Holidays are Dramatic, Musical, Delicious - and Vicious! All on PBS

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Shelagh (Laura Main) and Timothy Turner (Max Macmillan).

Courtesy of Des Willie/ Neal Street Productions

HOLIDAYS ARE DRAMATIC, MUSICAL, DELICIOUS AND VICIOUS! ALL

ON PBS

December 25 Broadcasts of CALL THE MIDWIFE and VICIOUS Holiday Specials

Are Bookended by Christmas and New Year's Eve Specials in New York City

ARLINGTON, VA; NOVEMBER 13, 2014 The holiday season on PBS is a cornucopia of drama, comedy, music and food. Specials from popular series CALL THE MIDWIFE and VICIOUS, music that's inspirational, festive, classic and jazzy, and a culinary special that draws on Southern and Chanukah traditions add sparkle and spice to the schedule.

The CALL THE MIDWIFE HOLIDAY SPECIAL, airing Christmas night, December 25, 8:00 p.m. ET, follows the nuns and nurses of London's Nonnatus House as they prepare for the Sunday School Christmas concert and continue their ministrations to the Poplar population. As the year ends, all wonder what 1960 has in store for them. The VICIOUS comedy special, also set in London, follows. Longtime couple Freddie (Ian McKellen) and Stuart (Derek Jacobi) host a holiday party at their flat, where a wicked game of Truth or Dare brings up hidden truths and some surprises. VICIOUS Holiday Special airs December 25, 9:30 p.m. ET.

This year, Santa's bringing a little naughty and nice to holiday episodes of VICIOUS and CALL THE MIDWIFE on Christmas night for viewers and their families, said Beth Hoppe, Chief Programming Executive and General Manager, General Audience Programming, PBS. Santa's also checked his list, and has gifts for everyone in the family from music and performance, to kid's titles, to seasonal history and food. December on PBS is filled with a variety of festive programs to fit all interests.

Anticipating the Christmas season, luminous soprano Ren e Fleming, accompanied by special guests, sings heartwarming carols in REN E FLEMING CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK, airing December 4, 2014, 9:00 p.m. ET (check local listings). Soprano Deborah Voigt adds her considerable vocal talents to those of the renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir in CHRISTMAS WITH THE MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR FEATURING DEBORAH VOIGT AND JOHN RHYS-DAVIES. Rhys-Davies dramatizes Charles Dickens' Ghost of Christmas Present. The program premieres December 19 at 9:00 p.m. ET and encores December 25, 10:00 p.m. ET.

The centerpiece of many seasonal events is naturally! food. Chef Vivian Howard draws on her Southern heritage and husband Ben's Chanukah traditions for a charming and delicious holiday celebration. A CHEF'S LIFE HOLIDAY SPECIAL airs December 16 at 10:00 p.m. ET.

PBS closes out 2014 with an evening of music in New York City venues: LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER New York Philharmonic New Year's Eve: Gershwin Celebration With Dianne Reeves and Norm Lewis on December 31 at 8:00 p.m. ET, followed by MICHAEL FEINSTEIN NEW YEAR'S EVE AT THE RAINBOW ROOM at 10:00 p.m. ET.

PBS KIDS will kick off the holiday season on November 26 with the return of the classic family favorite CURIOUS GEORGE: A Very Monkey Christmas on PBS stations nationwide. In this fun-filled one-hour special, families can join their favorite monkey and the Man with the Yellow Hat as they count down the days until Christmas. The fun continues throughout December with all new episodes across the schedule on PBS stations. Viewers will help Otto and Olive solve a reindeer case in an all-new episode of ODD SQUAD, celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah with Peg and Cat in a one-hour PEG CAT HOLIDAYS special, spread cheer with new engine friends Gator and Reg on THOMAS & FRIENDS and go on a winter adventure featuring The Nutcracker Ballet with Daniel Tiger. Select clips and full episodes will also be available on pbskids.org, the PBS KIDS Video App and PBS KIDS on Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast and Amazon Fire. For listings and more information, click here.

Celebrate the holidays with PBS and enjoy special programming online, get tips on how to prepare for family gatherings, plan your shopping list, enjoy music from our holiday playlists, make crafts with your children and get great meal ideas from both PBS Food and PBS Parents.

PBS LearningMedia has expanded its digital library with the addition of a new Holiday Collection featuring curriculum-targeted resources that align to key celebrations throughout the year. Teachers and students of all ages can use these digital resources to enhance classroom activities and homework assignments, or to construct interactive storyboards using PBS LearningMedia's new suite of productivity tools. Currently, the collection delves into the history of Halloween and Columbus Day, among others, and will soon include additional resources about Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, Valentine's Day, Presidents Day and Ramadan. Explore the collection today by visiting pbslearningmedia.org/collection/holidays.

New Programs

REN E FLEMING CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK

Thursday, December 4, 2014, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET

Celebrate the magic of the season with the acclaimed soprano and guests Kurt Elling, Kelli O'Hara, Gregory Porter and Rufus Wainwright. The most wonderful time of the year is captured in unique musical performances of favorite holiday songs and carols.

SACRED JOURNEYS Lourdes

Tuesday, December 16, 2014, 8:00- 9:00 p.m. ET

Bruce Feiler embeds with a group of active duty and retired U.S. military, wounded in Afghanistan, Iraq and other American wars, as they travel to the Catholic shrine of Lourdes in southwest France in search of healing. More than five million pilgrims visit this shrine to the Virgin Mary every year to bathe in the waters of a spring that Catholics believe has miraculous powers. The wounded warriors from America join 30,000 other military and their families from 35 different nations on an

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