1) What Christmas program/movie have you seen more times than any other?
Probably
A Christmas Story, because I always tune in and let it run in the
background during the 24-hour marathon. Although, I suppose it depends
on how you count what constitutes a viewing. A Charlie Brown Christmas
is up there too in terms of viewings.
2) What is your favorite musical Christmas TV special, variety performance, or holiday song in a movie?
I
like the song "Christmas Dream" by Perry Como (written by Andrew Lloyd
Webber and Tim Rice!) from the movie The Odessa File. It has an
old-world sort of sound that reminds me of my childhood. I wouldn't have
discovered this song were not for Joanna Wilson, who shared it and the
Odessa File with me! The movie takes place at Christmas, but it's a
thriller starring Jon Voight as a journalist tracking down Nazi war
criminals.
3) What's your favorite TV or movie adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol?
I like The Odd Couple episode "Scrooge Gets and Oscar." Oscar makes a hilarious Scrooge.
4) What do you think is the worst Christmas program/movie--or your least favorite, the most disappointing or most overrated?
It's
difficult to choose the worst. If something is really bad, I have a
tendency to like it because it's so bad. For instance, I think the
Christmas episode of Knight Rider is really bad. But I love it, because
it's awful. So for something to be the worst in my eyes, it would mean
that I wouldn't even be interested in tuning in. Many of the reality
shows that do Christmas episodes are unwatchable in my opinion--like the
Bam Margera / Jackass stuff. I'd say, for me, that constitutes the
worst.
5) If you were asked to give advice to a TV network executive in charge of holiday programming, what would you suggest?
5) If you were asked to give advice to a TV network executive in charge of holiday programming, what would you suggest?
I'd
like to see a block of programming, or a marathon, that's made up of
adaptations of literary Christmas stories, like O. Henry Christmas
stories (Red Skelton did the Cop and the Anthem--there are versions of
Gift of the Magi out there), Junkie's Christmas by William Burroughs, A
Christmas Carol (of course), Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory, Dylan
Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales, the TV adaptation of Arthur C.
Clarke's The Star, and others. That'd be fun and pretty cool, I think.
Cool answers. Sounds like that would make for an interesting marathon!
ReplyDeleteTwo great O Henry adaptations are A Pink Christmas, a take on the Cop and the Anthem with The Pink Panther and Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas has a lovely retelling of The Gift of the Magi.
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming that Odd Couple episode is on one of those Christmas sitcom episode compilations, but I don't remember it at all!?
All good answers, more literary adaptations would be a great addition to the Holiday season. I read 'Dancing Dan's Christmas' by Damon Runyon every December, that's another I'd recommended for a literary Christmas marathon.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to go wrong with CHRISTMAS STORY (even with TBS trying to ruin it). I forgot about THE ODD COUPLE episode, but that's a nice pick, too!
ReplyDeleteYes--glad to see The Odd Couple Christmas episode get a mention. That episode is such a classic. I remember TV Land used to air marathons of similarly themed episodes--in the 1990s. Anyway, I'd love to see a block of literary Christmas episodes--what fun!
ReplyDeleteOoh! Great call about the literary adaptaions! The Odd Couple ep is a good one too!
ReplyDeleteOoh! Great call about the literary adaptaions! The Odd Couple ep is a good one too!
ReplyDelete