Netflix Baits Oscar With George Clooney's The Midnight Sky

As Primetimer's Joe Reid recently wrote, Netflix is poised to be the Schitt's Creek of the 93rd Academy Awards, with a record number of the streamer's films among the strong early contenders for Oscar gold, including Da 5 Bloods, Mank, The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Today The Midnight Sky joins that list, as George Clooney's ambitious new sci-fi epic drops on Netflix.

Also today: The Great Christmas Light Fight puts it all on display in its eighth season closer, Amazon drops a new episode of The Expanse, and the The Real Housewives of Orange County are at it again. Here's what's new and noteworthy on TV this Wednesday:

ORIGINAL MOVIE: George Clooney directs and stars in The Midnight Sky as scientist working in the arctic in the aftermath of a catastrophic global event, following his efforts to contact astronauts returning from a mission, and warn them that it's not safe to return to Earth. Watch trailer. Streaming on Netflix

NEW EPISODE: Following last week's drop of Season 5's first three episodes, The Expanse returns with weekly installments beginning today. Streaming on Prime Video

SEASON FINALE: ABC's annual holiday event series The Great Christmas Light Fight closes out its eighth season tonight as celebrity judges Carter Oosterhouse and Tanyia Nayak weigh in on the final displays. Two back-to-back episodes air starting at 9:00 PM ET on ABC

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: When Cake Boss Buddy Valastro impaled his right hand in a freak accident earlier this year, doctors weren't sure whether his hand could be saved. Including footage captured immediately after the incident, the two-hour special Buddy Valastro: Road to Recovery chronicles the multiple surgeries that followed, leading up to his first days back on the job ahead of the holidays. 9:00 PM ET on TLC

MADE FOR TV MOVIE: Brooke Burfitt stars in Christmas at the Castle as a New York perfumer who travels to remote Scotland to licence a rare fragrance, only to find herself in a flowering romance with the stubborn aristocrat who won’t sell the scent. Dan Jeannotte of The Bold Type co-stars.  8:00 PM ET on Lifetime

NEW EPISODE: Misunderstandings and pent-up hostilities came to a boiling point last week, but as the The Real Housewives of Orange County head into the holiday season, we can only hope that cooler heads will prevail. 8:00 PM ET on Bravo

NEW EPISODE: Find out why camels and nativities don't mix and why Santa never goes rock climbing in a special holiday episode of The Misery Index, featuring an epic final round worth $50,000. 10:30 PM ET on TBS

ENCORE PRESENTATION: Narrated by Hugh Bonneville, Silent Night - A Song for the World chronicles the story behind the song, with performances by Kelly Clarkson, David Foster, Katharine McPhee, Josh Groban, John Rhys-Davies, Joss Stone, Randy Jackson, Gavin Rossdale, and more. 8:00 PM ET on The CW

HOLIDAY SPECIAL: Fred Astaire narrates the classic 1970 Rankin/Bass stop motion holiday special Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, in which Santa is young, buff, dating the future Mrs. Claus, and squaring off against Burgermeister Meisterburger. 10:50 PM ET on Freeform

HOLIDAY MOVIE: Tim Allen signs on with Team Santa in The Santa Clause, but fails to read the fine print before he dons the classic red suit. 1:30 PM ET on Freeform

Mike Attebery is Senior Editor at Primetimer and the author of seven mystery thrillers. Follow him on Twitter at @mikeattebery.