Rudolph-related stories
Posted Dec 24th 2008 12:03PM by Jay Black
Filed under: OpEd, Festivus, TV 101, Reality-Free
If there's one universal among TV Christmas specials it's this: they all seem to want to tell you what the "true" meaning of Christmas is. There are so many specials trying to explain the true meaning of Christmas, it actually makes you wonder if the power of TV to influence has been exaggerated. I mean, you'd think after watching approximately eleventy-five billion hours of holiday programming, we'd have gotten the point already.
Perhaps the reason why America continues to view Christmas less as a time for spiritual reflection than as one for reindeer sweaters, crass consumerism, and suicide contemplation is because our Christmas specials aren't really sending the messages that they claim to be. Sure, on the surface we're told about "peace on earth and goodwill to men, blah blah blah", but there's a bubbling subtext in these specials if you only look hard enough.
I've decided to put my New Jersey state college English degree to good use and break down what Christmas specials are
really saying...
Continue reading TV 101: The true meaning of TV Christmas specials (OR: You're a mean one, Mr. Black)
Posted Dec 11th 2008 4:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 8, CBS has a new Survivor, then new episodes of CSI and Eleventh Hour.- NBC has a new My Name Is Earl at 8, followed by new episodes of Kath & Kim, The Office, 30 Rock, and ER.
- FOX has a new Secret Millionaire at 8, then a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?
- ABC Family has The Year Without A Santa Claus at 8, followed by Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys and Twas The Night Before Christmas.
- AMC has the original The Day The Earth Stood Still at 8.
- Cartoon Network has a new Chowder at 8.
- At 9, Lifetime has the movie Christmas Child.
- CNN's Planet in Peril premieres at 9.
- TBS has the Festivus episode of Seinfeld at 9.
- Food Network has the special Dear Food Network: Holiday Parties at 9.
- Hallmark has the movie Moonlight and Mistletoe at 9.
- Also at 9: Spike has a new TNA Impact!
- At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Sarah Silverman Program.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk show listings.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: The Office, Eleventh Hour, Sarah Silverman
Posted Dec 10th 2008 4:04PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 8, ABC has a new Pushing Daisies, followed by new episodes of Private Practice and Dirty Sexy Money.- CBS has a new Old Christine at 8, then new episodes of Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY.
- NBC has the special Little Spirit: Christmas in New York at 8, followed by new episodes of Life and Law and Order.
- FOX has a new Secret Millionaire at 8.
- ABC Family has Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town at 8, followed by Rudolph's Shiny New Year.
- Discovery has two new episodes of Time Warp at 8.
- Travel Channel has The Most Christmasy Places in America at 8.
- At 9, The CW has a new Stylista.
- PBS has a new P.O.V. at 9.
- Food Network has the special Dear Food Network: Holiday Roast Beast at 9.
- There's a new Ghost Hunters on Sci-Fi at 9, then a new Estate of Panic.
- At 10, TBS has two new episodes of House of Payne.
- Discovery has a new Prototype This! at 10.
- A&E has two new episodes of Parking Wars at 10.
- USA has Elf at 10.
- Travel Channel has two new episodes of Man vs. Food at 10.
- Also at 10: Bravo has a new Top Chef.
- At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Chocolate News.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk show listings.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Old Christine, P.O.V., Stylista, Man Vs. Food
Posted Dec 3rd 2007 4:00PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, What To Watch Tonight
At 8, NBC has the season finale (fall finale?) of Chuck, then the season finale (fall finale?) of Heroes, and then a new Life (special night - part 2 airs Weds at 10). - ABC has A Charlie Brown Christmas at 8, followed by new episodes of Samantha Who?, Notes from the Underbelly, and October Road.
- ABC Family has Christmas specials starting at 8: The Year Without A Santa Claus, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer & The Island of Misfit Toys, and Nestor The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey.
- TNT has a new Christmas episode of The Closer at 8, then a new Saving Grace.
- Also at 8: Food Network has a new Good Eats, followed by a new The Secret Life Of...
- At 8:30, ESPN has the Patriots/Ravens game.
- At 9, FOX has a new K-Ville.
- USA has a new Monday Night RAW at 9.
- Lifetime has the movie A Dad For Christmas at 9.
- Sci-Fi has the second part of Tin Man. It's on at 9 as well.
Check your local TV listings for more.
Posted Sep 26th 2007 9:41AM by Will O'Brien
Filed under: OpEd, Eureka, Episode Reviews
(S02E12) Leading up to the season finale of a science fiction show can be tough.
Eureka's spent so much time dropping hints that they managed to pull off a decent episode and give a nice intro to the upcoming season finale. Things are anything but quiet. Beverly's back, Henry's cheesed off and Zoe wants to have a sleep over.
Continue reading Eureka: All That Glitters
Posted Jan 16th 2007 2:41PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: CBS, Daytime, Celebrities, Obituaries
Bold and the Beautiful star Darlene Conley died of stomach cancer on Sunday in Los Angeles.
She has starred on the show as Sally Spectra for 20 years, and was diagnosed with cancer only three months ago. Producers and writers were actually developing a storyline for her to deal with the diagnosis.
Besides The Bold and the Beautiful and three other soaps (Days of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless, and General Hospital), Conley guest-starred on several other TV shows, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Murder, She Wrote, Highway To Heaven, The Jeffersons, Little House on the Prairie, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Gunsmoke, Cagney and Lacey, and Ironside. She also did the voice of Mrs. Claus in Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July.
Posted Dec 28th 2006 8:10AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Game Show, Ratings
1.
NFL Post-Game Show (CBS)
2.
Deal Or No Deal (NBC)
3.
CSI (CBS)
4.
Identity - Mon (NBC)
5.
CSI: Miami (CBS)
6.
CSI: NY (CBS)
7.
NCIS (CBS)
8.
60 Minutes (CBS)
9.
Two and a Half Men (CBS)
10.
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (CBS)
11.
Shark (CBS)
12.
Criminal Minds (CBS)
13.
House (FOX)
14.
Identity - Thurs (FOX)
15.
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
16.
Charlie Brown: I Want A Dog For Christmas (CBS)
17.
Identity - Weds (NBC)
18.
Dateline - Weds (NBC)
19.
The Unit (CBS)
20.
Law and Order: SVU (NBC)
Posted Dec 24th 2006 6:02PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Animation, Festivus, Children, Retro Squad
The New York Times has
an interesting story about the fate of two of the puppets from the revered TV special
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which first aired in 1964. Apparently, out of the thousands of puppets created for the stop-action animation used in the Rankin-Bass special, only two currently exist: one of Rudolph and one of Santa.
The article tells the story of how the puppets, given to an R-B employee after the show was made, were found in an attic, appraised on
Antiques Roadshow, and sold for a nice chunk of change to the president of TimeAndSpaceToys.com/ He then painstakingly restored the heavily-damaged puppets to their original form (details of that restoration are
here). Santa and Rudolph are currently on display at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, where they will be until Jan. 13.
How did Santa and Rudolph get to be in such poor shape? Kids. The person who took the puppets home gave them to her kids, who crammed poor Rudy's mouth with crayons and Play-Doh. Jeez. Those buggers had no sense of history, did they?
Posted Dec 24th 2006 5:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming
At 7, CBS has 60 Minutes. - NBC has a new Football Night In America at 7, followed by It's A Wonderful Life.
- Lifetime has All She Wants For Christmas at 7, followed by Holiday Wishes.
- ABC Family has Frosty's Winter Wonderland at 7, then 'Twas The Night Before Christmas, Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town, The Year Without A Santa Claus and Rudolph's Shiny New Year.
- There's an Xmas episode of The Honeymooners on American Life at 7.
- Nickelodeon and Food Network are running holiday programming all night.
- AMC is running Miracle on 34th Street all night.
- TBS has A Christmas Story all day and night.
- Nickelodeon is showing Xmas eps of many shows, including Fairly Odd Parents, Full House, and The Cosby Show.
- TV Land is doing the same, with The Andy Griffith Show, Three's Company, Little House on the Prairie, Good Times, All in the Family, and others.
- Also: Hallmark has various holiday movies all night.
- At 9, CBS has A Very Married Christmas.
- Comedy Central has Bad Santa at 9.
- At 10:30, TCM has Christmas In Connecticut.
- At 11:30, ABC, CBS, and NBC have Christmas Eve services from Rome and other places around the world.
Posted Dec 13th 2006 8:34AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Ratings
1. CSI (CBS)
2. Sunday Night Football (NBC)
3. Deal Or No Deal - Mon (NBC)
4. 60 Minutes (CBS)
5. Survivor (CBS)
6. Heroes (NBC)
7. Extreme Makeover (ABC)
8. Cold Case (CBS)
9. Shark (CBS)
10. Without A Trace (CBS)
11. Criminal Minds (CBS)
12. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (CBS)
13. Sunday Night Pre-Kick (NBC)
14. The Amazing Race (CBS)
15. Frosty The Snowman (CBS)
16. CSI: NY (CBS)
17. ER (NBC)
18. House (FOX)
19. CSI: Miami (CBS)
20. Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Posted Dec 5th 2006 10:05AM by Julia Ward
Filed under: CBS, OpEd, Animation, Festivus, Children, Retro Squad
One of the longest running Christmas specials in television history, Rankin/Bass'
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer debuted in 1964 on NBC. Around 1972, it switched over to CBS, where you can
see it again this year on December 8th. Let's just get this part out of the way - it's not Claymation. The special was made using figurines in a stop motion animation process labeled "Animagic" by the show's producers.
A whole world of nostalgia was brought back for me a few years ago when the Island of Misfit Toys were introduced as plush dolls at CVS. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Rudolph special because it glorifies the plight of the misfit. Rudolph is the beta-kid Christmas special. Hermey, the dentist elf, and Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, are heroes to anyone who has ever been picked on for being a little different. Rudolph is for us - the geeks, the queers, the fat kids, the short bus riders, the loners and the AV crew.
Continue reading Festivus Retro Squad: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Posted Nov 25th 2006 11:29AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, ABC, NBC, CBS, Programming, Animation, Children, TNT
Okay. Now that I've eaten turkey and pumpkin pie, bring on the holiday TV! Already, we've been subjected to Christmas commercials, but now the good holiday television really begins.
USA Today was kind enough to put together a comprehensive list of holiday specials (new and traditional) that air between now and Christmas Day.
Here are some of the notables:
- A Charlie Brown Christmas, ABC, Tuesday Nov. 28 at 8 pm;
- Polar Express, ABC, Friday December 1 at 8 pm;
- Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, ABC, Tuesday December 5 at 8 pm;
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, CBS, Friday December 8 at 8 pm;
- Frosty the Snowman, CBS, Friday December 8 at 9 pm;
- Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Jim Carrey version), ABC, Saturday December 9 at 9 pm;
- Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated version), ABC, Tuesday December 12 at 8 pm;
- It's a Wonderful Life, NBC, Saturday December 16 at 8 pm;
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, TBS, Sunday December 17 at 8 pm;
- A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart version), TNT, Wednesday December 20 at 8 pm;
- A Christmas Story (24-hour marathon), TBS, Sunday December 24 at 8 pm;
- Yule Log, INHD, Monday December 25 at 7 am.
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