Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas or Hanukkah. But the holidays aren't over yet. We have one more celebration before we put a wrap on the holiday season--New Year's Day! And I can't think of a better way to celebrate the new year than by--celebrating an old year!
When I was growing up in my house in the '70s and '80s, Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve was a yearly tradition. I wouldn't think of ringing in the new year without it! And here is an example of what made the broadcast so fun. Here is the one that welcomed 1979, and it's filled with late '70s goodness. Put on your platform shoes and dance along with everyone. Check it out embedded below or directly on YouTube here.
Enjoy! And stay tuned if you do enjoy it, because I think I'll post one or two more before 2022 is over.
Here we are--two days to Christmas! And what a season it's been!
Today I feature my final offering before the big day--the 1979 TV-movie The Man in the Santa Claus Suit. In this film, three men--an uptight political operative (Bert Convy), a homeless man (John Byner), and a lonely schoolteacher (Gary Burghoff)--rent Santa Claus suits from an elderly tailor (Fred Astaire, in his final film), each desperate to fulfill a need by renting the suit. Each man goes through a personal journey by wearing the suit. And that tailer seems to show up in different guises throughout the film. Is there something--different about him? Watch and find out!
The movie debuted on NBC in 1979, and was a staple of syndicated Christmas programming through most of the '80s. I've never seen the whole thing, but it's always looked interesting, and I'm happy to present it to you now.
Well, that's the last article before Christmas! I have LOVED doing this Countdown to Christmas--and it's not over yet! I plan on sharing a couple of New Year's Day related items next week, so please stay tuned. And remember that the holiday season doesn't end on December 26th. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are also part of the holidays--celebrate them!
Enjoy the film, below and directly on YouTube here. And if I don't see you during the rest of the season, Happy Holidays! Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas!
This is it! The final week until Christmas. It's down to the wire. Let's party! And today, we party like it's 1981!
Today I feature an early episode of the local Philadephia series Dancin' On Air. It was a successor of sorts to Bandstand, in which local teens dance on camera to the hits of the day. This is a Christmas-themed episode from its inaugural year, 1981.
Admittedly, there's not much Christmasy about this episode with the exception of the studio decorations, but I'll use any excuse to showcase Philly 80sness.
Enjoy! You can also see the episode on YouTube here.
Wait-wait-wait-wait WHAT? Max Headroom had a Christmas special?
Yep! And I'm as surprised as you are!
I knew Max Headroom had released a Christmas music single, "Merry Christmas, Santa Claus," back in the day, because I saw it on the shelf at Tower Records in Philadelphia in 1986 and contemplated buying it (I didn't). What I didn't know was that the song was part of a full Christmas TV special.
The Max Headroom Christmas Special debuted in the US on Cinemax on December 18, 1986; it was later shown in the UK on December 26 of that year under the name Max Headroom's Giant Christmas Turkey. The show features Max, played by Canadian comedian and actor Matt Frewer, being Max--singing, talking to friends and celebrities, including Robin Williams and Tina Turner, and being his usual zany, stuttering self. Rocker Dave Edmunds also appears.
Oddball specials such as this are one of the things that keep me blogging all these years. I love finding this strange, forgotten stuff and sharing it with others, especially when it's something I didn't know existed before.
Enjoy! You can also watch the special directly on YouTube here.
This is the last weekend before Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so make it a jolly one! And starting this Sunday night--Happy Hannukah!
Today I feature my first cartoon of the Countdown to Christmas, and it's a cute one. Casper the Friendly Ghost hears the cries of a poor young boy lamenting that Santa Claus has never visited him. Feeling the Christmas spirit, Casper dresses as Santa and makes toys to make the boy's holiday a happy one.
Welcome to Week 3--3!--of the Countdown to Christmas. Today I share a local treat from my hometown of Philadelphia.
This is a Christmas episode of Al Alberts Showcase, a local Philly variety show hosted by Al Alberts, who had been a member of the vocal group The Four Aces decades before. He hosted this series in Philly for decades, featuring children and teen performers singing, dancing, and telling jokes. As corny as the show was, it was beloved here in Philadelphia. I previously shared an hour-long Christmas special from Alberts from 1979; here is a half-hour special from 1988. If you love kitchy local TV like I do, you'll love this.
As we end Week 2 of the Countdown to Christmas (already?), I present something that I didn't know existed until earlier this morning. I was going to post something else, but I discovered this and couldn't wait to share it. This weekend's offering is a Christmas episode from the first season of Mork & Mindy, titled "It's A Wonderful Mork."
On Christmas Eve, Mork, in all his Morkness, ruins the evening for Mindy and her dad. Feeling ashamed, he returns to his home planet Ork, where his leader Orson shows him what Mindy's life would be like if Mork and Mindy hadn't met. That's right, it's the old It's A Wonderful Life pastiche. This plot was used on countless sitcom Christmas episodes, and here, Mork & Mindy throws it's hat into the ring.
I have to thank the fine people who follow and comment on Dino Drac After Dark, the spin-off site of the superb Dinosaur Dracula site for bringing this episode to my attention.
Enjoy! Drink that egg nog! And that hot buttered rum! And that hot toddy! Then rethink your life choices, because dude, you've clearly got a problem.
Today's Countdown to Christmas offering is the Christmas episode of the British sitcom Mr. Bean.
In "Merry Christmas Mr. Bean," the episode simply follows the man-child Bean through his holiday season and all the looniness he creates. If you like Rowan Atkinson and his unique brand of comedy, you'll love this. I actually featured a couple of clips from this many years ago at the blog, but here is the episode in its entirety.
Today is a program I've wanted to share for several years but never got around to it. Unfortunately, I'm now sharing it under sad circumstances.
Bob McGrath, an original human cast member of Sesame Street who stayed with the show for literelly decades, died this weekend at the age of 90. Bob was always my favorite human on the series, and I will miss him very much.
He appears in this program, A Special Sesame Street Christmas, with other human cast members such as Sonia Monzano, Northern Calloway, and others, along with appearances by Big Bird, Oscar, and Barkely the dog. This special was produced by and aired on CBS, and is not to be confused with Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, the special produced by Children's Television Workshop and aired on PBS. Oddly enough, not only did these specials air the same year (1978), they aired within mere days of each other.
Enjoy! You can also see the special at Dailymotion here.
Welcome back to my Countdown to Christmas. For the first weekend of December, we're going to get kitchy with the Donny and Marie Osmond Christmas show from 1977!
In the late 70s, Donny and Marie were everywhere. They were huge TV stars and the go-to entertainers of mainstream America at a time when anything "wholesome" was considered square by those with hipper tastes. Nevertheless, the brother-sister duo were immensely successful, and their Christmas shows were big holiday draws.
In this 1977 installment, the duo perform together as well as with their other siblings in Christmas song standards, with a comedic appearance by regular Osmond guest star Paul Lynde.
Enjoy! Get your jingle on this weekend! It's the holiday season after all!
