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November 2008 Archives
YULE TUBE: 'M*A*S*H,' 'X-Files' added
November 28, 2008 10:48 PM
Latest adds to our Christmas listings --
Episodes of M*A*S*H, Boston Legal, The X-Files . . . Movies like George C. Scott's A Christmas Carol . . . About 732 more airings of Larry the Cable Guy's Christmas Spectacular . . . And more!
Click the links in the CHRISTMAS SHOWS ON TV box.
YULE TUBE: Christmas TV listings ! Hundreds of 'em !
November 27, 2008 6:18 PM
They're heeeeere . . .
Up and ready for reading are my continually updated listings for TV airings of all kinds of Christmas shows (and the occasional Hanukkah and kwanzaa program, too).
Look for the new Christmas-on-TV box on our TV Worth Watching home page (down next to For Better or Werts). Here you'll find three handy-dandy links to hundreds of holiday-themed shows soon to be seen on national broadcast and cable channels.
The TV listings come in three separately linked categories --
- Christmas episodes, which means mostly scripted sitcoms and dramas with characters celebrating (or suffering from) the holiday.
- Christmas movies, which includes theatrical films old and new, plus made-for-TV movies, a genre proliferating of late. (Thank you, Lifetime and Hallmark.)
- Christmas specials, which collects just about everything else -- animated specials old and new, Christmas concerts/ballets, seasonal music videos and clip shows, reality/documentary programs, lifestyle shows (food, decor, etc.), tree-lightings, kids shows/cartoons, and other random inclusions.
Easy way to find specific shows:
Call up the Christmas category page, then type the show title into the "search" or "find" function within your browser (Internet Explorer/Firefox/Safari). In most browsers, typing command-F will bring up a search window to type the title in.
These listings may not contain every airing of every show, but I've been collating this massive holiday list for almost 20 years now, first in print at New York's daily newspaper Newsday, and more recently online. I've learned over the years how to track down nearly all of TV's Christmas offerings, but please forgive me for missing the occasional late-night airing or 14th repeat.
If you see any biggies overlooked -- I think I've accounted for all the Rudolph/Grinch/Charlie Brown classics -- please let me know by emailing "diane" at the name of this website.com. (Can't type the actual email address, lest it be spammed to death.)
Please visit our Christmas TV listings frequently -- I'll be adding more Christmas-themed listings continuously till The Big Day.
Also to come: Blog posts detailing where to find Christmas shows streaming online, free yule downloads, and more.
And if you like this yule tube coverage, try losing yourself in my book Christmas on Television, a 272-page love letter to everything festive the tube has had to offer -- from its circa-1950 beginnings through the next six decades, from Father Knows Best to Family Guy. It's a wide-ranging celebration of holiday-themed episodes, specials, movies, soap operas, game shows, commercials -- even Christmas TV in England, Mexico and Japan.
You can buy the five-star hardcover at an Amazon discount by clicking here. Or click anytime on the Christmas on Television book cover on the right side of the TV Worth Watching home page.
Happy holiday viewing!
WATCH THIS: 'Arrested Development' marathon
November 25, 2008 5:47 PM
So now we hear there'll be an Arrested Development feature film. Which only makes us want to revisit the fun of Fox' dysfunctional family-com more than ever. Which we get the chance to do on G4 all Thanksgiving Day.
Arrested Development kicks off its 11-hour marathon Thursday at 9 a.m. ET on G4 with the 2003 pilot, setting up the crazed Bluth family -- level-headed son Jason Bateman, loopy brothers Will Arnett and Tony Hale, simple-minded sis Portia de Rossi, dorkoid brother-in-law David Cross, scheming dad Jeffrey Tambor, alcohol-fueled mom Jessica Walter, and assorted hangers-on. Over three unfortunately low-rated seasons, their ranks would swell to include Liza Minnelli, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Henry Winkler, Charlize Theron and many others.
And let's not forget producer Ron Howard's uncredited narration, which helped bridge all the cutaways, flashbacks and sudden shifts in perspective that made this comedy all the more effective, but seemed to confuse viewers who might have arrived expecting a conventional sitcom.
Conventional was definitely not the word for creator Mitch Hurwitz' playful concoction, which even made fun of its time slot competition and its own product placement. Watch and wallow, too, online with Hulu or via extras-crammed DVDs.
YULE TUBE: It's almost here!
November 24, 2008 12:23 PM
TV Worth Watching's epic list of Christmas show airings, that is.
Our detailed yule cavalcade should be ready for posting later this week, if I can wrestle into submission all the hundreds of holiday-themed episodes, movies, specials and cartoons airing over the next six weeks. We'll have dates, times and channels for all, in a handy chronological list you won't want to miss!
In the meantime, a few imminent entries to tide you over, from Monk to Mork:
Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET, Comedy Central -- A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! encores with Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, John Legend, Feist and more. Also repeats Tuesday night at midnight, Thursday at 11:30 p.m., Friday at 3 p.m., all times ET.
Thursday (Thanksgiving) at 1 p.m. ET, TNT -- The Closer encores its two-hour holiday adventure, "Next of Kin."
Friday at 1 p.m. ET, Sci Fi -- Mork & Mindy celebrates Mork's first Christmas.
Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, TBS -- Seinfeld has Elaine sending an inadvertently revealing photo Christmas card.
Friday 9 and 10 p.m. ET, USA -- Monk helps homeless people solve a murder, while Psych gets surprised after springing a mall Santa from jail -- both new Christmas-themed adventures.
Friday night film festivity -- Seasonal cinema begins in earnest with a channel-switching double-up of Will Ferrell's Elf at 7 p.m. ET on USA and Tim Allen's The Santa Clause at 9 p.m. ET on TBS.
Friday at 6 p.m. ET, HGTV -- What's With That Really Decked Out Christmas House? spotlights decorating overkill.
Saturday at 1 p.m. ET, Fine Living -- Martha Stewart's Christmas Special helps plan holiday entertaining.
Saturday on PBS stations (check local listings) -- The Lawrence Welk Show presents a tuneful '60s holiday flashback.
YULE TUBE: Christmas comedy from Colbert and that cable guy
November 19, 2008 8:24 PM
Well, here are two different approaches to comedy, all right -- Larry the Cable Guy's Star Studded Christmas Extravaganza (Friday at 9 p.m. ET, CMT) and A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! (Sunday at 10 p.m. ET, Comedy Central).
Both new specials try to revive the variety tradition in their own ways: redneck raucousness and sarcastic smarm. So shoot us for liking both.
Larry the Cable Guy isn't kidding about that title. His live concert celebration comes packin' lots of star power -- Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall, Lewis Black, Tony Orlando, Toby Keith, Blake Shelton, Fred Willard, Joey Fatone, Terry (please, please don't sing) Bradshaw, and many more.
Colbert gets excited about the season, too -- excited enough to be "sporting a yule log." (Heh-heh.) Marooned for the holiday in his snowy mountain cabin [pictured above], the "broadcasting legend" still manages to cross paths with Jon Stewart, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Feist, the ubiquitous Toby Keith and, our favorite, Willie Nelson, who offers a personal Christmas carol about that "wonder weed" so dear to his heart (and lungs).
Second chances, all times ET: Larry the Cable Guy's Star Studded Christmas Extravaganza repeats Friday at 10:30 p.m., Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and 1 a.m., Sunday at 8 and 11:30 p.m., and pretty much daily beyond that, so check listings. A Colbert Christmas repeats Sunday night at midnight, Tuesday at 10 p.m. and midnight, and subsequent times, so check listings.
FLICK PICKS: Ray Bradbury meets Lon Chaney on TCM
November 19, 2008 7:39 PM
Two of our faves come together Thursday night like peanut butter and jelly. If peanut butter influenced jelly, that is.
It's Lon Chaney via Ray Bradbury on Turner Classic Movies' monthly guest programmer night, where the Fahrenheit 451 author picks flicks and discusses with host Robert Osborne what they mean to him. Bradbury's first two selections: Chaney's classics The Phantom of the Opera (Thursday at 8 p.m. ET) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (9:45 p.m. ET).
Bradbury has effused at length in various documentaries about his childhood passion for the elder Chaney -- the silent screen's versatile "man of a thousand faces" -- and here the 88-year-old sci-fi legend chooses two of Chaney's best-known titles, from his mid-1920s stint at the Universal studio. Each involves a ton of the makeup mastery for which Chaney remains renowned -- experts still can't figure how he accomplished some of it -- helping the actor evoke the pathos of outcast 
characters in tender performances. Immerse yourself in Chaney's work the way the young Bradbury and his contemporary audience did -- paying rapt attention to the screen, without the distractions of chatting and popcorn-eating that overtook the art once sound blared its way into movie theaters.
After this visually absorbing double feature come two equally imposing triumphs from Bradbury's early adulthood. Alfred Hitchcock made his Hollywood debut, after his distinguished British career, with 1940's stark romance suspenser Rebecca (Thursday at 11:45 p.m. ET), starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. Then it's another directing giant -- Orson Welles [photo below], in his 1941 film debut, the always fascinating Citizen Kane (2 a.m. ET). That one I've probably seen 60 times, and it always seems to be a fresh discovery. Amazing.
Like Chaney.
YULE TUBE: It's beginning to look a lot like . . .
November 14, 2008 5:27 PM
C'mon, it's only six weeks away! So no more complaints about Christmas coming too early. TV is officially declaring the season "on" this weekend, offering a fresh holiday episode and a new yule standup special.
First up: The Bill Engvall Show, old-time sitcom! (You know, like Slap Shot's six-fisted Hanson Brothers declaring "Old-time hockey!") We didn't used to consider hard-sell familycom laugh-track punchlines "quality TV," but now that they're so scarce, we're finding ourselves strangely drawn to their cliche-ridden merriment.
Besides, the supporting cast includes a few of our faves -- Nancy Travis (Almost Perfect), Tim Meadows (Saturday Night Live) and Brian Doyle-Murray (Bakersfield, P.D., and could it come out on DVD sometime soon, pretty please?).
Their new Christmas outing (premiering Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on TBS) is pretty standard kids-too-busy-for-family-traditions stuff, but Engvall makes an amiable enough holiday obsessive. And the situations are delivered with enough conviction and verve to make all the expected happenings feel fresh again.
Next up: Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special (premiering Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on Comedy Central) -- with puppets! The ventriloquist comic is syrupy on the season, too, but his characters aren't: crinkle-faced crank Walter, trailer trash Bubba J, naughty creature Peanut, skeleton-y Achmed the Dead Terrorist (now disguised as Santa).
The Milwaukee-shot standup hour makes sure to show that it's hip to all the Christmas tricks -- fake snow and backdrops, et al -- while Dunham's split (voice) personality allows him to express both cynicism and seasonal spirit. (An extended version of Dunham's special hits DVD Tuesday, Nov. 18.)
This isn't the last of TV's Christmas cheer, of course -- not by a loooong shot. And all the festivity will be collected here at TV Worth Watching's yule tube HQ. You'll be seeing a surfeit of seasonal listings, reviews, video links, DVD holidays, and more. Not for nothing am I the queen of Christmas on Television . . .
(Second chances: The Bill Engvall Show holiday episode repeats Monday at 11 p.m. ET and Saturday Nov. 22 at 5 p.m. ET on TBS. Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special repeats Sunday at 10 p.m. ET, Tuesday at 10 p.m. and midnight ET, and Sunday Nov. 23 at 9 p.m. ET, leading in to the premiere of A Colbert Christmas.)
Here's a preview of Engvall's holiday hoopla --
BUY THIS: James Bond DVD deal
November 14, 2008 11:24 AM
Maybe this isn't technically a TV-source set, but the films so constantly repeat on the tube, they might as well count.
James Bond Ultimate Collector's Set includes every 007 flick through Daniel Craig's Casino Royale -- and Amazon marks it down today (Friday) to just $90.
That's for 21 movies on 42 discs!
Click here to buy this deal of the day (while supplies last).
GET THIS: Inside scoop on the ratings
November 11, 2008 1:03 PM
Curious what the ratings are for your favorite show? Wondering if it's waiting for the ax to fall? All network-related answers reside at The Programming Insider, a great weekday e-letter from Mediaweek's Mr. Television columnist, Marc Berman. He's got overnight ratings numbers, series opinions, longer-term trend observations, and a fun daily trivia question about vintage tube faves.
Marc is an entertaining read who's also a go-to straightshooter when critics need quotes to shed light on TV's numbers game. He's got decades of experience in the biz, including stints in network research. Yet he's no geek, always appreciating TV from a viewer's perspective. (Please forgive him his Big Brother obsession.)
This guy loves the tube as much as Dave and I do. And that's no small crush.
Subscribe to The Programming Insider -- it's free -- by visiting the Mediaweek site and clicking on Newsletter Sign Up (top right corner of page, in orange letters). Marc also does a daily podcast, if you want to hear it straight from Mr. Television's mouth.
WATCH ONLINE: 'Studs' Place'
November 11, 2008 6:32 AM
Studs Terkel wasn't just a prolific author, grassroots historian and radio personality. The Chicago institution, who died Oct. 31 at age 96, also did some groundbreaking TV work in the medium's infancy.
Now available to view online, Studs' Place was his freewheeling "dramatic equivalent of jazz," as described in this web salute to Terkel's contributions to the laid-back "Chicago school of television."
Back in 1949-51, Terkel invited folks to sit around talkin' in this improvisational slice-of-life about the denizens of a Chicago diner. "Imagine Studs' Place as Cheers without alcohol, without a laugh track and without a script" is the way Rich Samuels' loving appreciation describes it.
"Terkel, arms waving, words exploding in bursts, leaning close to his talking companions, didn't merely conduct interviews," the Chicago Tribune's Rick Kogan wrote of Studs' Place in Terkel's obituary. "He engaged in conversations. He was interested in what he was talking about and who he was talking to."
The series was a precursor to the two careers for which the former radio actor would become best known. In 1952, Terkel began hosting shows on Chicago's WFMT arts radio station, where he could be heard on-air weekdays for 45 years. And in 1967, when he was 55, Terkel became a bestselling author with Division Street: America, collecting the tales of ordinary American workers. (He'd previously written 1957's Giants of Jazz.) He went on to pen Hard Times, Working, The Good War and other oral histories. (You can watch a CSPAN Book TV interview here, conducted last year in Terkel's Chicago home.)
Terkel humbly reflected and recorded a century in the life of everyday Americans, in their own voices. Who will be our next Studs Terkel?
FLICK PICKS: All-star Veteran's Day
November 11, 2008 3:14 AM
There's the battlefront. Then there's the homefront. Where they intersect -- in movies, at least -- is in star-studded R&R. Turner Classic Movies salutes Veteran's Day tonight with three of those entertain-the-troops extravaganzas so popular in the 1940s during World War II.
This Is the Army (Tuesday at 9 p.m., TCM) has an entertainer's kid staging a show with his fellow soldiers. The war's real-life Lt. Ronald Reagan stars as the offspring, who gets help from 17 Irving Berlin songs, plus cameos from boxing champ Joe Louis and singers Kate Smith and Frances Langford.
Hollywood Canteen (11:15 p.m., TCM) has Bette Davis spearheading work at the Tinseltown nightclub, where the parade past visiting soldiers includes Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Jack Benny, Roy Rogers (and Trigger), the Andrews Sisters, and big-banders Jimmy Dorsey and Carmen Caballero, among others.
Stage Door Canteen (1:30 a.m., TCM) shifts the action to Manhattan, for appearances by Peggy Lee with Benny Goodman's band, Ethel Waters with Count Basie, Katharine Hepburn, Harpo Marx, Johnny Weissmuller, Tallulah Bankhead, and many more. Even Gypsy Rose Lee!
Preceding it all is the new hour documentary Warner at War (8 p.m., TCM), chronicling the Warner Bros. studio's undertakings to support the war effort.
TV WORTH BUYING: '24' sale!
November 7, 2008 12:10 PM
Need to catch up on your 24? Amazon has the first six seasons of Kiefer Sutherland's Fox heartstopper on sale today (Friday, Nov. 7) for $98.
That's ALL six seasons for less than $100 total -- 75 percent off list.
Click here to buy this deal of the day.
ELECTION NIGHT: Shep's got the goods
November 5, 2008 11:15 AM
It wasn't just Barack Obama marking a generational sea change on election night. As veteran anchors seasoned in the '60s and '70s held forth on most major channels, Shepard Smith was pointing the way toward the future on Fox network news.
The 44-year-old was at the center of two of the most amazing moments I saw while flipping channels during a workday's worth of nighttime election returns.
Smith got personal, but not maudlin, soon after Obama's victory was declared when west coast polls closed at 11 p.m. ET. He quietly noted into the camera that he remembered, as a kid growing up in a Mississippi small town, his parents explaining to him why the local movie theater was burning down -- because black people were forced to sit in the balcony while he could take a seat on the main floor. And now someone who would have been relegated to that balcony was instead becoming president. Smith told this seismic-shift story calmly but with clear emotion, never letting his feelings get the best of succinctly relating a rich anecdote.
An even better moment -- both personally and professionally, and demonstrating beautifully how those aspects can coexist without tripping over each other -- came well after midnight. At an hour the networks were essentially filling time and spinning commentary, Smith was interviewing third-party 1-percenter Ralph Nader -- who made the astounding pronouncement that he was now waiting to see if Obama would become Uncle Sam or Uncle Tom. Smith was clearly appalled by the uncalled-for racial edge to what already seemed a bitter cheap-shot, yet he reacted with the simple human response, "Are you kidding me?" He even asked Nader if he wanted to reconsider the exact words he'd uttered during a live interview, but the legendary consumer advocate and more recent presidential spoiler set his jaw and proudly responded, "Not at all."
Smith smartly cut to commercial before returning to ask his panel of pundits, again calmly but with quite personal puzzlement, "What was that?" He said it the way younger people do, not with overt condemnation or true confusion, but to convey "Geez. Weird. Did that really happen?" Which was the perfect reaction to such an off-the-wall moment from a man seeking to be considered a serious leader. No judgment needed be spoken.
Smith's Fox network work was professional without being impassive, and personal without being gushy -- a bullseye lots of other channels missed by a mile. He also demonstrated that news doesn't have to be sliced and diced into music video snippets to reflect younger tastes and attitudes. (Yes, Current, we mean you.) Where so many of this election's anchors were long-timers taking a last lap -- not that there's anything wrong with that -- it was great to see Smith freshly racing toward the future.
NEWS FLASH: 'World News' goes one-hour tonight
November 5, 2008 9:07 AM
Katie Couric says last week she wants a one-hour newscast, and Charlie Gibson goes and one-ups her by actually doing it. For one night, anyway.
Wednesday night's ABC "World News" expands to 6:30-7:30 p.m. ET to hold all the post-election reporting and analysis. Says ABC: "The extended broadcast will examine reaction around the country and the world, the challenges facing the new administration, plus the historical significance of the racial barriers that fell last night."
You'll have to go elsewhere for Alex Trebek.
VOTE HERE: Not the same old election coverage
November 3, 2008 1:30 PM
Everybody's into election coverage this year, not just the big broadcast networks and cable news channels. That means a broader range of perspectives and wider-ranging alternatives.
Current goes Digg-ing. BET lets you Be Heard. Dan Rather recruits college reporters. DirecTV has its multi-screen Election Mix, and DISH Network goes mosaic, too.
Among Tuesday's most offbeat 2008 election coverage alternatives:
Current Diggs the Election (starting at 7 p.m. ET, Current) -- Real-time social media contribute to what this youth-aimed channel touts as "the future of election coverage." Digg and Twitter are "co-hosting" the night's results, with video from 12seconds.tv and a live DJ set by Diplo. Their promise: "No pundits, just perspective."
Dan Rather Reports On Politics: Election Night 2008 (starting at 7 p.m. ET, HDNet) -- The veteran newsman anchors before a live audience at the Newseum in Washington, presenting footage from 12 college correspondents reporting from New Hampshire to Florida, Delaware to Alaska.
BBC America/BBC World News (starting at 6 p.m. ET) -- Ricky Gervais, Christopher Hitchens, Bill Bradley, Karen Hughes, Gore Vidal and others join anchors David Dimbleby and Matt Frei in Washington, with analysis from Ted Koppel and reports from BBC correspondents in key states. BBC coverage streams live all evening on bbc.com, which also carries live blog commentary from both elections experts and viewers.
BET News: Be Heard Election 2008 (starting at 8 p.m., BET) -- Jeff Johnson anchors, with reports from correspondents at Obama and McCain headquarters, among other locations. Commentators include Keith Boykin, Jamal Simmons, Keli Goff and Angela McGlowan. Viewers are invited to interact via bet.com/beheard with comments and videos showing their voting experiences. Prime-time coverage also streams at bet.com/onblast. Special BET news coverage continues all day Wednesday.
TV One's Election Night 08: A Vote for Change (starting at 7 p.m. ET, TV One) -- Reporting for this adult-aimed African-American cabler are Arthur Fennell, Joe Madison and Jacque Reid, with commentators including Michael Eric Dyson, Tom Joyner, Roland Martin (reporting from CNN Election Headquarters), and pollster Shawnta Walcott.
DirecTV Election Mix Channel (DirecTV Chs. 102 and 352, from 7 p.m. ET) -- One screen splits to show eight feeds -- the four broadcast networks, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSBNC and alternating feeds of Comedy Central when it’s live and BBC America -- and a real-time election results blog. The same as on DirecTV's sports feeds, viewers with interactive receivers can listen to audio on any channel or select one to watch full-screen.
DISH Network mosaic (DISH Ch. 100, continuing through Nov. 7) -- The satellite service showcases six networks' coverage simultaneously on a single screen -- CNN, Fox News, Headline News, MSNBC, CSPAN and CSPAN2 -- from which users can choose any individual network for full-screen format.
And if you speak Spanish:
- Destino 2008: Noche de Elecciones (7 p.m. ET, Univision)
- Decision 2008 (7 p.m., Telemundo)
- Participa 2008 (7 p.m., V-Me on PBS digital subchannels)
South Park (Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET, Comedy Central) -- After the votes are counted, Trey Parker and Matt Stone do another quick turnaround. Wednesday's new episode, titled "About Last Night...," finds the victorious candidate already taking action: "A new President has been elected, and the citizens of South Park are partying in the streets . . . While the country celebrates, the President-elect catches everyone off-guard when he arrives at the White House prematurely." (Sneak peek here.)
WATCH ONLINE: 'Golden age' archive
November 1, 2008 5:21 AM
You've heard that Paul Newman started out in live TV back in the 1950s. But where could you possibly see old kinescopes of that work?
Well, you could try the Internet Archive's robust online collection of classic television. And you would, in fact, find two examples of Newman on TV there, appearing in the 1952 fantasy series Tales of Tomorrow and a 1954 Armstrong Circle Theatre installment titled The Contender with Inger Stevens (photo above). Just click and watch.
But why stop there? What about Johnny Carson's pre-Tonight Show game show Do You Trust Your Wife? (Photo at right.) Or early sitcoms like My Little Margie and I Married Joan? Fantasy anthologies like One Step Beyond? Even creaky early soaps like Love of Life? (With vintage commercials!)
They're all there at the Internet Archive. You can not only stream these vintage goodies but download them, too, for later viewing on your computer or portable device. You could build a pretty nifty "golden age" archive of your own here.
Some of the titles are familiar: Ozzie & Harriet, The Jack Benny Show, The Cisco Kid, Victory at Sea. Some obscure: Beulah (see photo), Diver Dan, unsold TV pilots. There are big-name rareties: Andy Griffith's original U.S. Steel Hour version of No Time for Sergeants, The Betty Hutton Show, the immortal Captain Video. And variety vehicles: Dinah Shore, Red Skelton, Ed Wynn. Even the occasional color episode from more recent years -- er, decades -- like 1973's Bob Denver cowboy-com Dusty's Trail. (Think Gilligan's Island out west.)
There are commercials, too, hundreds of them, plus other Internet Archive sections devoted to news coverage, industrial and educational films, feature films and more.
It's so easy to dive in and lose complete track of time. Don't forget to Beat the Clock!
