From The Chief Editor's Desk...

I’m referring to the holidays. I’m definitely NOT a proverbial Scrooge, but certain things just start to wear a bit “thin” during the holidays.

As the holidays approach, I’m all gung-ho about them. We decorate the house (inside and out). We put up a Christmas tree. We wrap presents to put under that tree. We make fudge, Christmas cookies, and all of those other high-calorie holiday treats. I especially love seeing the joy visibly increase in my kids as Christmas draws nearer and nearer.

And, we watch holiday-themed movies.

There are more “holiday-themed” movies than you can shake a stick at. But, for whatever reason, most of the broadcasters in the U.S. focus on replaying and reshowing just a small handful of those movies during the holiday season. There is even a Hallmark Channel that is devoted to showing ONLY holiday movies … all year round.

This year, I may have discovered my limits on how many times I can watch (and re-watch, and re-re-watch) certain holiday “classics,” such as Home Alone, Home Alone 2, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Elf, Christmas With The Kranks, etc. On any given day during the month of December, you can count on being able to watch any of the aforementioned movies, again and again and again.

Meanwhile, other holiday classics, such as White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street (the original with Edwin Gwynn), It’s A Wonderful Life, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty The Snowman, and A Charlie Brown Christmas are aired, but a LOT less frequently. And don’t even try finding Holiday Inn being aired, because it’s considered offensive due to the black-face scene. No one airs it. Period. It has been “canceled” by the PC crowd.

Never fear, though. I *did* watch Holiday Inn this year. Granted, it was via my HTPC that’s hooked to my main TV in the living room, but I did watch it. I also watched It’s A Wonderful Life twice (once in the original black and white as it was aired, and the other time the “colorized” version from my HTPC). I watched Miracle on 34th Street on the one day of the month that another cable broadcaster aired the movie back-to-back-to-back. We also watched White Christmas a couple of times. Once was when we happened to catch it during one of its rare airings, and the other time from my HTPC.

Another holiday classic, the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol starring Alastair Sim, was notably absent from any channel lineup I was able to see. Never fear, I also watched that one from my HTPC, too.

Why, oh why, do these broadcasters think we want/need to watch the same holiday movies over and over and over and over and over and over again? One broadcaster so badly edits the original movie that we often opt to re-watch it from the HTPC, where the original movie exists without all of the unnecessary edits (and without the annoying commercials!). This same network has no problem airing unedited dialogue from other shows it airs, so it’s pretty unclear why they feel the need to edit the dialogue of this holiday classic.

But, finally, the deluge of “holiday classics” (albeit a SERIOUSLY limited number of them) is ending as another holiday season comes to a close. It’ll definitely be a welcome relief from the constant playing of the same movies played on repeat, re-repeat, re-re-repeat, ad nauseam.

I guess if you are in charge of programming for a broadcast network, there’s no limit to how many nauseating times you can play a movie. They seem to have a real knack for taking a movie that most people love, and turning it into something you hate, avoid, and just abhor.

This month’s cover image celebrates the New Year. It was created by Temel, an artist whose work is hosted on Pixabay.

Until next month, I bid you peace, happiness, serenity, prosperity, and continued good health!