Reading the frequent threads on Dr Who, such as this one got me thinking about Christmas TV, as that’s the only time I watch it.
On Christmas Day, it feels like tradition that, after a big lunch, the whole nation sits down to watch The Queen’s Speech, the Eastenders Christmas Special and the Dr Who Christmas Special.
So, despite all the myriad of viewing options provided by cable, we’re all stuck on BBC 1.
Is there an equivalent in the US? Or are you all outside shooting hoops 
The Yule Log. 
A Christmas Story.
It’s a Wonderful Life.
But, no, other than those two obviously-themed movies, I can’t think of any regular TV show like those UK traditions. The NBA has tried putting basketball games on Christmas Day, but I don’t know anybody who makes a habit of watching them.
ETA: And, duh, I didn’t say the obvious: I guess the NBA figures nobody will be out shooting hoops in the snow on Christmas!
HA! Sounds more captivating than the Queen’s speech.
There’s usually a football game on…either a college bowl game or NFL. However, if the game does not feature either the New Orleans Saints, Mississippi State Bulldogs, or the Crimson Tide of Alabama, watching is verbotten until after the tree and such, which fills the early afternoon. I tolerate this so long as my mother lives. Once she’s gone, I’m done with Christmas, other than enjoying time off work and football.
People watch TV on Christmas day?
What! So all those Hollywood movies have misled me! Or maybe that was Thanksgiving… but you watch football on TG, correct?
“A Christmas Story” for me.
I read last year that in Sweden Donald Duck is a big part of their Christmas tradition:
There isn’t any single thing, as there seems to be in Britain. No Presidential Christmas Speech. No (fill in name of popular TV show) marathon. I know that WPIX out of New York has been running its tape of a burning Yule Log for decades, now, and apparently others have picked up the tradition. Because it was in the public domain and was about Christmas, a lot of places show It’s a Wonderful Life, as noted above (although I , personally, don’t recall ever seeing it on TV, let alone on Christmas). Or cable started running a Christmas Story many years ago. I know that, realizing nobody’s watching, some stations run Star Wars marathons, or the like. When I was a kid, independent stations ran whatever cartoons they could get cheap, so I saw Gulliver’s travels and Popeye cartoons a lot.
**“A Christmas Story” **is on 24 hr rotation on Christmas (on TBS or TNT), so usually that’s playing in the background.
(Well, and for the past few years, the **Doctor Who **specials & various other programs that I managed to download after they aired that day in the UK.)
Odd time of the year to start this thread.
I will say that one year both my GF and me couldn’t get home for xmas and xmas eve. My assignment was food and entertainment for Xmas eve. I cooked a wonderful dinner, pork loin, mashed potatoes, broccoli, rolls, and pumpkin pie were the highlights. My movie choice: Leaving Las Vegas kind of a depressing movie on xmas eve.
John Fucking Wayne. All day. That’s what’s on at my parents’ house - even my mom can’t stand it, but Dad loves the Duke. I don’t live there anymore, of course, but I still have to come over pretty early to help with dinner. John Wayne. The day is an eternity.
Wow, it’s the complete reverse in the UK - the major channels compete hard for viewers on Christmas Day, when they have their biggest audiences (entire families sat around the box sleeping off the turkey and sherry). The most popular TV series always put out a special that runs either on or around Christmas Day. I remember Friends and the like doing Christmas shows - were these not shown on Christmas Day or thereabouts?
Eastenders will typically get Christmas Day viewing figures of around 10-15 million - 25% of the population watching one show at the same time.
Yes, that’s correct. Some locals growing up used to play pickup football on Christmas too, probably to get away from relatives who only visit once a year, and once a year too often.
At my house it’s either A Christmas Story, A Christmas Carol (the 1951 version with Alastair Sim; the hub will accept no substitutes) or football.
If it’s on, one of the Home Alone movies. (Well, the first two. The rest sucked.)
4 or 5 NBA games
Interesting!
When I was growing up, there were religious movies and that was the thing to watch around the holidays. However, assuming my family got together with aunts, uncles & cousins, it was football and the children were sent to play outside. Westcoast, so no snow to contend with. It was frequently warm enough for shorts.
Later years, as an adult, family get togethers usually took time opening gifts, eating and then just chatting.
Now, it’s just me, my daughter & her hubby and we’ll put on A Christmas Story, sometimes, or just have music on the stereo. If there were hockey on, we’d be watching that 
I’ve never seen A Christmas Story, so not that.
My dad watches football.
My mom fucking loves that stupid yule log.
My family isn’t much for Christmas, though, in general. Both of my parents are atheists, and my dad’s a Jew to boot. When we were kids, we did the whole thing with the tree and presents, but now that my sister and I are adults, it’s not really a thing. I think my mom is kind of sad about it because she grew up Roman Catholic and has a lot of fond ideas about Christmas and family, even if she’s not religious anymore, but no one else can be bothered.
We never watched any particular thing.
I was stunned(15 years ago) when my friend told me that his family goes to a movie on Christmas every year. It never occurred to me. I asked him if his family is the only one and he told me lots of people do that.
He’s right. I hear it all the time.