'Project Nim': Part-human, part-chimp

Love You, Mean It does feel like a party, but one you weren’t invited to.

Christmas in Washington (7pm Fri, TNT)
Conan O’Brien hosts the annual all-star special at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., attended by Barack and Michelle Obama and other political VIPs. The lineup is notably weak for such an august audience, with performances by lesser lights like Megan Hilty, Demi Lovato, Chris Mann, and Scotty McCreery. The only true “all-star” in the lineup, Diana Ross, is well past her prime.

If worse comes to worst, we can at least count on Ross’ hairdo to be entertaining.

Country Stars at Home (7pm Fri, HGTV)
Country stars live in modest shacks out in the country, right? Where they can “listen to them crickets chirp” and “hear that ol’ hoot owl,” as Dierks Bentley puts it in “Up on the Ridge”?

Well, no. It turns out that they live in lavish big-city apartments and mansions. This special goes into the decidedly immodest luxury homes of LeAnn Rimes, Kellie Pickler, Naomi Judd — and yes, even Dierks Bentley. It’s hard to imagine how Dierks hears “that ol’ hoot owl” in his fancy digs, unless he keeps one in a gilded birdcage.

It’s a Wonderful Life (7pm Mon, NBC)
We’ve all seen the 1946 holiday classic many times, laughing and crying as altruistic George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) fights to save his Building and Loan from the evil banker Mr. Potter.

But after the recent presidential election, in which billionaires mounted a brutal campaign to preserve their advantages, I think we’ll want to tune in again. Suddenly, Mr. Potter is relevant to 2012.