Search This Blog

Monday, December 17, 2012

Ernest Saves Christmas


It's Day #17 of “The Pop Culture Addict's Advent Calendar”, and it happens to be a Monday Matinee today.

And today's blog entry is all about a movie that didn't exactly make a lot of money at the box office, and yet it still has its fans.



How many of you remember the late Jim Varney? I see a few of you raising your hands up high exclaiming “I know him, I know him!”

But for those of you who might not know who he is, I thought I would open up this entry by doing a little biographical sketch on him before launching into today's feature presentation.

Jim Varney was born in Lexington, Kentucky on June 15, 1949, the fourth child of James and Louise Varney. When Varney was a young child, he had the uncanny ability to memorize long poems and passages from books, and would often recite everything that he had just read to his family who were completely amazed by his ability. I guess you could say that Jim Varney had a bit of a photographic memory.

As it turned out, Varney ended up having a memory for sounds and voice dialects...by the time he was eight years old, he had the ability to mimic the same voices of the cartoon characters that he had just watched on television.

When Varney entered his teenage years, he was determined to pursue a career in entertainment, and he won several prizes and awards in state drama championships during his time at Lafayette High School. After his graduation in 1968, Varney continued to act in various stage productions and college plays, and studied Shakespeare in the Barter Theatre in Virginia.



TRIVIA: Jim Varney was extremely passionate about the works of William Shakespeare. He was once quoted as saying that one of his wishes as a performing actor was to act in a production of Shakespeare's classic play “Hamlet”.

Although Jim Varney never did get the chance to star in “Hamlet”, that's not to say that his career wasn't spectacular in itself. He ended up getting a lot of big breaks over his lifetime, which included the following roles...

  • Was a regular cast member in the 1976 variety show “Johnny Cash & Friends”
  • Held a guest starring role on “Fernwood 2 Night”
  • Cast in the role of Seaman “Doom & Gloom” Broom in the television version of “Operation Petticoat” between 1977 and 1979
  • Portrayed Evan Earp in the 1983-1984 television series “The Rousters”
  • Co-hosted HBO's 1985 New Years Eve special with Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson



  • Assumed the role of Jed Clampett in the 1993 movie adaptation of “The Beverly Hillbillies”



  • Was the voice of Slinky Dog in the first two “Toy Story” films
  • Was the voice of 'Cookie' Farnsworth in the 2001 film “Atlantis: The Lost Empire”

Sadly, that last entry on that list would end up being his last role ever. In the summer of 1998, Varney developed a nagging cough while he was filming a movie, and grew concerned when he saw a spot of blood inside of his handkerchief. After having an appointment with a doctor, he was given the grim news that he had lung cancer. Despite his diagnosis in 1998, Varney spent much of 1999 continuing to work on projects. A chain smoker for almost his entire life, the day he heard the diagnosis was the day that he quit smoking for good, and even filmed a public service announcement about the dangers of smoking.

Varney battled lung cancer for a year and a half and underwent chemotherapy to try and combat the disease...but on February 10, 2000, Varney passed away at the age of 50.

Throughout Jim Varney's lifetime, he obviously had a lot of great success in the world of film and television, and he certainly had a lot of fun bringing his talents to the big and small screens. But I haven't even touched upon the role that truly made Jim Varney a huge star. It was also a role that was so silly and so goofy that I actually ended up doing a double take when I read that Varney had studied Shakespeare!

I'm sure you know the role that I am talking about, don't you?



It seems hard to believe, but the character of Ernest P. Worrell was created by Varney for a series of television commercials thirty-two years ago. In 1980, Ernest made his television debut in a local commercial for Beach Bend Park, which advertised an appearance by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. From there, Ernest became the official spokesperson for several dairy advertisements, and Varney created two more characters (Auntie Nelda and Sgt. Glory) that were used in various commercials that were taped between 1980 and 1990.

Eventually, Ernest's popularity grew nationwide, and the idea to spin-off the Ernest character into a series of feature films became a reality beginning with 1987's “Ernest Goes To Camp” (a movie that I did an entry in my blog about last summer). Other feature films followed, such as 1990's “Ernest Goes To Jail”, 1991's “Ernest Scared Stupid”, 1993's “Ernest Rides Again”, and 1998's “Ernest In The Army”. There was even a Saturday morning television show entitled “Hey Vern, It's Ernest”, which aired during the 1988-1989 season.

TRIVIA: Jim Varney had the distinction of winning an Razzie Award (in 1988 for “Ernest Goes To Camp”, and then winning an Emmy Award the following year for “Hey Vern, It's Ernest!”

You've probably figured it out by now, but today's blog will be taking a look at an Ernest film...and yes, it is one that takes place during the Christmas season.



"Ernest Saves Christmas” was released on November 11, 1988, and in addition to Varney, the film also starred Douglas Seale, Oliver Clark, and Noelle Parker. The film was directed by John Cherry, who directed all the other Ernest films, and made about $28 million in profits. On one hand, it was a success, since it did make four times its budget, but it was hardly considered to be worth a success when you consider that 1988's top-grossing film, “Rambo III”, made almost $200 million at the box office.



Regardless, the film remains a favourite to many Ernest fans, and I admit that I do love this movie (although “Ernest Goes To Camp” will always be my all-time favourite Ernest film).

The plot for the film is very simple. Santa Claus (Seale) is the most recent in a long line of Santa Clauses before him (the idea of Santa being replaced by a new Santa was also featured in “The Santa Clause”). And this Santa Claus is on a mission. He is in Orlando, Florida with the purpose of finding someone else to take over for him this Christmas. The lucky winner of the new promotion is the host of “Uncle Joey's Treehouse”, Joe Carruthers (Clark). And on the surface, Carruthers seems to be the perfect choice. The catchphrase of his show, after all, is “they never get old, they always stay new, those three little words, please and thank you!”

Santa just has to find him.

And Ernest P. Worrell happens to be his taxi cab driver.

So, here you are, thinking that the situation is bound to get a little more complicated with Ernest involved. Well, you're right. Just minutes after Ernest picks up Santa, they cross paths with a runaway teenage girl who calls herself Harmony Starr (Parker), who joins the two.



Upon arriving at their destination, Santa is embarrassed to admit that he has no money to pay Ernest (the only money in his possession is money from a board game). Fear not though, Ernest is in the giving spirit for Christmas and lets Santa off, free of charge. Unfortunately for Ernest, his boss doesn't seem to feel the same way, and fires Ernest on the spot.

Ah, but Ernest soon discovers that Santa has left his magical bag behind in Ernest's cab. And, Ernest, who would never play the game of “finders keepers, losers weepers” embarks on a mission to return the bag back to its rightful owner.

At the same time, Santa tries to get close to Joe in order to tell him of his new job promotion, but Joe's agent keeps him from doing so. The agent even mishears Santa's name, actually calling him Mr. Santos instead! To compound the matter, Santa realizes that he has lost his bag, and that his mind isn't as sharp as it used to be. When he tries to explain to Joe why he has come, Joe refuses to believe it, and Joe's agent actually has Santa arrested!



So, here's the situation. Ernest and Harmony discover that Santa has been arrested and work on a plan to try and bust him out of jail so that he can convince Joe to take on the job.



Meanwhile, Joe's agent manages to sink his claws into Joe, urging him to pull the plug on his children's show to star in a horror film that has aliens terrorizing children on Christmas Eve. The movie's plot is so offensive to Santa that he ends up decking the director, but Joe seems determined to go ahead with the project. Can anyone make him see reason before Christmas Eve?



And, what about the teenage girl who calls herself Harmony Starr? When she discovers the secret behind Santa's magical sack, she decides to take advantage, and plots to run away with the loot. Will a Christmas miracle make her see the light?



Oh, I can't tell you. I never reveal endings. You'll just have to watch the movie for yourselves...

...by clicking HERE. Consider this a Christmas present to you all. And, considering how rapidly movies get yanked from the site where this is posted, you may want to take advantage while you can.



With just one more week left to go until the big day, I have a lot of holiday memories left to post. Tune in on Day #18 where we will talk about the birth of a recent pop icon who has worn a lot of hats. She's been a singer, a judge, and a Mouseketeer! And, we'll be featuring both a contemporary song of hers as well as a Christmas song. Hey, gotta keep the theme going, right?

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy


The last couple of days have been quite hard on a lot of people.  I still am in disbelief over what has happened, and I am sure that millions all over the world are still grieving.  If you haven’t already, do take the time to look at the piece that I wrote yesterday.  The title is “How Do You Mend A Broken Heart?”

For today, I want to go back to a more normal schedule for the blog.  We are right in the middle of The Pop Culture Addict’s Advent Calendar, and I think that part of the grieving process is finding a way to continue living our lives as best we can.  We’ll never forget what happened, nor will we forget the names of those who lost their lives that fateful morning, but at the same time, we can’t live our lives in fear.  We all have to find a way to deal with our pain in our own ways, and if I can offer up a blog entry that makes people smile, laugh, or just find out something that they might not have known in the world of pop culture, then maybe I’m doing some good.

So, let’s begin Day #16 with the weekly Sunday Jukebox entry.  As I have done for the last couple of weeks, this entry is Christmas themed.  And today’s song was performed by what could be called the most unexpected and odd duet that modern pop music has ever seen. 

And yet, it worked.  It worked brilliantly.

In the world of pop music, there have been some interesting collaborations over the years, each one seemingly paired up for shock value.  Some examples over the last thirty years include the following...









(Wow...after watching that KLF video, I must make a note to myself to feature that song in a future entry.  It’s so bad, it’s too good to pass up!)

And, then there’s this collaboration, which was released thirty-five years ago...


ARTIST:  David Bowie and Bing Crosby
SONG:  Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy
ALBUM:  Bowie: The Singles 1969-1993
DATE RELEASED:  November 30, 1977*
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: N/A



There are a couple of things that I want to explain about this song before I talk about how this collaboration came about.  First, you might have noticed that I have put a star beside the date of release.  That’s because the song was first heard on this particular date on a Christmas special that aired in both the United States and the United Kingdom.  The actual song release was not pressed until five years later in November 1982.  The song was released in the UK shortly before the 1982 Christmas season, and quickly reached #3 on the UK charts that year, setting the stage for the huge release of David Bowie’s 1983 album “Let’s Dance”.

TRIVIA:  Did you know that the UK version of this song is almost twice as long as the one released in the USA?


So, how did the collaboration between David Bowie and Bing Crosby come to happen?

I mean, if you were to go back in time to the year 1977 and tell people that David Bowie and Bing Crosby were going to perform a duet together, they would probably have given you a clueless look or laughed in your face in disbelief.  After all, both men were as different as night and day.


David Bowie (a.k.a. Ziggy Stardust) was known for his androgynous style (at least in his early days), frequently pushed the button with his songs, and worked hard to become one of the most well-known and respected male vocalists in the United Kingdom.


Bing Crosby was far more conservative in appearance than David Bowie was.  His claim to fame was the wildly popular “White Christmas”, which broke records all over the world...in fact, he is estimated to have sold half a billion records during his career!

To pair both of them up for a recording of a Christmas song seemed like a rather goofy idea, especially since Bowie’s style of music and performing seemingly clashed with the more traditional approach that Crosby was known for.

And yet that’s exactly what happened when David Bowie was asked to appear on Bing’s upcoming holiday special, “Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas”, set to air just in time for Christmas 1977.

The performance between Bing and David was recorded, like most Christmas songs at the time, on a warm, September day...September 11, 1977, to be exact.  And, as you saw in the video, the segment opened with David dropping by Bing’s house from down the road (!!) and the two of them sharing their holiday traditions. 

What you might not have been aware of was the fact that despite their on-screen rapport with each other, David Bowie was a bit apprehensive about performing a duet with Bing.  He later admitted in an interview years later that the only reason that Bowie agreed to guest star on Bing Crosby’s holiday special was because his mother was a fan.  At the same time, there was some speculation that Bing Crosby had no idea who David Bowie even was!  Of course, re-watching the video again, if Bing really was clueless about whom David Bowie was, he certainly did not appear to show it!

The song that both Bowie and Crosby performed was a medley of sorts.  Initially, both men are singing the classic Christmas carol, “The Little Drummer Boy”, which was first recorded in 1941.  But as the second verse begins, David starts singing the original composition entitled “Peace on Earth”, written by the songwriting team of Ian Fraser, Larry Grossman, and Alan Kohan.  Bing continued to sing “Little Drummer Boy”, creating a harmony that worked incredibly well. 

It was a collaboration that on paper looked ridiculous...but seeing it on screen and hearing both of them singing just made the song even more magical. 

TRIVIA:  Of course, some of the magic might be taken away when I tell you that David Bowie actually despised singing “Little Drummer Boy”, and wanted to sing something else, hence the reason for the creation of the lyrics for “Peace on Earth”.

Although, I’m sure that nowadays, David Bowie can probably look back on this performance and be proud of it, because it was such a big hit in the United Kingdom...but I think that the performance also holds another special meaning for Bowie.

David Bowie would end up being the very last person that Bing Crosby would ever sing with again.

Just a little over a month after the two got together and performed that song for Bing’s Christmas special, Bing Crosby passed away on October 14, 1977 from a heart attack sustained while he was playing golf.



Bing Crosby was seventy-four years old.

The Christmas special aired posthumously, on November 30, 1977, on CBS, and fans watched as he sang with David Bowie in the special, not realizing that this duet was one of his final performances ever.

It’s been thirty-five years since Bing Crosby died, and yet his legacy continues to live on.  “White Christmas” is still widely popular today, and even the duet that he did with David Bowie all those years ago is still a regular staple on radio stations every December.

And that is the story of a collaboration that seemed a bit peculiar on the outside, but ended up being sweet music to everybody’s ears.


Coming up tomorrow, it’s Day 17...and in the Monday Matinee, we’ll see how a cap wearing Southern gentleman helps save Christmas for the people of Orlando, Florida.  Know what I mean, Vern?

Saturday, December 15, 2012

How Do You Mend A Broken Heart?


I need to say something.

I honestly don’t know how I want to word this.  I spent hours trying to compose this message exactly the way that I wanted it to come across, but sometimes it’s sometimes better to just write what comes out of my brain in the heat of the moment, unedited and possibly even uncensored. 

I’m heartsick over recent events...and I really need to use this space to talk about how I am feeling.


On the morning of December 14, 2012, an unprecedented tragedy took place at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in the small town of Newtown, Connecticut.  An armed man barged into the school and opened fire on a group of innocent schoolchildren.  By the end of the carnage, twenty-six people were declared dead...among them, twenty children between the ages of five and ten, several teachers (one of whom was the shooter’s own mother), and the school principal.  The shooter inevitably took his own life.

You know, just watching the images unfolding on television, and seeing all of the witness accounts, it almost made all of us feel like we were all there, sympathizing with those parents who were anxiously waiting to hear word on whether their children were safe and sound, and grieving alongside those parents who heard the worst possible news imaginable.

When I first heard the news, I was in complete shock.  Even though we have bore witness to other school shootings (Ecole Polytechnique in 1989, Columbine High School in 1999, Virginia Tech in 2007), this one really delivered a sucker punch to almost everyone in the world, just based on the age of the victims.  The majority of the victims in yesterday’s shooting were children who died way too soon at a time which is supposed to be all about happiness and joy.

Life sometimes just isn’t fair.  L

Although Connecticut is fairly far away from where I am currently living, this tragedy has been one that has shocked and saddened me, and I share the feelings of despair and helplessness that the community of Newtown, Connecticut were feeling that day, as did most of the globe.  I suppose one would have to lack a heart not to feel something, anything.

I feel sad that so many people had to die.  I feel disgusted that a situation like this had to happen in the first place.  Most of all, I feel so incredibly sorry for those people who did lose a loved one yesterday.  I just want the community of Newtown, Connecticut, and the student body and staff of Sandy Hook Elementary School to know that the heart of this blogger, and the hearts of millions of people all over the world are as broken as yours are right now.  We are grieving your loss right alongside you.


I would like to offer up a moment of silence in memory of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings before I continue.  I did not create this video, but I think it says it all.  


I thought a long time about continuing on with the feature that I had going on all this month.  When I first heard about the news, I contemplated cancelling the blog topic for today, just because I wasn’t sure if I had the heart to talk about the Christmas season and holiday favourites when something so terrible happened.  I just didn’t feel like talking about a happy feature on the day after so much sadness happened, and I even considered not even doing a feature at all today.

But when I looked at what my initial topic was for today, and thought long and hard about it, I thought that maybe there was a way that I could take the topic and use it as a way to talk some more about how some of us might be feeling right now during this time.  And how at the end of the day, maybe there’s something that can come out of tragedy...something that we can all hold onto when the times get excruciatingly tough.


So with that, I welcome you all to partake in the fifteenth day of “The Pop Culture Addict’s Advent Calendar”.   I’m going to do my best to try and make this section not too long...just an introductory paragraph and a brief plot description.   Initially, I was going to give this topic a bit of a scathing review with biting, sarcastic wit...but I’m looking at it through different eyes, and am changing my whole perspective on it in the wake of yesterday’s tragedy.

Today’s subject is going to feature a Christmas special that many people might not remember.  I’ll be the first one to admit that had it not been for YouTube, I would never have even set eyes on it.  It’s not exactly a show that gets a lot of airplay.  I’m not exactly sure why that is the case now, but I had a bit of a hypothesis as to why this could have been the case when it first debuted in 1977.

My sister will probably want to tear a strip off of me for admitting this now, but when the show first debuted, she was five years old (and I hadn’t even been born yet), and at first she was really excited to watch it...but midway through she ended up becoming so emotionally distraught over it that my poor mother had to change the channel midway through.  But why would a television special elicit such a strong reaction out of my then-five year old sister?


I’m sure those of you who are my sister’s age or older might understand when I say the following words.  Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey.

By all accounts, the television special should have worked.  It was produced by Rankin-Bass, the creative team behind “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman”.  And much like Rudolph, the entire special was done entirely in stop-motion animation. 

The story is set in the days of the Roman Empire, and in a stable lived a little donkey named Nestor.  Nestor was just like all the other donkeys in the stable with one glaring exception.  His ears were considerably longer than all the other donkeys.  They were so long, they dragged on the ground.  Now, you know how some kids could be cruel to other kids who may look or act differently than they do?  Well, all of the other donkeys used to laugh and call Nestor names, and Nestor didn’t like this one bit.  Thankfully, Nestor’s mother was entirely devoted to her son, and she was his rock during the early minutes of the special.  Nestor’s mother even gave her son some woolen socks to keep his ears warm during the cold winter months as a Winter Solstice present.


So for a few minutes, Nestor and his mother lived happily...until some soldiers from the Roman Empire came a knocking on their front door.  The soldiers are looking for some donkeys to take back with them for a fee, and the group that they end up choosing include Nestor.  But when the deal causes Nestor to become separated from his mother, Nestor tries to escape and causes a scene, which makes the soldiers believe that the stable owner has tried to trick them.  By the end of the scuffle, the soldiers take the remaining donkeys free of charge, and the angry stable owner who ended up losing money because of Nestor chucks the poor donkey out of the stable, heartlessly telling him that he didn’t care if he froze to death.

Nestor isn’t alone for long, as his mother manages to escape the stables to be with him.  But a terrible winter storm is fast approaching, and with no indoor shelter to be found, it quickly becomes a dangerous situation.  Like any mother would, she used her own body to keep Nestor warm during the whole storm.  By the end, Nestor was alive...at the cost of his mother’s life.

(This was the point of the show in which my mom had to change the channel thirty-five years ago.)


Nestor is obviously distraught over losing the most important figure in his life, and he isn’t sure about how to go on...until he happens to cross paths with a little cherub who introduces herself as Tilly.  And Tilly has a message for Nestor.  She tells him that he needs to find a way to get himself to the settlement known as Bethlehem.  She says that he should take pride in his long ears (the same ears that many of the other donkeys made fun of), saying that the ears were going to be able to do wonderful things.  He could use them to guide himself on a pathway that is true.  She also gives Nestor a prophecy...that he would use his ears to save the life of another in exactly the same way Nestor’s mother saved him.  But once Nestor ends up making it to Bethlehem, it seems as though history is doomed to repeat itself, as nobody in town seems interested in a long-eared donkey.

That is until a man and his very pregnant wife approach him.  Both are down on their luck without hardly any money to their names.  But the woman saw something kind and gentle in Nestor’s eyes, and they both decided that he was just the donkey that would help them.  Their names?  Mary and Joseph.


The couple then proceed to get caught in a violent sandstorm, which threatens harm onto the scared young couple.  Luckily, Nestor’s long ears makes the perfect protection for Mary to huddle up in as they make their way through the storm.  The ending for this story becomes much happier, as they make it to their destination in one piece, and Mary gives birth to baby Jesus. 

And alas, the prophecy came true.  Nestor’s ears helped save the lives of Mary, Joseph, and their newborn baby, who as you know was born on Christmas Day. 

I suppose the one thing that we can take away from Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey is that the special is subject to a lot of interpretations.  Originally, I was going into it thinking that it was one of the most depressing Christmas specials ever made, and now I think that there’s a glimmer of opportunity and hope within it.  Yes, Nestor losing his mother was a horrible thing to have happened, and yes, the scene did make you cry...but seeing what it lead to at the end of the television special...well, in a way, it did offer hope to Nestor that there could be beauty at the end of a dark tunnel.  That there could be a day in which he could feel happy again.  That there was a way to look at something incredibly negative and still manage to hold onto something that will keep you going.

That something is hope.


I have a feeling that it is going to take a very, very long time for the community of Newtown, Connecticut to process everything that happened.  For the people who ended up losing loved ones in the tragedy, the pain will never truly go away.

But one thing that we can take from this is that broken hearts do eventually heal.  They may not heal over exactly the same way as they did before, and some people will forever be missing a piece of themselves from this day forward.  But I also like to think that those who do leave us unexpectedly never truly leave us.  They remain within ourselves, and their spirits live and breathe inside of us as long as we keep remembering them.  In the case of Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, Nestor’s mother lived on through Tilly, the cherub that foresaw Nestor’s future.

And in Newtown, Connecticut, an entire community came together to grieve their losses and to support each other.  Taking solace in praying for those who were killed.  Holding onto their children a little tighter.  Leaning on one another to get through the first of many days of wondering ‘why’.

Trying to find some glimmer of hope in the wake of a tragedy. 

All that I can do at this time is continue to mourn those innocent lives that were taken away from the world way too soon, and continue to hold on to what seemingly little hope that we all need to have with us in order to get through what happened as best we can.

This post is dedicated to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting of December 14, 2012.  Our hearts are with you all, and may you rest in peace as angels watch over you.


On that note, I’m ending this piece for today.  I’ll be back tomorrow with Day #16 of this blog, as I’ll try to continue on with the advent calendar. 

Keep on staying strong...and never lose hope or faith.  Just take comfort in each other during this time, and be kind to one another. 


Kindness and love is more powerful than hate and violence.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Silver and Golden Girls


It seems hard to believe, but yesterday was the midway point in The Pop Culture Addict's Advent Calendar. It's all downhill from here as we get closer and closer to the big day!

This marks Day #14 of the advent calendar, and since today is Friday, we're going to be looking at a holiday themed television show.

This week, we're going to be doing an episode spotlight on a particular sitcom that ran for seven years on NBC. It's been a while since I've done one of these, and I wanted to choose an episode that really focused on the real meaning of the holiday spirit.

And you know what? I think that I've succeeded in doing exactly that...albeit in a non-traditional manner.

First, let's discuss the show a little bit.



Last year, I already talked a little about the television series “The Golden Girls”, when I did a character spotlight on Blanche Devereaux (played by the late Rue McClanahan). But this time around, I'll be looking at the whole cast, which also included the late Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak, the late Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo, and the very much alive Betty White as Rose Nylund.



It seems hard to believe that a show about four elderly women sharing a home in Miami, Florida would last seven years (it ran from 1985-1992). I honestly don't know if the show would have lasted had it debuted during any other time period. Yet, for some reason the show just seemed to click. The four main members of the cast worked incredibly well together with undeniable chemistry, and the writing was top-notch. I'll even admit to being a huge fan of “The Golden Girls”, especially now that I am adult and I can understand the meaning of the jokes and punchlines a little better.

So, I really wanted to put the focus on a particular episode of this program for the holiday season, and in this case, I couldn't think of a better episode to spotlight than the very first Christmas episode of “The Golden Girls”.



The episode was entitled 'Twas the Nightmare Before Christmas, and it originally aired on December 20, 1986. And guess what? I found it online! Just click on the link below, and spend the next twenty-four minutes and forty-eight seconds watching it. Go on. Click on the link and watch it. I'll wait.


Okay, now that you've watched it, we can discuss it. And even if you haven't, we're going to discuss it anyway. Just don't get too upset at me for spoiling it for you, because you were warned.



It's Christmastime in Miami again, and it looks like everybody is making preparations to spend time with their families. Rose is flying back out to St. Olaf, Minnesota to spend the holidays with her family. Dorothy and Sophia are planning to spend Christmas in New York City. And, I'm not sure where Blanche is going, but wherever she was headed off to, I'm sure she would have fun. After all, she seemed to have a lot of fun with Santa Claus!

And, yes, Blanche would actually hit on a Santa Claus. Heck, she'd hit on the Easter Bunny if she felt he was attractive enough for her out-of-control libido!



But with all the preparations that everyone is doing, it seems that all of the girls are having their own problems with the holiday. Dorothy is not impressed by the idea that Christmas has gotten incredibly commercialized and feels that everyone has forgotten the real meaning of the holiday. Sophia, on the other hand, is all about buying gifts and presents for everybody else...even if it meant borrowing Dorothy's credit card to do it. And Blanche just seems sort of preoccupied with getting lucky...though to be fair, she is like this the other 364 days of the year.

Oh, and Rose's St. Olaf stories drive everyone crazy as usual.

But Rose does come up with a brilliant idea. She talks about a tradition that she used to take part in when she was growing up in St. Olaf about how they exchanged handmade gifts instead of buying them. Dorothy is all for the idea, thinking that it was a great way to display what the holidays were really all about...until she ended up getting her gift.



A wooden maple syrup spigot...which Dorothy remarked would come in handy...if she were ever lost in the woods with a stack of pancakes.

(Gotta say, I love the one-liners of this show the best!)



Of course, Blanche's present to the rest of the girls isn't much better...a 12-month calendar of all the men that she...well...had relations with during all of 1986. Apparently Mr. September's pose was rather scandalous, though we viewers never see why...and honestly I'm all right with that.

Still, it was a nice enough party, and on Christmas Eve, the women are all ready to head to their destinations to spend Christmas with their families. But before that can happen, Rose has to finish her shift at the crisis center where she works. And on Christmas Eve, Blanche and Dorothy (who have come upstairs to wait for her to wrap up her shift) end up getting to know the clients of the office which include a pathological liar and a man who has an unhealthy obsession with matches.



And to top it all off, Santa Claus (not the same one that Blanche was lusting after, but a different one) barges into the crisis center with a bag of presents and a handgun, holding everyone hostage!



TRIVIA: The Santa with the gun was played by Terry Kiser, who also played a rather stiff role a couple of years after filming this episode...he played the role of Bernie in the movie “Weekend at Bernie's”!

Turns out that “Santa” is a little bit tired of spending the holidays alone, and since he used the services of the crisis center before, he figured that by holding everyone hostage at the place where he felt most happy, he could generate his own magical Christmas. The problem was that Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy were not too keen on missing their flights back home to entertain a Santa who has had an obvious mental breakdown. Rose, in particular, is uncharacteristically curt with the man, and says the following to the man after he tries to give her a present.

We don't want your presents!”

SANTA: “But, it's Christmas!”

Not for us, you've ruined our Christmas!”

DOROTHY: “Rose...”

I'll handle this, Dorothy. I'm not surprised that you always spend Christmas by yourself, You know why? Because you don't know what Christmas is all about! People don't owe you a nice Christmas because you decided that's what makes you happy. You can force us to stay here all night, but I'll be damned if you're going to force us to celebrate the most joyous holiday of the year with you!”

Wow. That was quite impressive, wasn't it? Too bad Santa is holding a loaded gun...

...which gets taken out of Santa's hands by an upset Sophia who is upset over having to wait outside in the car like a “dachshund”. And then Sophia gets upset that Dorothy can't tell the difference between a real gun and a toy gun (Santa was holding the latter). And then Dorothy and Blanche gets upset because they were fooled into thinking that the gun was real. And then Santa gets upset because he realized that everything that Rose was telling him about himself was the truth.

Needless to say, Rose, Dorothy, Sophia, and Blanche manage to make it to the airport with just minutes to spare, and they all hug each other goodbye as they board their flights...

...and then five minutes later, it's New Years Day and they all come back home.

Just kidding.

What REALLY happens is that a storm system passes over Miami, effectively grounding all flights out of Miami on Christmas Eve.

As a result, the women are forced to spend Christmas Eve at a diner. They're upset and depressed over missing their opportunity to go back home on Christmas. They do manage to befriend the man who is running the diner, and he does offer them their favourite cheesecake dessert, but all four of them are too depressed to eat them. The women later explain to the man that they were unable to go home for Christmas to spend time with their families, and the man seemed shocked because he thought all four of them were family, as they all got along so well and were really close.

(Well, he WAS half right, as Sophia and Dorothy are mother and daughter.)

But his observation ended up making all of them rethink everything. To them, it didn't matter where they were. What mattered was that they were together and they were enjoying each other's company. That was what Christmas was all about.



And it's interesting how the Christmas spirit can spread when one is doused in it. For when all four women end up having their realization, they tell the man to go home and spend Christmas with his family...they would run the diner while he was gone. There's even a little bit of a Christmas miracle at the end of the episode...something that almost never happens in Miami!

Now, don't you agree that this was a lovely Christmas episode to watch?



Unfortunately, I can't make the same claim for Day #15. Tomorrow we feature a holiday special so depressing, my poor sister had to beg my mom to change the channel midway through!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

No Matter How You Say It, The Message Is The Same


Hey, everybody!  Today is the lucky thirteenth day of “The Pop Culture Addict’s Advent Calendar”, and for today’s entry, it’s time for another diary entry.  I have decided to try and make all of these entries holiday themed to keep with the tradition. 

That being said, I want you to know that this particular entry is going to be one that could potentially ignite a firestorm of debate.  I am very aware of the risks in making my feelings known, but you know what?  I have a thick skin developed by years of having to overcome physical and emotional obstacles throughout my life.  I think I can handle it.

Okay, let’s not waste time here.  Let’s get on with it.

December 13, 2012

Well, diary, another holiday season is in our midst, and I am happy to report that this guy has his whole list crossed off this year.  Bought all the gifts, mailed out all the cards, and I am sailing down easy street this year.  I am actually in awe over how prepared I was this year.  But I stress time and time again, when you work a job in the field known as customer service at a retail outlet, you learn pretty quickly not to procrastinate.  This is coming from a reformed December 24th shopper, by the way.


You know, one thing that I always loved about the Christmases of the past are just how much happier and joyful everybody was.  I still remember walking down the downtown streets, all decked out in tinsel, wreaths, and bright, sparkling lights that seemed to shimmer like stars in the sky on a crisp December night.   Everyone was walking down the street, happily giving other people their best wishes, whether it was a Merry Christmas, a Joyous Kwanzaa, a Happy Hanukkah, or the more generic Happy Holidays.  It didn’t matter to me what people were saying to me, as long as they were kind and genuine about it (as I believe most of them were), I didn’t care what kind of a greeting I got.  I acknowledged every single one of them, because I was always taught that you should be kind and polite to people who do take the time to give you a nice greeting.

Unfortunately, the concept of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you has been lost on some people, and depending on the greeting that you give them, you might end up getting a reaction that can range from indifference to just plain hostility!

And that’s not cool with me.


Just to state for the record (and just so I can get it out there for everyone to read), I am one of the hundreds of millions of people in the world who celebrate Christmas.  It was the holiday that I and most of my peers celebrated.  It was the only holiday that we ever really knew.  We were all raised with both the religious and non-religious teachings of the holiday.  We spent a lot of time learning about Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus as much as we did learning about Santa Claus and his eight reindeer that pulled the sleigh all around the world to deliver presents.



But it wasn’t until I was older until I started learning about the other holidays in December that other faiths and religions celebrated around the same time as Christmas.  I learned about Hanukkah when I was around nine years old.  In fact, I believe that a children’s show on TVOntario was my first experience with learning about Hanukkah.  For the life of me, I can’t remember what the show was called, but we saw the lighting of the menorah, and we learned about the various foods that were associated with the holiday, and we also learned that it lasted eight days, in which each child would get one present on each of the eight days.  I must admit that as a nine-year-old child, I liked that part the best!



Kwanzaa is another holiday that a lot of people celebrate, and I was kind of surprised to learn that its origin is actually quite recent.  Apparently, the first Kwanzaa observance was held in 1966, after a man by the name of Maulana Karenga founded it as the first specifically African-American holiday.  The reason for the creation of the holiday was to give African-Americans a way to celebrate a holiday that celebrates their rich history and culture.  Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration that usually takes place between December 26 and January 1, which culminates with a feast and gift-giving.  There are seven core principles that are involved with Kwanzaa, and these seven core principles are unity, self-determination, purpose, faith, creativity, cooperative economics, and collective work and responsibility.

So, you know, when you look at it, there really isn’t a whole lot of difference in the way we celebrate Christmas from the way that the Jewish community celebrates Hanukkah, or the African-American population celebrates Kwanzaa.  In all honesty, I have to say that both Hanukkah and Kwanzaa sound like a lot of fun.  I have always said that I would like to be a fly on the wall and sit in on at least one of these celebrations.  I’ve always been a big fan of how cultures around the world celebrate holidays, and I think that it would be a fantastic experience to be a part of a Hanukkah celebration or to see a Kwanzaa gathering in full swing.  I think it would be a fun experience.

So, that being said, if someone were to wish me a Happy Hanukkah, I wouldn’t mind in the slightest.  I’d probably even wish them one right back, because I appreciate the fact that they thought of me enough to wish me the very best for the holiday season, even if I don’t partake in the same holiday traditions that they do.  I think it’s nice.

What isn’t nice is seeing people freak out and get mad because someone dared wish them a Merry Christmas, and them having a fit because they don’t celebrate Christmas.  Nor is it nice to wish someone a Happy Holiday, and have them jump all over someone because they celebrate CHRISTMAS, and they want everyone else to know that they celebrate CHRISTMAS, and if they don’t celebrate CHRISTMAS, then they should just keep quiet.

I mean, looking back at that last paragraph, it sounds absolutely silly, right?

Oh, and there’s this lovely image that I see floating around social media sites...shall we have a look at it?


Yeah, that’s really heartwarming and thoughtful for the holiday season, isn’t it?  Makes my heart swell with the same warmth as a glass of expired eggnog.

Seriously, who the heck is anyone to tell anyone else what kind of a holiday greeting they should use?  I’ll tell you what that is...it’s not exactly respectful.

If somebody wants to wish me a Merry Christmas, I say thank you and wish them one back!  If someone wants to wish me a happy holiday, then I say thank you, and wish them one back!  And if someone were to wish me Season’s Greetings...well, I may look at them a bit funny because Season’s Greetings always seemed a bit awkward to use for a holiday greeting...but I’d still thank them and wish them one right back!  It’s called being polite, being respectful, and being absolutely in the spirit of trying to make other people smile. 

The above picture that I showed earlier to me reeks of arrogance, as far as I am concerned.  And, last time I checked, arrogance does not make a very merry Christmas OR a happy holiday.

At the same time, I also think that it works both ways.  I don’t think that people who don’t celebrate Christmas should really want to take the holiday celebrations away from people who do celebrate Christmas either.  But to be fair, I haven’t actually met anybody who is offended that they were wished a Merry Christmas when they don’t actually celebrate Christmas.  That's not to say that this doesn't happen, just that I haven't encountered it.  In fact, I remember wishing someone a Merry Christmas once, and they politely smiled and said that they actually celebrated Hanukkah, but they were very polite about it and brushed it off.  We even got into a little bit of a friendly discussion about each of our holiday traditions.  It was a very nice moment that I have always treasured because we took the time to listen to each other.

THE WAY THAT PEOPLE CELEBRATING THE HOLIDAYS SHOULD BE!!!

I guess what I am trying to say is this...be respectful to each other, regardless of what holiday we celebrate.  No holiday is more important than another...and that's something that I think a few people have forgotten.  As I said before, when you really sit down and look at how Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa are celebrated, they’re all celebrated in a similar fashion.  In the end, the traditions may be different, but one thing remains the same...spending time with your loved ones and enjoying each other’s company.  That’s what the holidays are about...not launching a campaign to solicit support for which holiday should dominate the month of December.  As far as I’m concerned, every holiday is special, and should be treated with the same amount of respect.  I think that it's great to be proud of the holiday that you know best, and I think it is wonderful for people to share that spirit with everybody...but I don't believe that people should feel that their holiday is superior to anyone else's.  They all have their place in the world, and I think people who celebrate Hanukkah should have the same respect that people who celebrate Christmas get, and vice versa.  And if anyone wishes you a Happy Holiday, acknowledge it, and wish them well.  To me, that really showcases the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa spirit more than anything else you could do!

I realize that this blog entry won’t change some people’s minds, and I don’t expect it to.  I’m just making my own thoughts known.  If some disagree with me, that’s cool.  I won’t hate you or plot your demise.  I’ll just nod my head, agree to disagree, and move on.  All I’m saying is that it’s okay to wish people whatever you want to wish them.  There’s really no point in getting offended about it. 

And, just think of how much happier your holidays would be if you went around with a positive disposition instead of finding an excuse to badger or belittle anybody else in order to prove a point!

So, I guess to end this diary entry off, I just have this to say.


It’s okay to say Merry Christmas, so Merry Christmas, everyone!


It’s okay to say Happy Holidays, so Happy Holidays, everyone!


It’s okay to say Happy Hanukkah, so Happy Hanukkah, everyone!


It’s okay to say Happy Kwanzaa, so Happy Kwanzaa, everyone!


And, you know what, even though I find the greeting to be a bit awkward to say, Season’s Greetings to all!

And that wraps up day #13. 


Coming up tomorrow on Day #14...we’re actually going to do an episode spotlight on a popular television show.  It’s very rare that I do an episode spotlight, but I think that the one that I’ve chosen will definitely put you in the holiday spirit, and will make you realize that as long as you’re with the people you love, anyplace can be considered home for the holidays.