About Christmas TV History

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Christmas TV Party 2015: J.A. Morris

Christmas TV Party 2015: J.A. Morris at Holiday Film Reviews

1. What Christmas program/movie have you seen more times than any other?
3-way tie, I've seen Rudolph, A Charlie Brown and How The Grinch Stole Christmas every Christmas for as long as I can remember.

2. What is your favorite musical Christmas TV special, variety performance, or holiday song in a movie?
It's not exactly a variety show, but I would have to go with Darlene Love's annual performance of 'Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)' on The Late Show With David Letterman.  Love, with excellent seasonal accompaniment by Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra brought out all stops every Christmas season for most of the last 30 years.  Letterman's show is gone, but thankfully it's easy to find Love's Christmas performances online.  Honorable mention: "Heat Miser/Snow Miser" from A Year Without A Santa Claus.

Love on Letterman in 2014.

3. What's your favorite TV or movie adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol?
It's more parody than adaptation, but I love Blackadder's Christmas Carol and I quote it year-round.  


 Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988) starring Rowan Atkinson.

4. What do you think is the worst Christmas program/movie--or your least favorite, the most disappointing or most overrated?
I grew up reading Marvel Comics and I'm a fan of the 1990s X-Men animated series.  But I was disappointed in their holiday episode "Have Yourself A Morlock Little Christmas" the only time I watched it.  Maybe I need to give it a second chance. 

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 networks to give us more Christmas episodes of action-adventure and superhero TV series.  For example: How about an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. where Hydra plots an evil scheme to "ruin Christmas" and only S.H.I.E.L.D. can stop them!

7 comments:

  1. Definitely agree that the Letterman/Love Christmas experience was amazing.

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  2. Fun answers! I would have loved a Christmas episode of my favorite show, Friday the 13th: The Series, so I can agree with more Christmas episodes of action-oriented shows!

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  3. Guess many of us have the bond of growing up with good ole Charlie Brown and The Grinch... such sweet memories!

    I also think the Heat Miser/Snow Miser song is so fun to sing-along with!

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  4. I love the Agents of SHIELD idea! But I don't think it would ever get made in this day and age.

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  5. Thanks to all of you for the nice comments, and thank you Joanna for organizing this month-long event!

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  6. WHAT are we going to do without Darlene Love's annual performance on the Letterman show? Will it still feel like Christmas? I guess we'll have to wait and see ;) Thanks for participating J.A.

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    1. *We* shall be watching some burnt to DVD from video performances of Darlene Love, I suspect. ;-)

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