Blog From The Bench

I love Christmas! Actually, I love TV Christmas – it's always so colorful and jolly and everyone's troubles are always settled by the time the clock strikes midnight on Christmas Eve. If I could have just one wish this year, I'd ask Santa to fill TVLand with nothing but Christmas episodes from my favorite shows.

Here are just a few:

The Partridge Family– stranded in an old ghost town on Christmas the family becomes part of a candy-colored fantasy about a Christmas bell and a Grinch-like gunslinger determined to steal it. I love this episode because it's not your traditional holiday fare. It's set in the old west and Keith is a narcissistic sheriff dressed in peacock blue who carries a guitar instead of a six-gun. The story is funny and charming and in the end the family sings a Christmas carol and breaks the fourth wall to send greetings to the fans.

Here Come the Brides – most of you probably have never heard of this series but it's been on my mind since I was a kid. Bobby Sherman and David Soul both got their start playing lumberjack brothers who bring a hundred brides from New England to the mostly male town of Seattle. Their Christmas story is very religious (can they still do that on television) and revolves around a baby who is going to be born on Christmas. Two little girls promptly kidnap the baby because they're afraid that the child will be killed as Jesus was. A poignant tale that is topped off by the lovely voices of Sherman and Soul singing a Christmas duet played on guitar. Still makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Dragnet – This episode is another example of pointing up the religious reasons for the season. Friday and Gannon are called to a church on Christmas Eve because the statue of the baby Jesus has been stolen from the manger scene. The church is in a poor neighborhood and the detectives set about grilling everyone from the alter boys to the homeless man who comes in for a safe place to rest. Just when they've given up hope of recovery (and hope for mankind – I mean, what kind of person steals a religious statue?) a young boy comes into the church pulling a wagon behind him. In the wagon is the missing statue. When questioned the boy explains that for years he has prayed for a wagon and he made a promise that if he got one he would give Jesus the first ride. And so he did. Mystery solved. And tears are shed – well, from my eyes anyway. This one really hits me hard.

And on that note, I'll take a break and ponder on some of my other favorites from holiday TV seasons past.