Scanning the TV schedule the last few days has been disappointing. The one bright note was that they didn't run a marathon of "It's a wonderful life" unlike years past. Only saw part of it about a week before Christmas. But what they did do was inundate us with other marathons including but not limited to Home alone, A Christmas story, Bad Santa, The Grinch who stole Christmas and others. As much as I like some of these others are like torture. It seems every generation has it's own little torture that parents impose on their kids. For me it was "Amahl and the Night Visitors." Mom and dad would come back from shopping Christmas eve quickly run presents upstairs to places unknown and then dad would announce that it was almost time for Amahl. It was okay for the first year or two and then it became the running joke. This was a libretto a one act play with the words being sung by the characters. As the years went by we found an excuse, any excuse, to avoid this torture. From having to take a shower to doing homework, Anything to get away from the set. But dad thought it was great and a required family tradition. I was lucky though. The composer regained the rights from NBC and refused to have it air again because he didn't like what they had done with it.
And now we get to torture the young ones with "It's a Wonderful Life". For a few years it was run on every station and a yearly required viewing at school. Makes me wonder what little torture they will come up with for their kids. What goes around comes around. Oops that's the theme of the movie.
7 comments:
I don't even have a television and still wound up with Home Alone somewhere.
Happy Holidays dude, I am making new bookmarks on a computer a friend built for me and wanted to make sure you were on my naughty list.
Busted
Scanning the TV schedule the last few days has been disappointing.
What is a TV schedule? Something you look at if you have cable or something like that I guess.
Agreed about "Amahl and the Night Visitors." Once was OK — and entirely enough. But for years they ran it and ran it.
I remember watching the 1951 black-and-white British film of "A Christmas Carol" several times over several years when I was a kid, always voluntarily. That one struck me as a classic worth watching again. Over the years I have also watched the late-1930s film "Holiday Inn" and its 1950s remake, "White Christmas" a few times each, always enjoyable. But again, it was voluntary.
I think many things parents believe are wholesome rituals the kids should be made to partake of over and over breed a negative reaction. But then, sometimes when those kids get older, they look back on those things with humor and even wish they could go back and do it once more. Human nature, I guess
Our Christmas movies were all oldies (kids choice). I would hate to guess how many times they saw Holiday Inn or It's a Wonderful World or The Christmas Carol. Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas was my favourite.
Don't understand the notion of being "tortured" by TV these days. Sure, in the days of Amahl, when there were only 2 or 3 or 4 channels, but now, the movie with that kid whose tongue freezes on a flagpole I didn't even see one minute of. That's why God created the remote control.
Just wait until they start showing Beck's The Christmas Sweater on teevee.
I saw "A Christmas Story" once, a few years ago. It was OK, but the people we were watching it with -- this huge extended family -- had all seen it zillions of times. They were practically reciting the whole dialogue. Once was enough for me.
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