Christmas Favorites

[zekko]

I have a number of Christmas themed shows I like, It's a Wonderful Life, Christmas Vacation, A Charlie Brown Christmas, several different versions of A Christmas Carol. But I saw this particular show last night, and it prompted me to make this thread. It's the Twilight Zone episode "The Night of the Meek", with the great Art Carney as a drunken department store Santa. I make it a point to try and watch it every year around the holidays, it's part of my traditions.

Anyone else have any Christmas favorites that they've made a habit to watch every year?

 

[christie]

I have a number of Christmas themed shows I like, It's a Wonderful Life, Christmas Vacation, A Charlie Brown Christmas, several different versions of A Christmas Carol. But I saw this particular show last night, and it prompted me to make this thread. It's the Twilight Zone episode "The Night of the Meek", with the great Art Carney as a drunken department store Santa. I make it a point to try and watch it every year around the holidays, it's part of my traditions.

Anyone else have any Christmas favorites that they've made a habit to watch every year?

That Twilight Zone one sounds good. All those are good but the two mainstays in my family growing up were 'Its a Wonderful Life' and 'A Christmas Story' I think there was a Rudolph oldtime cartoon that we always used to watch at Christmas too.
There was that one Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg movie 'Daddy's Home' that came out around Christmas time a few years ago that was hilarious!

 

[corrector]

I have a number of Christmas themed shows I like, It's a Wonderful Life, Christmas Vacation, A Charlie Brown Christmas, several different versions of A Christmas Carol. But I saw this particular show last night, and it prompted me to make this thread. It's the Twilight Zone episode "The Night of the Meek", with the great Art Carney as a drunken department store Santa. I make it a point to try and watch it every year around the holidays, it's part of my traditions.

Anyone else have any Christmas favorites that they've made a habit to watch every year?

Nativity 2008. National Lampoon Christmas Vacation, 1989. As of recent I would add Muppet's Christmas Carol, 1992 and Anne and the Apocalypse, 2017 because those two movies rocked with me. Too much noise from WW2 and other movies of interest leaving streaming services to focus on the holiday movies I had in mind which included some from your selection.

 

[zekko]

I've never seen Anna and the Apocalypse. I have access to it, I was considering watching it. Zombie movies seem kind of played out though.

That Twilight Zone one sounds good.

If you've never seen it, I highly recommend giving it a watch. It's under a half hour once you skip the commercials, so it's a small time investment. I'm a big Twilight Zone fan anyway, there are a lot of good episodes in there. Rod Serling was a great writer.

 

[corrector]

I've never seen Anna and the Apocalypse. I have access to it, I was considering watching it. Zombie movies seem kind of played out though.

This one is original in the sense it's a musical, (I included a clip of one of the songs in the November thread), and the songs are actually very catchy in their own right, and it has a holiday mood/spirit along with teenagers and it's a different take. As others have commented, it's like LA LA LAND meets Shaun of the Dead. I watched this movie once because it was "negative Christmas holiday" movie (must have been in a not so great mood at the time), but found myself re-playing some of the catchy tunes for a number of days afterwards and was pleasantly surprised by how good the music is. As an escapist movie, it does take you out with its mix of themes and music.

 

[Black Widow Void]

I usually watch the classic movie "Holiday Affair" but I'm now to the point that I have it almost memorized. There was also an early Andy Griffith show Christmas episode I enjoyed.every year, but again, I almost have it memorized. This year, I watched six Christmas episodes (one per season) of the "Bob Newhart Show."

By the way, if you enjoy the original Twilight Zone, I'd recommend (from that era) "Tales Of Tomorrow" "Lights Out" "One Step Beyond" and "Way Out." Although the "Outer Limits" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" are more well known, the others mentioned, are in my opinion more on par with the Twilight Zone.

 

[zekko]

(I included a clip of one of the songs in the November thread)

I saw that thread, and to be honest that's the only reason it's on my radar.

By the way, if you enjoy the original Twilight Zone, I'd recommend (from that era) "Tales Of Tomorrow" "Lights Out" "One Step Beyond" and "Way Out."

Wow, talk about deep cuts. I'm pretty old, but I don't think I've ever even heard of those, except maybe a dim memory of Way Out. Usually I'm pretty much on top of '60s pop culture. It looks like you can watch all those shows on YouTube for free, so that's good.

 

[Black Widow Void]

Wow, talk about deep cuts. I'm pretty old, but I don't think I've ever even heard of those, except maybe a dim memory of Way Out. Usually I'm pretty much on top of '60s pop culture. It looks like you can watch all those shows on YouTube for free, so that's good.

Many of these shows were on a low budget, but they make up for it by content. I use a youtube downloader that converts these to mp4 videos. If your television has a usb input, you can place these on a hard drive for later watching.

Speaking of 60's pop culture, If you enjoy music that's captures the essence rock and roll angst and without the over production commercial gloss, I'd recommend a 1960's garage music series called Back From The Grave .

 

[Mike32ct]

National Lampoon Christmas Vacation, 1989.

^This.

 

[SW15]

Home Alone (1990)
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

I like the 1960s versions of Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer, Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, etc. that are often still on TV.

 

[corrector]

I like the 1960s versions of Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer, Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, etc. that are often still on TV.

I pre-viewed the 1960s stop-animation Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer for the first 20 min on youtube on recommendation from the youtube channel watchmojo. The Elves headmaster was quite a colourful character, almost South-Park(ish) the way it felt. Frosty the Snowman was a short film so I watched the whole thing for the first time (another recommendation on that watchmojo channel), the sad part was when he was melted in that greenhouse. Have yet to see Charlie Brown Christmas but they are all probably floating around on youtube somewhere.

 

[christie]

I pre-viewed the 1960s stop-animation Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer for the first 20 min on youtube on recommendation from the youtube channel watchmojo. The Elves headmaster was quite a colourful character, almost South-Park(ish) the way it felt. Frosty the Snowman was a short film so I watched the whole thing for the first time (another recommendation on that watchmojo channel), the sad part was when he was melted in that greenhouse. Have yet to see Charlie Brown Christmas but they are all probably floating around on youtube somewhere.

Yes! Frosty was also a mainstay oldtime cartoon. My parents' cartoons. My parents grew up so similar it was eery. They always maintained that your mate match was someone with similar upbringing.

I miss those Christmas cartoons.

A couple of city kids have built Frostys all around the city. I did lots of driving around looking at lights and Frostys and all those blow up cartoon characters people are putting on lawns. An amazing amount of Christmas spirit and morale this year.

I'll look up that cartoon now, lol.

 

[zekko]

Have yet to see Charlie Brown Christmas but they are all probably floating around on youtube somewhere.

That show was controversial because it has Linus in it quoting some scripture. The network at the time wanted it cut out, but Charles Schulz refused. I was a big Peanuts fan but I liked the comic strips better than the cartoons.