What to Watch in December

There's a huge amount of worthwhile TV out there nowadays, so it can be hard to choose what to watch. But who better to recommend shows than the person who programs them? Lisa Tipton, WTTW’s Head of Programming and Pledge, constructs the WTTW schedule by searching through offerings from many different sources which include the national PBS network, the BBC, and independent filmmakers to put together a varied and engaging broadcast schedule. Each month, she’ll recommend a few shows that she thinks you should watch.

Find all the ways to watch WTTW here.

Chicago-Related Shows

December is full of stories in which Chicago play a huge role. On Monday, December 12, we have a profile of the Nobel Prize-winning author Saul Bellow, who grew up in Chicago, taught at the University of Chicago, and set many of his books in Chicago, in American Masters: The Adventures of Saul Bellow at 8:00 pm. It's followed by POV: Let the Little Light Shine at 9:30 pm, a documentary that follows a fight over a high-performing Black school in the South Loop as the neighborhood expands. (You can catch a preview and discussion of the film on Tuesday, December 6.)

Then on Monday, December 26 at 9:00 pm, an architect who spent much of his career in Chicago and the surrounding area takes the spotlight, in Frank Lloyd Wright: The Man Who Built America.

WTTW Passport members can stream The Man Who Built America now.

Mary Berry

We've got a Mary Berry-palooza this month, with numerous holiday-themed specials from the treasure of British homemaking, baking, and entertaining. There's Mary Berry's Ultimate Christmas on Monday, December 19 at 9:00 pm, Mary Berry's Country House at Christmas on Friday, December 23 at 8:00 pm, followed by two Christmas-focused episodes of Mary Berry's Absolute Favourites on Friday, December 23 at 9:00 and 9:30 pm. 

WTTW Passport members can stream all episodes of Mary Berry's Absolute Favourites now (including non-holiday ones) as well as Mary Berry's Country House at Christmas.

Call the Midwife Holiday Special

Sunday, December 25 at 8:00 pm

Call the Midwife is always full of such warm-hearted humanity that we look forward to its holiday special every year, including in this twelfth season, which picks up as Poplar begins to return to normal life in the wake of the devastating train crash of the previous season's finale. 

Music Videos That Shaped the 80s

Friday, December 30 at 10:00 pm

Travel back to the decade when the music video went mainstream and revisit some of the most influential, from the perspective of the artists and directors who produced them in this nostalgic special that's perfect for the end of the year. 

The special is available to stream now by WTTW Passport members.