Double the ‘Ghosts’ Fun, ‘Lower Decks’ Finale, Peacock Gets ‘Laid,’ Nate Bargatze Special

Ghosts

An early Christmas gift arrives in a double-length episode of one of network TV’s most delightful comedies. The situation: Jay’s (Utkarsh Ambudkar) parents are visiting for the holiday, and Sam (Rose McIver) especially wants to impress his hypercritical mom, Champa (Sakina Jaffrey). A busted water heater is the least of their problems, when supernatural complications too juicy to spoil disrupt the family reunion. McIver’s Rose, so often relegated to play the “straight man” as she reacts to the spirits’ antics, gets a rare opportunity to lean into the comedy when things go spectrally awry. The laughs just keep coming.

Star Trek: Lower Decks

The engaging animated spinoff of the prolific Trek franchise ends its five-season run with a jam-packed episode in which the underdog crew of the USS Cerritos once again rallies to save the universe. “All hands: Brace for weird,” announces Capt. Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) as their mission to close an international rift gets tangled up with a conflict among warring Klingons. In other words, chaotic business as usual.

Laid

A warped romcom with a macabre death wish, this eight-part comedy (based on an Australian format), available as a binge-watch, stars Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once) as Ruby, a self-absorbed Seattle party planner whose sexual history takes on the shadings of a tragic farce when she discovers that all of her former bed partners are dead or in danger of dying. Is it a creepy coincidence, a curse or karma? Girls’ Zosia Mamet costars as her BFF who’s obsessed with Ruby’s sex timeline, with Michael Angarano as a former flame who believes there’s something wrong with her: “You’re the worst person I ever met, and I host trivia.”

Nate Bargatze’s Nashville Christmas

A feel-good time is had by all as the comedian, who nailed both of his Saturday Night Live guest-host appearances, returns to his Nashville roots to host a music-comedy-variety special from the Grand Ole Opry stage. Bargatze delivers the comedy, with support from SNL’s Mikey Day and Ashley Padilla and fellow stand-up Derrick Stroup, with music from Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Darius Rucker, Jelly Roll, and Noah Kahan. Pre-taped comedy bits include a “Titan for a Day” segment featuring the Tennessee Titans, who are overdue a good laugh.

Fast Friends

There’s trivia, TV trivia, and niche TV trivia. This four-episode game show, dropping new episodes weekly, falls into the latter category, with Friends fanatics showing off their obsessive knowledge of the hit sitcom amid the expansive set recreation at New York City’s Friends Experience venue. Teams of two — including a pair of hairstylists dubbed “The Rachel” after Jennifer Aniston’s iconic ’do — compete in challenges including “The One with the Pause” in which they complete the punchline from classic clips — which hold up very well. Whitney Cummings is the sardonic host, urging the teams to pick up the pace as they race through the set, including the staircase where Ross, Chandler, and Monica once struggled to “pivot” with an oversized couch.

The Yule Log: Hallmark Channel’s Trading Up Christmas (8/7c) stars Designated Survivor’s Italia Ricci as Michelle, whose wishful plan to make trades to provide a new home for her sister captures the attention of a local reporter (Michael Xavier). On Hallmark+, Deck the Halls on Cherry Lane features holiday stories unfolding at the same address in 1966, 1981 and 2000. Streaming on BET+: Queens of Christmas, with Vanessa Bell Calloway and Terri J. Vaughn as besties competing for their neighborhood’s “Queen of Christmas” title.

INSIDE THURSDAY TV:

• Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking (8/7c, Food Network): Harry Potter actors Warwick Davis, Evanna Lynch, and Bonnie Wright return as guest judges for the season finale, with a final challenge for the bakers to create a showpiece at least 6 feet tall that depicts an event in the Great Hall.
• The Great Christmas Light Fight (8/7c, ABC): My eyes, my eyes have seen the light(s)! Famed carpenter Carter Oosterhouse and interior designer Taniya Nayak host back-to-back episodes to wrap up the 12th season of the holiday décor competition. In each episode, four families vie to win a $50,000 grand prize (helps pay the electric bill) and the Light Fight trophy.
• Elsbeth (10/9c, CBS): Emmy and Tony winner Laurie Metcalf (The Conners) guest-stars in an episode that cleverly spoofs crime procedurals — a case of CBS biting the hand that feeds it — as a TV star who turns on her executive producer (played by a real-life exec producer, William Finkelstein) when he flips the script on her. There are good-natured jabs throughout at Elsbeth’s very premise, all in good fun. “Who wants to watch someone who isn’t a cop solve crimes?” barks a detective on the case. And even Elsbeth’s (Carrie Preston) cop partner Kaya (Carra Patterson) has to admit, “It’s not as fun when you know who did it.”
• Manhunt: Luigi Mangione and the CEO Murder (10/9c, ABC): A special edition of 20/20 explores the investigation that led to the arrest of the man who murdered United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York hotel on December 4.

ON THE STREAM:

• Virgin River (streaming on Netflix): The sixth season of the romantic drama unfolds as Mel (Alexandra Breckinridge) and Jack (Martin Henderson) plan their spring wedding, with secrets emerging from her father’s past in the 1970s.
• Rose Matafeo: On and On and On (streaming on Max): The Starstruck star from New Zealand performs a stand-up comedy set at London’s Britten Theatre with candid musings about relationships as a Millennial woman.
• The Newsreader (streaming on Sundance Now/AMC+): Set in the world of TV circa 1986, Interview With the Vampire’s Sam Reid stars as a reporter who learns the ropes of being a nightly-news announcer alongside the more seasoned Anna Torv (Fringe).
• Second Change Stage (streaming on Max): The two-part finale reveals which of the inspiring final acts takes home a $100,000 grand prize.
• Beast Games (streaming on Prime Video): A new high-stakes competition conceived by YouTuber MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) pits 1,000 contestants in mental, physical and social challenges, with a $5 million cash prize in the balance.