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Can you believe the holiday season is nearing? Thanksgiving is next week, which means Christmas is right around the corner! And then it will be 2011 already a week after Christmas. Time flies! Anyway as I mentioned, I have put together our annual network television (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW, MyNetwork TV) holiday specials list that we all like to watch every year like Frosty the Snowman and A Charlie Brown Christmas, new classics like Shrek the Halls and Disney Prep & Landing and we even get some all-new specials like Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special. Sure the network holiday line-ups are not as detailed as some cable networks like ABC Family, but the main holiday specials are still on network television! These are just actual holiday related specials and movies, not movies or specials airing during the holiday season on broadcast network television, kicking it off TONIGHT with A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on ABC:



ABC
Thursdays, Nov. 18/25, 8-9pm: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving/This is America Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers
Monday, Nov. 29, 9:30-11pm ET: CMA Country Christmas (NEW!)
Tuesday, Nov. 30, 8-9pm: Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated) and Shrek the Halls
Thursday, Dec. 2, 8-9pm: Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
Tuesday, Dec. 7, 8-9pm: A Charlie Brown Christmas/Charlie Brown Christmas Tales plus seven-minute short from Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa (NEW!)
Thursday, Dec. 9, 8-9pm: Shrek the Halls ENCORE and Disney Prep & Landing
Monday, Dec. 13, 9-10pm: Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You (NEW!)
Tuesday, Dec. 14, 8-9pm: I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown
Thursday, Dec. 16, 8-9pm: A Charlie Brown Christmas/Charlie Brown Christmas Tales plus seven-minute short from Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa ENCORES
Saturday, Dec. 18, 8-9pm: I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown ENCORE
Saturday, Dec. 18, 9-11pm: ABC Saturday Movie of the Week: Madagascar - includes 12 minute 2005 short Madagascar Penguins In A Christmas Caper
Sunday, Dec. 19, 7-11pm: ABC Sunday Movies of the Week: The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3 - The Escape Clause
Thursday, Dec. 23, 8pm: Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated) ENCORE
Thursday, Dec. 23, 8:30-11pm: ABC Thursday Movie of the Week: Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas
Friday, Dec. 24, 9-11pm: ABC Friday Movie of the Week: The Santa Clause 2 ENCORE
Tuesday, Dec. 28, 8-9pm: Rudolph's Shiny New Year
Thursday, Dec. 30, 8-9pm: Happy New Year, Charlie Brown/She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown (latter special is NEW! to ABC)
For other non-holiday related movies and specials airing during the holiday season on ABC, view our schedule.

CBS:
Sunday, Nov. 28, 9-11pm: Hallmark Hall of Fame: November Christmas (NEW!)
Tuesday, Nov. 30, 8-9pm: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Saturday, Dec. 11, 8-9pm: Frosty the Snowman and Frosty Returns
Saturday, Dec. 11, 9-10pm: The Flight Before Christmas
Friday, Dec. 17, 8pm: Yes, Virginia There Is A Santa Claus
Friday, Dec. 17, 8:30-9:30pm: Frosty the Snowman and Frosty Returns ENCORES
Wednesday, Dec. 22, 8-9pm: 12th Annual Home for the Holidays
For other non-holiday related movies and specials airing during the holiday season on CBS, view our schedule.

NBC:
Wednesday, Nov. 24, 8-9pm: Merry Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special (NEW!)
Saturday, Nov. 27, 8-9pm: Merry Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special ENCORES
Tuesday, Nov. 30, 8-9pm: Christmas in Rockefeller Center (NEW!)
Saturday, Dec. 11, 8-11pm: NBC Movie of the Week: It's a Wonderful Life
Tuesday, Dec. 21, 9-11pm: Saturday Night Live Presents: A Very Gilly Christmas
Friday, Dec. 24, 8-11pm: NBC Movie of the Week: It's a Wonderful Life ENCORE
For other non-holiday related movies and specials airing during the holiday season on NBC, view our schedule.

Fox:
Friday, Nov. 26 8-10pm: TV's Greatest Holiday Moments: A Paley Center for Media Special (NEW!)
Saturday, Dec. 25, 8-10pm: TV's Greatest Holiday Moments: A Paley Center for Media Special ENCORE
For other non-holiday related movies and specials airing during the holiday season on Fox, view our schedule.

The CW:
None yet, but CW usually schedules Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer...so if they do, come on back here and we'll update this.
For other non-holiday related movies and specials airing during the holiday season on The CW, view our schedule.


Look for Two and a Half Men to continue in reruns on your local broadcast stations in syndication for years to come, because the current seven year deal for the show has been extended by another seven years, lasting it to 2021! Warner Bros. has renewed the sitcom for another seven years on the Tribune and Sinclair station groups. Tribune renewed the show in all 19 of its markets -- including New York (WPIX), Los Angeles (KTLA) and Chicago (local WGN); while Sinclair renewed it in all 21 of its incumbent markets. Sinclair's stations are mostly located in mid-size markets, including Pittsburgh, Nashville, Tenn., and Columbus, Ohio. Usually sitcoms get five years or less terms for their first cycle, but Men got two more years and will get the same amount in its second cycle.
Two and a Half Men premiered in local broadcast syndication in Fall 2007 and stations are paying $2 million an episode. The sitcom is the top-rated off-net sitcom for 163 weeks in a row now and season-to-date, Two and a Half Men is averaging a 5.3 live plus same day household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, and a 3.3 rating among adults 25-54. The show outperforms its nearest competitor, Twentieth's Family Guy, by 77% in households and 83% in adults 25-54, reports B&C.

For those who prefer not to spend the day after Thanksgiving fighting crowds at the mall, TBS has the perfect alternative. It's "Festivus for the rest of us!" as TBS unwraps the Seinfeld: Happy Festivus marathon Friday, Nov. 26, with nine solid hours of classic Seinfeld episodes.
The hilarious collection will open at 11 a.m. (ET/PT) with the "The Contest" and climax at 7:30 p.m. (ET/PT) with the Festivus-themed episode "The Strike." Along the way, TBS's post-Thanksgiving Seinfeld marathon will be packed with such unforgettable episodes as "The Soup Nazi" and "The Muffin Tops," to name a few.
We mentioned this stunt a few time already, but now it is official. Seinfeld, created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David and produced by Castle Rock Entertainment and West-Shapiro, premiered in 1990. Seinfeld stars as a stand-up comedian who shares various adventures and misadventures with his three pals: Elaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus; George, played by Jason Alexander; and Kramer, played by Michael Richards. Considered by many to be the greatest sitcom of all time, Seinfeld earned numerous awards and top ratings during its nine seasons. The series joined the TBS line-up in October 2002 and currently airs weekdays at 7 and 7:30 p.m. (ET/PT).