‘An Almost Christmas Story,’ Jared Padalecki on ‘Fire Country,’ ‘Silo’ Returns While ‘Sweetpea’ and ‘La Maison’ End

An Almost Christmas Story

Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón, in collaboration with director David Lowery and co-writer Jack Thorne, delivers his third holiday short for Disney+, a charming animated fable that appears to have been delivered from a magical woodshop. The story, inspired by an actual event, follows impetuous young owl Moon (voiced by Cary Christopher), who takes shelter with a broken wing in a tree that to his surprise is soon dispatched from the forest to midtown Manhattan as that year’s iconic Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. Moon’s adventures as he tries to find his way home involve another lost soul, a little girl named Luna (Estella Madrigal), and a trio of pigeons (Natasha Lyonne, Phil Rosenthal and Mamoudou Athie) who are both hindrance and help. John C. Reilly is the troubadour/narrator, singing original songs in the spirit of Burl Ives’ Sam the Snowman from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. ’Tis the season.

The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland

The Yule Log: Another Oscar-winning director, Peter Baynton (The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse), delivers a whimsical animated mashup of the St. Nick legend and Lewis Carroll in Hulu’s feature-length The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland, where St. Nick (Gerard Butler) heads to the enchanted Wonderland to rescue Christmas from the Grinch-like Queen of Hearts (Emilia Clarke). On Hallmark Channel, Christmas with the Singhs (8/7c) stars Anuja Joshi from The Resident, who brings her fiancé Jake (Ben Hollingsworth from Virgin River) home to her family, where the couple deals with cultural and traditional differences.

Fire Country

Fan favorite Jared Padalecki (Supernatural, Walker) joins the firefighter drama Fire Country for what has been reported as a three-episode arc, and not everyone’s a fan of Capt. Camden Casey, who becomes Bode’s (Max Thieriot) new boss as the ex-con moves on to Phase 3 of his training. “It’s my job to make a firefighter out of him—my way,” Camden declares, watching his new charge in action after an airplane makes a fiery emergency landing. Bode’s mom Sharon (Diane Farr) sees the new guy as a sociopath, and he’s not likely to make many friends when he urges Bode to choose between his duties and his family, friends and girlfriend Gabriela (Stephanie Arcila).

Silo

The post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama Silo (based on Hugh Howey’s trilogy) goes back underground in an engrossing Season 2 premiere that finds Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) leaving the bleak surface of a blasted and inhospitable planet to explore a neighboring subterranean silo that appears to be abandoned. Flashbacks replay her apprenticeship to Walker (Harriet Walter), whose engineering training helps Juliette navigate a treacherous new/old environment. Most of the episode plays out in suspenseful near-silence as Juliette works her way through this deathtrap. Steve Zahn (The White Lotus), who can also be counted on to bring a quirky twist to tricky material, joins the cast.

Also on Apple TV+: The Season 1 finale of the juicy French-language fashion-house drama La Maison stages an audacious “kamikaze mission” surprise at designer Paloma’s (Zita Hanrot) first couture show for the Ledu maison, which has just been subsumed by the rival Rovel house. The takeover stirs up family and business intrigue for both brands, and by the episode’s end, the metaphorical knives are out.

Sweetpea

The diabolical dramedy Sweetpea ends on a suitably dark note, with covert serial murderer Rhiannon (Ella Purnell) and her captive-turned-collaborator Julia (Nicôle Lecky) both under police scrutiny after the latest tragic incident. Junior detective Marina (Leah Harvey) is sure the deceptively mousy Rhiannon is the killer they’ve been looking for, but can she convince anyone? Rhiannon’s confidence is bracing, but also disturbing, as she declares, “I shouldn’t have to fight this hard to be seen.” Maybe she should be careful what she wishes for.

INSIDE FRIDAY TV:

• S.W.A.T. (8/7c, CBS): 20-Squad goes after a cartel leader after Tan’s (David Lim) girlfriend is kidnapped.
• Happy’s Place (8/7c, NBC): Bobbie (Reba McEntire) and Isabella (Belissa Escobedo) host a Ladies’ Night at Happy’s to cheer up Gabby (Melissa Peterman) after her latest romantic disaster.
• True Crime Watch: ABC’s 20/20 (9/8c) reports on the 2010 murder in an Atlanta suburb of dad Rusty Sneiderman outside his son’s preschool, with the gunman revealed to be his wife’s supervisor at work. On Dateline NBC (10/9c), Andrea Canning updates the so-called “Black Swan” case of former ballerina Ashley Benefield, convicted of manslaughter by a Florida jury for the 2020 shooting of her husband, Doug.
• The Last Woodsmen (9/8c, Discovery): A rugged reality series profiles logger Jared Douglas and his crew of lumberjacks as they risk life and their own limbs to harvest timber in the wilderness.
• The UnBelievable with Dan Aykroyd (9/8c, History): The Saturday Night Live alum is back for a second season of stranger-than-fiction stories, starting with accounts of unexpected objects falling from the sky, from meteorites to bathtubs.
• Blue Bloods (10/9c, CBS): Will Hochman returns as prodigal grandson Joe Hill, working with his uncle Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) to investigate a delivery driver’s murder that may be tied to a narcotics ring. Back at HQ, Commissioner Frank (Tom Selleck) is not happy to learn his colleague Lt. Sid Gormley (Robert Clohessy) is breaking NYPD residency protocol. Not in his house!
• Three Women (10/9c, Starz): In the provocative drama’s series finale, Gia (Shailene Woodley) and the three women from her study all make big decisions about their futures.

ON THE STREAM:

• Cobra Kai (streaming on Netflix): Part 2 (episodes 6-10) of the three-part series finale takes Miyagi-Do to the international karate tournament Sekai Taikai, where new rivals and old enemies stand in their way of becoming world champions. The concluding chapter airs in 2025.
• Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson (8 pm/ET, streaming on Netflix): From fictional to actual sports action, the boxers clash in a live event from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
• The Creep Tapes (streaming on Shudder): The Morning Show’s Mark Duplass stars in a six-episode anthology expansion of his found-footage horror franchise as a madman serial killer who lures unsuspecting filmmakers to capture him in action. He keeps the VHS tapes, just saying.
• It’s All Country (streaming on Hulu): American Idol’s Luke Bryan hosts a music docuseries that digs into the personal stories behind country-music songs with the help of stars including Wynonna Judd, Mickey Guyton, Sheryl Crow, Lady A, Kane Brown and Luke Combs.
• The Peanut Man (streaming on Fawesome): The free streamer presents a biopic of pioneering botanist and scientist George Washington Carver, portrayed by Glenn Plummer.
• Twisters (streaming on Peacock): This summer’s hit sequel to the 1996 tornado-chasing disaster movie, starring Glen Powell, makes its streaming debut.