Saturday, December 5, 2009

Blast from TV Christmas Past, Part 1




Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special

Original AirDate -- December 21, 1988


The Christmas season doesn't officially begin here at the Ryder household until we gather 'round to watch our favorite Christmas tradition.

I'll admit that I didn't watch this on its first and only CBS network airing...Aaron was a baby and we were likely in full holiday frenzy.

But sometime in the mid-90's, my mother bought a bunch of VHS copies of this at the dollar store and so my siblings and I each received a copy.

Over the years, we have tried to bring others into the fold, inviting them over for the annual viewing, but so many don't "get" how awesome this special is. It's really a good barometer of how compatible we are; we can usually tell from their reaction to the opening titles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jgIWVrDxuQ

Go on, watch it....I'll wait here....

So, if that didn't make you want to go buy the DVD ($5 at Five-Below), then really, why are you reading this?

For those that do learn to love this, since I won't be there to watch it with you (unless of course you invite me over), here's a few things to watch out for --

2:47 -- "....and we're gonna have a lot of fun...." Pee-Wee bumps into one of the "Marines" and keeps going (I wonder which take this was?)

7:55 -- "...Hey Miss Yvonne, come stand over me....."

15:11 -- "Sorry Grace, back in the box..."

24:43 -- Larry Fishburne in chaps (unusual sight)....

26.54 -- Little Richard in sequins (not so unusual sight)

28:50 -- is that Jake Gyllenhall ?

35:12 -- 80's vintage Big-Head Oprah

37:05 -- "...now the only thing missing is Charo!"

40:30 -- "C'mon everybody! It's the Hanukkah portion of the show!"

42:50 -- Baby Jesus gets a shout-out (the True Meaning of Christmas only gets about 30 seconds of airtime though)

46:10 -- "What more do you want, Santa?!?"

Really, those are just the highlights -- there's so much more...

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