What to Watch This Weekend: Once Upon A Time, Leverage, and The Walking Dead

Hopefully you’ll be spending your post-Thanksgiving weekend chillaxin’ with your families and just enjoying some cool holiday vibes. Feel free to not watch television at all! But if you must, here are some things:

What to watch on Friday, November 25…

HOLIDAY SPECIAL, 8pm, CW
Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer
This is a cartoon version of the song that every town’s worst radio station plays a million times every Christmas (when not playing “Christmas Shoes”). Basically a dude named Jake Spankenheimer (comedic name) has to find his grandma and save Christmas or something. I don’t know.

HOLIDAY SPECIAL, 8pm, CBS
Hoops&Yoyo Ruin Christmas
Here’s a brand-new holiday special based on a popular line of greeting-card characters? Again, don’t look at me. The synopsis involves two creatures named Hoops and Yoyo who accidentally fall through a wormhole and disrupt a young Kris Kringle from becoming Santa Claus. Are you with your family? Maybe just turn off the TV and have a nice conversation instead. Life is very short!

HOLIDAY SPECIAL, 8:30pm, CBS
The Elf on the Shelf: An Elf’s Story
This is another brand-new holiday special, but this one is based on a children’s book and also a billion dollars worth of merchandising? I’m not a historian. However: It’s about an elf who helps a boy believe in the magic of Christmas. Does he tell the boy to avoid watching animated Christmas specials based on toys or greeting cards? I don’t have all the answers.

9pm, CW
Olive, the Other Reindeer
Nobody could have ever predicted that Olive, the Other Reindeer would one day be the most respectable holiday special on television the night after Thanksgiving, but here we are. This 1999 special features the voices of Drew Barrymore, Joe Pantoliano, Ed Asner, Dan Castellaneta, and Jay Mohr. It concerns a dog who travels to the North Pole and attempts to fill in for an injured Blitzen.

SERIES PREMIERE, 10pm, TBS
Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse
This is a Tyler Perry sitcom based on his hit film franchise Why Did I Get Married? Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

PLUS NEW EPISODES OF…
Star Wars: The Clone Wars, 8 p.m., Cartoon Network
ThunderCats, 8:30 p.m., Cartoon Network
Tyler Perry’s House of Payne, 9 p.m., TBS
20/20, 10 p.m., ABC
Boss, 10 p.m., Starz
Onion News Network, 10 p.m., IFC
Sanctuary, 10 p.m., Syfy
Marvel Anime: X-Men, 11 p.m., G4

What to watch on Saturday, November 26…

ORIGINAL MOVIE, 8pm, Lifetime
Dear Santa
Hey, Amy Acker! It’s Amy Acker, you guys. The former Angel actress stars in Dear Santa, the story of a young woman who intercepts a girl’s letter to Santa requesting a new mom and then seeks out the girl and her widower father to BECOME that new mom? Okay not gonna lie, this sounds like a horror film.

ORIGINAL MOVIE, 8pm, Hallmark
Debbie Macomber’s Trading Christmas
If you thought Nancy Meyers’ The Holiday was too high-budget and plausible, here comes Trading Christmas, the story of a widow (Faith Ford) and a writer (Tom Cavanagh) who trade homes for the holidays, run into complications, and meet-cute with new love interests. You will think I am lying, but the director’s name is Michael Scott.

ORIGINAL MOVIE, 9pm, Syfy
Storm War
When a demented mad scientist uses weather satellites to zap Washington, D.C., his two estranged sons band together to take pops down. Okay, this looks good.

PLUS NEW EPISODES OF…
Cops, 8 p.m., Fox
Holiday Block Party 2011, 8 p.m., HGTV
America’s Cutest Pet, 9 p.m., Animal Planet
Celebrity Ghost Stories, 9 p.m., Biography
Primeval, 9 p.m., BBC America
Suze Orman Show, 9 p.m., CNBC
48 Hours Mystery, 10 p.m., CBS
Bizarre E.R., 10 p.m., Discovery Fit & Health

What to watch on Sunday, November 27…

8pm, ABC
Once Upon a Time
Tonight Henry tempts death when he hopes to travel to the fairytale world via a sinkhole he found. Elsewhere, Jiminy Cricket (!) attempts to find a new vocation. This show.

MIDSEASON PREMIERE, 9pm, TNT
Leverage
America’s favorite schemers return tonight to investigate the mysterious vanishing of several Boston-area homeless veterans. Jeez, serious stuff, basically. Godspeed, schemers.

MIDSEASON FINALE, 9pm, AMC
The Walking Dead
Life on the farm continues to deteriorate, but Rick and Hershel must band together to deal with a “grave threat.” Also Dale and Shane continue to butt heads, possibly for lady-related reasons.

9pm, Showtime
Dexter
Dexter attempts to stay ahead of Miami Metro in his pursuit of the Doomsday Killer(s) (LOL). Meanwhile Deb’s latest therapy session uncovers something surprising. Not that her brother is a serial killer. Something else probably.

AWARDS SPECIAL, 9pm, BET
2011 Soul Train Awards
This 24th annual celebration of soul, hip-hop, and R&B is hosted by Cedric the Entertainer and features performances by Cee Lo Green, Common, Musiq Soulchild, and Natalie Cole. Award recipients include Earth, Wind, and Fire and Gladys Knight. (Better luck next year, T-Boz.)

ORIGINAL MOVIE, 8pm, ABC Family
Desperately Seeking Santa
Nick Zano stars alongside Laura Vandervoort (V, Smallville) in this Nick Zano vehicle concerning a woman who starts a sexy mall santa contest in which Nick Zano participates. Plus romance, etc.

SERIES PREMIERE, 9pm, TV Guide Network
Wilson Phillips: Still Holding On
In possibly the saddest-titled reality series ever conceived (I know it was their hit song, but still), the ladies of Wilson Phillips attempt to record a comeback album and Chynna announces her intention to compete on Dancing With the Stars. Oooh, I hope she wins!

PLUS NEW EPISODES OF…
19 Kids and Counting: World Tour, 8 p.m., TLC
Amazing Race, 8 p.m., CBS
Being Chaz, SERIES PREMIERE, 8 p.m., OWN
Holiday Engagement, ORIGINAL MOVIE, 8 p.m., Hallmark
Ned Bruha: Skunk Whisperer, 8 p.m., Animal Planet
The Simpsons, 8 p.m., Fox
Allen Gregory, 8:30 p.m., Fox
Boardwalk Empire, 9 p.m., HBO
Family Guy, 9 p.m., Fox
Mitch Albom’s Have a Little Faith, ORIGINAL MOVIE, 9 p.m., ABC
Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs, 9 p.m., Food Network
Sister Wives, 9 p.m., TLC
The Real Housewives of Atlanta, 9 p.m., Bravo
American Dad!, 9:30 p.m., Fox
All-American Muslim, 10 p.m., TLC
Hell on Wheels, 10 p.m., AMC
Homeland, 10 p.m., Showtime
Hung, 10 p.m., HBO
Kourtney and Kim Take New York, SEASON 2 PREMIERE, 10 p.m., E!
Reed Between the Lines, 12 a.m., BET
Talking Dead, 12 a.m., AMC

What are you watching this weekend?