Tonight in HD: November 20

SoHo Highlight: Dexter (Sky 10, 8.30, 5.1) Dexter is caught up in a very personal case that awakens the needs of his Dark Passenger; Debra feels overwhelmed by her new Lieutenant duties. Can the starting return of an old character overcome what the AV Club, with some justification, asked: “How soon is too soon to declare this the worst season of Dexter yet? To call it now seems really premature, seeing as how Just Let Go is only the halfway mark … And yet, the temptation to call season six an outright disaster is really tempting.” Concurred Unreality magazine: “The further we get into this season of Dexter, the more I think it might be my least favourite of the series so far. Even at its worst, Dexter is still interesting and better than almost every show on TV, but this season just does not live up to the others.” Judging from the responses to Stuff blogger Chris Philpott’s recent column on the same dilemma, many Kiwi fans are not yet ready to let go of it. ✭✭✭

Home Alone (TV3, 7.30)

Special: Prep & Landing 2 (TV2, 7.00) With Christmas only a few days away, Mrs Claus and Magee enlist Wayne and Lanny on a secret mission to retrieve a mysterious item hidden deep within the office of Santa Claus. With the voices of Dave Foley, Sarah Chalke and Betty White. ✭✭✭

Modern Family (TV3, 7.00, 5.1, R) Claire finds herself becoming the overbearing mum when she finds out Alex likes a boy, and Haley’s idea of sisterly advice is not helping matters. ✭✭✭✭

Movie: Home Alone (TV3, 7.30, 5.1, R) This Holy Cow! blockbuster stars Macaulay Culkin as a nine-year-old who’s inadvertently left home alone when his family goes abroad for Christmas. Therein ensues enough juvenile hi-jinks and sentimental twaddle to pad the John Hughes (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Planes, Trains & Automobiles)-scripted comedy’s length before it climaxes in one of the screen’s funniest slapstick sequences. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern co-star; Chris Columbus, who helmed the first two Harry Potter adventures, directs. (1990) ✭✭

The Celebrity Apprentice (TV2, 8.30) Trump says goodbye to two of the celebrities in a double-elimination round. ✭✭

Fringe (TV2, 2.20, R) A highway construction worker vanishes when he is mysteriously drawn into an underground tunnel filled with human remains; back in the lab, Walter is attempting to simulate travel between realities on frogs. ✭✭✭✭