About Christmas TV History

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Christmas in July 2018: Drew Flowers



Christmas in July 2018: Drew Flowers, Co- Moderator Christmas movies and music

1) Name your favorite Henson's Muppet Christmas program and why.

I am going to go with the Muppets Christmas Carol on this one. I felt Michael Caine does a superb job playing Ebenezer Scrooge and he did it convincingly while being surrounded by singing Muppets you still felt his crudeness and anger that that role requires. I also love that even though it's being told by Muppets they also went and made it a musical as well to give it some extra feel and to an adaption that's been done many times. Most versions have Bob Cratchit working alone but this one gave Bob Cratchit or in this case Kermit the Frog the rats as fellow bookkeepers for lividity to really keep that entertaining for kids as well it just works on all levels for kids and adults with this version of The Muppets Christmas Carol.

2) Which decade produced the bulk of your favorite Christmas entertainment?

This was a tough one for me to decide but I'm going to go with the 1970s. It really had a wide variety of options ranging from the Bob Hope Vietnam Christmas show, John Denver Rocky Mountain Christmas, Bing Crosby's Christmas specials, one of my favorites was The Honeymooners Christmas special where they got the cast back together after many years of not being on screen and who could forget the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special!!



3) Imagine the entertainment behind your ideal Christmas Eve dinner. Name the appetizer, entré, and dessert.

The appetizer would be 1980-Yogi Bear's First Christmas. Great way to start it off with a classic with the best of Hanna-Barbera.  Entre- George C Scott's version of A Christmas Carol.  Dessert-Mr. Krueger's Christmas with Jimmy Stewart.

4) What Christmas episode, special or movie doesn't exist--that you wish did? Feel free to get creative.

I am not sure if this exists or not but I haven't seen it yet but I've always wanted to see a special on the Christmas radio shows that took place for years. I did catch a yule log that aired the Christmas radio shows instead of Christmas carols but I wish there was like a dedicated special on network TV reminiscing the old radio shows from Burns and Allen, Fibber McGee and especially the Lionel Barrymore version of A Christmas Carol.


Rod Serling delivering the closing to the 1960 Christmas episode of The Twilight Zone.

5) If one Christmas movie, special or episode was to be selected for a time capsule to opened in 1,000 years, which title do you think should be included?

I only get 1!!! So many choices to choose from but I'm going to have to go with The Twilight Zone episode title "The Night of the Meek" with Art Carney. Tugs at your heartstrings it's sentimental and moving. It portrays a message that every generation should love for the Christmas season.




9 comments:

  1. Great answers Drew! I think question #4 is going to be my favorite this year--YES! a TV special about the old-time radio shows. That's a brilliant idea. I wonder why it hasn't been done? It should be! Thanks for participating again this year :)

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  2. A great way to start off the Christmas in July celebration. I’m glad to see the old-time radio mentions... there was some great work on those treasures.

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  3. Drew, I love your answer to #4. Would love to see Craig Wichman do this.

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  4. Wonderful answers to kick things off. Caine did do a great job, he definitely didn't phone it in.

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  5. I love #4 also as I like listening to Otr podcats and classic radio xm stations. I would hope ot would include commercials for war bonds, etc ��

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  6. Now I understand the dinner question! Great choices, I especially like the idea of including The Twilight Zone in a time capsule. My father is an amateur archeologist and we had a discussion once about what media we would include in a tomb for future discovery (even if they had a way of playing it. LOL)

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  7. Old time radio is an untapped source of amazing Christmas entertainment. I'm surprised it hasn't caught on recently, with the rise of podcasts and the revival of audio dramas. But there are just hours and hours of original content, free for the taking. You'll find plenty of traditionally Christmassy content, but also Christmas mysteries, sci-fi, comedies, and variety shows. If you're interested in checking out some mysteries, I listed some here: http://christmaspast.media/4-christmas-shows-from-the-golden-age-of-radio/

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  8. Thanks for the Christmassy answers, Drew. I love the mention of Yogi Bear and John Denver Rocky Mountain Christmas. I listen to a lot of OTR at Christmas with the many holiday themed episodes that come to us from Radio's Golden Age.

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