Christmas: The Year Without A Santa Claus

Christmas The Flashback 

         Essentially the title of the special is click bait because technically there was no Year without a Santa Claus in the special, that might be spoiler though.  Personally, I think this is one of Rankin-Bass' best Christmas specials.   I called "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" their best, this one is probably at  least their 2nd best. (Angering the Rudolph fans again) 

    

         I could have waited for an anniversary to post this, so if you reading this in 2024, uh the special is now 50, if you aren't then it's either under 50 or over 50.  "The Year Without A Santa Claus" first aired on ABC on December 10, 1974.    

       Shirley Booth is here to play the voice of Mrs. Claus, and "Hazel" makes a really good Mrs. Claus. I have to mention this first since in this special she's the narrator and the one who essentially gets things done, while Santa waits until the 5th inning to get into motion.   This was Booth's final TV role  ever. That's kind of sad, but she really did a great role with the character.  Actually, it does feel like she's playing Hazel as Mrs. Claus. 

   

       Mickey Rooney is back playing Santa Claus for Rankin Bass, he was also Santa in "Comin' to Town".  I'm glad he came back to play the role.   

          I guess I should get to the special  (yes you should)  so the role of Santa in this special is a little different. It starts with him getting a cold (can you say that?) and the doctor (I'm glad the North Pole has medical care) is grumpy (he works at the North Pole) tells Santa that nobody cares about Santa anymore anyway and tells him he should give up. (North Pole Medical care sucks) 

Your Insurance doesn't cover eating so many cookies/ Copyright Warner Bros.  

           Santa decides that's a good idea and decides to tell everyone that he's taking a holiday.  Mrs. Claus ( who has no other name in this special) at first wonders if she could play the role of Santa Claus. The song is a good showing of her character and Booth brings some fun bits of humor to the role. Deciding that doesn't work when two lead elves named Jingle and Jangle (get used to them) notice that she's not Santa. (Though if kids are supposed to be a sleep then she should have no problems but I guess we are supposed to get Santa out if his funk.

My Three Sons will be back after this/ Copyright Warner Bros. 

    

       Going with Santa for a second, it's interesting to see Santa in a more human role, he's tired and sick and he's also feeling down that he's not appreciated. It's not a way you normally see Santa in a movie or special, he's usually commanding, jolly, so to him humanized is a nice touch.   

    

        Mrs. Claus gets an idea, an evil idea (wrong special) oh, uh an interesting idea to send the elves out with Vixen Santa's youngest reindeer. (Where's my Vixen special, you cowards!) In hindsight, Mrs.. Claus' plan seems well executed to the number like yes I know this is a special written by humans and stuff but I mean it's written in  away where  Mrs. Claus seems to have calculated everything to work out.  Like with Jingle and Jangle gone, she starts doing an act of  pretending nothing is out of normal, to make Santa suspicious. Then, she gives up info quickly and he mentions  the one thing this special is remembered for more than anything . (Sadly, when it's fun all around)  

More after the jump

Christmas: Yogi's First Christmas

Christmas

      This time we dip back into Hanna-Barbera and a look one of their popular characters getting a Christmas special, but wait there's more!  Let's more Hanna-Barbera characters in this special and make it a full 98 minute long special.  That's what this special is."Yogi's First Christmas" first aired through syndication on November 22 ,1980,  the special later would rerun as four 30 minute episodes during the Christmas weeks on stations during the 1980's.   It later would rerun on Cartoon Network (until they gave up) and Boomerang (until they gave  up).  

 

        Funny enough, Yogi is a bear that can talk, mostly stands upright, wears some sort of clothing and

     yet, he still does the bear thing of hibernating in winter. That's kind of funny, but I guess we needed a plot device on why a)  Yogi is celebrating his first Christmas  b) something to give the movie some stakes. 

         Daws Butler is the voice Yogi Bear here, to be fair the man was pretty much a main staple of Hanna and Barbera productions he did vocies of  Elroy Jetson, Huckelberry Hound,  actually wait, that last name comes important here. I said that there were more Hanna and Barbera characters in this special so why not have you two main voice staples : Daws Butler and Don Messick just do most of the voices?   Butlter was also the voice of Snagglepuss, Huckelberry Hound, and Auggie Doggie, so why not just have them in the special too.   Meanwhile, Messick was thevoice of Boo Boo and the Park Ranger, and they gave him a new character to voice for this movie. 

      

        The special was written by Willie Gilbert, an author and playwritght and actually this would be the last thing he wrote, as he died about 2 weeks after this special aired in 1980.  Animator, Ray Patterson, directed this special, (he's the guy who animated the segment in the "Fantasia" called "Dance of the Hours" ) 

                 It starts with the park ranger Smith, Hucklebery Hound, Snagglepuss, Auggie Doggie, and Doggie Daddy  singing a re used Christmas song.   I like to mention this here, Hanna and Babera in their Christmas specials  so some songs here were used in past specials they did like "A Christmas Story" , A Flinstone Christmas,and Casper's First Christmas.  (I'm confused on how Casper's having a first Christmas, but I'm going in to that here)  

rrrrrrr/ Copyright Warner 

           At Jellystone Lodge, because there's a lodge now, the non Ranger Smith characters are celebrating Christmas there, and hoping nothing strange happens there like the year before. (This is important pay attention)   There's a man named Herman , the hermit, who is a hermit (smooth writing there)  and he doesn't like Christmas (or taxes).  There's also hotel manager, Mr. Dingwell and Otto the chef. 

Why did you wake us up? /Copyright Warner 

       There is some news important to the plot, because the lodge might be shutting down; the owner Sophie Throckmorton is considering selling and letting a freeway be built there, instead. This is because of those strange things mentioned earlier from the year before causing people not want to come back.  There is good news, Throckmorton is coming for a week and maybe they could impress her.  5 minutes in, we finally see Yogi.  He's awoken by loud drumming somehow above his cave. (if there were people there last year, their loud noise should have woken him up before.) 

                 He goes through a tunnel and ends up inside the hotel lodge kitchen.  (Because Yogi likes food, get it?)  The chef thinks the two bears are waiters because sure, and that's what they do.  They get to see their friends.  Yogi finds out he woke up just in time for Christmas, and Auggie Doggie drops the title of the movie.   

    

they came dressed casually /Copyright Warner 

            Ranger Smith wants to have Yogi and Boo Boo go back to their cave because he thinks they'll mess up the chances of the Mrs. Throckmorton being happy and causing the place to close down.    There's a chase scene (action!) Meanwhile, Mrs. Throckmorton and her nephew, Snively are coming by.  Snively  doesn't like Christmas. (Maybe he's mad is parents named him Snively) This Yogi using a snow plow chase action proves useful to the plot because Hermin was going to stop Throckmorton from making it but due to Yogi's  dumb luck, he helped them out. She's appreciative of Yogi and Boo Boo and promotes them to bellhops.    Most of the movie is Yogi's dumb luck helping him out. 

\

I maybe rich but I drive my own car/ Copyright Warner 

   more after the jump 

Christmas : A Christmas Story

Christmas 

            I've kind of stayed away from writing about this movie, not because I hate it; that would be a lie since I love this movie and watch it every single year and know the lines and scenes by heart. In the case the tile of the post seems abstract, I am talking about the 1983 film, "A Christmas Story". 

            Like  I said, I love this movie, Christmas Eve to Christmas Day 24 hour marathon on one of Ted Turner's channels : my TV is locked on that channel until the 24 hours are over.  The end of the marathon feels like the end of Christmas to me.    

  

        Released on  November 18, 1983; this movie wasn't a big hit (it did make more than it's budget at the box office) it's about  essentially a nine-year-old boy who wants a gun for Christmas, it's a b-b gun, but still. The movie has vignette stories based on stories from  Jean Shepard's "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash" (1966 book)  With Shepard narrating as adult Ralphie. 

    Oh yeah, this post isn't going to be about the movie in linear fashion, because I feel that wouldn't be of service to those haven't seen or to those who have. That's also why I kind of stayed away from writing about it. That and because I think everyone has seen it, because I watch it so much and grew up with it , it just felt normal. 

    

            For me, there is a nostalgia in the movie, just because I grew up with someone who loved the movie dearly.  Then I have grown to love it as much as say  a "A Charlie Brown Christmas".  The part of the movie that happens on Christmas Day, feels like Christmas Day when I was growing up. I'd wake up early, run down the stairs for Christmas, open a gifts in a mass, and kind of just spend the day playing with the new gifts and day drifts on.  

  

     The movie takes place in I guess before the War. (World War II)  Sometime between the late 30's and not December 1941; that or a parallel world where the war doesn't happen.  The move isn't really about the 1940's (30's) it's a time setting of nostalgic Americans in the late 70's early 80's , like how the 90's are now. (Unless you are reading this in 2053 and then I don't know, I'm  glad someone survived enough and is reading this post)  The movie is A Christmas story, one kid's Christmas story time , but that many can relate themselves.  

   There has always been the one gift that was truly wanted for Christmas, and you'd find ways to make sure you would get it. The whole Christmas season of anticipation where the days leading up are exciting and hopeful.   Ralphie hopes that he gets that one gift, his Red Ryder B-B Gun with a compass in the stock, and this thing that tells time,  but there's a limit but instead of the classic line of "it's too expensive" or "well see", it's "You'll shoot your eye out." a better line for a comedy movie.   It makes you want to root for him,  because maybe you've had your own "you'll shoot your eye out" for something you really wanted.  Ralph Parker's whole mission in the movie is to get his gun.  He tries to convince Mom, notice it's her and not Dad, and she throws out that line, he tries to write a paper, since the teacher does a cool assignment of writing what would you want for Christmas? (That sounds fun)  He gets a C+ and he takes it as a slight against him being able to have his dream gift , instead of the formatting. (Would be weird if she was grading everyone's gift choices)  The final solution was to ask Santa, the mall one, and gets told the same line. When it hits Christmas Day, you kind of hope he gets the gift, and the movie makes you wait to see if you were expecting it or not. 

More after the jump

Christmas: A Loud House Christmas

Christmas 

       How does one take an animated TV series and make it live-action.  The idea of taking animation into live-action isn't new, but in many cases it's derided.  If you are a fan of animated movies and TV shows, the idea of turning them into live-action can be a little jarring. 

        The Loud House  is probably one of the few animated projects that could possibly work in live-action with some tender care. In 2020, there was an announcement that a live-action Christmas movie was going to be made, and then, some sort of virus came around and stopped stuff and there was no time for it to be made and Christmas movies tend to be more valuable around Christmas time. Then in 2021, they announced it's coming. 

         "A Loud House Christmas" premiered on Nickelodeon on November 26, 2021, and also on their streaming service Paramount Plus  ( Which doesn't have Becker on it) . 

        Now time for the boring part (what all that above was not exciting). If you don't know what "The Loud House" is, it's  an animated series from Nickelodeon about an 11-year-old boy named Lincoln Loud the gimmick is that he also has ten sisters. The early seasons focus on Lincoln and how he navigates life with his sisters. Later the series, It gives focus towards the family, then focus on giving the sisters different episodes of their own, and giving Lincoln time with his friends and expanding their world. It's been on for 5 seasons (as of this post) and has been renewed for 6th season (as of this post). Also in that fifth season they've moved the series up a year where the characters either are 1 year older than start or in different grades almost a year older.  All the sisters have  4 letter names and start with L as well. That's all the non Loud House people need to know to watch the movie. The people who know the show , know the show. 

          This is the story of a boy who cried a river of tears and ... oops wrong thing, Let's go! 

  

      This  isn't a long movie. that's one thing to know, it's about 64 minutes and that's fine for a TV movie.  The sets for the show are a good look, they took the care and attention to make the movie sets look like the cartoon, they really did in the work and I'm going to put this here: for set design 10/10.

good set work too / Copyright ViacomCBS 

  

 

      The movie starts with Christmas time being noted, but you will notice it's not snowing or there's no snow on the ground, which means that will come in the near the end because that's how this works. My Christmases were never filled with snow so it feels more realistic anyway. The movie does have a hallmark (not the channel) from the early days of the show where Lincoln talks to us, the audience, the movie starts off with him doing it and will have him do it few more times through out. (Good, since he's  explaining stuff, I don't have to, I'm going to take 5)  He ordered a special gift for his family, and the  opening of the movie establishes the other characters and how his family is around at Christmas. 

Look at this frog!/ Copyright ViacomCBS 

      He mentions that around his house, Christmas has traditions, remember this for later.  You  get a few seconds with each sister but learn about their personalities pretty quickly. If this is your entry into the show, they are doing  a good job of making you figure out the characters' notes pretty well. For the fans, you will be pleased at how accurately they got the characters down.

They stare at you/ Copyright ViacomCBS 

More after the Jump

Christmas: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

The Flashback Christmas 

         A look at the very very fist Rankin-Bass Christmas special, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" .  Rudolph, the character, was created  by Robert Lewis May in  a booklet for Montgomery Ward.  Then  of course, it was made into a song.  May's Brother-in-law adapted the story  in 1949.  There was a short film released in 1948 by Max Fleischer that predates the song and the special we are talking about this time. 

             Videocraft International (Rankin Bass) got  in idea of working on a special based off the song. I say song because, Romeo Muller, long time Rankin Bass writer, said that the special is based off the song because they couldn't find a copy of the book.  This was the first Christmas themed special from Rankin and Bass.  It first aired on December 6 1964 on NBC under the "General Electric Fantasy Hour" .  The special aired on CBS since 1972 and Freefrom, the cable network, currently airs a version from the current owners of the special, Universal.   It has distinction of being the longest continuously running Christmas TV special. 

          Something that became a mainstay for the company later, but didn't at the start. They had to take a short song and make that work for an hour long (with ads) special.  At the time Christmas specials had to be hour long, Charlie Brown's team broke the door open to make it where networks could have 30 minute specials. 

        

                  The special decides to fill in some of the gaps from the song, which is a more story song, so that did give them some material.  They really needed to get from "Join in any Reindeer Games" to "Then one Foggy Christmas Eve" with something happening between those lines.   

  

                The special gives us what later becomes something Rankin Bass liked doing for their Christmas specials, a narrator and host to present the story to the viewer. In this case it's Burl Ives as a snowman named Sam. (He's not Frosty, does he know Frosty? I don't know)  It's two years after the big snow storm that's not mentioned in the song. (Foggy Christmas Eve not Blizzard of the century)

Don't ask him about Frosty, for the love of everything please don't / Copyright NBC Universal

         Burl Ives'  voice is a comforting hug guiding you through the story. He explains how everyone in Christmas Town is preparing for uhhh Christmas. ( I want to see how they prepare for Halloween)  Mrs. Claus wants Santa to eat eat eat, and get fat because she wants to put on  the appearance for some reason, even though kids are supposed to be sleeping! (Hmm she wants that insurance money) 

 

       He alludes to big snow storm (the NFL owns the term Super Snow)  and  now he mentions Rudolph and we are like what the heck , who's Rudolph? He's there to tell us the story using the song (yay!) ( I mean if Rudolph is that famous then we should already know him, this would be his E! True Hollywood Story episode, and we made reference  80% of you don't get, wonderful!)  

   

       You know Donner, well he's apparently, Santa's lead reindeer and now he's a father, the father of Rudolph.  The parents notice that Rudolph's nose  lights up (do they hear the annoying noise it makes too?)  and they are shocked.  Santa shows up to see the new reindeer is also surprised by the nose. Santa has time to sing a song. (The songs help fill time)   This is a song Santa sings about his jingle bells and that he's the king of jingling. (I fight him for that title, any time, come on! )  

I also might eat the reindeer that can't pull my sleigh / Copyright NBC Universal 

       Donner worries that his son won't be good enough for Santa and decides to give Rudolph a false nose.  This also sets up the villain of the special, the Abominable Snow Monster, who will be part of this special later, when we need him for plot driving.  

     The other plot because, there's no way this special could last an hour on just Rudolph's story, includes Santa's elves. There's one named Hermey who even looks different to the other elves(minus the head elf)  and he doesn't like to make toys.  The others are confused and disturbed by this, he wants to be a dentist. (He found out he can get more vacation days as one)  

Well, some elves are Santa's lawyers, why can  I be a dentist?/ Copyright NBC Universal 

more after the jump

Thanksgiving: The Thanksgiving that Almost wasn't

Thanksgiving The Flashback 

                Our quest to find and write about Thanksgiving specials continues, with a Hanna-Barbera special from 1972. Not much about this special I could about, besides it was made for syndication and eventually fell out of that then ran on Cartoon Network and later Boomerang,but they gave up on that too. 

         The special starts in the present day with two adults adult sounding children playing on the swing and have to come inside because it's Thanksgiving.  The special finds the prayer not that interesting and goes to talking squirrels whom are also celebrating Thanksgiving.  Father Squirrel then mentions that his relative back in 1620, Jeremy Squirrel,  actually is the reason for Thanksgiving. (Ah yes the true story, the history books are lying because they are propaganda afraid of the truth!  Hanna and Barbera knew the truth and made this cartoon!) 

Squirrels are the truth and answer/ Copyright H&B

             The special takes us  back to 1620 where the pilgrims made it to the new world. Being there in Massachusetts in winter was a bad time ot try and live and build a house.   Eventually,  it's spring 1621, and the natives have showed up, and  this special zooms past all this time, like calm down.  Jeremy is doing squirrel stuff. There's a pilgrim boy named Johnny Cook, he's part of this special too, that's why he has a name.   (Don't we all)

Johnny Cook , that's me/Copyright H&B

           There's a native boy who is also part of the plot, and they can understand the talking squirrel. (Oh great!) He tells Johnny and Little Bear (Hanna and Barbera didn't sue Nelvana) that they shouldn't be fighting each other but be friends, and there peace was done.  (Jeremy later stopped every war that happened from ever happening, but they made up wars for history books)   I'm surprised they didn't kill Jeremy for being a possessed witch. 

So is he evil?/ Copyright H&B

     There's a song about Thanksigiving, because finally, Thanksgiving music.  It also allows H&B to reuse animation.  The boys run off playing hunter again and chase some creatures as Jeremy tries to make they won't get lost. It has time for cartoon humor too.  Everyone in the colony noticed the boys were missing and they are worried. (This is worrying, because these are the only kids there)  Johnny and Little Bear are lost.  

I think we are lost./Copyright H&B

            I think some Scooby Doo music got lost and made it here too. Good thing Jeremy saves them from that waterfall.  He helps them find the settlement, and there's a song with the two boys singing because sure. They walk some goofy ways to get home. (More reuse of animation too!) Jeremy gets some other animals to watch the boys while, he goes out to tell the others where they went.  (Glad, everyone accepts talking animals)  Then of course, there's a wolf , who doesn't speak the language so he just wants to eat them. Apparently, the squirrel can only be understood by the kids, the adults just listen to a squirrel make noises but take the time to listen to him anyway.   Jeremy confuses the wolf and gets him off the boys track, and more Scooby Doo background music plays.  Eventually, the boys and everyone else are reunited. Jeremy was invited as guest of honor, because alright.   

So we aren't eating him?/ Copyright H&B

        The special ends with the squirrels celebrating Thanksgiving in the present. 

           It's not the best special, not the worst, it's there. There's a lot of the reuse of animation, because H&B did that. If you want to complain about historical accuracy, then you are being mad at a special that says a talking squirrel saved Thanksgiving, so who looks silly?  It might be fun to watch as a silly little Thanksgiving special from the 1970's and not really anything that's too high concept or trying to tell the story of the holiday or anything like that.  The songs are there and alright as well. 

 That's our lookback, tune in next time when we tell you how a Weasel saved Thanksgiving of 1983. 

  

             

NBC Releases Midseason Premiere Dates

NBC Midseason 2022  Winter 

     NBC has released its midseason schedule.  Of note, NBC has decided to put some comedy on Monday Night, which has been CBS' night for years.  New Season of  Kenan will be airing back to back on Mondays starting January 3rd.  The final season of  This is US starts on January 4th.  

     The original Law & Order is back on February for it's 21st season  on February 24th. NBC will be giving the entire Thursday Night to their Law& Order series.  The Blacklist will air on Thursdays until then then move to Fridays starting February 25th. 

    NBC is the network with the Super Bowl this year, they also have the Winter Olympics which run from February 4-20.  Super Bowl LVI airs on February 13 and NBC will be airing Olympics coverage after. 

  

   Regular programming is back on Monday, February 21 with the premiere of  the American Song Contest and a new drama  The Endgame .

      In March, new series The Thing About Pam premieres on March 8 , with new seasons of   Young Rock and Mr. Mayor on the 15th.

Here's the full schedule all times ET/PT unless otherwise noted 

Sunday, January 2

7-8:20pm /4-5:20pm PT Football Night in America 

8:20-11pm/5:20-8pm PT NBC Sunday Night Football 

Monday, January 3

8pm Kenan (Season 2 Premiere) 

8:30pm Kenan 

9pm  That's My Jam (Time Period Premiere) 

10pm Ordinary Joe (Season 1B Premiere) 

Tuesday, January 4

8pm  American Auto (Time Period Premiere) 

8:30pm Grand Crew  (Time Period Premiere) 

9pm This is  US (Season Premiere) 

10pm New Amsterdam (Season 4B Premiere) 

Wednesday, January 5

8pm Chicago Med

9pm Chicago Fire

10pM Chicago P.D   

Thursdays, January 6 

8pm  The Blacklist 

9pm Law& Order:SVU

10pm  Law &Order :Organized Crime

Friday, January7

9-11pm Dateline NBC

Saturday, January 8

9pm Dateline Weekend Mystery

10pm SNL Vintage 

Post Olympics 

Monday, February 21

8-10pm American Song Contest (Series Premiere) 

10pm The End  Game (Series Premiere) 

Tuesday, February 22

8pm American  Auto

8:30pm Grand Crew 

9pm This is US 

10pm New Amsterdam 

Wednesday, February 23

8pm Chicago Med 

9pm  Chicago Fire

10pm Chicago PD 

Thursday, February 24

8pm  Law& Order (Series Revival Premiere) 

9pm  Law &Order : SVU

10pm Law&Order : Organized Crime 

Friday, February 25

8pm The Blacklist (new time) 

9-11pm Dateline NBC

Tuesday, March 8

10pm The Thing About Pam  (Series Premiere) (Note: This is a limited Six episode series, New Amsterdam will return  to this slot on April 20) 

Tuesday, March 15

8pm  Young Rock (Season 2 Premiere) 

8:30pm Mr. Mayor (Season 2 Premiere) 

Press Release after the Jump 

NBC announces Holiday programming 2021

NBC Christmas Thanksgiving New Year Holidays 

        NBC has released their holiday programming schedule.  This incudes the traditional broadcasts of "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade",  "National Dog Show" , "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" , "The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lightning"  ,and more. 

    Here are the programing highlights , all times are ET unless otherwise stated 

Wednesday, November 24

9-11pm  A Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving 

Thursday, November 25

9-12pm  Macy's Thanksgiving Parade (repeat 2pm) (same times all time zones) 

12-2pm  National Dog Show  (same time all time zones) (repeat November 27 at 8pm) 

Friday, November 26

8pm  How the Grinch Stole Christmas

8:30pm 5 More Sleeps 'Til Christmas (new) 

9pm  Trolls' Holiday in Harmony

Wednesday, December 1

8-10pm  89th Annual Christmas in Rockefeller Center 

10pm  Kelly Clarkson Presents when Christmas Comes Around 

Thursday, December 2

8-11pm Annie Live!

Saturday, December 4

8-11pm  It's a Wonderful Life

Monday, December 6

10pm   Michael Bublé's Christmas Party

Wednesday, December 15

9:30pm  A Very Chrisley Christmas 

10pm Kelly Clarkson Presents when Christmas Comes Around 

Thursday, December 16

8-9pm  The L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth

Friday, December 17

8-10pm Sing  (movie) 

Monday, December 20

8-11pm Annie! Live 

Wednesday, December 22

8-10pm Dr. Seuss' The Grinch

10pm   Michael Bublé's Christmas Party

Friday,  December 24

8-11pm  It's a Wonderful Life 

11:30pm-1am Christmas Eve Mass

Saturday, December 25

8pm How the Grinch Stole Christmas 

Saturday, January 1, 2022

11:30am-1pm/8:30-10:30pt  The Rose Parade 

Press Release after the Jump