Three more holiday TV classics are featured in this second part entry about three holiday TV classics. What the &*@# more do you need to know?
THE CARD:
Unarmed postal monsters, fuzzy man-sized critters that aren’t your weird Uncle’s Internet friends, Beaker the Pimp, a likable Drew Barrymore role, yellow-people-less Matt Groening, Joey Pants the Penguin, a non-shakey Scrooge, Meredith Baxter-Goofy, and plenty of sitcom holiday schmaltz.
A MUPPET CHRISTMAS: LETTERS TO SANTA (2008)
THE ANGLE:
X-mas Eve finds the Muppets gang in line at the post office where they manage to almost destroy the postal service when they try to “help out”. Unfortunately in all the confusion, Gonzo brings home two undelivered letters to Santa, including one for a little girl who lives in his building who’s not exactly destitute but lonely. So Kermit and his cohorts hop a plane and head up to the North Pole to deliver the letters, meet Santa and his sexy assistant (Uma Thurman) and spread X-mas cheer with a cold hand up their asses.
THE FINISHER:
The Muppets are awesome. The Muppet Show was hilarious. The Muppet Movie is a classic. Every Muppet thing since has been, well, kinda meh. Chalk it up to the untimely loss of creator Jim Henson, the bizarre sounding vocal talent replacements, or the gradual loss of quality that anything suffers over time and exposure. Regardless, the Muppets are awesome. This extremely light and mushy X-mas special reunites the gang with their trademark good humor and flair for sentimental song. All the greats pitch in for a breezy adventure: Kermit, Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, Statler and Waldorf, Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker, the Swedish Chef, and many others. Unfortunately, two of my least favorite Muppets make the cut: the execrable Pepe the King Prawn and the irritating Rizzo the Rat. They suck fuzzy puppet balls. Anyway, the show is a hoot and little kids unfamiliar with these characters should love it while the parents who grew up with Henson’s unforgettable creation will smile more than once.
Watch this here.
OLIVE, THE OTHER REINDEER (1999)
THE ANGLE:
Olive (Drew Barrymore) is a sweet little mutt who lives with her owner Tim (Jay Mohr) in an idyllic paper-cutout town. She gets upset when Tim loses his X-mas spirit upon learning that Santa Claus (Ed Asner) won’t be doing his annual deliveries this year due to an injury on his reindeer sleigh team. Upon mis-hearing Santa quote on the TV news that he’ll need help from “all of the other reindeer” which she heard as “Olive the other reindeer” (hence the title), Olive goes on a quest to save X-mas, Tim’s soul, and Santa’s reindeer health care plan. Along the way, she’s helped by a con artist penguin named Martini (Joe Pantolionionionionioni) and alcoholic reindeer Schnitzel (Michael Stipe) while thwarted left and right by an evil postal carrier (Dan Castellaneta) who hates X-mas. But Olive is able to overcome all obstacles like all special X-mas canines and makes the world a safer place for people who don’t pay Goddamn attention.
THE FINISHER:
Olive the Other Reindeer is a sweet little kids’ book that makes for an equally sweet little kids’ X-mas TV special. But because this one was produced by Matt Groening, producer of The Simpsons, it’s got that extra special wit and will appeal to older folks as well. The vocal talents of Barrymore, Pantolionionionionioni, Asner, and Simpsons regulars Castellaneta and Tress “Agnes Skinner” MacNeille are great and the script is sharp and witty. The animation is also a stand-out, combining the colorful drawings and character designs from the book with subtle 3D effects. This is a nice little special that to the best of my knowledge isn’t aired annually or as widely as the others, but really should. And hearing Drew bark is more than just a little arousing, but, um … I’ve said too much …
Watch this here.
FAMILY TIES: A KEATON CHRISTMAS CAROL (1983)
THE ANGLE:
Everyone’s favorite Republican brat Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox) is feeling a bit of a crumb-bum this X-mas and ruins the Keaton family X-mas Eve tree lighting with his conservative bitterness. But a dream in which he’s visited by the Ghost of X-mas Past (Tina Yothers) shows that Alex once cherished the season. Later, he’s visited the Ghost of X-mas Future (Justine Bateman) who shows him a future in which his family barely scrapes by in depressed economy (nervous throat-clearing) selling dirt and washing his skid-marked undies. The ghosts show him the error of his ways in a typical Dickens sitcom interpretation and Alex is less of a prick for one day out of the year.
THE FINISHER:
Yet another TV version of A Christmas Carol, only this one is kinda good, especially if you were a fan of this seminal 80s sitcom, which I wasn’t but whatever. The episode starts off with dull yuck-yuck humor but grows on you once we see Alex’s X-mas future. A particular standout is Baxter-Birney and her wacky old Mom Keaton and her clothesline shtick that made me laugh twenty-five years after the fact. The show is pretty terrible overall, but this episode does bring back some memories of pre-Back to the Future Fox, pre-Mystic Pizza Bateman, and pre-Burger King manager Yothers.
P.S. Where was Skippy???
Watch this here.
THE CARD:
Unarmed postal monsters, fuzzy man-sized critters that aren’t your weird Uncle’s Internet friends, Beaker the Pimp, a likable Drew Barrymore role, yellow-people-less Matt Groening, Joey Pants the Penguin, a non-shakey Scrooge, Meredith Baxter-Goofy, and plenty of sitcom holiday schmaltz.
A MUPPET CHRISTMAS: LETTERS TO SANTA (2008)
THE ANGLE:X-mas Eve finds the Muppets gang in line at the post office where they manage to almost destroy the postal service when they try to “help out”. Unfortunately in all the confusion, Gonzo brings home two undelivered letters to Santa, including one for a little girl who lives in his building who’s not exactly destitute but lonely. So Kermit and his cohorts hop a plane and head up to the North Pole to deliver the letters, meet Santa and his sexy assistant (Uma Thurman) and spread X-mas cheer with a cold hand up their asses.
THE FINISHER:
The Muppets are awesome. The Muppet Show was hilarious. The Muppet Movie is a classic. Every Muppet thing since has been, well, kinda meh. Chalk it up to the untimely loss of creator Jim Henson, the bizarre sounding vocal talent replacements, or the gradual loss of quality that anything suffers over time and exposure. Regardless, the Muppets are awesome. This extremely light and mushy X-mas special reunites the gang with their trademark good humor and flair for sentimental song. All the greats pitch in for a breezy adventure: Kermit, Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, Statler and Waldorf, Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker, the Swedish Chef, and many others. Unfortunately, two of my least favorite Muppets make the cut: the execrable Pepe the King Prawn and the irritating Rizzo the Rat. They suck fuzzy puppet balls. Anyway, the show is a hoot and little kids unfamiliar with these characters should love it while the parents who grew up with Henson’s unforgettable creation will smile more than once.
Watch this here.
OLIVE, THE OTHER REINDEER (1999)
THE ANGLE:Olive (Drew Barrymore) is a sweet little mutt who lives with her owner Tim (Jay Mohr) in an idyllic paper-cutout town. She gets upset when Tim loses his X-mas spirit upon learning that Santa Claus (Ed Asner) won’t be doing his annual deliveries this year due to an injury on his reindeer sleigh team. Upon mis-hearing Santa quote on the TV news that he’ll need help from “all of the other reindeer” which she heard as “Olive the other reindeer” (hence the title), Olive goes on a quest to save X-mas, Tim’s soul, and Santa’s reindeer health care plan. Along the way, she’s helped by a con artist penguin named Martini (Joe Pantolionionionionioni) and alcoholic reindeer Schnitzel (Michael Stipe) while thwarted left and right by an evil postal carrier (Dan Castellaneta) who hates X-mas. But Olive is able to overcome all obstacles like all special X-mas canines and makes the world a safer place for people who don’t pay Goddamn attention.
THE FINISHER:
Olive the Other Reindeer is a sweet little kids’ book that makes for an equally sweet little kids’ X-mas TV special. But because this one was produced by Matt Groening, producer of The Simpsons, it’s got that extra special wit and will appeal to older folks as well. The vocal talents of Barrymore, Pantolionionionionioni, Asner, and Simpsons regulars Castellaneta and Tress “Agnes Skinner” MacNeille are great and the script is sharp and witty. The animation is also a stand-out, combining the colorful drawings and character designs from the book with subtle 3D effects. This is a nice little special that to the best of my knowledge isn’t aired annually or as widely as the others, but really should. And hearing Drew bark is more than just a little arousing, but, um … I’ve said too much …
Watch this here.
FAMILY TIES: A KEATON CHRISTMAS CAROL (1983)
THE ANGLE:Everyone’s favorite Republican brat Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox) is feeling a bit of a crumb-bum this X-mas and ruins the Keaton family X-mas Eve tree lighting with his conservative bitterness. But a dream in which he’s visited by the Ghost of X-mas Past (Tina Yothers) shows that Alex once cherished the season. Later, he’s visited the Ghost of X-mas Future (Justine Bateman) who shows him a future in which his family barely scrapes by in depressed economy (nervous throat-clearing) selling dirt and washing his skid-marked undies. The ghosts show him the error of his ways in a typical Dickens sitcom interpretation and Alex is less of a prick for one day out of the year.
THE FINISHER:
Yet another TV version of A Christmas Carol, only this one is kinda good, especially if you were a fan of this seminal 80s sitcom, which I wasn’t but whatever. The episode starts off with dull yuck-yuck humor but grows on you once we see Alex’s X-mas future. A particular standout is Baxter-Birney and her wacky old Mom Keaton and her clothesline shtick that made me laugh twenty-five years after the fact. The show is pretty terrible overall, but this episode does bring back some memories of pre-Back to the Future Fox, pre-Mystic Pizza Bateman, and pre-Burger King manager Yothers.
P.S. Where was Skippy???
Watch this here.
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