FULL LOOK at the 2022 ABC Holiday Programs

Believe it or not, the holidays are right around the corner, folks!

Holidays in Disneyland

We don’t know about you, but we’re pretty excited! Disney is even already putting up decorations, the first Christmas party is happening soon, and we’ve also seen a bunch of holiday merchandise! But, one of the best parts of the holiday season is definitely cozying up on your couch and watching holiday specials and movies, right?! We think so! And, you can go ahead and start planning your watch, because a BIG holiday TV schedule was just released!

ABC has announced their holiday programming lineup for this year, and there are some exciting things coming! We’ll go over some of the biggest highlights first, then show you the full schedule.

There will be a special called Finding Harmony which will be “an uplifting story featuring EGOT winner John Legend and David Brown, founder of the Columbus-based Harmony Project in Ohio.” This will premiere on December 14th as well, and shows John Legend calling upon David to bring his musical magic to his hometown of Springfield, Ohio.

Christmas in Disney World 2021

We’re also getting a NEW stop-motion holiday special called Mickey Saves Christmas this year! Premiering on November 27th, this special will follow Mickey, Minnie, and friends as they try to celebrate the perfect Christmas at their snowy cabin. But, some mayhem ensues when Pluto causes Santa Claus to lose ALL of the presents on his sleigh! Everyone will have to visit the North Pole to help save Christmas!

Mickey Santa Figurine

Another very exciting thing happening is a new Love Actually special! Premiering on November 29th, Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer/ABC News Special will mark the 20th anniversary of the making of the holiday classic.

If you’re looking for some holiday magic, The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration will be all new on November 27th! This is the 7th year for this special, but it will feature all-new musical performances, some of which are sure to be from the Disney Parks (we’ll let you know if we see any filming soon!).

©Disney || 2020 Magical Holiday Celebration

Some things making a return this year include CMA Country Christmas and a new season of The Great Christmas Light Fight. This year, we’ll also see the broadcast premiere of Frozen II, and we’ll get a viewing of Home Alone on Christmas Eve!

©Disney

Finally, on New Year’s Eve this year you can tune into Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2023. This year will be special because Disney will be kicking off its 100 Years of Wonder celebration during the program!

(Note that The Backstreet Boys were originally going to be part of the ABC Holiday Special, but Variety reports that “A Very Backstreet Holiday” was pulled from the program.)

Now, let’s take a look at the full schedule so you can start planning your cozy nights in around the fireplace! Check it out below:

Wednesday, November 16th

8-8:30PM — The Conners — Thanksgiving episode
8:30-9PM — The Goldbergs — Thanksgiving episode
9:31-10PM — Home Economics — Thanksgiving episode

Tuesday, November 22nd

10-11PM — The Rookie: Feds — Thanksgiving episode

Sunday, November 27th

7-7:30PM — Mickey Saves Christmas (new)
7:30-8PM — Olaf’s Frozen Adventure
8-10PM — The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration (new)

©Disney || 2020 Magical Holiday Celebration

Monday, November 28th

8-10PM — The Great Christmas Light Fight (season premiere)

Tuesday, November 29th

8-9PM — Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer/ABC News Special (new)

Thursday, December 1st

8-9PM — Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town
9-10:01PM — CMA Country Christmas (new)

Monday, December 5th

8-10PM — The Great Christmas Light Fight (new)

©ABC

Tuesday, December 6th

8-9PM — Celebrity Wheel of Fortune — holiday episode
9-10PM — Press Your Luck — holiday episode
10-11PM — The $100,000 Pyramid — holiday episode

Wednesday, December 7th

8-8:30PM — The Conners — holiday episode
8:30-9PM — The Goldbergs — holiday episode
9-9:31PM — Abbott Elementary — holiday episode
9:31-10PM — Home Economics — holiday episode

Thursday, December 8th

8-10:01PM — The Wonderful World of Disney: Frozen II (broadcast premiere)

Disney Enchantment during the holidays in 2021

Monday, December 12th

8-10PM — The Great Christmas Light Fight (season finale)

Tuesday, December 13th

8-8:30PM — Mickey Saves Christmas
8:30-9PM — Olaf’s Frozen Adventure
9-9:30PM — Disney Prep & Landing
9:30-10PM — Disney Prep & Landing 2: Naughty Vs. Nice

Wednesday, December 14th

10-11PM — Finding Harmony (new)

Tuesday, December 20th

8-9PM — Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town
9-9:30PM — Toy Story That Time Forgot
9:30-10PM — Shrek the Halls

©Disney

Saturday, December 24th

8-10PM — The Wonderful World of Disney: Home Alone

Sunday, December 25th

10AM-12PM ET/7-9AM PT — Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade (new)

Monday, December 26th

9-11PM — The Year: 2022 (new)

Saturday, December 31st

8-10PM — Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2023 (new)
10-10:30PM — Local Programming
10:30PM-2:13AM — Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2023 (new)

There you have it — the FULL lineup of what will be on ABC this holiday season!

For more on Disney and the holidays, check out the FIRST holiday decorations in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the trailer for Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special, and where you can ride a sleigh in Disney World this holiday season.

Stay tuned to DFB for more Disney holiday news and updates!

6 Ways You’re Doing Christmas WRONG in Disney World

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