tree. Yet, unlike the Tickle Me Elmo in your cupboard, these movies stay loved: Viewer requests keep bringing back 2006’s military-themed The Christmas Card. Last month’s Christmas at Graceland, with Kellie Pickler, is still rocking ratings as a repeat. And we flat-out worship 2014’s…

Odds are you’ve already met Becky Sharp, the heroine of Vanity Fair. Through the years, William Makepeace Thackeray’s 1848 novel has been made into seven films, six TV miniseries and three radio plays. And although Miss Sharp may not be as much of a household name as Elizabeth Bennet or Jane Eyre, she attracts megastars like Reese Witherspoon, who played her in a 2004 film version. “I think she’s a survivor,” says Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel, Ready Player One), the latest actress to take on Thackeray’s cunning, scheming social climber in ITV and Amazon Studios’ new seven-part miniseries. “She’s wonderful, mischievous, selfish at times but an incredibly charismatic character.” The series follows orphaned and penniless Becky as she navigates 19th-century England’s vicious class system against the backdrop of the Napoleonic…

Newly Available Christine (1983) Netflix Stephen King’s horror classic gives new meaning to road rage. Dave (1993) HBO Now When the president becomes incapacitated, a good-intentioned look-alike (Kevin Kline) steps in and changes D.C. for the better. District 9 (2009) Netflix Aliens are trapped on Earth and put into camps in this smart sci-fi with documentary-style shots. 8 Mile (2002) Netflix Rapper Eminem gets gritty in this semi-autobiographical look at his rise through the Detroit music scene. The Hangover (2009) HBO Now Oh, what a night! Three friends black out and can’t remember what happened at their pal’s bachelor party. He’s Just Not That Into You (2009) HBO Now Young singles (like Drew Barrymore) navigate the tricky dating scene. Inception (2010) HBO Now Dare to dream: Director Christopher Nolan’s visionary thriller puts viewers inside the characters’ minds.…

MOVIE PICKS The Greatest Story Ever Told 1:30/12:30c, TCM Max Von Sydow (above right) headlines this blockbuster 1965 story of Jesus’s life. The rest of the all-star cast includes Dorothy McGuire as Mary, Sidney Poitier as Simon, Charlton Heston as John the Baptist and Claude Rains as Herod. Hunka Hunka Burning Christmas 4/3c, SundanceTV Oh, darlin’, you know you’ll have a blue Christmas without the King himself. So fix that tonight by watching this Elvis Presley marathon featuring some of his classic travel flicks. Dive in with 1963’s Fun in Acapulco (also featuring Ursula Andress), and shake your hips to “Bossa Nova Baby.” Next up, let Elvis show you the delights of the Aloha State in Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966) at 6:30/5:30c and Blue Hawaii (1961) at 9/8c. Two of…

COVER LOVE Great cover story on FBI [November 26], my new go-to program. The Maggie and OA pairing is per fect—but that’s what [creator] Dick Wolf does! I’m also glad Jeremy Sisto has found a new home. —Joyce NEW FRIEND I was delighted to see that you included God Friended Me in your “Feel-Good TV” package [November 26]. It is so refreshing to watch a TV show where everybody likes each other. There are too many downers in television nowadays. —Kathy ONCE MORE What a fabulous season of SundanceTV’s Deutschland 86! I forgot I was reading subtitles. I hope creators Anna and Jörg Winger write one more: ’89. I’d love to see how they handle the fall of the Berlin Wall. —Christine Email us: letters@tvgm.com FAN ART THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL…

@TVGMMattRoush The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel This fabulously ahead-of-her-time comic is perfect for our times SEASON PREMIERE Wednesday, Dec. 5, Amazon Prime Video THERE’S ALWAYS MUSIC and magic in the air whenever Miriam “Midge” Maisel is in the room—whether delivering off-color zingers on the stand-up stage, bantering with friends and family or zipping her chair between stations at a busy department-store switchboard with the panache of Gene Kelly. Amy Sherman-Palladino writes bawdy and brilliantly funny dialogue that sings, making The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel my favorite nonmusical musical. In its perfectly delightful second season, which pays life-changing visits to romantic Paris and the Catskills during a balmy summer, this award-winning triumph is the binge that refreshes. Even Scrooge would succumb to its charms. Not that Midge (the brash and dazzling Rachel Brosnahan)…

“IT’S OUR BIGGEST year by far,” says Outlander production designer Jon Gary Steele of the spectacular sets and stunning locations showcased in Season 4 of the Starz drama, in which time-traveling Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) and husband Jamie (Sam Heughan) settle in the New World. “We shoot in Scotland, but it has to be total Americana.” Steele’s team built an entire colonial town, a Southern plantation house and the Fraser homestead in tartan territory. To make the cast fit into their surroundings, costume designer Terry Dresbach, who made upward of 1,000 ensembles, researched Colonial Williamsburg for inspiration on 18th-century ladies’ dresses—and drew on her personal experience for the 1970s styles worn by the Frasers’ daughter, college student Bree (Sophie Skelton). In the December 16 and 23 episodes, Bree drifts further…

Monday, Dec. 10 Teeth (2007) Netflix A teen girl (Jess Weixler) has an odd condition in this horror-comedy. Battle Royale (2000) Netflix Battle Royale 2: Requiem (2003) Netflix Grade school students are forced to fight to the death in this edgy Japanese sci-fi and its follow-up, both of which were worldwide hits. Saturday, Dec. 15 Step Up 2: The Streets (2008) Netflix Put on your dancing shoes for this sequel, featuring a fresh cast and set at the Maryland School of the Arts. Sunday, Dec. 16 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) Netflix Gary Oldman is mesmerizing in this spy drama about a British traitor in the 1970s. Wolves at the Door (2017) HBO Now This grisly horror flick is based on the real-life Manson Family murders of Sharon Tate (played by Katie Cassidy) and several of…

Legends of the Lost With Megan Fox 8/7c, Travel Channel MEGAN FOX, ARCHEOLOGIST? Not quite, but the star of the Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies indulges her passion for ancient civilizations as host of Travel Channel’s Legends of the Lost With Megan Fox. Digging into some of Earth’s forgotten societies, Fox has so far explored Viking warrior grave sites in Sweden, England’s Stonehenge and—for tonight’s episode–South Carolina’s Savannah River. That’s where scientists’ findings suggest giant humans roamed the area way back during the Ice Age. She gives us a history lesson. How’d you wind up doing Legends? It was my idea—I gave birth to it! Ancient cultures have always fascinated me. When I was in my early 20s, I discovered [the extraterrestrials-on-Earth investigation series] Ancient Aliens, which was…

Daytime Pick General Hospital Check local listings, ABC General Hospital takes a break from its regular itinerary of surgeries and shoot-outs to continue the Christmastime tradition of helping those in need. For the sixth year in a row, the popular soap opera has teamed up with Toys for Tots to spotlight the United States Marine Corps charity that collects gifts for underprivileged children. “As much as we love some good drama, it’s important to take time to be thankful and share your love,” executive producer Frank Valentini explains. “And we take advantage of that this time of year.” As in the past, the fictional residents of Port Charles donate presents to youngsters at General Hospital. This year, however, the actors playing those pint-size patients come from Los Angeles–area arts programs…

ACROSS 1 Dancing With the Stars step  4 School subject (abbr.) 8 Director Preminger  12 “Mr. Blue Sky” band 13 The Time Machine people 14 Okinawa’s capital 15 Bill Murray’s job in Meatballs (2 wds.)  18 Dentist’s bailiwick 19 Pigeon-____ 20 Third ____ 22 17 ____  26 Cheers  28 Lucky Spencer’s sister on General Hospital (2 wds.)  30 Island, in French 31 ____ & Stitch 32 “This” in Quebec 33 Animated features 35 Home for NASA’s InSight lander  36 Barely ahead (2 wds.) 37 Shady spot 39 Housewife Leakes  41 Drifts 44 Raylan Givens’s Justified job description (2 wds.) 48 Apple spray  49 Berth for The Love Boat 50 Andy Griffith Show aunt  51 Food containers 52 Elizabeth of Clarrisa Explains It All 53 Peer Gynt character DOWN 1 Chest muscle, for short  2 Wings (Lat.) 3…

BEST CHRISTMAS EVER (Now through Dec. 25, AMC) The only network where you can see Elf, The Polar Express and Chevy Chase (above) uprooting a tree in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. 25 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS (Now through Dec. 25, Freeform) For fans of Tim Allen’s The Santa Clause or Jim Carrey in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. HARRY POTTER CHRISTMAS MARATHON (Dec. 24, 8:30am/7:30c, Syfy) Enjoy broomsticks and butterbeer with all eight films back-to-back. A CHRISTMAS STORY 24-HOUR MARATHON (Dec. 24, 8/7c, TBS and TNT) We triple-dog-dare you to tune in. DIE HARD 30TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL (Dec. 25, 6:30am/5:30c, IFC) Yippie-ki-yay—watch Bruce Willis get bloodied by baddies all day long. CHRISTMAS DAY COMEDY MOVIE MARATHON (Dec. 25, 8am/7c, FXX) Twelve hours of crazy comedies on repeat: Christmas With…

MOVIE PICKS Blockers 8:15/7:15c, HBO In a generational twist on the teen-sex-comedy movie trope, a worried group of parents (above, from left: Ike Barinholtz, John Cena and Leslie Mann) set out to prevent their daughters (Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan and Gideon Adlon) from losing their virginity after senior prom. That’s not such an easy task, though, and it ends up sending the hapless adults on a series of screwball missions in this foul-mouthed but good-natured comedy from earlier this year. Hannibal Buress and Gary Cole make memorably hilarious impressions in supporting roles. The Death of Stalin 9/8c, Showtime Veep creator Armando Iannucci turns his sharp political wit toward Soviet Russia in the 1950s. Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor and Simon Russell Beale play a few of those vying to replace the…

These simple-to-use streaming devices are must-haves, but picking from Roku’s seven current models can be…confusing. Our trick: Choose based on your television. Don’t have a high-definition TV? The Express+ ($35) will connect to it via old-school A/V ports. If you have a standard HDTV (i.e., one that isn’t 4K, aka Ultra HD), get the no-frills Express ($30). For Ultra HDTVs, the Premiere ($40, below) streams the best picture for the least cash. The Premiere+ ($50) adds a remote with voice search (no typing long titles!). The HD Streaming Stick ($50) and Ultra HD Streaming Stick+ ($60) connect directly to the TV ports (no clutter!). The latter’s improved wireless supports sets in rooms far from your router. And for really fancy TVs, the Ultra ($100) has a powerful processor (no waiting…

@damianholbrook LOVE IT! Cheers to New Amsterdam for fighting cancer with facts. While Max (the fantastic Ryan Eggold, left) has spent the first half of the NBC medical hit’s freshman season exploring options for his grave condition, the show has been slyly providing viewers with vital, honest info about clinical trials, the side effects of chemo and the importance of having advocates. Even better: No bill! Cheers to Netflix for bringing She-Ra back and making her better than ever in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. In this update of the ’80s icon, He-Man’s twin sister is a smart, sassy and relevant warrior whose greatest strength now seems to be showing girls that they can all be Princesses of Power. Cheers to Dancing With the Stars for returning to form.…