Hallmark sister net Hallmark Movies & Mysteries offers A Christmas to Remember on Sunday at 9p, telling the story of a harsh TV personality who suffers amnesia after crashing in a blizzard, and is taken in by a friendly (and cute, of course) passerby.

The weekend’s not all hearts and snowflakes. Running for his Life: The Lawrence Phillips Story, a documentary examining the cycle of domestic violence that plagued two-time NCAA Division I college football champion Lawrence Phillips and the personal demons that led to his death in January, premieres Friday at 9p on Showtime. During his tenure at Nebraska and a short stint in the NFL that followed, Phillips was convicted of several violent offenses, including domestic abuse and assault with a deadly weapon.

Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Meghan Trainor, Charlie Puth and Fifth Harmony are among the performers who rock Madison Square Garden for the iHeart Radio Jingle Ball, airing tonight on The CW at 8p. Can’t get enough of the Biebs? Encore presentation will air December 26.

Grammy Award winning violinist Joshua Bell performs with the Chamber Orchestra of Havana and some of Cuba’s most renowned artists, as well as special guest Dave Matthews, on Live From Lincoln Center Presents Joshua Bell: Seasons of Cuba. It’s the U.S. debut of the Chamber Orchestra of Havana, conducted by Daiana García. Show airs nationally on Friday (check local listings) as part of the PBS Arts Fall Festival.

Animal Planet’s Tanked gets a two-part “Sea-lebrity” special episode on Friday at 8p that involves comedian Jeff Dunham and Penn & Teller. That’s followed by the season finale, “We Fish You a Merry Christmas” at 10p.

Two-hour special Wild Australia, exploring how living alongside nature has given Aborigines knowledge that could help shape the future, premieres on Animal Planet Sunday at 7p.

CMT Hot 20 Countdown made network history recently when the show completed its first-ever trip overseas to a military base, in Bahrain, to tape two special holiday episodes. “Hot 20 Video of the Year Countdown” premieres Saturday at 9a, followed by “Hot 20 Holiday Salute” on December 24 at 9a.

A special holiday episode of hidden camera show What Would You Do? airs tonight on ABC. How will bystanders react to a Santa who’s had too many cocktails? Find out at 10p.

If you missed NBC’s A Pentatonix Christmas Special or Saturday Night Live’s Xmas special last night, you can catch encores on Saturday at 8p and 9p. In an animated mood? 2003’s I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown airs at 8p on Saturday.

AXS TV offers “Guitar Gods Marathon” starting Saturday at 1:30p, headlined by the premiere of  Eric Clapton: Live in San Diego  at 9p and featuring concerts from Joe Walsh, the Allman Brothers, and Cream. The next day brings “Merry Metal-Thon” starting at 2p, including the premiere of Motorhead  Clean Your Clock at 9:30p. 

ION’s “Brighten Your Holiday Season” campaign continues this weekend, with A Husband for Christmas and A Christmas Kiss among the films offering holiday cheer on Sunday.

The new season of Nashville doesn’t launch on CMT until January 5, but fans can get a sneak peek of the two-hour season premiere tonight at 9p.

A special short-form branded experience is part of Hallmark Channel’s “The Twelve Days of Christmas” event, featuring When Calls the Heart cast members Lori Loughlin, Erin Krakow, Daniel Lissing, and Jack Wagner. Each day a cast member introduces “Countdown to Christmas” programming and shares their personal holiday stories, memories and traditions in customized vignettes.

On Sunday, ABC airs the World of X Games at 2p (motorcycles). Later on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, Tampa Bay visits Dallas to face off against the Cowboys.

Despite its “wonderful cast,” says the New York Times of Rogue One, the latest entry in the Star Wars franchise, “You’re left wanting both more and less. There are too many characters, too much tactical and technical explanation, too much pseudo-political prattle.”

Michael Keaton stars in the true story of McDonald’s founder Ray Croc in The Founder, described by the LA Times as “a quasi-religious satire, a parable of American striving and, ultimately, a study of artisanal integrity gradually caving in to commercial compromise.”

Ian McShane plays a retired lawman who works with a new sheriff (Patrick Wilson) to save a border town from a vicious hit man (John Leguizamo) in The Hollow Point, “which lacks vision but offers fresh thinking and devotion to the crime genre,” says the Seattle Times. Wilson’s also on the big screen this weekend as an unhappily married man fascinated by the idea of eliminating his wife in A Kind of Murder.

Denzel Washington plays a former baseball star working as a garbage collector in 1950s Pittsburgh who quashes his son’s college football dream in Fences. The drama is “equally memorable and timeless, going beyond demographics, hitting you in the heart,” raves BET.

A psychic and a federal agent team to hunt a serial killer in Solace, starring Anthony Hopkins and Colin Farrell. The film “does end up being better than it probably deserves to be, but most of the time, that’s because Hopkins can really do no wrong … except in picking his movies,” snarks the New York Daily News.

Collateral Beauty centers on a suffering ad executive (Will Smith) whose notes to the universe bring unexpected responses. Rolling Stone ranks it, “The soggiest, sappiest, most painfully sentimental Christmas movie in ages.” 

“I’ll be continuing my boycott of the real world by spending both days of the weekend, as I do every weekend, at my very-cool volunteer job with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in downtown Nashville,” reports veteran media consultant and professor Jim McKairnes. “Scores of visitors to be door-greeted, coat-checked, crowd-wrangled, and escorted either to Santa’s lap on Saturday or to our weekly live-performer session on Sunday. Few better ways to find a smile than through a five-year old’s eyes or a country music fan’s heart.”

“I am going to see a matinee of Tony Award-winning play The Humans this weekend,” says Lauren de la Fuente, VP, marketing and communications at Boingo Wireless. “It’s the start of my annual NYC holiday celebration with my family. I love it because I spend two weeks at my parents’ home on the Upper West Side and I get to back to being a New Yorker. That’s special for someone who lives in Santa Monica, where it’s mostly 72 and sunny year round, so I sometimes miss the seasons and, of course, the spirit of NYC.”

Don Wildman, host of “Chill-cation” special Mysteries at the Museum: The Titanic, airing on Travel Channel December 29, is “going to the White Oak Farm and buying a Christmas tree, but really to pick up those maple cookies he has, which are impossible to eat just one of. Then it’s decorate the house.” Meanwhile Jack Maxwell, host of another “Chill-ication” special, Booze Traveler: On the Rocks (December 26) is "taking a road trip through the desert with an old friend from California. Just bought a convertible so I might as well put it to good use. Two of my favorite things  good friends and a nice convertible, in that order.”

Have a great weekend!
Lynn Leahey: Editorial Director @Lynn_Leahey

Roberta Caploe: Publisher @robertacaploe
Diane K Schwartz: Senior Vice President, Media Communications Group