The unholy alliance between dogs and Christmas continues on Hallmark with “Jingle All the Way” (6 p.m.). With stop-motion animation in the tradition of Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass (“Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”), “Jingle” follows a gaggle of tots filled with the spirit of the holidays whose cherubic lives would be complete if only they could find their missing dog, Jingle, stolen by a nefarious pooch-napper with the heart of a Scrooge. Help yourself.

• Meanwhile, two characters popularized by Hallmark Cards get their own holiday special. “Hoops & Yoyo Ruin Christmas” (7 p.m., CBS) is a manic tale about how the two logo-animals almost wreck Santa’s big delivery. Clearly cobbled together on some computer imagery software, “Hoops” looks more two-dimensional and hyper-minimalist than most new CGI fare. And not necessarily in a good way.

• Far busier and more elaborately animated, “The Elf on the Shelf: An Elf’s Story” (7:30 p.m., CBS) looks like it burst from the pages of a children’s picture book. And in many ways it has, since it’s based on a book by Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell about the secret ways that Santa keeps up with his naughty-and-nice list.

• Christmas cartoons take their inspiration from various sources. The 2000 special “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” (7 p.m., CW) is based on a novelty song by Elmo and Patsy from the late 1970s, when the recording industry still churned out novelty songs. Or rather, back when there used to be a recording industry.

• A peculiar little holiday cartoon from 1999 that’s never quite become a classic, but hasn’t entirely gone away, “Olive, the Other Reindeer” (8 p.m., CW) features Drew Barrymore as a substitute reindeer who tries to save the day, or, rather, the night before Christmas. The title is based on a popular mishearing of the lyrics of “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Like I said, cartoons find their inspiration everywhere.

• Viewers looking to spend their post-turkey haze watching something a tad more big budget and widescreen should not miss the marathon of Peter Jackson’s Oscar- winning “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. It runs continuously all weekend, beginning with “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (7 p.m., Encore). It’s followed by “The Two Towers” (10 p.m.) and then “The Return of the King” (1:05 a.m.). The Middle Earth trilogy repeats in that order until 11:45 Sunday night.

Tonight’s other highlights

• Robert Downey Jr. swaggers his way through the 2008 comic book adaptation “Iron Man” (7 p.m., Fox).

• “Great Performances” (8 p.m., PBS, check local listings) presents “Il Postino From LA Opera,” featuring Placido Domingo.

• A body found in a barn is just the first of many mysteries on the new series “Facing Evil With Candice DeLong” (8 p.m., ID).

• Mutiny on (or about) the bounty on “Gold Rush” (8 p.m., Discovery).

• Kane takes a sabbatical from politics on “Boss” (9 p.m., Starz).