Here’s the latest dispatch from the crossroads of faith and media:

A Christmas Carol. Christmas episodes used to be a staple of network sitcoms but seem much less common these days. Since Carol Second Act is pretty much an ode the art of the traditional sitcom, it’s nice to see the show which stars Patricia Heaton (of the true sitcom classic Everybody Loves Raymond) as Dr. Carol Kenney, an AARP-eligible intern at Loyola Memorial Hospital – a sort of flipside of Doogie Howser, MD (another classic sitcom).  Anyway, in the Christmas episode, Carol is planning a Christmas celebration while her adult daughter Jenny (Ashley Tisdale) plans a secret first date with Dr. Daniel Kutcher (Jean-Luc Bilodeau), an egotistical-but-idealistic young physician who is part of Carol’s intern group.

The Christmas episode of Carol’s Second Act airs tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 12) at 9:30 PM ET. It’s a fine, promising show and part of a sitcom bloc that includes two current classics (Young Sheldon at 8:00 PM ET and Mom at 9:00 PM ET) and one clinker (The Unicorn at 8:30 PM ET). BTW, regarding that 8:30 PM slot. CBS would do well to move the excellent Bob Hearts Abishola into the time period.  That would give CBS a solid two-hour bloc of funny, heartfelt sitcoms. Just a thought.