The Best TV Christmas and New Year's Marathons to Watch With Your Family

From A Christmas Story to The Twilight Zone, here are your TV best bets

By Jean Bentley Dec 21, 2015 9:00 PMTags
A Christmas StoryMGM

So, you're stuck together in a house with your entire extended family for the holidays. Sounds fun—who doesn't love family time? But there are only so many hours in a row you can spend with your younger sister before you need to detatch, you know?

Enter: Your lifelong friend who never betrays you, your television. Sure, there are approximately one billion shows you could stream over HBO Go or Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime, but what if your aunt and uncle just aren't that technologically advanced? The good news is that regular ol' television has you covered in the form of many, many holiday marathons airing over the next week or two. Below, the highlights that will appeal to everyone from your NCIS-loving grandparents to your CW-obsessive little cousin.

Christmas Movies

Don't worry—at some point on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, one of your favorite old-school classics will be on. It's A Wonderful Life? Christmas Eve, 8 p.m., NBC. A Charlie Brown Christmas? Christmas Eve, 10 p.m., ABC. Elf? 8:45 p.m., Christmas Eve, ABC Family. The Nightmare Before Christmas? 12:30 p.m., Christmas Day, ABC Family. And let's not forget TBS' annual A Christmas Story marathon, which commences at 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve. (You can also catch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, you know, that Christmas classic, at 7:15 p.m. on ABC Family on Christmas Day.) Plus, Hallmark has a ton of its 2015 original movies airing all day long.

Discovery

Sports!

Never forget the unification power of good, old-fashioned sporting competition. You can catch plenty of basketball games (the NBA has you covered all day long on ABC), but if football's more your thing, the Chargers and the Raiders are playing on Christmas Eve, and the Redskins and Eagles are playing on the 26.

Doctor Who

Best part about British shows? The standalone Christmas specials. This year's Doctor Who special, "The Husbands of River Song," will air on BBC America at 9 p.m.

MythBusters

MythBusters is cool, but you know what's even cooler? Literally every single episode of the science-filled series, airing on Science Channel beginning Wednesday, Dec. 23 at midnight and ending Sunday, Jan. 3 at 8 p.m.—so it's not exactly humanly possible to watch them all, but it'll be good preparation for the final season of the series, which begins on Science Channel and Discovery Channel in January.

The Twilight Zone

Two-plus decades of New Year's Eve marathons can't be wrong—and Syfy is doing it again, ringing in 2016 with all 156 episodes of the sci-fi classic aired chronologically and in HD. The festivities begin Wednesday, Dec. 30 at 7 p.m. and end Sunday, Jan. 3 at noon. (Be forewarned—there will be a brief interruption in the form of WWE SmackDown on Thursday, Dec. 31 from 8 to 10 p.m.)

Watch: Mariah Carey Reveals Christmas Plans