MUMBAI: English general entertainment channel Star World will during the yuletide season next month focus on Christmas as well as on a new show Hollywood Shootouts.
Hollywood Shootouts will air every Sunday from next month at 5 pm. Two of Hollywood's big shots - Variety editor Peter Bart and producer Peter Guber - take on some of moviedom's biggest movers and shakers: top actors, directors, producers and studio executives who make Hollywood what it is today.
The show gets behind the hype and into the minds of some of entertainment's most elusive and fascinating personalities. Names to watch for include Dustin Hoffman, Charlize Theron, Samuel L. Jackson, Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson and Harvey Weinstein.
The two hosts have attracted critical acclaim for complementing each other perfectly as two sides of the Hollywood coin. The A-list guests are willing to discuss their careers with frankness.
All the episodes revolve around the general topic of surviving and thriving in Hollywood. However the varied guests shape each episode according to their individual identities.
Since next month is the time to spread good cheer the channel will air the special Christmas Miracles on 19 December at 8 pm, 20 December at 11 amand on 24 December at 9 am. Celebrities Halle Berry, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Melissa Joan Hart and Richard Karn serve as first-time Santa's helpers by fulfilling the wishes of children and their families, from specially selected letters that were written to Santa and found in the "dead letter" bins at the U.S. Postal Service.
Also showcased are stories by everyday people who have, in some way, been miraculously touched at Christmas time. Some of the soul-warming highlights include: Melissa Joan Hart and the cast of Sabrina The Teenage Witch fulfilling a young girl's Christmas wish to experience what it's like to be an actress. Jennifer Love Hewitt redecorates a young boy's bedroom and presents him with the gift of his dreams - his very first bed.
Halle Berry helps a nine-year-old boy create a better Christmas for a group of less-fortunate children with a surprise visit from Santa Claus. And Richard Karn uses his "Home Improvement" skills to create a yard filled with snow for a young girl who dreamt of having a "white Christmas".
On Christmas Eve 24 December at 1 pm the channel will air a classic film The Man Upstairs. It is about the unlikely relationship that grows between Victoria (Katherine Hepburn) - an elegant, lonely reclusive, and a fast-talking fugitive, Moony Polanski (Ryan O'Neal), who she finds hiding in her attic one day. It is a story about how love and life can be found in the strangest places, Ryan soon finds the family he never had in Victoria, while the older woman's loneliness disappears with his presence.
But idyllic though this life is, it couldn't stay the same with Moony's checkered past haunting them. The climax is played out on Christmas Eve, where the two celebrate over a true-blue Christmas tree, only to find out that more than just presents are waiting for them.
The channel has also lined up a slew of episodes of its comedy shows that have the Christmas theme. These will air on 24 December from 3 pm and on Christmas Day 25 December from 8:30 am onwards. An episode of Scrubs that will air is called My Own Personal Jenus. While his friends don't really feel like celebrating ther birth of Jesus, Turk makes a huge deal about it. But his faith and happiness are gone after a very busy night at the hospital. Dr. Cox has J.D. videotape the birth of the child of one of his friends.
In the episode of Everybody Loves Raymond called The Thought That Count Robert gives Ray a great idea on what to get Debra for Christmas, but he isn't very happy when Ray takes all the credit for it.
An episode of Just Shoot Me is called Christmas? Christmas!. In the episode of Still Standing
Judy is excited to host Christmas in the Miller house for the first time, but her plans are scrapped when Bill's mom insists on having Christmas dinner for the entire family in her tiny apartment. Meanwhile, Linda's good deed for Christmas - making over her helpless co-worker - goes better than planned.
Even The Simpsons get into the holiday spirit. In the episode Tis The Fifteen Season the Simpson family goes Christmas shopping at the Springfield Heights Promenade, where the rich people shop. Homer spends the remaining portion of his share of the money for a gift for himself (a personalised talking astrolabe) and has no money left to buy the family a nice Christmas tree.
Marge and the kids find out what he's spent the money on and are disappointed in him. Spending the night on the couch, Homer watches "Mr. McGrew's Christmas Carol" and the story works its magic on Homer, and Homer wakes with resolve to be good and unselfish.
In the Malcolm In The Middle episode called Christmas Tree Hal and the boys begin selling Christmas trees, but every time that they are about to gain money for actually doing it, something unexpected happens. At the ranch, Francis and Piama are reminded of home when Otto's relatives come to stay at the ranch, while Lois recruits the help of vagabonds in order to find a squirrel that bit Craig, to confirm if it has rabies.
