Tonight, ABC has the new Shrek the Halls, NBC has Christmas in Rockefeller Center and MTV has the season finale of Pageant Place.

Prime Picks

Shrek the Halls (ABC): New. Turns out that the big guy isn’t a big Christmas fan and is looking forward to a small family Christmas, but Donkey and the rest of the fairytale gang try to join in all the fun.
Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (ABC): Repeat. The 40th Anniversary Special Edition plays tonight.

Pushing Daisies (ABC): New. Special time tonight, as the gang gets into it with a candy shop that opens across the street with the goal of putting The Pie Hole out of business. Molly Shannon (Saturday Night Live) guest-stars. Runs 62 minutes.

Dirty Sexy Money (ABC): New. Sofia wants to see where Jeremy lives. Brian is attempting to bribe the arbitrator into giving him his son and we get to see more about Dutch via flashbacks. ABC has picked the show up for the season, should the strike come to an end soon and we actually get a full season.

Solid Selections

‘Til Death (FOX): New. Two new episodes play tonight for an hour of so-so comedy, but hey, it’s better than watching them light the tree at Rockefeller Center for the 75th time.

Criminal Minds (CBS): New. Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle) guest-stars in this episode as a comic book artist whose drawing look a lot like recent crime scenes the BAU is investigating.

Life (NBC): New. A dead runaway is found holding her guitar and Crews and Reese investigate and find that they may have turned up an even bigger crime. NBC announced yesterday that they have picked the show up for the season along with Chuck. Now if they would extend the favor to Journeyman, the TVaholic would be very happy.

Cable Choices

Rise of the Video Game (Discovery Channel): New. Part two chronicles the history from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. Plays again later.

MythBusters (Discovery Channel): New. The guys take a look at more pirate myths. Plays again later.

Food Network Challenge (Food Network): Repeat. The “Edible Ornament” competition episode from Sunday replays. Replays again later.

Other Options

• Bionic Woman (NBC): New. Jaime is off on a spa weekend in with her sister when another guest tries to draw her into a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
• The Closer (TNT): Repeats. Three episodes from season two replays, “Out of Focus,” “Head Over Heels” and “The Other Woman.”
• CSI: NY (CBS): New. Mac figures out the meaning of the 333, but one of his team is taken hostage as he gets closer to finding out more about his stalker.
• Gossip Girl (The CW): New. Dan decides to invite Serena’s family to spend Thanksgiving with his, but not knowing the history of his father and her mother creates a big old fun time at the festivities.

Sports Notes

• ESPN has a college basketball doubleheader with North Carolina at Ohio State in game two.
• ESPN2 has a college basketball doubleheader with Illinois at Maryland in game one.
• NBA TV has the Orlando Magic at my Seattle Supersonics.

TV Marathons

Oxygen has 12 episodes of Mad About You early.
Sci Fi has 16 episodes of Tales From the Darkside early.