Tonight on the Tube: Christmas Day TV Marathons, Pirates of the Caribbean & NBA Basketball

Merry Christmas! Only one week left of 2007, as another year has flown by once again. A whole lot of repeats fill the airwaves tonight on the networks and cable alike, but on cable there are many Christmas Day TV Marathons to watch before, after or during the wrapping paper being strewn about the living room.

Early in the day on ABC you will find the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade with hosts Regis Philbin, Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest.

Still need a Christmas gift, check out these last minute gift ideas for the TVaholic, or pretty much anybody else, on your list that can be bought, printed and presented in only a few of minutes.

As a little Christmas gift and to get you to try out the Amazon Unbox download service, they are offering some free TV downloads. Like right now the offerings include the “Pilot” episode of USA’s summer series Burn Notice, and catch up episodes of Battlestar Galactica and Gossip Girl, as well as episodes of Three Sheets and Dr. Danger from Mojo and bonus content from Bones and Prison Break, among others.

Prime Picks

Bones (FOX): Repeat. “The Superhero in the Alley” episode replays, where the team investigates the death of teen after the decomposed body is found.

House (FOX): Repeat. The “Daddy’s Boy” episode replays, where the problems between a father and son are keeping the team from getting the info they need to figure out what is wrong with the son.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC): Repeat. The “Florida” episode replays, where Benson gets herself in the middle of a case involving her brother and jeopardizes her career.

Solid Selection

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (ABC): Released 2004. Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in the only one of the three Pirates movies that was actually good. Runs three hours.

Cable Choices

Good Eats (Food Network): Repeats. Two episodes replay, where the first is about icing and the second all about cake. Both replay again later.

A Cook’s Tour (Food Network): Repeats. Four episodes replay with Anthony Bourdain traveling to Russia, Japan, Brazil and France to sample the local foods and culture, as many of them are completely bizarre by our standards. All replay again later. A Cook’s Tour returns with new episodes on the Food Network beginning Tuesday, January 8th in primetime.

Other Options

• NCIS (CBS): Repeat. The “Cover Story” episode replays, where a petty officer that McGee based one of his novel’s characters on is murdered.
• The Office (TBS): Repeats. The “Gay Witch Hunt” and “The Convention” episodes replay.
• The Unit (CBS): Repeat. The “Natural Selections” episode replays, where Bob and his translator crash land a helicopter and must survive in the cold of Siberia with limited gear.

Sports Notes

• ABC has a NBA doubleheader with the Miami Heat at the Cleveland Cavaliers followed by the Phoenix Suns at the Los Angeles Lakers.
• ESPN extends the doubleheader to a tripleheader with my Seattle Supersonics at the Portland Trail Blazers.

Late Night

• Monk (USA): Repeat. This year’s Christmas episode, “Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa,” replays. This also replays earlier in the day with a couple of other Monk Christmas episodes.
• Psych (USA): Repeat. This year’s Christmas episode, “Gus’ Dad May Have Killed an Old Guy,” replays.

Christmas Day TV Marathons

A&E has nine episodes of Crossing Jordan early.
AMC has westerns all day long.
Animal Planet has 11 episodes of Wild Kingdom beginning early.
Bravo has eight episodes of Project Runway.
Court TV has 18 episodes of Under Fire early.
Discovery Channel has 15 episodes of Survivorman.
Discovery Times has five episodes of Best Evidence early and later 11 episodes of Unsolved History.
Disney Channel has Christmas and holiday themed episodes most of the day.
DIY has 10 episodes of Martha Stewart Crafts early.
ESPN2 has 12 hours of the 2007 World Series of Poker.
FOX Reality has 11 hours of Solitary.
FX is playing the animated feature Robots six times today.
GSN has 22 episodes of Family Feud starting early.
Hallmark Channel has seven two-hour made-for-TV Christmas and holiday themed movies.
History Channel has five episodes of UFO Files that play twice today.
Lifetime has six two-hour made-for-TV Christmas movies, three of which premiered this December.
Military Channel has 25 hours of Rome: Power & Glory.
MTV has 10 episodes of The Hills.
National Geographic has 10 episodes of Dog Whisperer.
Sci Fi has 19 of the 20 episodes of season nine of Stargate SG-1 with a Best of ECW episode playing in lieu of episode 15.
Speed has 22 hours of Monster Jam episodes.
Spike TV has eight hours of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episodes.
TBS continues their 24 hours of A Christmas Story.
TLC has five episodes of Miami Ink.
TNT has 11 episodes of Cold Case tonight.
Travel Channel is all about food today.
TV Guide Network has eight episodes of Close Up early.
USA plays the movie Elf twice and then three episodes of Christmas themed Monk episodes followed by Elf two more times tonight.
VH1 has the five-part I Love Toys early and later the five-part 100 Greatest Songs of the ‘80s followed by the five-part 100 Greatest Songs of the ‘90s.
WE has eight episodes of Bridezillas early.