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Holiday TV Listings

Holiday TV: Find out when your favorite specials are airing

Holiday Calendar

Upcoming holiday events, concerts and shows in the Milwaukee area

2009 Giving Guide

The organizations on this list are seeking donations to carry out their missions. Some needs are holiday-related, but other needs are year-round. You can view this list in several formats:

Weekly Calendar

Browse our weekly entertainment calendar listings, posted every Thursday evening.
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E-mail Newsletter

Ready for the weekend? The Journal Sentinel's Kathy Flanigan offers some options for what to do around Milwaukee and Wisconsin in this weekly newsletter.

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Columnists

Stanley A. Miller II
Virtual pen and paper

Duane Dudek on TV/Radio
Let it snow: Coverage is opportunity, challenge for local TV

Duane Dudek on Film
'Invictus' rousing in its optimism

Joanne Weintraub
Shutter up photo frenzy

Helen Pauly
Former secretary of state a big draw at Medical College dinner

Entertainment Blogs

Art City
Marc Tasman talks about his decade-long self portraiture project

Gear, Games and Life Online
Grinch invades the iPhone

Dudek on Film
Indie movie cliches (5)

On Stage

THIS WEEK: The Blow Pops; Natalie MacMaster; Lisa Lampanelli; Manhattan Transfer; Lewis Black; Emilie Autumn; Hubert Sumlin & The Nighthawks; Cheap Trick; Linda Eder

Concert Update

See all of this week's concert news and announcements

Rhett Miller will play at Shank Hall March 5.

Celebrity Spotting

Have you seen or met a celebrity? Got a photo to prove it? Share it in our reader photo gallery.
View gallery | Submit photo

Greg Francis - Colgate, WI

Your Nightlife Photos

Share photos of you and your friends out on the town in Milwaukee.
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Scott Baitinger - Milwaukee, WI, WI

Regular Features

Danny Gokey

Special Section: Get all the information on Milwaukee's Danny Gokey and his top-three finish on American Idol.

Featured Entertainment Stories

Trip to lights fantastic

The Enchantment in the Park holiday light spectacle in West Bend is the fruit of hundreds of hours of careful computer programming and networking in addition to stringing up all the lights.

Scoping out sea life

Discovery World exhibit lets visitors view aquatic life

New labs open Tuesday in the Reiman Aquarium underneath Discovery World, where visitors can explore what life is like for humans, fish and other aquatic life under the sea. Well, under the lake.

Review

Trans-Siberian Orchestra sets new bar for holiday lights

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra brought all the necessary trappings of any Christmas celebration to the Bradley Center on Sunday. The earlier of the day's two shows had recognizable melodies, stories of hope and, of course, plenty of pyrotechnic explosions.

Say hallelujah, 'Messiah' is back for holiday

Although "Messiah" shares a spot with Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" as staples of the holiday performing arts repertoire, composer George Frideric Handel never intended it to be a Christmas piece.

Photo Gallery

'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever'

For the seventh time, First Stage Children's Theater is performing "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." With 33 children in each of its two casts, plus adult actors and the many helpers required to get young performers in and out of costumes and on and off the stage, the show is one of the biggest traffic management operations this side of Santa's workshop.

Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit coming alive

Curators and artists are re-creating part of the Middle East in the halls of the Milwaukee Public Museum for the "Dead Sea Scrolls and The Bible," the largest temporary exhibit ever produced by the museum staff.

Video: The making of the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit

Even pooches need presents

Reindeer aren't the only animals deserving Santa's attention. Family pets long to be included on holiday gift lists, too. Here are some fun ideas to make your pets' holidays happier.

Review

Wolf Hal

Forget the other Boleyn girl, the man for all seasons and television's endless Tudor soap opera.

Escapades on ice

Ice skating season has glided in again, and even if you don't know a flying camel from a Zamboni, there's something enticing about the rinks. We've prepared a list of area public skating areas, and information on what makes each rink special.

Times to host indie mini-film festival

An indie distribution company has been taking movies that either lacked a distributor or were orphaned by their original studio and putting them on tour in mini-film festivals around the country. A trio of such films are showing Sunday and Monday at the Times Cinema.

The Damned United ***

'United' a keen look at human frailty

Maybe 20 people reading this know or care to know anything about the British football team Leeds United. And that number is probably inflated. But that is the beauty of "The Damned United." You won't care that you don't know.

Cedarburg exhibit features seasoned and debut artists

A new exhibit beginning Sunday in Cedarburg highlights works by two artists at opposite ends of their careers.

The Princess and the Frog *** 1/2

Modern, romantic 'Princess' will charm

Disney’s first hand-drawn animated feature in five years -- and its first “princess” movie featuring an African-American heroine -- does justice to both with a wonderfully rendered story, gorgeous animation and a strong, modern, romantic central character.

The Slammin' Salmon * 1/2

'Slammin' Salmon' gives off rotten stench

Never ask a sushi snob about American palates. And don't get them started on salmon. "The Slammin' Salmon," from "Beerfest" creators Broken Lizard, is a Hollywood California-roll gone bad, with super-sized stereotypes, underdone pratfalls and tasteless one-liners.

Film fest at Oriental features found footage

They've been finding stuff for five years, and, fortunately, they're still sharing it. The Found Footage Festival returns to Milwaukee on Thursday with an all-new fifth anniversary show at the Oriental Theatre.

Rivoli offers its dose of Christmas cheer

The Rivoli Theatre, Cedarburg's community-powered discount movie house, really has that Christmas spirit.

'Nutcracker' for the ages

The sparkling story, music and dance of "The Nutcracker" are a staple of holiday traditions and of dance companies around the world. But for some dancers who will appear in the Milwaukee Ballet's 17-day run of the holiday classic this year, "The Nutcracker" is practically part of their DNA.

Panorama

Mitchell Park Conservatory Domes Floral Show, 'A Children's Holiday'

Colorful lights illuminate the Mitchell Park Domes’ Floral Show Dome displaying "A Children’s Holiday." This photo is one of five photographs electronically stitched together to form a 360-degree panoramic.

Involving Time Warner subscribers in dispute is bogus

I am of the skeptical opinion that whenever a company says it wants to do you a favor, it will end up costing you money. Which is why Time Warner Cable's recent marketing campaign.

City panel backs fee for police, fire services at Summerfest

The city and Summerfest have reached a deal on a lease extension that clears the way for large-scale renovations on the lakefront grounds and requires the nonprofit festival corporation to make six-figure payments for police and fire services.

Review

Prometheus Trio handles rare, familiar

The familiar and the unfamiliar made for a fascinating program of piano trios Monday evening in the hands of the Prometheus Trio.

Toy soldiers, carols and more

These area performances sure to ring in the season

While the Milwaukee Ballet's "Nutcracker" is the final holiday mega-spectacle to open before Christmas, local audiences have plenty of choices in quality seasonal entertainment, and a few countercultural options, too.

Art City

His message may be obscure, but Leplae's work fascinates

A recent artist statement by Xav Leplae begins with two strings of symbols otherwise known as dingbats, little cubes and upside-down triangles often used as decorative spacers by typesetters.

Review

'Scrooge in Rouge' is a hoot

Stasch Zielinski is going to spend all winter wishing he'd never taken that well-deserved vacation. Good as he and "A Cudahy Caroler Christmas" are, In Tandem Theatre's holiday show this year is even better.

Review

MSO Pops' holiday concert dashes all over the place

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Pops celebrated the holidays Friday evening with an unwieldy mix of sacred, secular and outright silly holiday fare.

Big cheese

After aging 15 years, America’s oldest cheddar goes on sale

What may be the oldest and priciest cheddar in America was released Friday by a world champion Mineral Point cheese maker, just in time for holiday entertaining and gift-giving. It's the single malt scotch of cheddar.

Gift helps MSO strike up a holiday tune

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra has received a $500,000 endowment gift that will help underwrite an annual tour of holiday music to people, especially the elderly, who are not able to attend MSO concerts.

TV movies offer plenty of holiday schmaltz

Everyone has a dirty little secret. You might love "Hoarders." Maybe you're a sucker for "Wife Swap." Perhaps you can't prepare dinner without keeping one eye on "Family Feud." Who am I to judge? This time of year indulges my favorite guilty pleasure: made-for-television holiday movies.

Frosty flakes on the horizon

It's b-a-a-a-a-ck. Whether you want it or not. The return of snow means there's some stuff you can do that you haven't been able to do since last winter - if you can find it.

Interactive Quiz: How much do you know about the cold, fluffy stuff?

Review

Weezer rocks with its inner juvenile

A middle-aged man can look awfully silly performing power pop. Unless he ignores the contradictions and just has a good time, the way Rivers Cuomo did when he and his band Weezer played the Eagles Ballroom Thursday night.