About Christmas TV History

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Christmas TV Party 2015: Susan

Christmas TV Party 2015: Susan

1) What Christmas program/movie have you seen more times than any other?
The Year without A Santa Claus

Brothers Heat Miser and Snow Miser from 1974's The Year Without a Santa Claus.

2) What is your favorite musical Christmas TV special, variety performance, or holiday song in a movie?
Judy Garland singing "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" from Meet Me in St. Louis. If that's not a holiday movie, then I'll go with The Heat Miser song from Year without A Santa Claus.

from the scene in the 1944 movie Meet Me in St. Louis.
3) What's your favorite TV or movie adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol?
Muppet's Christmas Carol, love that!



4) What do you think is the worst Christmas program/movie--or your least favorite, the most disappointing or most overrated?
The horrible animation in The Night Before Christmas it's truly atrocious! A couple of catchy songs though.

5) If you were asked to give advice to a TV network executive in charge of holiday programming, what would you suggest?
No more A Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life variations.  Just new, fun, light Christmas stories.

13 comments:

  1. A Christmas without any more A Christmas Carols. That would be interesting!

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  2. I'd say 'Meet Me In St. Louis' has become a "Christmas movie" since it seems to be on TCM every December.

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  3. The original lyrics to "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" were kind of ironic and fatalistic: "Have yourself a merry little Christmas / It may be your last/ Next year we may all be living in the past / Have yourself a merry little Christmas / Pop that champagne cork / Next year we may all be living in New York." Such a beautiful tune, though...

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  4. Susan and I are of like minds. I've always thought of "Meet Me in St. Louis" as a holiday movie, particularly for the beautiful Christmas dance they go to. I also agree on no more variations on "A Christmas Carol" and "It's a Wonderful Life."

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  5. I feel like we are kindred spirits, Susan... love your answers!!!

    I almost chose Judy Garland singing "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" from Meet Me in St. Louis, too! It's absolutely one of my favorites, as well! Plus, I love when she sings "Merry Christmas" in 'In The Good Ole Summertime'. She's the best!

    Also, I don't like The Night Before Christmas and I so agree no more remakes of "A Christmas Carol" and "It's a Wonderful Life"... they can never top the originals!

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    1. The way that Judy Garland sings that song, with so much pathos about leaving St. Louis and her love, it's just so touching, as well as being a beautiful song.
      I LOVE in the Good Old Summertime, I just watched it yesterday actually. It's one of my favorites, apparently they wanted June Allyson for the part but she was busy with another project, fortunately for us as Judy is perfect in the role.
      Susan

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  6. Do you mean "Twas the Night Before Christmas" the '70s animated show with the little mice where one writes a mean letter to Santa and then he skips the town? I remember watching this annually as a child of the '80s, but when watching it with my kids I, too, realized how awful it is.

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    1. Yes, I'm so sorry that I got the name wrong! It was just so awful looking. The songs were fantastic but the animation was the worst of all the Christmas shows I've ever seen.
      Susan

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  7. I agree, no more adaptions of A Christmas Carol as an easy way out. Don't get me wrong, I love most adaptions, but would love to see more original holiday stories! Also, couldn't figure out what version of The Night Before Christmas you were referring to...did you mean The Nightmare Before Christmas?

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    1. Hi Jakki, I'm sorry I got the name wrong! It was Twas the Night Before Christmas. Can't believe I couldn't remember that name! It was a cartoon from the "70's with some great songs some sung by Joel Grey but the animation was just awful! The worst drawing of Santa I've ever seen.
      Here's a link to one of the songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYqdeN8_ALQ
      It's really catchy and Joel Grey is great.

      Susan

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    2. The animation in TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS is by Paul Coker, who also worked at MAD magazine. Several of the Rankin-Bass specials that are animated or have animation are done by Coker. Santa does look really weird, but then if you look up pictures of Santa Claus from the 1800s, he looks pretty strange, too. :-) I love the songs in that special; they are lovely enough that I just ignore the animation. My favorite is "Even a Miracle Needs a Hand."

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  8. Interesting answers. Love "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" sung by Garland. So beautiful.

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  9. Whether "Meet Me in St. Louis" is a Christmas movie or not, it sure hits the spot during the holidays. Garland shines during her performance of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Great answer!

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