It’s one of the iconic videos of the holiday season: An alien-looking David Bowie trading countermelodies with the 20th century’s most iconic crooners, Bing Crosby. But their 1977 TV collaboration on “Little Drummer Boy / Peace on Earth” almost didn’t happen, according to interviews in the Bing Crosby bio film that debuts tonight on PBS’ […]
Category Archives: Holidays
After ‘Auld Lang Syne’: New Year’s Songs
Christmas has the market sewn up when it comes to holiday songs. But there are enough New Year’s songs around to fill up a mixtape, if indeed people still fill out mixtapes. One or two songs stand out historically among the rest, but let’s face it “Auld Lang Syne” is getting a little auld! The […]
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Wednesday TV: New ‘Doctor Who’ Calling
Christmas is a day of reruns, marathons and, for some reason, NBA games on American TV. But in Britain, it’s the day that is set aside for special episodes of favorite series. Such is the case with this year’s Christmas special for “Doctor Who” (BBC America, 9 p.m.). It’s an especially noteworthy episode from a […]
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Tuesday TV: Merry Christmas, You Wonderful Old Building and Loan!
The most beloved Christmas movie used to be shown at least twice during the season. But NBC had a hit with its live remake of “The Sound of Music” and showed that in place of one of the usual slots for Frank Capra’s classic on Saturday. So tonight is just about the only time to […]
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‘The Judy Garland Christmas Show’
The notion that the standard old musical variety Christmas specials were old fashioned, forced and fake does not stand with “The Judy Garland Christmas Show.” The first half of 1963 broadcast, after all, is sponsored by pills and cigarettes. Which is all you need to know about your host’s state of mind half a century […]
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The Saddest Christmas Songs
Oh yes, wе know Christmas іѕ meant tо bе a tіmе оf good cheer, оf peace аnd harmony аnd thе nonstop ringing jingle bells. But whеn all-Christmas stations pop uр thе fіrѕt week оf November аnd there’s nо ducking thе ceaselessly upbeat department store mixes, thе relentless cheeriness саn bе wearing. It’s wеll known thаt […]
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Turkey Shoot on ‘The X Factor’
Family gatherings, stuffed turkey, cranberry sauce. For “The X Factor,” Thanksgiving is also a time to crush dreams. On an episode when no family connection failed to be exploited, the oldest contestant on “The X Factor” was eliminated, while the youngest two battled to see which one would stay. First to go was Lillie McCloud, 54, who […]
Also posted in Reality Bites
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Report from Halloween, 2013
Through some stroke of fate, I was a judge of a neighborhood kids costume contest and though I hardly ever had to weigh tough decisions of winners and losers, I did have the opportunity to see a lot of costumes, one after another. A lot of ninjas, more witches than princesses, one self-described vampire/devil, one […]
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Cherry Blossom Report 2013
There’s actually a single point on a clock when you can say the cherry blossoms have peaked in Washington D.C. They build a whole festival around it and thousands of people come, but nobody knows exactly when the peak will be. Last year, for example, on the opening day of the festival, the blossoms were […]
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Starting 2013 With a Whimper
Does New Year’s Eve just get inherently less interesting as one gets older? It was never much more exciting to see a calendar turn than to see the odometer turn 100,000 miles. It just happens. Numbers are like that. But this year on TV, there were more countdown shows than ever, and one of the […]
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