Considering it's the Sunday before a major holiday, tonight's a pretty big one for TV. In addition to the Stephen Colbert Christmas special, Fox is pulling out all the stops for a special 24 event, and HBO bids a first-season farewell to a new hit drama.

24's movie, 24: Redemption, has been a long time coming. The show's been off the air seemingly forever, but it takes its first steps back with tonight's two-hour movie. The prequel to the show's upcoming seventh season picks up with Jack Bauer in Africa, battling an existential funk (and a government investigation) in the midst of a fictional country that's about to plunge into civil war. There's a conspiracy, of course, and a new administration in Washington, led by the show's first female president (Cherry Jones). By the end, I hope we'll have a sense of where 24 wants to go in the months ahead.

Meanwhile, I've also been totally captivated by HBO's True Blood, the Southern Gothic tale of vampires out of the closet brought to you by Alan Ball. The series received tepid reviews in the beginning (including from me), but now I don't miss an episode — and I'm not the only one. To read more about the finale and see a preview of both it and 24: Redemption, just read more.

Over the course of this season, True Blood has become HBO's "most popular series since The Sopranos and Sex and the City." What started as a straightforward metaphor of vampires-as-persecuted-minorities has become something bigger, with a murder mystery haunting the town of Bon Temps and its complicated, well-drawn characters. Last week set us up with a big ol' clue about the murderer's identity, and I have my guesses, but I'm impressed enough with this show that I suspect the finale will have more twists than I could possibly predict.

Will you be watching any of these shows? Here are the previews: