Just me logging the Christmas stuff I watch as I watch it....
American Movies and TV
It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
A classic that really puts you through the wringer. I can’t watch it every year, or in front of other family members - let alone strangers.
The Captain and the Kids - The Captain's Christmas (1938)
Decent vintage cartoon.
The Christmas Carol 1949
Bare budget ultra condensed version notable mostly for Vincent Price’s wonderful turn as narrator and a woefully miscast Scrooge.
A Christmas Cartoon (1942)
A Castle Films release of an earlier cartoon (Toyland) bookended with a live-action family who watch the cartoon on dad’s home movie setup.
British TV
Brainiac Test Tube Baby Christmas Special (2006)
Frenetic over the top extreeeeeme science show. I gave up.
Never Mind the Buzzcocks Xmas
I’ve long had a soft spot for NMtB ever since an old friend in the UK started sending me off the air VHS recordings. That said an edgy snark fest doesn’t necessarily make a heartwarming holiday experience.
Season 9
This not particularly festive episode welcomes guests Belinda Carlisle, Johnny Vegas and former Marillion frontman Fish. Team captains are Phil Jupitus and the late Sean Hughes (of one of my favorite Britcoms Sean’s Show).
Season 15
Noddy Holder, Bad Manners and The Wurzels are among the guests so it isn’t a total loss and there’s actually some Christmas content.
Season 17
Aled Jones is the only guest of note. Better than the first, not nearly as much fun as the second.
Quite a bit of politically incorrect humor coming from these generally very hard left comedians. Times have changed. My college-age son can’t believe the things coming out of the television as I watch these programs from the stone age of the nineties and early oughties.
Carols From Kings (2006)
A far cry from Never Mind the Buzzcock’s, but these days only marginally less politically incorrect. People gathered together in a Church, singing religious songs with no masks, social distancing, or unwelcome political commentary.
These are obviously fairly similar every year, it’s part of what makes them an enduring tradition. The sound quality, video resolution, and hairstyles may change but the music and the message stay fairly consistent.
Simply lovely.
Rainbow - Indoor Plants 1972
A, just, post Xmas installment of brit kids show Rainbow. Still, fairly festive in bits.
A Cup O’ Tea and a Slice O’ Cake
A Worzel Gummidge Christmas special. Delightful! It’s a shame Worzel Gummidge never gained popularity in the States.
