What to Watch This Week: December 23 to 30

From the queen of country music to the Queen of England, we round up our top 10 shows to watch this week

1. Groundhog Day – Saturday, December 23, 1:10 p.m., ENC2

Bill Murray turns in a career-best performance in this dark dramedy (helmed by his Ghostbusters co-star Harold Ramis) about a sardonic weatherman who finds himself stuck in a small town, mysteriously doomed to relive the same miserable day over and over, until he realizes the value of a second chance.

2. CMA Country Christmas – Saturday, December 23, 8 p.m., ABC

In case you missed this when it originally aired way back in November, ABC is serving a second helping of the Nashville-style holiday special, with universally beloved singer Reba McEntire hosting. Recorded at Music City’s iconic Grand Ole Opry, McEntire welcomes a star-studded array of guests, including Luke Bryan, Lady Antebellum, Alan Jackson, Little Big Town, Trisha Yearwood and Kelsea Ballerini.

3. It’s a Wonderful Life – Sunday, December 24, 8 p.m., CTV & NBC

Seven decades ago, Frank Capra—master heartwarmer that he was—made his mark on the Christmas movie canon, introducing us all to a hopeless family man (James Stewart) and the wingless angel (Henry Travers) sent to restore his faith in himself and humanity.

4. Cable Girls – Monday, December 25, Netflix | Season Premiere

Netflix’s first original series from Spain has been hailed as a refreshingly feminist exploration of the 1920s. It’s a time and place when hundreds of young women lined up to snag one of the coveted first female jobs at the national telephone company, where progress and modernity for women was rare but encouraged. Follow along as four of those chosen operators continue their coming-of-age stories, journeys characterized by friendship, romance and rivalry.

5. The Queen’s Christmas Message – Monday, December 25, 7 a.m., 9 a.m. & Noon, News Network; Noon, CBC

The Queen caps off a year that saw her celebrate her 70th wedding anniversary, 91st birthday and 64th year on the throne with her annual Christmas greeting, in which she’s expected to congratulate Prince Harry and fiancée Meghan Markle on their upcoming nuptials.

6. Disney Parks Magical Christmas Celebration – Monday, December 25, 9 a.m., CBC & ABC

Jumping back and forth between the House of Mouse’s Anaheim and Orlando outposts, this festive special will be co-hosted by Dancing With the Stars‘ Julianne Hough, pop-reality star Nick Lachey and Canadian Bachelor alum Jesse Palmer. Throughout the day, they’ll welcome plenty of performers, including Lachey’s band 98 Degrees, Ciara, Darius Rucker, Fifth Harmony and Jason Derulo. Glee alum Lea Michele will be on the premises for a heartfelt rendition of “Let It Snow.”

7. Call the Midwife Holiday Special – Monday, December 25, 6 p.m. & 11:30 p.m., WTVS; 9 p.m., KCTS

Producer Pippa Harris has revealed that the action of this holiday special will take place in the winter of 1962-’63, which would go down in history as The Big Freeze. With blizzard-like conditions ravaging the south, the town of Poplar is beset by record-low temperatures, 20-feet-deep snowfalls, power outages, frozen pipes and all-around ice misery, making the Midwives’ already-tough jobs that much more taxing—especially considering that babies typically don’t consult the weather forecast before arriving.

8. The Complete Big Bang-a-thon – Tuesday, December 26, 6 a.m., Comedy

It’s a longstanding holiday tradition for networks to set aside standard programming in favour of non-stop marathons of various shows, but in the case of CBS megahit The Big Bang Theory, there’s enough in the series’ back catalogue to keep viewers occupied for the better part of two weeks. And so it is that on Tuesday, Comedy will once again kick off The Complete Big Bang-a-thon, an exhaustive look back at the first 10 seasons of shenanigans by Leonard, Sheldon, Penny, Raj and Howard, which will run all the way into the early days of 2018.

9. The 40th Annual Kennedy Center Honors – Tuesday, December 26, 9 p.m., CBS

Typically, attendees of the Kennedy Center Honors rise to their feet a number of times during the ceremony, but there’s a more literal reason this year. Among the recipients is Gloria Estefan whose songs and life story fuel the stage production On Your Feet!—and surely will inform much of the segment that salutes her during the 40th annual event celebrating icons of the performing arts. Also included as 2017 honourees are singer Lionel Richie, television producer Norman Lear (All in the Family), hip hop veteran and NCIS: Los Angeles star LL Cool J and actress-dancer-choreographer Carmen de Lavallade. Among those appearing on behalf of Estefan are Eva Longoria, Chaka Khan and Jon Secada, while the likes of Meryl Steep, Stevie Wonder, Rita Moreno, Anthony Anderson, Dave Chapelle, Kenny Rogers, Queen Latifah and filmmaker J.J. Abrams turned up to pay their respects to honourees.

10. Mary Kills People – Tuesday, December 26 to Friday, December 29, 10 p.m. and Saturday, December 30, 9 p.m., Global

With a second season scheduled to kick off in January, Global is offering another chance to catch up on this provocative drama about an ER doctor (Caroline Dhavernas, Wonderfalls) who secretly serves as an “angel of death” to help terminally ill patients end their lives on their own terms. Starting Tuesday, Global will air the entire season, running an episode each night at 10 p.m. until concluding with the explosive two-hour finale on Saturday, December 30 at 9 p.m.