DOLLY + XMAS = BOFFO

America loves Dolly Parton even when times are good, so you can imagine the kind of solace the irrepressibly optimistic cultural icon (and legendary singer/songwriter) provides at this moment. Add in the holidays and you've got a seasonal recipe that's hard to beat. This was confirmed by the ratings for A Holly Dolly Christmas, which attracted 6.2m viewers and a 0.9 share in the 25-54 demo for CBS. The night's leading entertainment show, it bested all other programming except the NFL. The accompanying Butterfly/12Tone album, meanwhile (which bowed in the Top 15 in October), is jingling in the Top 5 at iTunes.

Jack Sussman, Doug Morris and teams are anticipating the holidays by frosting some dreidel cookies.