Not sure how this slipped by us for so long, but it's a gem. This skit from last weekend's "Saturday Night Live" has Michael Buble recording a Christmas Duets album with some of today's biggest singing stars (many of those stars were portrayed by host Jimmy Fallon). They're all really hilarious, including the Scotty McCreery bit. Scotty is portrayed by Taran Killam.

A Michael Bublé Christmas (8pm, NBC) - Singer Michael Bublé presides over a holiday variety show featuring Justin Bieber, Kellie Pickler (left), Thalia, Tracy Morgan, Ed Helms, the Puppini Sisters, and Naturally 7.

A Night at the Movies: Merry Christmas! (8pm, Turner Classic Movies) - A look at holiday-themed movies and behind the scenes info and interviews with Chevy Chase, Margaret O'Brien, Chaz Palminteri, Zack Ward, and Brian Henson.

On thin Ice: Into the Arctic (9pm, Animal Planet) - Explorer Bruce Parry examines the lives and cultures of people living above the Arctic Circle in Alaska, Siberia and Greenland, and how they are adapting to a changing world.

New Girl (9pm, Fox) - I'm trying to start a movement to get this show renamed "Schmidt" and the focus of it altered accordingly. Tonight, Schmidt weasels his way into his boss's baby shower to compete with his office female counterpart. This will be way funnier than anything Jess is doing tonight.

Raising Hope (9:30pm, Fox) - Jimmy and his coworker Frank realize they were both bullied by the same guy in high school, but their plot go get revenge on him doesn't work out like they'd hoped.

Sons of Anarchy (10pm, FX) - In the fourth season finale, Jax (Charlie Hunnan, right) must overcome major obstacles to complete the gun deal with the Irish and the cartel.

Covert Affairs (10pm, USA) - In the Season 2 finale, Annie and Danielle's vacation in Stockholm turns dangerous when Danielle is mistaken for a spy, putting her life in jeopardy.

Moonshiners (10pm, Discovery) - The premiere of a new reality series chronicling the adventures of those who illegally distill their own moonshine deep in Appalachia and the local authorities who pursue them. They throw in a little history of the bootleg whiskey tradition from the 1790's through the origins of NASCAR, and the first few episodes feature some clips of Popcorn Sutton (read more about the series). Another episode airs Wednesday night at 10, the regular timeslot for subsequent episodes.

...Wake Community Network thinks I'm a "class act,"  citing a couple of not-so-recent concert reviews as evidence of...something. I'm still not entirely sure what, beyond disapproval. But thanks a heap, and I'd like to thank all the little people who made this possible...
 

Pop singer Michael Buble played Raleigh Friday night as part of his ongoing plot for world domination. Click on through to see how it went, and be sure to check the photo gallery of shots from the show.

Michael Buble plays huge arenas rather than nightclubs these days, but he still remembers the pre-pop-star days when he was on the way up. One show in particular, from a number of years back. The house was packed and full of love...except for one table.

"There was this one table of four guys who would boo every time I finished a song," Buble said in a recent phone interview. "And onstage, I'm half completely insecure and half completely invincible. So these four guys keep booing and I finally say, 'You guys are rude. I'll be down to talk after the show.' I was really upset, completely ready to go scrap with these guys. So I walked over and basically said, 'You guys are [expletives].' 'Why?' 'You were booing every song!' 'We weren't booing,' they said. 'Your drummer, Lou Hoover, is one of our best friends. We were screaming "LOOOOOU!"' So here I was worried and angry and fretting, and it turns out they're friends with Lou. Who's a really hip guy, I don't know if Lou was completely there that night. He'd, um, had a few beers..."

For more, including particulars on Buble's Raleigh show, see the interview in Friday's paper.

Whaddaya know. Last night's "Saturday Night Live" was about as solid as any complete episode I've seen in ages. I believe in my soul that Jon Hamm was working extra hard to make up for the god-awful hosting job by his "Mad Men" co-star January Jones.

Hamm's opening monologue had him reviewing some of the projects from early in his career, from lame teen sitcoms to a QVC stint and even a performance on Def Comedy Jam. The joke being that he pretty much played Don Draper in all those shows, even as he delivered the punchline from a dirty Redd Foxx stand-up bit.

Other favorites had Hamm as Scott Brown, the distractingly hot new Senator from Massachusetts, and Hamm in a commercial with musical guest Michael Bublé hawking their new joint venture, the "Hamm and Bublé" (pronounced bubbly) restaurant.

Check out some of the clips below.