Christmas in July 2019: Travis Van Hauen

Christmas in July 2019: Travis Van Hauen

1. What is your favorite Saturday Night Live Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year's sketch?

2. Do you most look forward to watching holiday episodes from series? Specials? Movies? Animation? or, all of it?

Pretty much all of it.


3. What's your favorite soundtrack from a holiday program? (it doesn't have to have been officially released as an album--just what program features your favorite collection of music?)

TV- Our family will sing along to Phineas & Ferb Christmas because we have seen it so many times. Not sure about movies. So many to go from. Christmas Vacation, Polar Express, Elf and Die Hard had excellent music choices. White Christmas is a great soundtrack.


4. What one program are you patiently (or impatiently) waiting for me to review on this blog?

I am not sure what has been covered so I am just gonna throw a few out there.

*Coach: "Christmas of the Van Damned." After finding fellow Van Dams in Minnesota, Luther attends a family reunion/Christmas party where everything goes haywire. Luthor (Jerry Van Dyke) walks through the party and sees a family member (Dick Van Dyke) and they just shrug an walk pass each other as if they don't know each other.

 *Chuck season 2 "Chuck Vs Santa Claus." The Buy More is held hostage. As it becomes apparent the incident is not a random act brought on by holiday madness, and Chuck and the Intersect are at risk, Sarah takes action. (it is a funny tribute to Die Hard)

*Justice League: "Comfort And Joy." I thought this was great episode of introducing the viewers to how some DC characters and how they celebrate the holidays.

*Syfy series Eureka had a episode that transported them through several types of Christmas Special effects in "Do you see what I see?"

Rankin and Bass's Festival of Family Classics - Episode 11: A Christmas Tree ( I saw it as a kid and don't remember seeing it since).

5. What change in Christmas entertainment have you noticed over the years? Do you like the trend? 

Seems Hollywood in the past ten years is going through the Dirty Santa phase. Having a dirty old Santa with filthy humor followed by bad story lines in order to try to get a edgy or young audience. I guess the jokes are humorous but they are definitely not timeless.

Christmas in July 2019: Linda M. Young

Christmas in July 2019: Linda M. Young at flyingdreams.org

1. What is your favorite Saturday Night Live Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year's sketch?

Wow. I actually don't remember any SNL Christmastide sketches at all. I don't watch the recent shows because they are too political, and I don't recall any classic ones. I seem to vaguely recall seeing a SNL sketch with Hugh Laurie when House was on the air, but I didn't like it that much.

My favorite Christmas sketch from a comedy LIKE SNL is "Raging Rudolph" from MAD TV. It's amazingly gross, but at the same time having the juxtaposition of the Rankin-Bass characters in a Godfather-setting is well done and very funny in a grim way.

2. Do you most look forward to watching holiday episodes from series? Specials? Movies? Animation? or, all of it?

That's a hard one to choose, because I just watch them indiscriminately based on how I feel, The Homecoming one night, The Voyagers! Christmas episode and The Waltons "Best Christmas" the next. So I'd say the whole beautiful bunch of them. It's wonderful to revisit with the unique characters like Addie, the Thornton family, Susan Walker, etc., but also nice to see your favorite series characters in a Christmas setting.

3. What's your favorite soundtrack from a holiday program? (it doesn't have to have been officially released as an album--just what program features your favorite collection of music?)

Oh, my gosh, what a hard question. I would have to say A Charlie Brown Christmas, because the jazz soundtrack is unique to specials of the time, and even the incidental music (like the piece of music that's playing when the kids are catching snowflakes on their tongues) is memorable.  "Christmastime is Here" is probably one of the most beautiful Christmas songs to come out of the 1960s. But I could say the same of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and especially Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, the latter whose songs I could sing by heart even after the network dropped showing it for years and years and it wasn't until I got cable in the 1980s that I got to see it again. Magoo is also a production where the incidental music is just as memorable as the songs, like the piece that plays when Scrooge comes back to the town where he went to school, after he says "I could walk it blindfolded!"


4. What one program are you patiently (or impatiently) waiting for me to review on this blog?

Any that you haven't reviewed before.  And will you ever be reviewing The March Girls at Christmas, which some people hated, but I enjoyed (except for the fact that half the male characters were "eh..." especially their take on John Brooke).


5. What change in Christmas entertainment have you noticed over the years? Do you like the trend?

I think I have commented on this before, but really, it's the part I hate. From Thanksgiving Day (and sometimes before) onward, we are bombarded by Christmas specials and Christmas episodes, and then WHAM, about three or four days before the holiday itself, except for the movies on the non-network channels, Christmas just VANISHES and we get reruns. (Thank goodness for PBS, which still shows Christmas concerts on Christmas Eve.) Through the 70s you would get new Christmas specials, or even reruns of Christmas specials, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and there would be new episodes of shows on Christmas Day back in the 1950s and 1960s for sure. The British still do this (although often what they call a "Christmas episode" has very little to do with Christmas), and I love reading "The Radio Times" and "The TV Times" for Christmas week to see what the BBC and ITV are showing. Thankfully we have DVDs to fill in this gap, but it's really very lazy of the networks. And then, the minute Christmas Day bongs its finally bong at midnight--Christmas is GONE. The Christmas season lasts until January 6--the Twelve Days of Christmas. Instead we are stuck with more reruns, while the stores are already putting out Valentines Day decorations before we even count down to New Year's. If we're lucky, someone will rerun Happy New Year, Charlie Brown, but they'll usually do it before Christmas!

Christmas in July 2019: Lisa Iannucci

Christmas in July 2019: Lisa Iannucci from thevirgintraveler.com

1. What is your favorite Saturday Night Live Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year's sketch?

Schweddy Balls


2. Do you most look forward to watching holiday episodes from series? Specials? Movies? Animation? or, all of it?

A combination.


3. What's your favorite soundtrack from a holiday program? (it doesn't have to have been officially released as an album--just what program features your favorite collection of music?)

Hmmmm, honestly I don't know this one. I never really pay attention to soundtracks. LOL

 
4. What one program are you patiently (or impatiently) waiting for me to review on this blog?

How about The Holiday? My fave!


5. What change in Christmas entertainment have you noticed over the years? Do you like the trend?

I don't like Hallmark's weekly Christmas countdown. I understand they are popular but leave it to closer to the holiday.

Christmas in July 2019: Rick Stoneburner

Christmas in July 2019: Rick Stoneburner

1. What is your favorite Saturday Night Live Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year's sketch?

Two of them came immediately to mind. The first was Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake Wrappinville. Every time I watch I cannot stop laughing. The two of them together are must-watch TV. Second is Dan Akroyd and Candice Bergen. Dan being interviewed about dangerous toys and oh man is he great. Strangled himself with a telephone cord, chokes on a ball and falls out of the chair. I’m laughing now just thinking about it


2. Do you most look forward to watching holiday episodes from series? Specials? Movies? Animation? or, all of it?

I most look forward to the movies. I love them so much. But I never miss a holiday special. CMA Country Christmas. Christmas at Rockefeller Center and and on. Really wish Pentatonix would go back to their original specials though. The last 2 have been almost unwatchable for me.

3. What's your favorite soundtrack from a holiday program? (it doesn't have to have been officially released as an album--just what program features your favorite collection of music?)

I am currently at 556 Christmas CDs in my collection. It is very hard for me to pick a specific program. I have so much great Christmas music stuck in my head.


4. What one program are you patiently (or impatiently) waiting for me to review on this blog?

Gosh you’ve done so many nothing comes to mind. Keep up the great work.


5. What change in Christmas entertainment have you noticed over the years? Do you like the trend?

The first is the mass production of “original” Christmas movies. While I watch and enjoy them, my wife really enjoys them, there is not much original about them. It’s the same stories over and over again, never much heartache. Christmas movies need heartache once in a while. Nothing like a good Christmas movie tear. Also it seemed like we went a very long time with no Christmas movies in the theater. Now it feels like we’re getting at least one a year. I love it.

Christmas in July 2019: Adam Parker

Christmas in July 2019: Adam Parker from MerryBritsmas.podbean.com


1. What is your favorite Saturday Night Live Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year's sketch?


I’m British so we never really encountered SNL. As far as I am aware, it never really aired here, especially when I was growing up in the 90s. However, as a Xmas fanatic, I have spent a lot of time on YouTube looking for seasonal content and a lot of these include SNL clips! My favourite of the ones I’ve seen online has to be Vincent Price’s Christmas Special. I simply love Bill Hader and he does an amazing Vincent Price. On top of that, the contrast of old school horror and old school Christmas is brilliant and Kristen Wiig knocks it out the park as a manic Hepburn.  Although, I also can’t ever get the Wish It Was Xmas Today song out of my head after I hear it!


2. Do you most look forward to watching holiday episodes from series? Specials? Movies? Animation? or, all of it?


Honestly, I love all of it! However I get most excited about re-watching classic Christmas films and Christmas specials I remember from when I was young. For example, I always look forward to watching Home Alone and National Lampoon as they were two of my dad’s favourites, so we’d always watch them together. I’d also watch lots of British sitcoms with my family (we are British, so it makes sense!) so I love the Christmas specials of shows like The Royle Family, The Vicar of Dibley, Father Ted and Only Fools & Horses.



3. What's your favorite soundtrack from a holiday program? (it doesn't have to have been officially released as an album--just what program features your favorite collection of music?)


Again, I love sitcoms so I really like the crazy Christmas music in the likes of the Community Glee festive episode. I also have to rewatch the Muppet Family Christmas every year which has some great musical bits. Also I need to shout out for A Colbert Christmas and the music in Raymond Briggs' Father Christmas, which always takes me back to childhood.



4. What one program are you patiently (or impatiently) waiting for me to review on this blog?


Again, the British bias comes out in me as I’d love some reviews of classic British fare such as the aforementioned sitcoms or even specials such as Flint Street Nativity or Robbie the Reindeer!



5. What change in Christmas entertainment have you noticed over the years? Do you like the trend?


I have found that a lot of recent Christmas episodes of television tend to shy away from going full Christmas, which makes me sad! They sometimes have it in the background or as a ‘setting’ but the story isn’t as Christmas focused as shows used to make it. This isn’t all shows but I’ve definitely noticed it more over the last couple of years. I do love the fact that there is just so much more however! With the increase in different channels, services, brands and companies, there are always LOADS of different Christmas things to check out and many ways to watch them!

Christmas in July 2019: Dominic Caruso

Christmas in July 2019: Dominic Caruso of 1701 Press

1. What is your favorite Saturday Night Live Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year's Sketch?

It's a toss up between Steve Martin's "Christmas Wish" and "Desert Island Christmas" featuring Paul Simon marooned with Victoria Jackson (who just happens to know how to create incredible Christmas gifts--like a multifunction wristwatch--from scratch, using only natural resources found on the island).

2. Do you most look forward to watching holiday episodes from series? Specials? Movies? Animation? or, all of it?

I have my favorites, but I like being surrounded by all of it and feeling as though Thanksgiving through New Year's is one big party. That's the vibe I like, anyway.

3. What's your favorite soundtrack from a holiday program? (it doesn't have to have been officially released as an album--just what program features your favorite collection of music?) 

Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas. I mean, come on.


4. What one program are you patiently (or impatiently) waiting for me to review on this blog?

I don't know. I do enjoy weird things & you've covered many. Is Christopher Walken in anything Christmas-themed?


5. What change in Christmas entertainment have you noticed over the years? Do you like the trend?

There's a lot more of it, I think. The music in Christmas entertainment is getting more diverse and better, too. Even workaday productions often include some cool Christmas deep cut, or a special recording/performance by one of the actors, which is always fun to discover. So, I like the trend.

Christmas in July 2019: Randall Buie

Christmas in July 2019: Randall Buie

1. What is your favorite Saturday Night Live Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year's sketch?

I kind of gave up on SNL when Jane Curtin left so I'm not familiar with the majority of their sketches unless they have went viral.  I have liked the Claymation "Christmas for the Jews" bit they did.  And I don't know if it was SNL or which cast was performing it but I recall seeing a five minute vignette that showed Scrooge after a year.  He was giving away his assets to anyone and everyone with most recipients laughing at him as they made off with his treasure.  He is revisited by one of the ghosts who tells him he's going overboard and to dial it back a little (sounds like a Reagan era skit).  This also could have been the inspiration for the Blackadder Christmas Carol.

2. Do you most look forward to watching holiday episodes from series? Specials? Movies? Animation? or, all of it?

Well, my favorite forms of holiday entertainment are music, OTR, and live performances.  But from the selections above I would have to combine two -- specials and animation.  Most Christmas animation that I love (Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Garfield Christmas, How Murray Saved Christmas, etc) were specials.

 
3. What's your favorite soundtrack from a holiday program? (it doesn't have to have been officially released as an album--just what program features your favorite collection of music?) 

You'll probably get a lot of votes for this one but the best music is from Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.  I was so happy when they issued a sheet music book for the special a couple of years ago.  I can do without "Back on Broadway" but other than that all the songs are excellent.

4. What one program are you patiently (or impatiently) waiting for me to review on this blog?

How Murray Saved Christmas.  I watched the initial broadcast and found it quite enjoyable.  Any program that uses the great Billy West can't be bad, can it?  However in succeeding years NBC cut the program from 90 to 60 minutes.  Fortunately I was able to obtain a DVD of the full length cartoon and it is played every year.


5. What change in Christmas entertainment have you noticed over the years? Do you like the trend?

The first change is the elimination of the religious element.  Don't like it. 

The second is the onslaught of identical plot movies running continuously.  My wife is hooked on the Hallmark Channel Christmas marathon.  I've never understood why because nearly every one I've watched contains the same plot.  A person is fed up with the big city / their life / their family and go to a rural area / small town /vacation site and find the true meaning of Christmas and the love they were always meant to have.  Yuk! 

And finally I've noticed a pullback on the use of Jingle Bells in Christmas programs.  From the forties to the seventies it seemed like if a movie or television program needed either background music or opening music they would always go to Jingle Bells (forties' programs also used religious carols).  But in later years it appears that although it is still used way too much it's not being used as much and that's a good thing (sorry, Martha Stewart).