Of Christmas specials
There’s no getting around it, this Christmas is different, but some of the treats I’d planned for myself yesterday came off.
And there were TV Christmas specials.
Ghosts: The Ghost of Christmas (watched on Christmas Eve)
When they wrote and filmed this Christmas special, the Ghosts team can’t quite have realised how much the viewers would sympathise with the ghosts this year. The conclusion that an imperfect Christmas is part of the perfect Christmas experience with your family was…well, that was something that many of us were yearning for. Otherwise, it was funny and heartfelt, with Mike’s issues with his family giving him more to do than usual, while Alison had to deal with the ghosts’ Chrtistmas issues.
I loved that we got so much focus on Julian with a bit of poitical satire, but mainly a look at his hypocrisy over the years, and a chance of redemption as the crying baby inevitably got a hold of his heart. I loved that Humphrey’s head just had to stay there in the crib. The running gag of Thomas wanting a kiss, Fanny wanting a traditional Christmas tree, plus Robin transforming into a dog was counterbalanced by the pogniancy of all they’d lost (wouldn’t have put it past them to name Carol thusly for this gag) and Mike’s idea of a perfect Christmas, and his father finally explaining why his parents wouldn’t /didn’t want him to do it all for them.
The ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ bit was lovely, one of many transitions from Alison vision to spectre-free vision, even the plague victims in the cellar singing along (though where did they learn it? Oh well, they’d have heard it over many Christmases.)
Strictly Christmas special (watched on Christmas Day)
The pro routine was fine, though I fel they could have done with one more rehearsal before filming it.
This countdown did feel influenced by the repeats before this year’s series, and some recent dances got overly favourable positions. There was a bias towards fast, flashy dances, (barely any ballroom either.) But although I’d quibble with some rankings, my only major beef was with Chris and Ola’s Charleston - we might as well have seen John Sargeant dragging Kristina around the dance floor again if we’re going for ‘iconic’. From the fact that Ashley got a placing (aww, Ashley) it was obvious it was going to be a night of jives, and I rightly predicted which jive would be crowned top of the Christmas tree. (Ugh, I sound lke Bruno.) But after 2020, it was nice to be reminded of when cha chas were good. Alesha gave insightful comments, actually, while it was weird to have Motsi comment on dances from before she was on the show.
When we saw Ore’s jive, I wondered if he’d be back higher up with his Singin’ in the Rain routine (no wonder he won that year), and it felt right that Caroline was voted for twice too, and that hers was one of the showdances. It’s also telling that Queen Oti, who got another win this year with Bill, came second and third on this list with sambas. Doing a tribal/African samba instead of a Latin one was part of the surprise that made Danny Mac’s so popular. Also, the bare chest.
It was fun to have some of the TessnClaud interaction, where Claudia, at least, nails it, when we’d had so little this year (and on that tip, amusing to imagine what Tess would do if someone had a wardrobe malfunction like Karen and Mark’s.)
I capped off the night by watching the Community season 3 Christmas episode, and laughed at and enjoyed all the songs, although Baby Boomer Santa is probably my favourite. And then, because I have a new Blu-Ray player since the last time I watched season 3, I watched the episode where Annie and Abed have a fight in the Dreamatorium, and this time it did not skip at all, so that was happy-making. Also Abed-as-Troy’s speech about not getting Inception made me laugh the most. <3 Community.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/448337.html.
And there were TV Christmas specials.
Ghosts: The Ghost of Christmas (watched on Christmas Eve)
When they wrote and filmed this Christmas special, the Ghosts team can’t quite have realised how much the viewers would sympathise with the ghosts this year. The conclusion that an imperfect Christmas is part of the perfect Christmas experience with your family was…well, that was something that many of us were yearning for. Otherwise, it was funny and heartfelt, with Mike’s issues with his family giving him more to do than usual, while Alison had to deal with the ghosts’ Chrtistmas issues.
I loved that we got so much focus on Julian with a bit of poitical satire, but mainly a look at his hypocrisy over the years, and a chance of redemption as the crying baby inevitably got a hold of his heart. I loved that Humphrey’s head just had to stay there in the crib. The running gag of Thomas wanting a kiss, Fanny wanting a traditional Christmas tree, plus Robin transforming into a dog was counterbalanced by the pogniancy of all they’d lost (wouldn’t have put it past them to name Carol thusly for this gag) and Mike’s idea of a perfect Christmas, and his father finally explaining why his parents wouldn’t /didn’t want him to do it all for them.
The ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ bit was lovely, one of many transitions from Alison vision to spectre-free vision, even the plague victims in the cellar singing along (though where did they learn it? Oh well, they’d have heard it over many Christmases.)
Strictly Christmas special (watched on Christmas Day)
The pro routine was fine, though I fel they could have done with one more rehearsal before filming it.
This countdown did feel influenced by the repeats before this year’s series, and some recent dances got overly favourable positions. There was a bias towards fast, flashy dances, (barely any ballroom either.) But although I’d quibble with some rankings, my only major beef was with Chris and Ola’s Charleston - we might as well have seen John Sargeant dragging Kristina around the dance floor again if we’re going for ‘iconic’. From the fact that Ashley got a placing (aww, Ashley) it was obvious it was going to be a night of jives, and I rightly predicted which jive would be crowned top of the Christmas tree. (Ugh, I sound lke Bruno.) But after 2020, it was nice to be reminded of when cha chas were good. Alesha gave insightful comments, actually, while it was weird to have Motsi comment on dances from before she was on the show.
When we saw Ore’s jive, I wondered if he’d be back higher up with his Singin’ in the Rain routine (no wonder he won that year), and it felt right that Caroline was voted for twice too, and that hers was one of the showdances. It’s also telling that Queen Oti, who got another win this year with Bill, came second and third on this list with sambas. Doing a tribal/African samba instead of a Latin one was part of the surprise that made Danny Mac’s so popular. Also, the bare chest.
It was fun to have some of the TessnClaud interaction, where Claudia, at least, nails it, when we’d had so little this year (and on that tip, amusing to imagine what Tess would do if someone had a wardrobe malfunction like Karen and Mark’s.)
I capped off the night by watching the Community season 3 Christmas episode, and laughed at and enjoyed all the songs, although Baby Boomer Santa is probably my favourite. And then, because I have a new Blu-Ray player since the last time I watched season 3, I watched the episode where Annie and Abed have a fight in the Dreamatorium, and this time it did not skip at all, so that was happy-making. Also Abed-as-Troy’s speech about not getting Inception made me laugh the most. <3 Community.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/448337.html.