What's new and/or interesting on TV this week.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Tue; 8PM-10:30PM; ABC Family) - We've fallen back in love with Harry Potter recently. It's very comforting escapist entertainment. Watching these movies could actually be a fun new holiday tradition! This week we've got the quite excellent film adaptation of the third of the popular children's novels. Of course, the fourth one, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is possibly even better, and if you get HBO, you can catch that one at various times this week, including, coincidentally, Tuesday at 8PM. (Link)

Modern Marvels (Wed; 9PM-10PM; History Channel) - This week the fun History Channel show takes a look at Christmas technology, focusing mainly on stuff in NYC, like the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, the Macy's window displays, and the UNICEF snowflake on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. (Link)

A Home for the Holidays (Fri; 8PM-9PM; CBS) - The eighth annual version of this special event to raise awareness of adoption features performances by Rod Stewart and Five for Fighting, among others, and has appearances by Cedric the Entertainer, Angie Harmon, Rene Russo, and Jeri Ryan. (Link)

Monk (Fri; 9PM-10PM; USA) - We don't watch this show regularly, but whenever we catch bits of it, we always feel like maybe we should start. They always have such cool ideas - like this special black and white episode, which we bet is going to be in the film noir style. The story is described as a complex case that begins when Monk meets with a mysterious millionaire that everybody thought was dead. (Link)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Sun; 7:30PM-8PM; TBS) - This is not the horrendous travesty of a film they made some years ago, it's the absolutely perfect, pure genius original TV adaptation of Dr. Seuss's classic holiday story, that combines incredibly fantastic visuals by Chuck Jones, wonderful narration by Boris Karloff, and the unforgettable songs of Thurl Ravenscroft to create what is very possibly the greatest Christmas special of all time. And what better time to watch it than Christmas Eve night? (It's followed, btw, by the start of TBS's A Christmas Story marathon.) (Link)

It's a Wonderful Life (Sun; 8PM-11PM; NBC) - The Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart classic is a little cheesy and old-fashioned, but it's also really a fantastic movie - funny and genuinely moving with great dialogue and acting. Many people watch it once a year around this time, and that seems like a fine tradition to us. "Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls!" (Link)

Image Credit: Flickr user rochelle, et. al.