About Christmas TV History

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Christmas in July 2018: Linda M. Young


Christmas in July 2018: Linda M. Young, www.flyingdreams.org

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

I would have to say John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together. We watch that every year. It's always so much fun to watch Miss Piggy get all excited over "Christmas is Coming" (and of course her kvetching about how many lines she has), and I love the way the special goes back and forth between lively numbers and quiet ones. Totally get wistful over "The Peace of Christmas Day." I also like to listen to the soundtrack album which has a few songs that were not in the special, like the "Christmas 1914" number.

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

This is a hard question because my two favorite Christmas movies are The Homecoming and The House Without a Christmas Tree, plus the wonderful movie The Gathering, and all three are from the 1970s, but I would have to say the 1960s, because all the "formative" specials were produced then: Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and The Little Drummer Boy, plus those movies I watched as a child, like The Bishop's Wife (I remembered the "Christmas stocking sermon" even after I had forgotten the film's title) and White Christmas, and the Perry Como and Bing Crosby specials that aired then, programs like Davy and Goliath: Christmas Lost and Found,  plus things like Come to the Stable and Going My Way, which were always shown at Christmastime, plus all the wonderful Lassie Christmas stories (which actually started in 1958).


from 1971's The Homecoming: A Christmas Story

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

Lassie ("Yochim's Christmas") for the appetizer, The Homecoming as entree (although some years it would be The House Without a Christmas Tree), and for dessert A Charlie Brown Christmas (or The Small One if I felt like crying).

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

I wrote it! They never did a Lassie Christmas episode with Jeff! There are four with Timmy, three with Corey Stuart, and one with Bob Erickson--not one with the Miller family, and that's a shame. So I wrote my version of a Lassie and Jeff Christmas and will supply the URL if you are interested.



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?

Wow. In a thousand years, as the world gets more cynical each day? I would go with A Charlie Brown Christmas. Short, sweet, and to the point.


10 comments:

  1. "The Homecoming" and "The House Without a Christmas Tree" are two of my favorites and to me go hand in hand since in my memory (not sure if it really happened) they played right in a row on CBS one December day in the '70's. I never tire of either, though I think my wife thinks, "Again?" when she sees me watching them every year. I usually watch The Homecoming at least twice every Christmas season.

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  2. Definitely share the URL for your Lassie/Jeff Christmas script. I'm sure we'd all love to read it!

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    1. http://fanfiction.lassieweb.org/lassxmas.htm

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  3. Have never heard of The Gathering. Will have to check it out.

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    1. There are several movies with that title, including the pilot film to BABYLON 5 and a horror movie. The one starring Edward Asner and Maureen Stapleton is the one you want. :-)

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  4. Very nice and sentimental choices. I love The House without a Christmas Tree. It does make me go through a box of Kleenex, though.

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  5. Is anyone keeping track of what Muppet show is being mentioned the most?

    Or how many times "A Charlie Brown Christmas" ends up in time capsule?

    Asking for a friend...

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    1. I'll calculate it all at the end and include the info in the recap--is that cool?

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  6. Some unusual (in a good way) references, Linda, as well as some favorites. I love The House Without a Christmas Tree, any Lassie Christmas ep, and Davy and Goliath: Christmas Lost and Found.

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