I love
the holidays and I love TV and more than anything I love holiday-themed episodes
of TV shows. These episodes were
part of my earliest holiday traditions: taped-from-TV VHS cassettes (yeah, I’m
that old) of Nick at Nite and Disney Channel holiday marathons, complete with
commercials. Every Halloween and
Christmas I watched these special episodes with a religious fervor, memorizing
them (commercials too) like the words to ancient carols. In our household Mary Tyler Moore, Bob
Newhart and Dick Van Dyke held positions of honor alongside other holiday icons
like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
As I
grew older my mania for holiday episodes grew with me. Shows started becoming available on DVD
and online and I increased my seasonal viewings to include more and more of
them, old favorites alongside newly discovered gems.
Watch
enough of these episodes and you begin to recognize shared themes and small
details. I started keeping a
record of my annual viewings, wrote short plot descriptions, developed a
ratings system and tracked common tropes. Each year I note how many episodes I
watch and try to top my previous record (I adhere to a strict policy of only
watching episodes during their appropriate timeframe, so Halloween episodes can
only be watched during October, Thanksgiving episodes in November and so on. It keeps them special and also adds a
slightly frenzied time limit that only adds to the thrill).
Outside
of the regular episode posts there will also be TV Special Spotlights, Film
Focuses, vintage holiday commercial goodness and all sorts of seasonal treats
to get you in a celebratory mood.
So won’t
you join me before the warming glow of your TV screen?
Happy Holidays & Season’s Screenings Everybody!
jessica, i mean, martin, i love your enthusiasm. thanks for dumping it on the world. wondering, though, if we will only be celebrating western holidays. what about broadening this tradition to other parts of the world. after all, the small screen has a big audience.
ReplyDeleteOh, have no fear. I have plans for a full roster of holidays, though in the coming months my focus will be on the Big (Western) 3 (Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas). The only problem is that not all holidays are represented by TV episodes but my research has unearthed some surprises. I supposed eventually I could branch out into subtitled, non-English shows. Stay tuned... and thanks for reading!
ReplyDeleteHappy October 1st! As a child in your same family, I also have a holiday obsession (ask my patient boyfriend) who has endured many screenings of cheesy movies like Halloween Town, Holiday Specials, TV sitcom holiday themed episodes and on and on. But I think Mom and Dad’s early parenting (much stricter with the older sibling), limited my TV viewing and thus has made you the expert on season screenings. I look forward to your blog, which will surly, get me in the holiday mood and introduce me to programs/episodes I have never seen. Girlfriends? Babysitters Club? I am already intrigued.
ReplyDeleteLove this Martin. And love Jordan's comments. I was there for that strict parenting and the not-so-strict parenting. I think you both came out well in any case!
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks Mary! You probably don't remember but I first watched "A Garfield Christmas" at your house, so you played a role in my burgeoning holiday TV obsession!
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