TV stations offer special programs for Christmas
JAKARTA (JP): Private television channels have prepared special shows for viewers stretching out at home over the Christmas and New Year period.
Christmas specials start today with The Christmas Wife at 7:30. It is about a grandfather who seeks a holiday companion through an agency.
Entertainment is provided for all tastes -- special cartoons and variety shows, a string of movies for fans of Indian films, actions, comedies, and Hollywood classics.
Also today, HBO offers the The Fisher King starring Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges at 3 p.m. Jakarta time. It will be repeated Friday.
On Dec. 24, Ben Kingsley stars in Joseph on SCTV at 9:30 p.m., followed by Jacqueline Bisset in Rich and Famous at midnight.
TPI is showing the Snow White cartoon on Dec. 24 at 5:30 p.m.
On Christmas Day mass will be aired live from the Vatican at 6 a.m. and a local mass from Central Java at 3 p.m. by Indosiar..
Christmas Day films include Yes Virginia: There is a Santa Claus, on ANteve at 10:30 p.m. RCTI will show musical drama Natal Dipersimpangan at 3 p.m.
On the same day Twilite Orchestra performs its Simponi Desember on Indosiar at 9:30 p.m. Classics will include Johan Strauss Jr.'s Voices of Spring and The Blue Danube. Singers will include soprano Aning Katamsi, who will perform an aria from the opera Tosca by Giacomo Puccini.
Mr. Bean also greets fans on Christmas Day on SCTV at 7:30 p.m.
On Dec. 26 comedian Lucille Ball stars in Mame at midnight on SCTV. The next day, SCTV's midnight show is Bonnie and Clyde.
Dennis the Menace is on Dec. 30 at 9 a.m. on RCTI.
Mini series scheduled over the holiday period includes Gulliver's Travels from Dec. 30 to Jan. 2, on RCTI at 11 a.m.
A four-hour wayang golek show begins just after midnight on New Year's Eve, on TPI.
President Soeharto's New Year's Eve address at 7:30, inescapable on all channels. This is the time to phone your friends.
On a less serious note, find out about your fortunes from popular soothsayer Putri Wong Kam Fu, who will appear on ANteve on New Year's eve at 9:30 a.m.
On more specific issues, cultural critic Emha Ainun Nadjib and political observer Sayidiman Suryohadiprodjo, a retired army general, will share their thoughts on ANteve.
On New Year's Eve, HBO viewers can enjoy Junior at 11 p.m. starring a "pregnant" Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But a live view on what New Year's Eve means to many Jakartans -- a night of ecstatic dancing with their idols -- can be seen on TPI at 8 p.m., when King of dangdut music Rhoma Irama and other stars perform at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. (anr)