Monday, December 13, 2021

Yule Logged: A Very Boy Band Holiday, Baking It, Christmas Chronicles 2, MST3K, RiffTrax, Home to Roost, Steptoe and Son...

 

A Very Boy Band Holiday


Didn’t expect to like this at all, let alone as much as i did. I mean, it is what it is, but it was still a lot of cheesy fun. I don’t want to oversell this this thing though so I'll just move on…


Bob’s Burgers : Yachty or Nice (2020)



Pretty much the only decent animated show left and they usually do quality holiday episodes. This isn’t the best of the bunch though. It’s okay.


Baking It (2021)



Nope.


Michael Bublé:  Christmas in the City



Meh, but not terrible. If your a fan I’m sure its great. I’m not a fan.


Elf:  Buddy’s Musical Adventure



Why did they make this. Never mind, I know…IP exploitation for easy money. Unnecessary by definition, it’s just a remake of the film but lesser in every way imaginable. The animation’s quite nice but that's bout it.


Josh Gates Tonight  Merry Josh-mas



Seasonal episode of Josh’s talk show. It’s good, as one would expect.


The Christmas Chronicles II (2020)



The first one was fairly good, this one was fairly crap, No, really crap.


Mystery Science Theater 3000 : The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t


From the Crowdfunded / Netflix reboot that is sadly just an overthought, overwritten, under funny shadow of the original (and its spiritual successor RiffTrax.

The invention exchange, always hit and miss, is a miss but the riffing is, for the reboot, pretty good. The film being riffed, an Italian fantasy wherein Santa is facing foreclosure from the evil new owner of the North Pole, isn’t nearly as bad as the usual fare but is odd enough to provide decent riffing fodder. Heck, it’s a better film than CCII.


RiffTrax : He Sees You When Your Sleeping


A festive flick from the distaff side of RiffTrax. There are no host segments or skits in a RiffTrax joint, just pure riffing goodness. Bridget and Mary Jo are IMO the second-best riffing crew out there, just nudging ahead of The Mads but trailing behind Mike, Kevin and Bill  (no shame in that).


The Goes Wrong Show - The Spirit of Christmas / Nativity



From stage to small screen specials to small screen series the Mischief Theatre’s  “Goes Wrong” universe wherein an incompetent theater troupe makes frequent appearances on the BBC is, for me, one of the funniest comedies in ages. These two Christmas themed episodes, one from each of the two series thus far, aren’t the absolute best the show has to offer but they’re still both quite good - so much better than 99% of rest of the field in comedy today.

If you’re unfamiliar with the GoesWrongverse track down their first two specials featuring benighted productions of Peter Pan and, rather apropos for us, A Christmas Carol where they literally take over a Beeb production of Dicken’s holiday classic by force. 


Home to Roost - Family Ties (1987)

Excellent holiday episode of John “Inspector Morse” Thaw’s "divorced dad lumbered with adult kids" sitcom


Steptoe and Son The Party 1973

Terrific episode with the bonus of Are You Being Served’s Frank Thornton as a snooty travel agent.


Xmas Turkey on the Telly (2007)

Festive, food themed, clip show,.tending towards the edgy, much of which hasn’t aged all that well. Disappointing.


Santa’s Toyland 1984 Grand Forks, ND

Christmas kids chaos and cartoons.



Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra Christmas (1984)

More kid’s Christmas chaos of a more refined cacophonic variety. Charming for its lack of polish and professionalism.


Gary Moore Christmas 1959

Yet Moore Christmas chaos with this wonderful vintage variety show.