I came across tonight’s Ghost of Christmas Past while I was doing a search on Christmas specials that have been posted to YouTube. Apparently, this is a Canadian show that aired way back in 2002.
And, watching it, I could really tell that was the truth. This show is not only very Canadian but it’s very 2002 and as well. Fortunately, while I can pretty much do without 2002, I happen to love Canada.
Today’s Ghost of Christmas Past was originally broadcast in 1952 and it’s certainly a lot more serious than anything that The Brady Bunch ever had to deal with.
In this episode of the early police procedural Dragnet, two cops search for two young boys who have disappeared on Christmas. Ominously, one of the boys has received a present — a .22 caliber rifle.
The Big .22 Rifle For Christmas was originally broadcast on December 18th, 1952 and it remains effective even 60 years later.
Earlier this month, we shared with you the very first Brady Bunch Christmas episode.
For today’s Ghost of Christmas Past, we find out what happened to all the Brady kids after they finally left home. It turns out that they all basically grew up to be losers but, as we learn in 1988’s A Very Brady Christmas, they still have a home for the holidays.
I first saw A Very Brady Christmas last year when it showed up on ABC Family during their 25 Days of Christmas programming. At the time, I thought it was so saccharine that I was worried that I might get a cavity as a result of watching. A year later, my opinion hasn’t changed much but A Very Brady Christmas still has an oddly dream-like feel to it.
Seriously, the Bradys are just so weird.
Today’s ghost of Christmas past comes to use from the year 1955.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents was an anthology show, in which director Alfred Hitchcock would sardonically present a weekly tale of suspense and surprise. The series’ 12th episode was a Christmas-themed episode in which character actor Barry Fitzgerald played a recently paroled convict who gets a job as a department store Santa Claus. Though Fitzgerald starts out as a rather grumpy and cynical St. Nick, he starts to get into the holiday spirit after he meets an equally cynical young shoplifter. It’s a surprisingly sweet little story that’s well-worth watching for Fitzgerald’s excellent lead performance.
I haven’t seen that many episodes of The Brady Bunch but the few I have seen lead me to suspect that The Brady Bunch may be the most creepy show ever made. With their eternally optimistic attitudes and their total and complete faith in authority figure Mike Brady, you have to wonder if The Brady Bunch is a family or if they’re a cult. Plus, what was the deal with Alice? Was she an indentured servant? Did Mike Brady win her in a poker game? I mean, seriously, I’ve never seen anyone so happy and willing to devote her life to picking up after a bunch of entitled little brats.
However, I also know that some people love this show and see it as a perfect example of bizarre Americana. And I have to admit that I’ve often said, “Oh! My nose!” just to get a cheap laugh on twitter.
So, with that in mind, tonight’s Ghost of Christmas Past is the very first Brady Bunch Christmas episode. First aired in 1969, The Voice of Christmas tells what happens when Carol loses her voice. Does Mike use Carol’s lack of verbal ability to confess that he’s been cheating on her with his secretary? Do Marcia and Greg finally act on their secret feelings together while sharing a cup of coffee?* You’ll have to watch to find out!
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* That’s a reference to what those of us who watch too much TV call the “Folgers Too Close Siblings commercial.” It used to air every Christmas but I haven’t seen it yet this year. Here it is, in case you’re curious:
Today’s ghost of Christmas Past is the 1995 short film, The Spirit of Christmas: Jesus Vs. Santa. This is the short film that led to Comedy Central hiring Trey Parker and Matt Stone to develop the television series South Park. Needless to say, The Spirit of Christmas is not safe for work. It’s also not safe for the easily offended.
A Christmas episode of the Twilight Zone? Yes, such a thing does exist. In Night of the Meek, an unemployed man (Art Carney) is given a chance to be Santa Claus. This is a wonderful episode that truly captures the spirit of the season.
Night of the Meek was written by Rod Serling and directed by Jack Smight. It was originally broadcast on December 23rd, 1960.
I am not a huge Star Wars fan.
Don’t get me wrong. I respect the fact that the movies are important to a lot of my close friends and fellow movie bloggers. My boyfriend loves the first three Star Wars films and I’ve told him that if he ever wants me to wear a gold bikini and a chain around my neck, I’ll do it. It’s just that, on a personal level, the Star Wars films don’t do much for me. When people mention Star Wars, I usually think about how I fell asleep 10 minutes into Attack of the Clones and then when my date woke me up at the end of the movie, my bra had mysteriously been undone.
That said, I still knew that when I started my series of Christmas Past posts, I would have to post something about The Star Wars Holiday Special. The Holiday Special aired way back in 1978 and it was apparently such a disaster that George Lucas has spent the past 3 and a half decades trying to convince people that it doesn’t exist.
Perhaps that’s why, when I did a search for the Holiday Special on YouTube, I came across a lot of videos that had been either taken down or had their audio tracks removed.
However, I was able to find a 15 minutes video from a YouTube user who goes by the name of StarWarsFan1975. The Star Wars Holiday Special Retrospective features some background material on the Holiday Special and some of the special’s more bizarre moments.
Enjoy!
For the past few months, I’ve been exploring what I used to dismissively call “the old people stations.” These are television stations like MeTV, Antenna TV, Cozi TV, and TVLand which specialize in showing episodes of old television shows. Of the old shows that I’ve recently discovered, The Jack Benny Program is one of my favorites.
Each episode featured comedian Jack Benny playing himself and being cheap, egocentric, and annoying. In many ways, the show feels like a forerunner for shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm.
With this being the holiday season, what better time than to feature a Christmas episode of the Jack Benny Show. In this episode, Jack attempts to buy a Christmas present.
This episode originally aired on December 15th, 1957.
Enjoy!
I’ve been spending the weekend visiting my sister Megan and her family. Last night, Megan and I watched yet another episode of the mediocre yet oddly entertaining 90s sitcom, California Dreams.
Why Were We Watching It?
So, last night, after everyone else in the house was sound asleep, Megan and I were awake and doing some sisterly bonding, which — when you’re a member of the Bowman clan — usually concludes with watching something silly.
But what to watch? Because I have the greatest big sister in the world, Megan happens to have every season of Saved By The Bell: The New Class on DVD and, at first, I was really tempted to suggest that we watch something from the storied history of Bayside High. But, when I actually thought about it, I knew that we simply had to watch yet another episode of California Dreams.
Last night, we watched a handful of episodes but I specifically decided to review the “Daddy’s Girl” episode because it was the episode that preceded the Family Trees episode, which just happens to also be the last episode of the show that I reviewed for this site.
(As some of our regular readers my remember, it’s been nearly a year since Megan first introduced me to this show when, during the Christmas holidays, we sat down and watched the 4th season episode, Dancing Isn’t Everything. )
What Was It About?
Future steroid addict Tiffani Smith (Kelly Packard) is worried because her father has been alone ever since her parents got divorced. (I assume that the Smiths got divorced though it’s never specifically stated, beyond Mr. Smith saying, “Ever since your mother left…” So, it’s entirely possible that Tiffani’s mom may have joined a cult or something.) Tiffani arranges for her father to meet Ariel (Kristine Sutherland), a woman who claims to be an expert in dolphins. Mr. Smith and Ariel hit it off and, at first, Tiffani is super excited!
However, Mr. Smith is soon spending all of him time hanging out with Ariel and a jealous Tiffani ends up having one of those extremely elaborate and plot-specific nightmares that always seem to happen on California Dreams. So, with the help of Ariel’s criminal record, Tiffani breaks up her dad’s new relationship.
Problem solved, right?
Nope. Now that Mr. Smith is alone again, Tiffani feels guilty and seriously, you have to wonder if there’s ever been a more wishy-washy character than Tiffani Smith. So, Tiffani tries to get Ariel and Mr. Smith back together by singing them a song.
Meanwhile, in the B plot, Mark (Aaron Jackson) has come up with a computer program that tells Samantha (Jennie Kwan), Tony (William James Jones), Jake (Jay Anthony Franke), and Lorena (Diana Uribe) that none of them are compatible. Since this was made in the 1990s, everyone automatically believes anything determined by a computer to be true and, as a result, there are mass breakups.
What Worked?
As soon as Ariel first stepped into Sharky’s, Megan and I immediately exclaimed, “Buffy!” That’s because Ariel was played by Kristine Sutherland who is better known for playing Joyce Summers, the mother of Buffy the Vampire Slayer! This, of course, led to Megan and I imagining a scenario where Tiffani’s dad turned out to be a vampire and Buffy had to destroy him. That was a lot of fun.
I thought it was funny just how terrified Tony was of having to listen to Mr. Smith talk about humpback whales. It made me smile.
What Did Not Work?
To be honest, this episode really had a pretty bad message and I’m glad that I didn’t see it whenever it originally aired because it probably would have given me a lot of false hope. Tiffani’s father goes out with Ariel because Tiffani wants him to. He breaks up with Ariel because Tiffani wants him to. And then, eventually, they get back together again because Tiffani is really sorry and really wants everything to be better.
This episode takes place in a world where a daughter can heal a broken family just through sheer willpower and desire. It’s a world where, even if that daughter screws everything up, all she has to do is let everyone know how sorry she is and then sing a pretty song and magically, everything will be better. It would be nice if that was true but it’s not and that’s one of the hardest lessons to learn when you’re young and convinced that, since everything is somehow your fault, you’re also capable of fixing it all and making everyone happy again.
On a less serious note, do the members of the California Dreams ever do anything other than eat? Seriously! Almost every episode seems to feature them whining about how they don’t have any money and yet, they spend all of their time at Sharky’s eating. If Mark is really struggling financially, maybe he shouldn’t have ordered that expensive desert.
“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments
As usual, I related to Lorena because she had really pretty hair and the best fashion sense of anyone on the show. Plus, I’ve got a weakness for bad boys who wear big, bulky jackets.
As I told Megan last night, much like Tiffani, I also spent a lot of my teenage years wishing that I could sing a song that would somehow make everything better.
“Lisa Marie,” Megan said, “that’s sweet but you know you can’t sing.”
And she’s right. I can’t carry a tune to save my life.
Lessons Learned
Humpback whales are boring.
Through the Shattered Lens