Even in quieter months, the Public Broadcast Service offers viewers quality original programming from around the world for free. This December, PBS’ gifts are coming early with a big concert event, an unconventional Sherlock Holmes documentary, and the annual Call the Midwife holiday special.
There’s still plenty of time to catch the other new shows on PBS in December. You can even go back and revisit the great PBS shows to watch in November as well. Here are our three recommendations.
When you’re done here, check out the best new movies to stream this week, as well as the best shows on Netflix, the best shows on Hulu, the best new shows on Max, the best shows on Amazon Prime Video, and the best shows on Disney+.
Some British dramas require a year or two off between seasons. However, Call the Midwife has been going like clockwork for 12 years, with a Christmas episode every season. This year will be an exception because there won’t be a single Christmas episode. Instead, we’re getting two episodes that chronicle Christmas 1969 for the ladies at Nonnatus House.
These midwives are enjoying the holiday cheer in Poplar, but not everything is perfect for the Christmas season. An escaped prisoner may be on the loose, and rising cases of influenza among the poor families serviced by Nonnatus House may put the midwives’ health at risk as well.
Watch Call the Midwife Holiday Special 2024 on PBS on December 25.
Even if you don’t love mysteries or detective fiction, almost everyone knows who Sherlock Holmes is. He’s the most famous literary detective of all time. But did you know that the man who created Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, came to hate his iconic character? It’s true. Doyle wanted to move on to other things, but Sherlock’s popularity meant that the public always wanted more. Even killing off Sherlock didn’t help, and Doyle was forced to bring him back.
Lucy Worsley is a self-described lifelong Sherlock Holmes fan, and in this documentary special, Lucy Worsley’s Holmes vs. Doyle, she dives into the unusually antagonistic relationship between the author and his creation.
Watch Lucy Worsley’s Holmes vs. Doyle on PBS.
Folk punk may sound like a music genre that doesn’t exist, but the Violent Femmes have been living up to that description for the last four decades. The group’s first album, which was also called Violent Femmes, debuted in 1983 and helped establish the band.
Now, the group is celebrating their 40th anniversary with this special concert event that features the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra as the Violent Femmes’ “back-up band.” The combination of symphonic instruments and the Violent Femmes’ signature tunes sounds very intriguing, so there may be something here for both old and new fans alike.
Watch Violet Femmes 40th Anniversary with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra on PBS.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.