TNT Airs ‘The Pitt,’ Paul Anka’s Musical Journey, Poignant ‘Empty Rooms,’ Holiday ‘Merchants of Joy’

The Pitt

Great news for those who don’t stream: The best new series of 2025, winner of five Emmys (including for drama series, lead actor Noah Wyle, supporting actress Katherine LaNasa, and guest actor Shawn Hatosy), will be shown in its entirety, three episodes a week, uncut and unedited. The Pitt, which premiered earlier this year on HBO Max, revitalizes the classic medical drama with an immersive, unsparing real-time format reminiscent of 24, with each episode capturing an hour in a grueling 15-hour shift at Pittsburgh’s Trauma Medical Center. Wyle, who came of age as a young doctor in ER, now runs the ER as Dr. Robby Robinavich, juggling multiple crises while battling his own personal traumas. The wonderful LaNasa makes the most of her role as nurturing charge nurse Dana Evans, leading a terrific ensemble including Tracy Ifeachor, Patrick Ball, Fiona Dourif, Taylor Deardon, Isa Briones, Supriya Ganesh, Gerran Howell (as a hapless fourth-year medical student), and Shabana Azeez. They’re all memorable. (See the full review.)

Paul Anka: His Way

He wrote, and often sang, the songs that defined multiple generations, and Paul Anka, at 84, is still here to tell about it. He’s the subject of director John Maggio’s (Mr. Saturday Night) admiring documentary profile, which traces the singer-songwriter’s trajectory from teen idol to hitmaker for icons including Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and Aretha Franklin. (His many credits include the classic theme for Johnny Carson‘s Tonight Show.) Still touring 140 days a year, Anka remains a musical force to be reckoned with.

All the Empty Rooms

As previewed recently on 60 Minutes, a wrenching short documentary follows CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman, who usually specializes in feel-good pieces, with photographer Lou Bopp as they preserve on film the bedrooms once occupied by children who were killed in school shootings. Hartman’s goal: to shake people from their complacency and to remind them that while the world tends to move on quickly from these grieving families, the painful memories linger in these shrines frozen in time, revealing the personalities, hopes, and dreams of so many lives cut way too short.

The Merchants of Joy

“To me, a Christmas tree is a symbol of happiness,” says one of the subjects of director Celia Aniskovich’s illuminating documentary about the Christmas tree trade in New York City, which is dominated by five families. These trees also symbolize a high-stakes business where, as another seller notes, “You have to make all your money in five weeks,” and Santa help them if the weather turns rainy and ugly.

Mad Men

Matthew Weiner‘s dazzling period drama set in the world of Madison Avenue ad execs in the 1960s is available for streaming for the first time in 4K for premium subscribers. Mad Men won the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy for the first four of its seven seasons, launching Jon Hamm into top-tier stardom as the charismatic yet troubled creative director Don Draper, whose selling of the American dream cloaks a more troubled and false reality.

INSIDE MONDAY TV:

• The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular (8/7c, ABC): Dancing With the Stars‘ Derek Hough hosts the 10^th annual holiday musical special, with performances from Disney resorts in Florida, California, and Hawaii. Among those delivering new and traditional Christmas classics: Tony winner Nicole Scherzinger, Gwen Stefani, Trisha Yearwood, Bebe Rexha, Aloe Blacc, and Coco Jones.
• St. Denis Medical (8/7c, NBC): Who knew that the naïve nurse Matt (Mekki Leeper) had a past? It comes back to haunt him in a fun episode of the hospital mockumentary, in which cocky surgeon Bruce (Josh Lawson) discovers he has a rival for the attention of a surgeon (Ariana Madix) he once dated. Followed by The Paper (8:30/7:30c), where Ned (Domhnall Gleeson) and Esmeralda (Sabrina Impacciatore) try to one-up a popular high-school blogger.
• The Neighborhood (8/7c, CBS): Calvin (Cedric the Neighborhood) intervenes when neighbor Dave (Max Greenfield) needs help with his home improvement project. Followed by a holiday-themed episode of the new workplace sitcom DMV (8:30/7:30c).
• Silver Streak (8/7c, Turner Classic Movies): TCM marks the 85th birthday of the late Richard Pryor with a lineup of his films, starting with the 1976 train caper, followed by the 1985 farce Brewster’s Millions (10/9c) opposite John Candy and two comedy concerts: 1982’s Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (11:45/10:45c) and 1983’s Richard Pryor: Here and Now (1:15 am/12:15c).
• Celebrity Weakest Link (9/8c, Fox): Jane Lynch plays Grinch to eight contestants associated with holiday movies. Among those answering trivia questions under the pressure of the host’s withering gaze: Jonathan Bennett, Eric Lloyd, Vivica A. Fox, Luke Macfarlane (whose character on Apple TV‘s Platonic had a disastrous experience on Jeopardy!), Taye Diggs, Rachael Leigh Cook, Reginald VelJohnson, and Melissa Joan Hart.
• The Voice (9/8c, NBC): Let the playoff rounds begin!
• FBI (9/8c, CBS): While Special Agent in Charge Isabel (Alana de la Garza) considers her successor, the team investigates an explosion at a Brooklyn apartment complex. Followed by Watson (10/9c), where the good doctor (Morris Chestnut) and his team are taken hostage by a man so desperate to find a cure for his 9-year-old daughter that he’s strapped a bomb to his chest.
• Rachael Ray’s Meals in Minutes (9/8c, FYI Network): The longtime daytime host shows how to whip up scrumptious meals in no time. Followed by a new season of Cake Toppers (10/9c), with host Buddy Valastro overseeing a competition in which teams swap their cakes after the first round, then see who can top the other by improving on their designs.
• Brilliant Minds (10/9c, NBC): While the team works to get their patient Sam on the transplant list, Dr. Wolf (Zachary Quinto) treats a ballerina recovering from a mysterious illness. And nothing will be the same after secrets spill out at the hospital’s holiday gala.
• My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman (streaming on Netflix): The revered and retired late-night host chats with comedian and actor Adam Sandler, who’s generating Oscar buzz with his co-starring role opposite George Clooney in Netflix’s upcoming Jay Kelly.