Holiday Special: Christmas Movies and More (Rerun)

Originally released on Dec. 18, 2022.

Season two wraps up with this Holiday Special, where all three hosts – Candice Bloch, Sandra Abrams, and Tara Jabbari – discuss the mega genre of Christmas and holiday movies. The trio share fun facts, their personal opinions, and go over the results of Media & Monuments’ own holiday survey, which centered on movies related to “the most wonderful time of the year.” Here are a few highlights from the survey to get you into the holiday mood: Love Actually was voted favorite holiday rom-com, Miracle on 34th Street was voted favorite Santa-theme movie, and A Charlie Brown Christmas was the winner in the animated category.

Want to hear more results or find out if you got a shout out? Want to hear a lively debate on why Die Hard is or is not a Christmas movie? Tune in! While this is the last new episode for 2022, Media & Monuments will play reruns during their winter break,  and  return with season three in the new year. Happy Holidays from the WIFV podcast committee!

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Transcript

It's that most wonderful time of year. Tis the season for our holiday special. Welcome to the Median Monuments episode. That wraps up our second season as all three hosts chat about Christmas movies and beyond. I'm Candace Block and I'm joined by my fellow host Sandra Abrams. And Tara Jabari.

We're gonna dive into the mega saturated genre of holiday and Christmas. Share our own insights and experiences and comb through the results of our own holiday survey. But first, let's make sure you listeners can tell us each part with some introductions, and let's kick things off by sharing the most recent holiday film we've watched.

So I'll start and then hand it off to Sandra and then Tara.  So I've seen a couple of the, uh, recent new ones, like a Christmas story, Christmas and Spirited, although the most recent is last night I watched a sweet little animated one called Klaus. So, uh, Sandra, what about.

I've seen several Christmas movies recently. One in particular was on the Oprah Network over the weekend. It was called A Stray Christmas. It's about a great looking guy who goes from Chicago to a small. And while he's there at the small town, a stray dog starts following him around because the stray dog is following him around.

The man meets a veterinarian and at the end of the movie, the veterinarian and the guy fall in love with the stray dog next to them.

A real twist ending, it sounds like, All right, Tara, what about.

I have started several Christmas movies and I haven't finished any of them because I realized I can't stand them.

Oh no. Okay.

I tried a Christmas story, a Christmas story, story, whatever that stupid sequel is called, which is actually better than the original

a Christmas story, Christmas.



Yeah, Ralphie is back and this time it, he's a father, so that's why. How could you not be into that?

Sure. And ugh.  today, I tried to watch National Lampoon's Christmas lasted 15 minutes. I don't like it. I don't like it guys.

So if anyone here listened to our Halloween special, you will recall that in that one, Tara was a major horror Halloween fan, and Sandra wasn't so much so this time the tables have turned and Sandra loves holiday movies. And Tara, as you can tell, it is not her cup of tea But uh, nevertheless, we are all three devoted hosts.

So we're gonna power through because this is one major, major. Insane beast Bohemoth of a genre that is undeniable. So, uh, we, we have to talk about it and tizz the season to talk about it.  so let's just kick things off with a pretty obvious question. What do you think makes a Christmas movie, a Christmas movie?

There  certain things that make a Christmas movie, a Christmas movie. First of all, it's about nostalgia and it's about tradition. Whether you are following the tradition of making grandma's recipe to make dumplings or whether or not you're making grandma's recipe to make apple pie, there's a number of things that everybody comes together at family time.

Everybody is nostalgic and the young kids are learning the traditions of what's been passed down for  generation, after Generat. . In many cases it does take place because of snow. I'm a big fan of having snow at Christmas time, but I do know that there are other people who are perfectly happy putting up blow up Santa Claus in their front yard, and Santa is wearing a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops.

There are other parts of the globe in which it is not the winter for Christmas. So for you it's tradition. It sounds like. I know that  when you look at these movie guides and things, a lot of the definitions are kind of like, More anchored in it needs to be falling around Christmas itself, um, or between Christmas and New Year's, generally speaking.

Some, you know, Christmas trees or indications of the holiday being there is a major component.  and then yes, generally there's a consensus that it has to have some type of tie into the spirit of Christmas in that it's about you. loving, coming together, traditions, various things, but there's such a wide range, and as we talk about all the different movies to come, you'll see there's.

So many that it's, it's interesting to see what threads run throughout and everyone has their own opinion. There are some hotly contested things as well. We will delve into that more when we get into the results of our survey.  We know that Tara's not gonna have a favorite Christmas movie, so , we'll find out what,  Sandra and I like as we move forward.

But one thing that I thought was an interesting fact is while there's so many Christmas films, the one story that has been adapted the most in. History for almost any story, I believe is a Christmas Carol. So the 1843 Dickens story has countless films and shows and adaptations about it. The most recent being spirited,  with Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell.

do you guys each have a favorite adaptation of the Dickens Classic?

 I did see the movie that is talks about,  Dan Stevens plays Dickens  and what inspired him to write a Christmas Carol? That was kind of cool.

Okay, so you got kind of adjacent to a Christmas movie

I mean, I've seen a

an origin story. Yeah. Sandra, do you have a favorite one?

Well, first of all, Dan Stevens was in Doubt Abbey. So anything that Dan Stevens does is I'm a fan of,  and speaking of films, apparently the earliest version of Scrooger Marley's Ghost was in 1901, A silent film  that's in the British Film Institute archives. And also I wanted to point out that even big stars get into this, and people may not realize in 1949 version of a Christmas Carol that was narrated by Benson Price,

Hmm.

who I I Tara, should be impressed with that, considering, you know, she loves anything gory in Halloween.

You know what guys?

You know, your self-admitted, uh, horror fan,

Yeah, I don't like it gory, but you know, Vinny did a good job.

Um, yeah, so there's, there are, uh, lots of different versions and as Sandra was pointing out, Christmas movies seem to be something. All types have been a part of them. I know even some of the ones, and we'll, we'll delve into that whole world of like Hallmark and Lifetime stuff in a little bit, but I've seen big names doing those films as well.

and then there's countless Christmas specials. So that's a whole other category, which I don't even think we have time to talk about because we're gonna get into  some staples of this and, and dive into the survey in a minute here so that the episode isn't way too long. Cuz we definitely could go on with more.

Right. No, but there was the Dolly Parton special that was just recently on, so of course, how could you not watch, do.

Yeah. There's constant, constant specials. 

there's even a Garden Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special that just came out.  There's Star Wars specials, you know,

I haven't seen any of these and I didn't even know that they existed.

Ah, maybe, maybe that's something you should look into. Cuz they're usually more of a bite size thing and they relate to whatever,  other franchise  or story they're, or, or person they're related to. Yeah. And they're little, they're little like holiday snacks,  so we're gonna get into so much Christmas specific stuff. Before we do, I wanna make sure we do pay a little homage to, to the holiday season being not only Christmas. So there are plenty of movies that are not Christmas ones, but are considered holiday ones for let's just go with like December holidays cuz there are arguably Thanksgiving, uh, movies as well.

we can talk about that a little bit, but yeah. Uh, Sandra specifically,  what are some of the highlights of the most well known? Not Christmas holiday movies,

not Christmas holiday movies. Well, are you talking about diehard?

Oh, to me, that's a Christmas movie and to a lot of people, but yeah, no, uh, ones that are based on like Hanukkah

Oh, okay. All

or, or other,

Hanukkah to me that, that, that's the Hanukkah, that's a holiday movie. You know, it's

Right, exactly.

Holiday, not Christmas yet.

 one of the most well known Hanukkah movies was, uh, from 2002, the animated Hanukkah film, eight Crazy Nights, and that's done by Adam Sandler.

Now, I, of course, went to the movies and saw that, and when that came out, apparently it bombed at the box office, but now it has a cult following.  So, uh, that movie has become a tradition for many people to watch.

What did you think of it? Did you.

I, I loved it of.

I, I admittedly have not seen that yet, but I'm surprised cuz I also cel, I celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, so I should see more of the Hanukkah ones. And when you see all of the holiday movies coming out and they make all these lists and all the TV shows and channels have the, you know, millions of days of Christmas movies and everything they do now, throw Hanukkah movies in there and some other holidays as well.

So at least they're starting to be a little more inclusive. And it's not only Christmas,

Right. No. So that was, uh, in 2020, uh, hallmark put out a Hanukkah movie called love Lights in Hanukkah. And that film was acknowledged by several reports, including Insider as Hallmark's first genuine Hanukkah film in 2020. So

the way till 2020 for that to happen. 

Mary Lou Henner was, uh, in that movie. So,

So, uh, some good Hanukkah wants to check out for, for everyone.  Sandra, when does Hanukkah start this?

It starts on the 19th?

we're gonna start going over this survey. So we sent out a survey, a bunch of people responded, and we are going to, uh, break down a little bit of what you all.

Said,  we asked all of you what your favorite holiday theme or style was. You know, things like vacation mishap or family reunion, like coming back home or romcoms. The winner was far and away holiday romcoms with just over 31% of responses. Second place went to family reunions with 28%, and then Santa Claus based ones,  was third place with almost 19%.

So, breaking down those categories a bit with romcoms, we took some choice ones in each of. Love actually blew the others away by getting about 53%. So that was the number one for Romcoms Santa themed ones Miracle on 31st Street got over 40%. That was number one, which I haven't seen.

I feel like I should see it now.

it and it's my like go-to when people are like, what movie have you never seen that you should have?

Yeah. Yeah.

That's.

is the one with Natalie Wood

Mm-hmm.

a young girl. That's the classic.

it is a classic. I will put it on my watch list for this year to get some classics done.  miracle on 34th. Fourth was, uh, 40%, and Elf was a close second with almost

Will Farrell is hysterical.

What's your favorite color?

amazing. Oh

Yeah. And that's becoming its own classic. So we did have a category asking about, um, classic films as well. And that was kind of like ones that are at least 25 years old and  kind of unequivocally,  undeniably a Christmas one. Cuz there are holiday films that, you know, some people are like, is it, is it not?

Um, these ones are a hundred percent. And so of those classic ones, . it's a wonderful life took first place, big shocker there, but that was almost 44% of, respondents. And then a Christmas story was second place with 25%.  of the favorite animated holiday films, A Charlie Brown Christmas was the clear winner with over 34% and tied for second place was Dr. Seuss's, how The Grinch Stole Christmas and The Muppet Christmas Carol. 

Oh, I was just gonna say, speaking of animations, there was also the Mr. Magoo, if anybody remembers that cartoon, there was a version. Right. And then of course, another animated version that was just on recently was the Polar Express with Tom Hank starring as the train conductor. And that is just adorable.

And that one gets all the, um, controversy about the uncanny valley. Some people can't watch Polar Express cuz it creeps them out.

Oh, I

they look, they looked odd. 

Yeah, it was like the first kind of animation using that kind of computer thing, but,

Yeah. So you'll still see people that are like, I, I can't watch it. I can't watch it. It words me out.

mm.

Um, do you guys have favorite animated ones or We did animated slash like, not human, or like not, you know, that's why we put the Muppets in there because it was kind of like an other categor.

honestly feel like I have blocked all of this.  but I do remember Dr. Seuss's, how the Grinch  stole Christmas, the animated one and the Jim Carey one and the animated one does.  in my mind a lot, but it's not necessarily a favorite.

 is there like a moment that stands out?

His his creepy smile that I'm pretty sure they were thinking of Jack Nicholson when they did

Oh yeah. The one, the smile with like the, the millions and

Yeah. And then

it goes, wraps

then his hair kind of twirls or something. Yeah.

I think there's a meme going around right now, which is I, I think very true. Where it says The Grinch didn't hate Christmas, he hated people.

Yes, I've seen that and I'm like, that makes a lot of sense.



so, so here we go. We're, we're gonna, we're gonna dip into the, the one that makes most people think of Christmas usually, or the one that screams the loudest about Christmas of Hallmark. Which also includes lifetime, hallmark, and Lifetime are the two big ones that, that do all these things.

We ask people if they loved those or not, and only 22% of people said they eat those up. Uh, and then everyone else was like, nah. So I think we're in good company here. I don't know about you guys, but I am not a fan of those.

no.

Tara clearly isn't. What do you, Sandra?

Yes, I'm a fan of the Hallmark, the Lifetime, the UP tv, the Oprah Network, Any holiday movie that has falls into those genres. Yes. As a matter of fact,  they have become very popular over the years. Um, I read a Forbes article that was from 2021. So in 2009, hallmark made nine Christmas. In 2022, alone not looking at Lifetime or up tv. 40, 40 Hallmark Christmas movies. And one Hanukkah movie was made.  and to show you how popular these Christmas movies are, so Netflix they have aired nearly four dozen. Christmas movies in the past three years,  and apparently last year they did their first gay  romcom single all the way, and that was considered the first gay holiday film.



Can I just add, talk about the holiday romcom ones though? I also wanted to add, my favorite there is the holiday with Cameron Diaz and Jude Law and Kate Winslet. That's an awesome one. There's the Queen Latifa one last holiday with LL Col J. So, and then, cuz you had also mentioned loved actually, 

I have a really fun fact about love, actually. I know where the famous boards that Andrew Lincoln uses to, to confesses love to Kira nightly. They are located in a house in Georgetown. Um, friends of mine bought it on an auction and it now decorates their dining.

Wow. Wow.

kind of, that's a cool little tidbit

Another fun, uh, fun Georgetown fact actually.

Yeah.

That's great. Yeah. And so that's one where, um, it's a really classic Christmas film and romcom and,  they just had a reunion special about love actually, which was kind of nice talking about how, uh, it has become one of the classics, you

That one I can stomach and I've met some British people and they don't understand why. It's so funny when the guy says, I'm going to Wisconsin. Americans find it funny, but the British don't really get it, so it's kind of cute.

 so yeah, so we kind of know,  how we stand on the Hallmark ones.  Sandra loves them. I. , not a fan, but I know what they are. And so occasionally if I feel like checking out one, cuz maybe like, I don't know, the lead is particularly hot or something, I might watch it knowing that it's going to be corny and ridiculous and predictable and not necessarily the highest production value, but that's, that's what they're for.

And some people love them, that they're predictable, you know? You know what you're getting. Yeah. It's like romance novels or something. I.

 so now switching to less fluffy, we're gonna get to some of those potentially controversial questions.  we asked a couple of movies if, if they're Christmas movies or not on the survey.

And the first one was, is Die Hard A Christmas movie, which is a.  Everlasting Debate.  I personally think yes, that it is, and so do almost 60% of our survey takers. So our survey leans towards, yes, diehard is a Christmas movie, but there is 40% that said no.

And I understand people's arguments against it. But Sandra, please go ahead and explain why you think it's not a Christmas

Oh, you don't think it's a Christmas? Carry on. We'll,

Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. It's not a question of, I think, I know it is not a Christmas movie.



but isn't he in the building because of his wife's

Yeah. He comes back for a Christmas. Party. He, he and his

you go.

are not having the best, uh, time. They, he comes there for the holiday party.  there's Christmas music and themes throughout. You see lots of Christmas



things away, but even if someone, you know, the, when a brother gets murdered, you know, there's ho, ho, ho with a Santa hat.

Um, there's, there's Christmas

I would

an important role in the

movie because they wouldn't be there if it wasn't for a holiday party

And by the end,  there's some coming back together. There's, um, some, some deep thinking, some reconcili. I know I'm not gonna ruin it all, but there's, there's the whole, uh, the cop storyline too. Like, there's a lot of, uh, warm fuzzies. There's, there's, there's holiday stuff. I, to me, it's a Christmas movie.

There's even diehard Christmas books and all kinds of things. It's one of the longtime debates.

have rewatched. I'm gonna rewatched that

So maybe, maybe Tara watch that and decide if it's a Christmas movie or

No, I already think it. Yes,

Okay. See, and I, and I do as well. So look at that. We are very close. This panel is very close to the survey.

All right. First of all,

two thirds.

let me just tell you something. The movie was released in July,

Okay. That

that's the money maker.

Christmas movies are normally re released at Christmas time. The other thing is it's a little too violent to be a Christmas movie.

Hmm.



other thing is in LA there is no snow there at Christmas time, so how could you have a Christmas movie with no snow?

A hundred

no snow in LA at Christmas time. There's no snow in LA at any.

n You do not need snow to be a Christmas movie.

there's already some Christmas movies that like take place outside, like in tropical areas, aren't there?

for sure. I mean, a hundred percent. I, I will fight this one harder than is diehard a Christmas movie. But you do not need snow to be a Christmas

Yeah,

because that is just, that's like a regional thing that's closing off, you know, a whole more than half of the globe. I mean, and we don't always get snow for Christmas.

That doesn't mean it's not Christmas.

All right, and one more fact. One more fact here, Candace and Tara in 2018, Bruce Willis said at a Comedy Central event, diehard is not a Christmas movie.

Well, he might think that, but the, the masses have spoken

The masses have spoken.  Tell me what the screenwriter thinks, and then we'll go from there. 

I mean, it's one of those ones that just like a Christmas story, and it's a wonderful life. It plays on the networks around this time over and over because that's what the people want. It's a Christmas movie.

Yeah, I, I can see the argument why, cuz especially cuz it's, oh, it's so violent and all sorts of stuff. But I would say because the whole central point is that they're there because of a holiday movie. Bam. Makes it a  holiday movie  But I enjoyed it.

I haven't seen it in a really long time. But it also works for any time period because there's other aspects. 

Yeah. It, it's a multi-genre of film, I think, and, and so it's one of those ones because it's a lot of different things. I think if you want it to be a Christmas movie, happily take it. If you don't want it to be happily, don't watch it. But I think this is a, most people are gonna have to peacefully agree to disagree.

I am team Diehard as a Christmas movie, Sandra is not. Tara is, most of our survey takers are team diehard as a Christmas movie,  but another one that we asked about, about does it make the cut as being a Christmas movie is The Nightmare before Christmas.

So that one we also talked about in,  the Halloween special and 72% of the people that took our survey. Say that, yes, it does qualify and it is a Christmas movie. Now, I would like to say that I tend to agree with a good friend of mine who says it's actually the perfect Thanksgiving movie cuz it's a little bit Halloween and a little bit Christmas.

What do you guys think? Do you think Nightmare Before Christmas is a Christmas movie.

I haven't.

Oh,

I remember. I was too scared to see it as a kid

Have you not seen it again as an.

No

Okay, well, you both now have homework. You should watch Nightmare before Christmas. It's really cute. It's cute.  I think it's, if you wanna, again, like diehard, if you want it to be a Christmas movie, go for it. I'm not gonna trample on anyone's joy.

Watch whatever you want because ultimately, go-to holiday films are what they build a tradition and memory around. So if you watch the same thing over and over every Christmas time, that's a Christmas movie to you.  if you watch Home Alone every year, then  that is a Christmas movie.

 we had someone, uh, point out that maybe like little women or when Harry Met Sally or all these different things, could.  Christmas movies, Harry Potter. A lot of people watch around Christmas time. It, it's what you make it, I think. But that might be, that might be controversial. I don't know.

I avoid it. So there you go.

well, we, we asked people what their go-to holiday film was, and this was a great opportunity to hear of some of those ones that aren't the obvious and the classics and, and kind of rolling on this theme.  There were these interesting write-ins with, but a lot of obvious ones were like, it's a Wonderful Life.

That was a classic go-to. Um, the, the Disney short prep and landing was, was listed White Christmas, got a few mentions. The holiday, as Sandra also pointed out, diehard had a lot of write-ins. , um, Christmas vacation. The, the Lampoon one, eh, home Alone. Bad Santa. There's all these other ones. And then Tara, are you going to be watching, um, violent Night?

Is that the one with

the one coming out now with, um, I always forget his

Stranger Things guy? Yes.

Hawkins.

Sorry.

yeah. Hopper. Yeah.

Hopper. Uh, yeah, I, I, that one is my cup of tea. And I remember Bad Santa came out and. I should not have seen it, but my dad was like, oh, let's go see it. And he is like, oh dear. And I was like, Laura and  would watch it. And I'm like, oh, okay. Cuz she, she says some things, uh, to

now. Now Sandra I, does that mean that bad Santa is and violent night you would not consider Christmas movies even though they're literally about Santa Clauss? Is it because they're too violent? Where does that fall?

Bad Santa. It's kind of funny and cute, so I wouldn't say it's necessarily that violent. I would not watch violent night just for the title alone. And that's the thing about these Christmas movies that you do get all these titles where you know exactly what it's about. For example, there was.

The Royal Corgi Christmas, you know, and you know that somebody, it involves royalty, it involves corgis, and, uh, it, it involves Christmas time, so you know exactly what you're getting with some of these titles.

That right there is, is it almost sounds fake, uh, how perfectly that lines with the Hallmark or Lifetime tub.  so, oh, this is a question I have legitimately on the lifetime and, uh, hallmark movies 

Because they make new ones every year. Do you rewatch some of the old ones, or is it sort of a disposable one and done Because there's a new batch the next year.

for myself. I continue to watch them over and over and I see them again. And that is also true of films such as, uh,  the last holiday or the one with um, you know, Kate Winslet, the holiday. There's also with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn, the four Christmases where they have to go, where they go to, you know, four, try and figure out how to go to four different families.

I've seen that numerous times. So yes, I watched them again. But again, they're feel good. They're fun, and you always know there's some type of happy ending. And I think in this day and age, we especially need something like,

That's true. Happy endings are nice. It's what makes, uh, romcoms in general, uh, enjoyable.  I don't think it would  like classify as a Christmas movie if it didn't have a happy ending, and diehard has a happy ending. So I think it qualifies and it gives you the warm fuzzies, but no, um, yeah.

So are there any, um, ones that you don't see often on these lists that you would recommend or ones that you think  aren't getting enough play as Christmas movie?

One thing, we haven't mentioned anything with Rudolph, the Red News, reindeer. There's a whole series of Rudolph, the Red News, reindeer films, 

mm-hmm.

That's a good point. That one I

about any of those yet.

And those can we anywhere from kids to adults enjoy that type of.

Yeah. Cuz there's a lot of nostalgia in those as well since they came out a while back. So a lot of the adults now watched them as kids.  I personally think the Charlie Brown Christmas album, the music of that to me is such a tradition for Christmas time for me in my life.

So I don't watch the movie every year, but I listen to the album every. Um, are there other, can you guys think of other ones that have some other tie, like the music or something about it that makes it kind of

Yes. Actually there is a film, it's called Jingle Jangle, and that has Felicia Rashad is starring as the grandmother in there.  when.  I watch that film, what I recognize, John Legend does the music for that, uh,

Oh, I didn't know

Oh,

no. So anytime there's John Legend music, of course, I really wanna listen and watch.

Yeah, the mu music is so important and we did touch on the fact earlier with, with Spirited, which I, I really liked. I thought it was cute and a nice modern twist on stuff and enjoyable. And that's a very self-aware musical musicals kind of go, go a lot into Christmas films. I, I don't really know why, but, uh, it's, it's something that you see a lot.

There's always like a, a song or a song in dance number, or not always, but many of.

um, even though it's a controversial song now, uh, but the song in Elf that Zoe de Chanel sings in the credits.

Mm-hmm.

I really can't stay baby. It's cold.

Yeah, baby. It's

baby? It's cold. That's a um, and I always liked her voice in it and in the credits they have a different male voice singing and it compliments her.

Not to say Will Ferrell doesn't have a nice singing voice, but I liked that one, so I would listen to that one on repeat. Um, but yeah, it is very questionable lyrics if you think about it.

they've done a lot of, uh, recent redos of that. There's a lot of updated versions, .  so Tara, if you're not really big on holiday movies, are you okay with like Christmas music? Cuz that's

No, I hate it. I really can't stand it. I hate it.

So you are one of those people where you just as soon. It starts right after Thanksgiving. You just hold your breath and hunker down until New Year's when hopefully it lessens

Yeah. .  I think because they start so quick, like honestly, November 1st, and I remember one year it started in September on the radio because even like being Crosby or um, Frank Sinatra or Nat King Colt, these beautiful voices, those I could handle. But when you hear them since September, I've lost my patience with it completely.

Yeah, I, I think they start way too early. Uh, most people agree. As we said from the survey results that Yeah, I mean, why can't you let November be,  I know I've seen these little comics of a Turkey, you know, pointing at Santa and just being like, you wait your turn. You know, it's, it's like, just cuz Halloween's done doesn't mean it's time for Christmas already.

Geez. You take over an entire month.

and it's every, it's at Starbucks, it's at the mall, it's at all sorts of, like always in the background. It's almost as, no, I would say it's more annoying than elevator music. Uh, just because you recognize it and it's just already, that's the dread I get.

Mm-hmm. . And then you start seeing the decorations out. I think everyone would, would do well to, to realize that maybe if you do it less often, it becomes more special, you

That. I think that's what's missing is that kind of, if you kept hearing like it's a crew, crew, crew, some, or you know, if you heard that now, you'd be like, what is happening right now? And if you hear it for the next six months, it's gonna drive you crazy. So that's all these like summary songs are saved till like maybe April, may, June, July, and then it's.

You can't do that with Christmas like or holiday music. It just now it just, it's like traumatic because they start it so soon.  it's not fair to the music cuz they have, I used to like it, but hearing it so often, I don't like it anymore.

Yeah, it's oversaturated.  there's clearly this, this beast of this genre of Christmas time takes over tv, movies, It's all this craziness and I think we hear at media and monuments agree. Pump the brakes on how soon you start that guys, geez, let's let it be, December, at least, you know, December 1st, get, or I know some people, like right after Thanksgiving, I know some people have traditions of, you know, the day after Thanksgiving they put up their tree and things like that.

Maybe I would allow that, but personally, I, I like to wait until at

Like  radio stations don't need to start so soon.  don't have it all the time for months on it. A couple of weeks maybe sprinkle one or two. Otherwise you don't get a scrooge like, , you know that

Oh, admitted. Said. Admitted. She admits

  Um, well, before we do some of our shout outs,  did any of you have,  a particular recommendation of like your favorite or your go-to Christmas movie?

 I realized I have none,

Okay. Sandra, what about you?

Charlie Brown is a classic. I'd stick with that and, and I think there's one, there's Snoopy and he has a Christmas special as well, so I recommend those.

And uh, I guess my recommendation is whatever brings you joy because it is clearly debatable on what makes it a holiday movie. And if it's something that you like watching around this time and it makes you feel the holiday. Go for it. So, um, alright, so just a couple of shout outs because we also put on our survey shout outs and we got a lot of, uh, responses this time. Thank you all so much for filling out the survey.

 so we don't have time for every shout out, but I just wanted to do, uh, a bunch of them.  Robin Noonan price of Robin's Nest Media Productions is launching a new website in January, so keep an eye out for that.

Connie St. John from No Weapon Productions is writing a holiday film right now, and that should be on the big screen for Christmas 2024. So we'll keep an eye out for that.  Robin c Ferrell has a podcast, called Coffee and Contemplation, which is all about stranger things. Zup Studios, which you can find on YouTube.

Has a recent episode out now all about the debate over whether or not die Hard as a Christmas movie.  that debate has become its own Christmas movie. It's like a Christmas tradition. Um, Larisa says she considers little women a Christmas movie, which, yeah, I mean, it, it might fit as well. um, Marianna, who grew up in Venezuela says that the 1985 film, Santa Claus, the movie was a must watch holiday film for her growing up, but it's not very popular here in the States. So that is another question. What are the popular Christmas movies all around the world? Cause Christmas is a global phenomenon.

Um, Jane, Barbara of Teora Media has two holiday short films  and there's interest to make one into a feature length. And finally, Michael Allen Lake asks us hosts, if we have a least favorite Christmas movie.

Pretty much all of them.

Terrace says all of them. One thing that's absolutely lovely about art in general and films, it is subjective. Everyone can take what they like and not watch what they don't like.

Um, hopefully you all listening, have the movies that you love and watch time and time again and have your little traditions for the holidays and you can watch those,  to wrap it up here. I'd just like to say that this episode marks the end of our season two new content, but we will return with all new episodes per season three early next year.

In the meantime, we'll be sharing reruns of some of our favorite episodes, so you won't have to miss out on all the fascinating interviews and media production insights during the break. And we hear and media and monuments want to wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and a happy New Year. So happy holidays everyone.

Happy

holidays and happy new.