Favorite Christmas Episodes (2 Viewers)

[JamesSmith]

Anyone have any opinions on the Christmas Chronicles with Kurt Russell or the new Klaus? Heard good things, but haven't seen them myself.

James

 

[Gary OS]

I want to thank all the contributors to this thread, especially this past 2019 Christmas season. Special thanks to Jack P, Josh, Jeff, Ron, Randall, Jason, Matthew, Rick, William, Bert, Kevin, Bob Gu, Eric, James, Timothy, Peter, Mark, John and everyone else who helped make this a memorable viewing season.

As Jack mentioned, I like saving out one or two very special episodes to end Christmas Eve night with. Episodes that really reflect the beauty of the season, and the wonder of that night that we celebrate each year. Dr Kildare's "Season to be Jolly" or It's a Wonderful Life are the two I pick from, even if I've already viewed them earlier, that I'll try to revisit late on the 24th just so I can go to sleep in the right frame of mind. Free from all the hustle and bustle that can dominate us if we let it. The best part of Christmas is in the simplicity and joy of remembering what it's all about. Paladin's final scene in "The Hanging Cross" is the perfect example of what I'm talking about. That's how I like to end Christmas Eve night.

Again, thanks to everyone for contributing. Feel free to continue if you are still watching. I'll watch Ozzie & Harriet's "The Fruitcake" later on tonight.


Gary "hoping everyone had a joyous Christmas season" O.

 

[MatthewA]

Latest viewings:

The Judy Garland Christmas Show (12/22/1963): Aired in glorious black-and-white on CBS a month after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, this must-see legendary special radiates class with a capital "C." Opening with "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," which she introduced in 1944's Meet Me In St. Louis, Judy Garland spends Christmas in her "home" (actually a set at CBS Television City) with her children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft, and Joey Luft, where they sing Oliver! songs after it had just opened on Broadway. Liza comes in with her boyfriend Tracy Everitt and they do a song-and-dance routine to "Steam Heat" from The Pajama Game. Then, Jack Jones breezes on with a swingin' version of My Fair Lady's "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" while also keeping things firmly grounded in the social mores of the early 1960s with "Lollipops and Roses" — keep in mind a cigarette company is sponsoring this. Mel Tormé here is also on board, as is a chorus line of Santa Clauses who dance so fast that Judy can't even keep up with them! But she is in fine voice here; she even found time for the song "Little Drops of Rain" from her animated feature Gay Purr-Ee (can we have a Blu-ray please, Warner Archive?) while closing, of course, with The Wizard of Oz's immortal "Over the Rainbow." Sadly, she would never be this good again and would not live to see the next decade. Only two of her three children kept up the family business as adults: Liza went on to win the Best Actress Oscar for Cabaret, while Lorna made Grease 2 and wrote a book that became the basis of an Emmy-winning miniseries about her mother. Choreographer Peter Gennaro went on to choreograph the aforementioned Annie on Broadway. Music director Mort Lindsey did the music for Garland's final feature, I Could Go On Singing, that same year, then went on to do Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli's subsequent TV specials. Dance arranger Jack Elliott was musical director for Walt Disney's The Happiest Millionaire and The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band, then co-wrote with Allyn Ferguson the Barney Miller and Night Court themes (reinforcing the Mel Tormé connection) along with the original logo jingle for Lorimar Productions, which was used for almost 15 years. Production supervisor George A. Sunga went on to produce All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and Three's Company. That's right: Dorothy Gale from Kansas is one step removed from Archie Bunker from Queens!

That week over on NBC in living color, Bonanza was about leprechauns.

Carpenters at Christmas (12/9/1977): Apart from Judy Garland and Bing Crosby, there are four singers it just isn't Christmas without: Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Mathis, and … Karen Carpenter! The first of two Christmas specials she and her brother Richard did together, this one, aired on ABC the year they became the #1 network in all of television, has to be seen to be believed. She sounds great, and there is an attempt to build a story around everything: Richard doesn't want to go to Karen's Christmas party because he's not "in the Christmas spirit." But the comedy bits are a bit uneven, even with a post-Carol Burnett Show, post-High Anxiety Harvey Korman, whom Fred Silverman lured away from Carol's show with his own show that flopped (but at least has the distinction of using the painfully generic even then "One Where/With" episode title template years before Friends stole it and other things while making it no less generic or painful*). Here, they have him and Richard doing a production number in a bowling alley while in another scene, Harvey does a one-man Christmas Carol! Some of the gags might actually have been funnier without canned laughter. Also on board is Family's Kristy MacNichol (without her brother Jimmy, interestingly enough; he was busy on a show called The Fitzpatricks on CBS … until it was canceled due to heavy competition from Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley); she and Karen put on overalls to sing the "Christmas Alphabet," while there's also a nice throwback to the early days of TV with Kukla and Ollie (minus Fran). As usual, the music is the main attraction here.

*Designing Women got around that by actually putting episode titles on screen.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Finally got to Ozzie’s Christmas Tree Lot this morning! Yay!

 

[Gary OS]

Finally got to Ozzie’s Christmas Tree Lot this morning! Yay!

Did you like the finale with Wally? That last line always cracks me up.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Did you like the finale with Wally? That last line always cracks me up.

remind me, they’re all kinda blurring together

 

[Gary OS]

remind me, they’re all kinda blurring together

After walking out of the Christmas tree store the boys rented, Wally(dressed as Santa) says, “Hurry up honey, we’ll be late for the show.” And out walks Barbara Pepper, the older lady he was showing trees to earlier. Then he turns to the camera and smiles, saying, “Well, after all, it’s Christmas.”

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Oh yes, that one - yeah, that was great!

I kinda love how Ozzie just seems to float through his own existence.

 

[Ron1973]

I watched Late Christmas Gift last night. It still beats anything on TV today!

 

[Gary OS]

I watched Late Christmas Gift last night. It still beats anything on TV today!

I couldn’t agree more, Ron.

 

[MartinP.]

^^^

I could agree less. (And that doesn't mean I don't like that episode. I just hate absolutes.)

Mel Tormé here is also on board

His duet with Judy is warm and lovely. I like when she mixes up one of the words and he says "Close..."

 

[Gary OS]

Watched “The Fruitcake” today. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[DavidJ]

I’ve been reading and enjoying this thread but I haven’t gotten to watch as much this year as I would’ve liked. I’ll still try to watch a few more shows in the next couple of days and this thread is full of great suggestions to check out.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

My wife is Puerto Rican, which means that she celebrates Christmas season until Three King’s Day on January 6th.

She pointed out to me that if I wanted to try claim her heritage as part of my own now that we’re an item, that it would be wholly appropriate for me to continue my Christmas viewing until then.

 

[MatthewA]

His duet with Judy is warm and lovely. I like when she mixes up one of the words and he says "Close..."

That's why The Disney Channel used a clip of it in their promo when they reran it in the 1990s. Unfortunately, YouTube doesn't seem to have a copy uploaded, but I recall it from memory.

Her family hated that book he wrote about the show, however.

 

[Tom.W]

I watched Dragnet "Big 22 Rifle for Christmas" today. Not exactly a feel good episode, which I anticipated, which is why I preferred to watch something uplifting on Christmas. I did watch a Loretta Young episode and Holiday Affair on Christmas day. I also like watching the television version of Going My Way around this time of year. That's a nostalgic and uplifting show with good writing and top notch actors, Gene Kelly, Dick York, and Leo G. Carroll.

 

[MartinP.]

^^^

I watched Holiday Affair, too!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Thanks to this thread I watched On Her Majesty’s Secret Service last night, which remains an incredible picture. Too tired for anything else after.

 

[Jack P]

I watched OHMSS the other day. It has an appropriate "end of the year" quality to it not just because some of the action takes place at that time but the film itself is a looking back farewell to the 1960s and the original era of Bond "style". Notwithstanding Connery's return in DAF, that film looks ahead to the tone of the 70s on all levels.

As one gets older, the poignancy of OHMSS stands out and I find myself wanting to shout at Bond, "Don't stop the car!" at the end.

On another matter, I have never seen or listened to the radio version of "22 Rifle for Christmas." To me, it's just not the right episode for Christmas at all and one reason why Richard Breen wrote the Christmas Story episode was because he hated 22 Rifle and felt the show should have something more appropriate for the season.

 

[Gary OS]

On another matter, I have never seen or listened to the radio version of "22 Rifle for Christmas." To me, it's just not the right episode for Christmas at all and one reason why Richard Breen wrote the Christmas Story episode was because he hated 22 Rifle and felt the show should have something more appropriate for the season.

I watched the episode once (just for completion sake). I emphasize ONCE. It’s right up there with the Untouchables Christmas episode.

Gary “some ideas need to be trashed - ‘22 Rifle’ should have been one of them” O.