Selected primetime television highlights for December 22, 2011;
8 P.M. (WNET) ANDREA BOCELLI Everyone’s favorite “Hitman” David Foster joins Great Performances superstar Andrea Bocelli for a Christmas concert of holiday classics airing on December 22, 2011. Showcasing Bocelli’s unmistakable soaring vocals are lush new arrangements infused with the distinctive Foster touch. The inspiring concert performance, recorded at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, also features special musical guests Natalie Cole, Mary J. Blige, Reba McEntire, Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins, The Muppets and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
8 P.M. (WNYW Fox) THE X FACTOR In this second part of the season finale, a winner will be chosen from the three finalists, Chris Rene, Melanie Amaro and Josh Krajcik. Each will sing one last time in this two-hour program. The performances are judged by L. A. Reid, Nicole Scherzinger, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell, but the winner is determined by viewer voting. The prize is a $5 million recording contract.
8 P.M. (Encore) MOBY DICK (2010) In this adaptation of Herman Melville’s classic about a sea captain’s relentless quest for the whale that took his leg, William Hurt portrays the single-minded Captain Ahab and Ethan Hawke, above, is his first mate, Starbuck. This two-part mini-series, screened here in its entirety, introduces new elements to the story, including Ahab’s wife, who is mentioned in the novel almost as an aside but is fleshed out in the film by Gillian Anderson.
10 P.M. (WNBC) PRIME SUSPECT A mah-jongg game in Chinatown takes a nasty turn, and a gambler is killed. The detectives Jane Timoney (Maria Bellow) and Evrard Velerio (Damon Gupton) travel to the neighborhood to figure out what happened. Their efforts, however, are stymied because witnesses keep disappearing.
10:30 P.M. (HGTV) HOUSE HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL Feeling unfulfilled with his corporate career in Paris, François decides to pursue his goal of building a cheese farm in Nepal. He considers bucolic properties on the outskirts of Katmandu, but they lack amenities. His Nepali girlfriend, Sophia, doesn’t share his yearning for pastoral living and nudges him toward a home where they will be comfortable and won’t have cattle grazing nearby. François seeks a compromise that won’t kill his dream.
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