Monday, January 9, 2023

What I Watched in December

 


I'm quite late for this posting but for good reason. You see, my dear friends, 2 brothers, were in a car accident. Right after Christmas, they were driving to exchange gifts with their niece and nephew when the one brother either fell asleep or blacked out. They went careening, like the Dukes of Hazard, over a ditch and into a plowed field. The one brother suffered a fracture in his lower spine while the other, who was driving, also suffered a fractured back, but a little higher, but also a fractured sternum. They have been in the hospital ever since. I have been visiting them and trying to see their 86 yr old mom who is not in good health. Their sister has been visiting everyone but she will be gone to Cuba come the 11th. Her husband is quite manipulative and she can't say no to him. Another friend and I are trying to coordinate times to see their mom. Anyway, that's the news here and I didn't get home until 10pm last night Thursday. I've been at the hospital, their mom a d trying to take down Christmas decor.

I am hoping to make the rest short and sweet

1. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE-1946 

George is discouraged with his life but an angel, 2nd class, does his best to show George how wonderful his life truly is. My favourite film. Sorry that I have just the colourized version....I hate it and so did Jimmy Stewart. Promise never to watch this film in colour.

2. IT HAPPENED ON 5TH AVE.-1947

A bum, Victor Moore, finds a way into a fancy mansion and stays there during the winter. He brings in another and another. The daughter of the owner ends up there and so does her father. It's fun, sweet and a lively movie.

3. THE HOUSE WITHOUT A CHRISTMAS TREE-1972

A Hallmark TV movie starring Jason Robards as a disagreeable dad mourning the loss of his wife  and having to deal with an irritating daughter who wants to have a Christmas tree. Cheap budget but still nicely done.

4. WHITE CHRISTMAS-1954

Bing, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen all end up going to Vermont and helping out an old man the guys remember as a mighty General. They bring the crew to put on a really big show and no Mickey Rooney in sight!

5. SCROOGED-1988

Bill Murray over-acts in this retelling of a Christmas Carol. I love that they brought back the nostalgia of the campy variety specials of the 1970s. The best is Carol Kane as the ghost of Christmas Present who just keeps beating up Murray.

6. HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS-2000

Jim Carrey is irritating as the Grinch who hates Christmas and wants to take it away from the weird town of Whoville. I love the dog but give me the original any day.

THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS-2017

Dickens is having a Dickens of a time trying to come up with a story. He has writer's block but needs to come up with a good story. He finally starts writing A Christmas Carol when the characters come to life as it were. Christopher Plummer makes a good Scrooge but Dan Stevens( Matthew from downton Abbey fame) just is meh for me. 

TV SHOWS

1. THE GREAT BIG TINY DESIGN CHALLENGE-2022

This is another British show I found and just love, love, love! You have the host, 2 professionals and the people trying to win the trophy. There is a doll house and each week they must create a room, could be Edwardian, Victorian, Rococo, in style but all tiny. It was just so cool how they created the food, fireplaces, furniture etc... using tiny things. I was emotional because my mom would have loved this show. She could create the tiniest things and the tinier the better  she used to say. It's just wonderful to watch.

2. CHEERS-1982-1993

Norm! Woman chasing, recovering alcoholic, former baseball player Sam Malone owns a bar and you get to know the waitresses and the patrons of this establishment. Diane Chambers fights but loves Sam and vice versa. Carla is an evil little imp who gets pregnant at a drop of a hat. Coach hands out the beer etc.. a d was Sam's coach but has had too many baseballs hit him in the head. Norm is fat, lazy and adores beer and Cliff is a know it all postman who can drive anyone crazy. Fantastic show that brought in Frazier Crane and got better when Shelley Long( Diane) left the show thinking she will make it big in the movies or was she fired..not sure on that one. Kirstie Alley came in as Rebecca Howe and when Nicholas Colasanto died, Woody Harrelson came in as the innocent boy from the Midwest who is as dumb as a board. It's just brilliant!

2. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer-1964

I always try to watch this and Santa Claus is Coming To Town but I only saw this one. I've been watching this since I was a kid. When I was young and, even a teen, I wanted to go to the island of misfit toys because I was a misfit too. Who doesn't love Yukon! By the way, when my brother was 4 or 5, he got frightened by the Abdominable ..hahaha but then he found out Bumbles bounce.

EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND-1996-2005

Hilarious show about a sports writer married to spunky Debra, with a little girl and twin boys. The problem? They live across the street from his parents and his cop brother who lives with mom and dad since his marriage broke up. The brother has hang ups especially with his younger brother. The parents are from hell but it's so funny. I laugh out loud st almost every show, just like CHEERS. 

What did you watch in December?

12 comments:

  1. Hi, Birgit!

    That's tough break for your friends, the brothers, and you are to be admired for stepping up to the plate and visiting them in the hospital and, on top of that, conducting regular wellness checks on their elderly mother. It's one of those lousy situations with no easy solutions, one that requires considerable time and sacrifice on your part. Once again, you are demonstrating character by coming through for others, being a true friend in a time of need.

    Like practically everyone else on earth, I have seen It's A Wonderful Life, and I have stated many times how much I like Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. When I started watching that scene in film #2 - Happened On 5th Ave. - I immediately recognized Don DeFore who played Ozzie's neighbor "Thorny" in 122 episodes of The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet.

    Typically, I avoid Hallmark movies because they are so lame, but I like Jason Robards, star of House w/o a Christmas tree. in the 70s, Mildred Natwick starred with Helen Hayes in the NBC TV series The Snoop Sisters, part of the network's Wednesday Mystery Movie lineup. I worked at an NBC station at the time and did voice-over promotions for the show.

    In the years when we had young grandchildren visiting our house during the holidays, i watched White Christmas, Scrooged and the Grinch movie with them and Mrs. Shady. Great Big Tiny Design Challenge is a fascinating concept for a series. I'll tell Mrs. Shady about it and maybe we'll give it a go.

    Mrs. S and I regularly watched Cheers and Raymond first run. I think Raymond was the funnier series of the two, but I liked Diane on Cheers, and I have enjoyed Ted D. in everything else he's done in the years since.

    In the merry month of December, I watched the Netflix workplace comedy TV series Blockbuster, the suspense thriller limited series Devil In Ohio, and the movies Nocturnal Animals, Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, The Muppets (2011), Man Of Steel and The Woman In The Window. Five of those are Amy Adams films. Me likey her.

    Take care, dear friend BB. Rest when you can. I wish you a safe and healthy week, knowing that it will not be a particularly happy one for you considering all that's happening up there behind the scenes. Bless you!

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  2. Oh man, I hope your friends have a speedy recovery. That's awful.

    I had planned on going to a theater to see White Christmas, it's my mom's favorite movie and I was going to take her, then I had another family member pass away and the funeral ended up being right before Christmas. Next year, I hope to see that.

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  3. Really sorry to hear about your friends! Prayers for full recoveries for both of them.

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  4. Birgit sympathies about your friends! I was wondering what was up when you didn't comment on your Thursday picks when you decided to do the extra ones, but now it makes sense. Hopefully they will both be up and feeling better very soon.

    Now to what you watched. I knew you'd find the time to watch Wonderful Life if nothing else! I'm the same with White Christmas (which I see you fitted in as well!-such a divine all-around entertainment, I could watch the dancers tossing Vera-Ellen around for hours!!) and the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol.

    The House Without a Christmas Tree is from another time when the Hallmark name stood for the finest quality especially "The Hallmark Hall of Fame" which this was part of. It's a lovely, delicate bittersweet film, just like the holiday!!

    It Happened on 5th Avenue is pleasant but middling, good cast though. I felt pretty much the same way about "Man Who Invented Christmas". I hated Scrooged with the exception of Carol Kane's fun performance. I've avoided this version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" like the plague. Why bother when the original couldn't be improved on?

    Rudolph!!! Of course....unmissable!

    I don't know that first show but Cheers is a charmer although I don't return to it as I do with Frasier. By the way Shelley Long chose to leave for hoped for movie fame which didn't really result. She got busted on for that, but to be fair to her she did complete her original contract. I'm guessing her thorny personality played into the hubbub around her departure.

    I was never a regular Everybody Loves Raymond watcher. The few times I saw it I thought it was okay and I loved both Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle but I find Patricia Heaton such a vile, bigoted bitch that I just can't stomach even looking at her.

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  5. Sorry about your friends. You are a trooper.

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  6. Terrible about your friends. You did go for the Christmas traditions, didn't you? Nothing wrong with that. I was shocked to hear of Kirstie Alley's death. I watched Cheers back in the day, but I haven't revisited it.

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  7. Hi Birgit - I hope your friends' health improves - sounds very difficult ... especially with their mother being quite so frail - you're a good friend to them. Thanks for the recommendations ... I got caught into the Maid in Manhattan - when I was feeling lazy ... a gentle film ... cheers Hilary

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  8. I'm sorry about your friends. I've seen most of the movies/Tv shows you include here. I make it a point not to watch colorized movies. I know how the directors and stars who were still living felt about them.

    Love,
    Janie

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  9. Birgit,

    Oh how sad about the brothers accident. I shall say a prayer for them and hope that they make a full recovery. That has to be hard news for an elderly mother. We watched a lot of movies last month, mostly Christmas romance films and honestly I can't remember all of them. We did watch our favorite "Christmas Vacation". A new one we got a chance to see on HBO is the "A Christmas Story: Christmas". Ralphie is all grown up with all of the original kids in this movie. It's not as good as the first one one but we enjoyed it. Oh yeah, we did watch "The Santa Clauses" series on Disney+ with Tim Allen. We liked that pretty well. Tim is fun actor. Have a great week, my friend!

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  10. So sorry to hear about your friends. Hope they recover well. You are being so good to them and their mother.

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  11. I'm sorry to hear about your friends Those injuries sound so painful and you are a true friend for what you are doing for them and their elderly mother. I'm not big on most Christmas movies, although I agree with you 100% about the colorized It's a Wonderful Life. What I did watch this year are my two favorites - A Christmas Story (You'll Shoot your Eye Out!) and Home Alone. And, oh yes, the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas cartoon with the narration by Vincent Price.

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  12. I'm so sorry to hear about your friends. I hope they heal quickly.
    Good picks on the movies.
    Wishing a wondrous New Year.

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