Spotlight Show of the Night
Little Spirit: Christmas in New York (NBC, 8:00 p.m./7:00 p.m. Central) – Sure we all love all those classic Christmas specials, and now that we have 7500 different channels they’re all on the air every year. So it’s always exciting when there’s actually a new Christmas special. And this one has Danny DeVito as one of the principal voice actors and everybody loves Danny DeVito. Really, it’s a Christmas story about New York City as it features a little boy who loses his dog in the big city and Little Spirit, a magical creature who helps them reunite and teaches the boy the wonders of the big city. You know, there’s other cities in the US too. How about a special about how great one of them is? Did I mention the music is by Duncan Sheik. What’s not to love? It’s Christmas time! Wait, can they say that? Isn’t that offensive? Shouldn’t it be Holiday in New York?
Beginnings, Endings & Specials
Ghost Hunters (Sci Fi, 9:00 p.m./8:00 p.m. – 4th Season Finale) – Tonight’s season finale finds the crew in two New Hampshire locales tracking spirits: Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse and Fort Constitution. Our own Keith McDuffee was fortunate enough to go on a ride along with the Ghost Hunters to see what’s really what when they’re filming this popular show. He’ll be checking in later tonight after the episode airs to talk about the differences he noticed between what was aired and what he experienced while he was there. You know, the typical stuff like running back and forth from door to door in halls, hiding in suits of armor and dressing up like hairdressers to give the ghosts a new style. Wait, is that Scooby-Doo? Keith got to do a ride along in the Mystery Machine? Damn, I’m jealous!
Top Chef: New York (Bravo, 10:00 p.m./9:00 p.m. Central) – Tonight is New York night. Maybe the Ghost Hunters should have gone there. The Top Chefs did, and tonight is a 75-minute special where the chefs must arrange a bridal show for judge Gail Simmons as well as cooking up a course for the big event. In New York. The city so nice they named it twice, or is that because it just likes hearing it’s name.
UFC Fight for the Troops (Spike, 9:00 p.m./8:00 p.m. Central) – This three-hour special features all the UFC fighting action you know and love, and all of it presented for a good cause. These fights are to benefit the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund trying to finance a tramautic-brain-injury treatent center for our men and women in uniform.
Whitney: From The Hills to The City (MTV, 10:00 p.m./9:00 p.m. Central) – I know, right? Can you believe Whitney is leaving The Hills. This special is basically a look back at her life and times and a preview of her new series The City, where she moves to New York. Wait, again with this. New York is the city? Man, I thought it was Des Moines.
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Dec 10, 2008 @ 14:00 EST5EDT
Concerning Little Spirit: Christmas in New York:
How does something so unoriginal, so lame, so horrifying to the senses even get made?
In a long line of cheap, shallow, tawdry, trite commercials that try to pass themselves off as “Holiday specials” – Little Spirit takes the whole genre to a new low.
Let’s start with the fact that we have a cast of characters about whom we feel nothing – quite frankly, Leo is simply a boring kid we’re all supposed to feel sorry for because his dog ran away – yet I couldn’t muster the tiniest bit of sympathy for this flat character. The “city of strangers” with whom Leo is supposed to be bonding throughout this hour of misery are nothing but worn-out New York City cliches. The dog is annoying – and Macy’s has yet to grasp the concept of subtlety when it comes to brand placement.
Then we get into the “magical” part – Little Spirit seems like nothing but a cheap rip-off of “Lilo and Stitch” – voice and all – with flashbacks to “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” – but without the fun nor the depth.
If this is the new bar which holiday specials must reach, then God help us, every one.