The holiday season is upon us, and with it comes a bunch of holiday-themed episodes.
Christmas-themed episodes are a long-running tradition in TV, providing an opportunity to add a bit of sentimentality — or, in some cases, cynicism — about the holidays.
The Simpsons, the longest-running sitcom in TV history, started its series run with a Christmas episode, “Simpsons Roasting On an Open Fire.” And, though the characters haven’t aged in the 21 seasons since, they’ve managed somehow to celebrate several more Christmases.
One of my favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone was “Night of the Meek,” a surprisingly poignant tale of an alcoholic, department-store Santa, played by Art Carney, who gets a chance to make the holidays merrier for the underprivileged.
And there have been Christmas albums devoted to such shows as Glee (no surprise there), Ren & Stimpy, Tales From the Crypt and Bonanza (yes, really).
What are your favorite holiday episodes of TV shows from the past, and why do they stick in your mind? Send me a reply by e-mail at tclodfelter@wsjournal.com; traditional mail at 418 N. Marshall St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101; Facebook at www.facebook.com/tclodfelterWSJ; or Twitter @tclodfelterwsj. Your responses will be used in a future article.
After Sunday’s screening of The Walking Dead at Aperture Cinema, actress Jeryl Prescott Sales is scheduled to talk to the Aperture audience live by Skype from California. Aperture is screening episodes each week as they air on AMC, with free admission. Last week, they filled one screening room at the theater and spilled over into the next one.
The show has been a hit for AMC, drawing 4.75 million viewers last week, and is the subject of this week’s Entertainment Weekly cover.
Tonight’s episode, which will be shown at 10 p.m. on AMC, is the second-to-last of the season.
Time Warner Cable has added some new high-definition channels to its digital lineup: in the normal digital HD tier, Hallmark Channel (1218) and SportsSouth (1510); in the Sports Pass lineup, NHL Network (1526) and Fox Soccer Plus (1536); for Showtime subscribers, Showtime HD On Demand (1762); for subscribers with the HD Plus Tier, Smithsonian on Demand (1275); and, starting the new 3D Pass tier for people with 3D HDTV sets, ESPN 3D (1505).
New on DVD this week: Two new compilations in the “Looney Tunes Super Stars” series, each with 15 classic Warner Brothers cartoons, one focusing on Tweety and Sylvester and the other on Foghorn Leghorn and such other characters as the Goofy Gophers, the Honeymousers (a cartoon parody of The Honeymooners), and Jose and Manuel, two crows; Have Gun Will Travel: Season 5, Vol. 1, with 19 episodes of the classic Western, in which Richard Boone played a Wild West mercenary with a strong code of honor; the third season of The Lucy Show with Lucille Ball, Vivian Vance and Gale Gordon; and the second season of Parks and Recreation, NBC’s sitcom about small-town politics, which will start its third season Jan. 20. Extras on Parks and Recreation include commentaries and a blooper reel.
tclodfelter@wsjournal.com
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