Flip through hefty TV holiday feast

Christmas has come a long way from those primitive days of yore.

And I mean 20 years back on the tube.

When Newsday ran my first column saluting a TV Christmas, collating the episodes was no biggie. Call a few networks, scan a couple of cable schedules, don't forget public TV - done. The mere two dozen cable channels that did exist were simple, single-minded operations.

Back then, our entire list of every holiday-themed episode, special, movie and more would fit on one, lone print page. In regular-size type. The notion of a hundred-channel cable universe was so far-fetched that by the time Bruce Springsteen sang "57 Channels (and Nothin' On)" in 1992, the concept still sounded futuristic.

Fast forward to 2008, and now that hundred-channel fantasy is way back in the rearview mirror. Many viewers can choose from 200 channels, or 300, delivered via cable, satellite or fiber-optics.

That's certainly true for Christmas TV (and other winter holoidays). In 2008, you can turn on the tube at practically any December hour of the day or night and find something holiday-themed. The hunger for holiday programs - in both broadcasters hyping ratings and yule nuts savoring the season - seems boundless and growing.

ABC Family doesn't just do that 25 Days of Christmas stunt of nightly holiday shows anymore. Now, the channel's lead-in Countdown to Christmas event starts Nov. 16.

Lifetime and Hallmark Channel are going whole hog, too. The event called Fa La La La Lifetime features holiday movies daily at 2 and 9 p.m., and all day on the weekends.

Hallmark Channel has its Home for the Holidays festival of back-to-back yule movies every night at 9, then runs them around the clock Dec. 23-27.

Vintage holiday sitcom and drama episodes used to be rerun randomly, but in recent years, they've been found festively stacked into all-day events - like this year's Merrython on TV Land (Sunday, Dec. 21, 24-25) and FX's Happy Holiday Marathon (Dec. 13).

Even preschoolers get marathon treatment with Nick Jr.'s Frosty Fridays (Friday, Dec. 12, and 19), while older kids get a week of Nickelodeon holiday episodes like "iCarly" and "The Naked Brothers Band" (Dec. 15-18).

And if that's not enough, you can always try watching Christmas shows over the Web, where old holidays now go to stream 24/7. Among the free online options:

• http://video.aol.com/video-search/query/in2tv:christmas - Sitcoms like "Welcome Back, Kotter" and "Alice," dramas like "Eight Is Enough" and "The FBI," seasonal cartoons like "Batman: The Animated Series" and "Christmas Comes to Pac-land," movies like "The Gathering," more.

• http://www.hulu.com/videos/search?query=christmas - Holiday episodes of "Party of Five," "Lou Grant," "Married With Children," more.

• http://community.abcfamily.go.com/watch/25-days-christ mas - Movies like "Snow" and "Chasing Christmas," cartoons like "The Happy Elf" and "Eloise," more.

• http://www.tv4u.com/News.asp - Old-time holidays from "Jack Benny," "Burns and Allen," "Red Skelton," "Liberace," "Annie Oakley" and other shows; plus old animation, yule-log burning, more.

• http://www.archive.org/details/movies - Search "Christmas TV" to find "Ozzie & Harriet," "Dragnet," "Studio One" staging of "The Nativity," more early TV treats.

• http://www.tvparty.com/xmas.html - Reminiscences and clips from rarities like "Amos ‘n' Andy" and "Amahl and the Night Visitors."

Animated faves

(First or main network airing noted here. Check listings for cable encores.)

• "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" (Friday, CW) - Novelty song turned into 2000 cartoon.

• "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (Dec. 8 and 16, ABC) - The Peanuts gang in 1965's low-key cartoon classic.

• "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" (Dec. 10, ABC Family) - Fred Astaire narrates 1970 stop-motion tale.

• "The Year Without a Santa Claus" (Dec. 11, ABC Family) - Mickey Rooney in 1974 stop-motion special.

• "Frosty the Snowman" (Dec. 12, CBS) - Jimmy Durante voices 1969 cartoon.

• "Olive the Other Reindeer" (Dec. 13, Cartoon) - "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening's 1999 cartoon.

Holiday movies

• "A Christmas Story" - Jean Shepherd's 1983 family tale airs on TBS for 24 hours straight starting Christmas Eve.

• "It's a Wonderful Life" (Dec. 13; Christmas Eve, NBC) - James Stewart in 1946 holiday tearjerker.

• "A Very Brady Christmas" (Dec. 20, ABC Family) - Sitcom bunch reunites in 1988 TV movie.

• "White Christmas" (Dec. 23, ABC Family) - Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen in 1954 musical.

New for 2008

• "The Christmas Choir" (Saturday, Hallmark) - TV movie with Rhea Perlman running a homeless shelter helped by Jason Gedrick.

• "Little Spirit: Christmas in New York" (Dec. 10, NBC) - New technology enlivens animated musical with Danny DeVito, Lucy Liu, Freddy Rodriguez and Brenda Song.

• "A Miser Brothers' Christmas" (Saturday, Dec. 13, ABC Family) - Mickey Rooney returns in animated "Year Without a Santa" sequel.

• "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (Dec. 13, Hallmark) - TV movie with Brooke Burns as a workaholic for whom Henry Winkler plays Christmas Cupid.

• "Snow 2: Brain Freeze" (Sunday, Dec. 14, ABC Family) - TV-movie sequel with Tom Cavanagh reprising his Santa role.

• "Christmas in Wonderland" (Saturday, Dec. 20, ABC Family) - TV movie with Patrick Swayze and Carmen Electra has kids finding crooks' cash.

• "Our First Christmas" (Dec. 20, Hallmark) - TV movie about a merged family with John Ratzenberger and Dixie Carter.