Sunday, December 24, 2006

CHRISTMAS IN TOOBWORLD: DAY TWELVE

LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS

Well, well, well......

Here it is, Christmas Eve, and you still don't have a gift for that special someone on your list.

Okay. Here's the thing. If you're reading this blog on a regular basis, you can count yourself as a televisiologist. And if that special someone is also a televisiologist, well! Not only are you a very lucky git, but I have just the gift idea that you'll enjoy just as much as they will.

Of course, they won't be getting it in time for Christmas, but hey! You're a televisiologist! Surely you've watched enough TV in your lifetime to have figured out a way to get out of that potential argument!

In the meantime, order the book "Christmas On Television" by Newsday TV columnist and special Christmas episode junkie Diane Werts.

Here's a description of the book from Greenwood Publishing:

Christmas just isn't Christmas without Christmas on TV. Whether it's the made-for-television specials of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman," a "M*A*S*H*" Christmas in Korea, Kramer playing Santa on "Seinfeld," or the annual holiday disaster on "The Simpsons" or "South Park," television's many representations of this beloved holiday have become as essential a part of our holiday season as lights, gifts, or mistletoe. In this entertaining chronicle of television and the Christmas season, former Television Critics Association President Diane Werts weaves discussion of the many programs that have appeared during the holiday season throughout the years with interviews with writers, producers, and stars. Not only are readers given a chance to re-live their favorite holiday moments on TV, but also to gain illuminating cultural insights into the increasingly strong bond that unites these two American traditions.

For more reviews of the book by other TV critics as well as noted TV producer and writer Lee Goldberg, click here:

If I may, I'd like to suggest that you order the book through TV Shows On DVD, so that they might benefit from you supporting their sponsors. That's a great website that really goes the extra mile to find out all the details about the upcoming releases of your favorite shows on DVD.

My only complaint about "Christmas On Television" is that it was outdated as soon as it was published. So long as there are TV shows being produced (which have a life expectancy past thirteen weeks!), there will always be new Christmas episodes expanding the TV Universe in one way or another. (And this book has all those categories neatly assembled!)

I get the feeling that Ms. Werts will update the book again in a few years, as happens with the various TV encyclopediae. In the meantime, she hasn't lost her enthusiasm for the topic since writing the book as she still writes up a complete list of Christmas episodes and where/when to find them - even when they're outside her readers' viewing area. (She urged her readers to find somebody in Philadelphia to tape the vintage episodes - from Jack Benny to Ozzie and Harriet - that were going to be broadcast down there this holiday.)

Okay, guys - you say your special someone isn't that into Television. Well, normally I'd say dump the frakkin' grinch (I didn't actually type "grinch") and find someone who better understands you; someone you can more easily assimilate..

But it's Christmas. Not enough time to really go out and find a replacement for some under-the-mistletoe canoodling. So you better go for broke with what you've got and save the CSI scenario for a later date.

I'm not reporting anything new here - this Christmas gift suggestion has swept the Internet like wildfire in just one week, with even play by play analysis about its creation in the New York Times.

I am, of course, referring to the music video "Dick In A Box" from 'Saturday Night Live'. Let Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake show you exactly how to please that special someone with your personal Yule Log.

You want to wrap a bow around it, that's your business.....

You can find the video uncensored at either nbc.com or at YouTube.com.

Okay, so that's our inaugural Twelve Days of Christmas in Toobworld for 2006. If you enjoyed it half as much as I did in preparing it, then I had twice as much fun as you did. Sounds fair.

So as the Two Ronnies might have said,

It's Merry Christmas from me, and it's Merry Christmas from him.....

Merry Christmas!
Tele-Toby

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