Strike or no strike, networks keep the spirit with full schedule of holiday fare

LOS ANGELES -- The Hollywood writers' strike may have put a stop to television production, but it hasn't stopped the networks from keeping the holiday spirit on their December schedules.

Viewers will still find traditional fare and specials throughout the month, along with holiday-themed episodes of their favorite series -- minus a few who didn't make it into production before the strike began in early November.

Shows such as ABC's "Boston Legal" and "Dirty Sexy Money," and NBC's "30 Rock," "My Name is Earl" and "Las Vegas," among others, will feature tinsel-themed episodes.

"There's something about holiday-themed episodes that unites the show with the viewer. It's a rare moment where you take the show out of its fictional world and bring it into the real moment that you're living in," said NBC's series programming chief Erin Gough Wehrenberg.

Among the specials are CBS' ninth edition of its "A Home for the Holidays" on Dec. 21, featuring stories about adoption, along with performances by James Blunt, Carole King, Reba McEntire and Sheryl Crow, herself an adoptive parent.

Said CBS executive Jack Sussman: "We've done the show for so long now, we're actually telling stories about people who watched the show a few years ago, and were so moved by what they saw that they now have a bigger family as a result of adopting children. It's a great way to take the power of television and use it to effect change in a very positive way."

While holiday-themed movies of the week have been on the wane on the broadcast networks, the Hallmark Channel continues the tradition with four new films, including "A Grandpa for Christmas," airing throughout December and starring 90-year-old Ernest Borgnine as a grandfather who builds a relationship with a young granddaughter he never knew he had.

While newer programming may tune viewers into today's holiday world, audiences still embrace traditional holiday specials -- some of which have been airing for 40 years -- as well as classic Christmas theatrical films.

Such perennial programming seems to have a life of its own, continuing to garner high ratings year after year.

"People view them almost by appointment," said CBS' Sussman. "They want to be part of it because they were a part of it as a child with their parents, and they want to share that experience with their kids."

ABC has already aired the 1965 favorite "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and plans another Peanuts special, "I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown" from 1993, on Monday.

NBC brings back the 1946 Frank Capra classic, "It's a Wonderful Life" (Dec. 14 and Dec. 24), while on Friday CBS offers the return of "Frosty the Snowman" from the 1960s.