The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow

The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow
(Rankin Bass Productions, 1975)
Run time: 22 minutes

I talked about wanting this lesser-known Rankin Bass special on DVD last year but decided it deserved to be recognized on its own. It originally premiered on NBC and then was later aired on CBS before being released on VHS. The last (only?) VHS release was in 1993. While the official title is The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow, it is sometimes referred to simply as The First Christmas (as evidenced by the title card and VHS box art).

For the last few years ABC Family has been airing it as a part of their 25 Days of Christmas but I have read that this year it is not on the schedule at all. It STILL has not been released on DVD so if you want to watch this special nowadays you’ll either have to track down a VHS copy or download it somewhere (I have NO CLUE how you would go about doing that). I have seen it on YouTube though. Warner Brothers still owns the rights to this special so you’d think they would’ve thrown it in as a bonus with some of the other RB specials they release year after year. At the very least they could give us the benefit of selling it at the Warner Archives site where every DVD is made to order. They gave us Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos for Pete’s sake! We can’t get The First Christmas?

VHS Cover Art

As for the special itself it is narrated by and featuring Angela Lansbury (as Sister Catherine and she sings a nice version of “White Christmas”). And The First Christmas isn’t about Baby Jesus as you might think. Instead, the special centers around a young shepherd boy, Lucas, who was involved in a lightening storm that caused him to go blind and the nuns who take him in.

The abbey that the nuns live at is putting on a Christmas pageant and Lucas is cast as one of the angels, despite his eyesight. Lucas has never seen snow and Sister Catherine, having grown up in the mountains, tries to describe it to him (the story takes place near a sea, where it never snows). During the course of the pageant, snow begins to fall and then another miracle occurs when the boy’s eyesight returns.

It’s a good tale but not the usual peppy, colorful Rankin Bass effort that we’ve come to expect from the Frosty, Santa or Rudolph specials. Still, I recommend it for anyone that enjoys the other Rankin Bass stop-motion specials.

Buy ‘The First Christmas’ on VHS at Amazon.com

Television Favorites: Step By Step – DVD Review

Television Favorites: Step By Step (Warner Home Video, 2006)

Step By Step was one of my favorite TV shows from the early & mid ’90s. Friday nights were THE night to watch TV as far as I was concerned. And why? Because of ABC’s “TGIF” block of comedies. I loved TGIF. I would neither hold nor go to sleepovers on Friday nights because I just had to see what Larry & Balki, Urkel, the Lubbock girls, the Tanners, Mr. Cooper and the Lamberts were getting into on any given week.

Step By Step came from the same production team that gave the world Perfect Strangers, Full House and Family Matters so this slightly dysfunctional twist on The Brady Bunch had tons of potential. All of those shows actually exist in the same universe: Family Matters was a spin-off from Perfect Strangers while Family Matters’ Steve Urkel character would guest-star on episodes of Full House and Step By Step.

Anyway, since there’s apparently no interest from Warner Bros. in releasing complete seasons of Step By Step, they did the next best thing in 2006 by compiling six episodes of the show for their Television Favorites DVD series.

The episodes are:

- “Pilot” (Season 1 – 1991)
- “Rules of the House” (Season 1 – 1991)
- “J.T.’s World” (Season 2 – 1992)
- “Christmas Story” (Season 3 – 1993)
- “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (Season 4 – 1994)
- “Your Cheatin’ Heart”  (Season 7 – 1997)

What really brought me to check this DVD out was the Christmas episodes but I think it’s odd to see two of them as a part of this set. I will agree the first three episodes listed deserve to be included but it seems like the last three were chosen randomly. You’d think they’d want to show off an episode that centers on Cody. Like the one where he beats up some dudes in a bar.

It was interesting to look back at the pilot plus another early Season 1 episode, “Rules of the House”. Both brought back fond memories of the show and this time in my childhood.

“J.T.’s World” is what you’d imagine it to be given the year was 1992 — it’s (openly) a Wayne’s World rip-off. Even as a kid I thought it seemed desperate to try to associate with something else that was hot in pop culture at the time. The show would do it again when Beavis & Butt-Head became popular by creating two characters who appeared to be real-life incarnations of the characters. They are even referred to as Beavis & Butt-Head in “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”. How this show didn’t get sued by MTV, I don’t know.

That particular episode is okay and I remember that one too but, man, the J.T. character became so lame after the first two or three seasons. That or I just can’t stand Brandon Call (I wonder if he regrets leaving Baywatch for this show). It seems like Call’s acting abilities (which weren’t strong in the first place) deteriorated as the series went on. Oh, and speaking of actors on the show, I didn’t notice her at the time but looking back Staci Keanan was incredibly hot throughout this entire show’s run.

Season 3′s “Christmas Story” I actually enjoyed quite a bit. Even though it was incredibly silly and illogical it fits the mold of being a classic feel-good Christmas sit-com episode. It has Don Knotts in a fun guest-starring roll as Deputy Fife (pronounced “Feef”, he tells us, correcting Frank after being called “Fife”). I’m surprised they didn’t make an in-joke about the Three’s Company connection with Suzanne Somers.

The final episode just flat-out sucks. I’m not sure why they’d want to take an episode from Season 7 (the final & worst of the series) after rightfully avoiding Seasons 5 & 6. The series really started coming unglued with Season 5 when they introduced Lilly (who has aged about 4 or 5 years since being a newborn in Season 4′s finale) and J.T.’s friend Rich, who would later go on to become a regular cast member and start dating Dana. Rich is such an annoying character and the guy that played him, Jason Marsden, is someone else just annoys me so much in anything he does (Full House, Boy Meets World).

Final Thoughts:

This show was never a hit on the level of Perfect Strangers, Family Matters or Full House but it still found seven years of success as a Friday night sitcom. Imagine a network trying to run a sitcom block on that night these days! I think this DVD is worth checking out just for the first 5 episodes (taken from best seasons) with an emphasis on watching the two Christmas episodes.

Buy this DVD at Amazon.com

Turner Classic Movies Horror Movie Schedule for October 2011

Really good looking month this year with the Hammer films taking center stage for most of Halloween while John Carpenter programs a night of classics and there’s a night dedicated to Val Lewton. There’s even some Vincent Price movies thrown in, the original Night of the Living Dead, Universal’s Frankenstein & The Wolf Man and really old classics like Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

On top of all that goodness it looks like there’s a new one hour special called ‘TCM Night at the Movies: Horror’. Lots of replays during the month for that one and I’m a sucker for any horror movie retrospective, so I’ll definitely be checking that one out.

I took the liberty this year of only featuring the prime-time line-up (other than the 30th & 31st, which are all horror all day). There are a few other horror movies here and there throughout the schedule but are placed fairly randomly during the daytime so head on over to turnerclassicmovies.com for details.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 03
TCM PRIMETIME – WHAT’S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: CLASSIC HORROR
8:00 PM TCM Night at the Movies: Horror (2011)
9:00 PM Frankenstein (1931)
10:15 PM Freaks (1932)
11:30 PM TCM Night at the Movies: Horror (2011)
12:30 AM Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1932)
2:15 AM Mark Of The Vampire (1935)
3:30 AM Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, The (1919)
4:45 AM Nosferatu (1922)

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 04
6:15 AM Phantom of the Opera, The (1925)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 05
TCM GUEST PROGRAMMER: JOHN CARPENTER
8:00 PM Thing From Another World, The (1951)
9:45 PM It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958)
11:00 PM Curse of Frankenstein, The (1957)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10
TCM PRIMETIME – WHAT’S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: CLASSIC HORROR
8:00 PM Wolf Man, The (1941)
9:15 PM Uninvited, The (1944)
11:00 PM Dead of Night (1945)
1:00 AM I Walked With A Zombie (1943)
2:15 AM Cat People (1942)
3:45 AM Curse of the Cat People, The (1944)
5:00 AM Devil Bat, The (1940)

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11
6:15 AM Dead Men Walk (1943)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 17
TCM PRIMETIME – WHAT’S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: CLASSIC HORROR
8:00 PM Horror of Dracula (1958)
9:30 PM House On Haunted Hill (1959)
11:00 PM Tingler, The (1959)
12:30 AM House Of Wax (1953)
2:15 AM Curse of the Demon (1958)
4:00 AM TCM Night at the Movies: Horror (2011)
5:00 AM Bucket of Blood, A (1959)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24
8:00 PM Carnival of Souls (1962)
9:30 PM TCM Night at the Movies: Horror (2011)
10:30 PM Dementia 13 (1963)
12:00 AM Strait-Jacket (1964)
1:45 AM Pit And The Pendulum (1961)
3:15 AM Masque Of The Red Death, The (1964)
5:00 AM Devil’s Bride, The (1968)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28
TCM PRIMETIME – WHAT’S ON TONIGHT: EVIL TWINS
8:00 PM Dead Ringer (1964)
10:00 PM Black Room, The (1935)
11:15 PM Other, The (1972)
1:00 AM Dead Men Walk (1943)
2:15 AM Motel Hell (1980)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29
TCM PRIMETIME – WHAT’S ON TONIGHT: VAL LEWTON
8:00 PM Cat People (1942)
9:30 PM Martin Scorsese Presents, Val Lewton: The Man In The Shadows (2007)
11:00 PM Body Snatcher, The (1945)
12:30 AM Isle Of The Dead (1945)
2:00 AM Bedlam (1946)
3:30 AM Seventh Victim, The (1943)
5:00 AM Ghost Ship, The (1943)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30
6:15 AM Leopard Man, The (1943)
7:30 AM White Zombie (1932)
8:45 AM Devil Doll, The (1936)
10:15 AM Uninvited, The (1944)
12:00 PM Berserk (1967)
2:00 PM Dial M For Murder (1954)
4:00 PM Them! (1954)
6:00 PM Forbidden Planet (1956)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 31
7:15 AM Reptile, The (1966)
8:45 AM Gorgon, The (1964)
10:15 AM Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966)
12:00 PM Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1969)
1:45 PM Curse of Frankenstein, The (1957)
3:15 PM Frankenstein Created Woman (1966)
5:00 PM Mummy, The (1959)
6:30 PM Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, The (1964)
TCM PRIMETIME – WHAT’S ON TONIGHT: CLASSIC HORROR
8:00 PM Village Of The Damned (1960)
9:30 PM Night of the Living Dead (1968)
11:15 PM TCM Night at the Movies: Horror (2011)
12:15 AM Innocents, The (1961)
2:00 AM Haunting, The (1963)
4:00 AM Repulsion (1965)

AMC October 2010 Schedule

Pretty standard fare from AMC this year though I was surprised to see them toss a few Universal Monsters movies in there, even if they did it early in the morning. The Halloween and Friday the 13th movies are always fun to watch, even if they’re cable versions. The real crown jewel in this schedule is the premiere of The Walking Dead, AMC’s newest series, on the 31st. Can’t wait for it! It’s a zombie action/drama that’s based on one of the best comic book series from the last 10 years and AMC doesn’t look to be holding back on the gore!

October 1st
11:30 pm The Silence of the Lambs

October 2nd
2:00 am Fear
4:00 am Puppet Master

October 8th
8:00 pm Aliens
11:00 pm Alien 3

October 9th
1:30 am Alien
4:00 am The War of the Worlds
12:30 pm Graveyard Shift
2:30 pm Pet Sematary
4:30 pm The Shining
8:00 pm Cujo
10:00 pm Sleepwalkers

October 10th
12:00 am Pet Sematary
2:00 am Cujo
4:00 am Graveyard Shift

October 13th
2:30 am Fear
4:30 am War of the Colossal Beast
12:30 pm Fear

October 14th
8:00 pm The Mummy

October 15th
5:15 pm The Mummy
8:00 pm Deep Blue Sea
10:30 pm Ghost Ship

October 16th
12:30 am Virus
2:30 am Ghost Ship
4:30 am Corridors of Blood
5:30 pm Deep Blue Sea
8:00 pm Predator
10:30 pm Predator 2

October 17th
1:00 am Predator
3:30 am Predator 2

October 18th
6:00 pm Tremors
8:00 pm Friday the 13th
10:15 pm Friday the 13th, Part 2

October 19th
12:30 am Friday the 13th
2:30 am Night of the Living Dead
4:45 am The Brain Eaters
9:00 am Magic
11:30 am Night of the Living Dead
1:45 pm The Funhouse
4:00 pm Tremors
6:00 pm Friday the 13th, Part 2
8:00 pm Friday the 13th Part 3
10:15 pm Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

October 20th
12:15 am Friday the 13th Part 3
2:15 am Thirteen Ghosts
4:15 am The Day the World Ended
9:00 am Movies That Shook the World: Blair Witch Project
9:30 am Funny Games
12:00 pm Graveyard Shift
2:00 pm They
4:00 pm Thirteen Ghosts
6:00 pm Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
8:00 pm Friday the 13th — A New Beginning
10:15 pm Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives

October 21st
12:15 am Friday the 13th — A New Beginning
2:15 am Graveyard Shift
4:15 am Piñata: Survival Island
9:00 am Backstory: Halloween
10:00 am Bram Stoker’s Dracula
12:30 pm The Shining
4:00 pm Pet Sematary
6:00 pm Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives
8:00 pm Friday the 13th Part VII — The New Blood
10:00 pm Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan

October 22nd
12:15 am Friday the 13th Part VII — The New Blood
2:15 am Sleepwalkers
4:15 am Earth vs. the Spider
9:00 am Exorcist: The Beginning
11:30 am Pet Sematary
1:30 pm Pet Sematary Two
3:45 pm Sleepwalkers
5:45 pm Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
8:00 pm Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
10:00 pm House of Wax

October 23rd
12:30 am Dead Silence
2:30 am House of Wax
5:00 am War of the Colossal Beast
10:00 am Frankenstein
11:45 am Dracula
1:30 pm Tremors
3:30 pm Deep Blue Sea
6:00 pm Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
8:00 pm Constantine
10:30 pm House on Haunted Hill

October 24th
12:30 am Return to House on Haunted Hill
2:15 am Tremors
4:15 am The Lodger
6:15 am The Wolf Man
8:00 am Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman
9:45 am Pet Sematary
11:45 am Cujo
1:45 pm House on Haunted Hill
3:45 pm Return to House on Haunted Hill
5:30 pm Constantine
8:00 pm 28 Days Later
10:45 pm Jeepers Creepers 2

October 25th
1:00 am Ghost Ship
3:00 am Exorcist: The Beginning
5:30 am Movies That Shook the World: The Exorcist
9:00 am Movies That Shook the World: The Exorcist
9:30 am Graveyard Shift
11:30 am They
1:30 pm Ghost Ship
3:30 pm 28 Days Later
6:00 pm Jeepers Creepers 2
8:00 pm Halloween
10:00 pm Halloween II

October 26th
12:15 am Halloween
2:15 am House of Wax
4:45 am Slaughter of the Vampires
9:00 am Bram Stoker’s Dracula
11:30 am Dracula 2000
1:30 pm Dead Silence
3:30 pm House of Wax
6:00 pm Halloween II
8:00 pm Halloween III: Season of the Witch
10:15 pm Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

October 27th
12:15 am Halloween III: Season of the Witch
2:15 am Dracula 2000
4:15 am The She Creature
9:00 am Aliens
12:00 pm Pet Sematary
2:00 pm Cujo
4:00 pm Tremors
6:00 pm Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
8:00 pm Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
10:15 pm House on Haunted Hill

October 28th
12:15 am Return to House on Haunted Hill
2:00 am Cujo
4:00 am Creature From the Black Lagoon
9:00 am Backstory: Carrie
9:30 am End of Days
12:15 pm Tremors
2:15 pm Thirteen Ghosts
4:15 pm House on Haunted Hill
6:15 pm Return to House on Haunted Hill
8:00 pm Constantine
10:30 pm Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday

October 29th
12:30 am Friday the 13th — A New Beginning
2:30 am Constantine
5:00 am Backstory: Carrie
5:30 am Movies That Shook the World: Black Witch Project
9:00 am The Three Stooges: “Creeps”
9:30 am Movies That Shook the World
10:00 am Friday the 13th Part 3
12:00 pm Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
2:00 pm Friday the 13th — A New Beginning
4:00 pm Friday the 13th, Part VI: Jason Lives
6:00 pm Friday the 13th Part VII — The New Blood
8:00 pm Predator
10:30 pm Predator 2

October 30th
1:00 am Deep Blue Sea
3:30 am Funny Games
9:00 am Blood of Dracula
10:30 am They Live
12:30 pm 28 Days Later
3:00 pm Predator
5:30 pm Predator 2
8:00 pm From Dusk Till Dawn
10:15 pm Evil Dead 2

October 31st
12:15 am 28 Days Later
2:45 am They Live
4:45 am The Brain Eaters
6:00 am Evil Dead 2
8:00 am Halloween
10:00 am Halloween II
12:00 pm Halloween III: Season of the Witch
2:00 pm Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
4:00 pm Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
6:00 pm From Dusk Till Dawn
8:00 pm Dawn of the Dead
10:00 pm The Walking Dead
11:30 pm The Walking Dead

Turner Classic Movies October 2010 Schedule

It’s that time of the year again! Are you excited? I know I am! TCM is kicking the month of October off right. Hungry (for blood)? Why wait? Tons of Hammer horror all throughout the month! I’ll definitely be watching October 1st and maybe I can request off for the 29th, 30th and/or 31st!

As always, I’ve culled through the TCM schedule for the most interesting showings. Looks like a great month. As always, check www.tcm.com for even more details.

October 1st
Hammer Horror Festival
8:00pm  Horror of Dracula (1958)
9:30pm  Brides Of Dracula, The (1960)
11:00pm  Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966)
12:45am  Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1969)

2:30am  Psychomania (1973)
4:00am  Daughters of Satan (1972)

October 5th
8:00pm   Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1932)

October 7th
Adventures In Space
8:00pm Forbidden Planet (1956)
10:00pm Alien (1979)
12:15am Countdown (1968)
2:00am Marooned (1969)
4:15am From The Earth To The Moon (1958)

October 8th
Hammer Horror Festival
8:00pm Plague of the Zombies, The (1966)
9:45pm Devil’s Bride, The (1968)
11:30pm Reptile, The (1966)
1:15am Gorgon, The (1964)

2:45am Let’s Kill Uncle (1966)

October 15th
Hammer Horror Festival
8:00pm Mummy, The (1959)
9:45pm Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, The (1964)
11:15pm Mummy’s Shroud, The (1967)
1:00am Blood From the Mummy’s Tomb (1971)

October 17th
12:30pm Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956)
6:00pm Return From Witch Mountain (1978)
12:00am Hunchback of Notre Dame, The (1923)

October 18th
6:00am Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1932)

October 22nd
Hammer Horror Festival
8:00pm X The Unknown (1956)
9:30pm Five Million Years To Earth (1968)
11:15pm These Are the Damned (1963)
1:00am Stranglers of Bombay, The (1960)

2:30am Boogens, The (1982)
4:15am Night Of The Lepus (1972)

October 24th
12:00am Nosferatu (1922)
2:00am Vampyr – Der Traum des Allan Grey (1932)
3:30am Return of the Vampire, The (1944)

October 25th
4:45am Count Iorga, Vampire (1970)

October 28th
Atmospheric Thrillers
8:00pm Dead of Night (1945)
10:00pm Rebecca (1940)
12:15am Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane, The (1976)
2:00am Other, The (1989)
4:00am Dragonwyck (1946)

October 29th
6:00am Doctor X (1932)
7:30am Mystery Of The Wax Museum, The (1933)
9:00am Vampire Bat, The (1933)
10:15am Ape, The (1940)
11:30am Isle Of The Dead (1945)
1:00pm Corpse Vanishes, The (1942)
2:15pm Devil Bat, The (1940)
3:30pm White Zombie (1932)
4:45pm I Walked With A Zombie (1943)
6:00pm Curse of the Demon (1958)

Hammer Horror Festival
8:00pm Curse of Frankenstein, The (1957)
9:30pm Revenge of Frankenstein, The (1958)
11:15pm Frankenstein Created Woman (1966)
1:00am Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed! (1969)

October 30th
6:15am Devil Commands, The (1941)
7:30am Ghoul, The (1933)
9:15am Walking Dead, The (1936)
10:30am Bowery Boys Meet The Monsters, The (1954)
11:45am Old Dark House, The (1963)
1:30pm 13 Ghosts (1960)
3:00pm Homicidal (1961)
4:30pm Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
6:15pm Strait-Jacket (1964)

Deadly Jealousy
8:00pm Hunchback of Notre Dame, The (1939)
10:15pm What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
12:45am Mad Love (1935)
2:00am Cat People (1942)

October 31st
6:15am Freaks (1932)
7:45am Mark Of The Vampire (1935)
9:00am Devil Doll, The (1936)
10:30am Terror, The (1963)
12:15pm Bucket of Blood, A (1959)
1:30pm Tower Of London (1962)
3:00pm Tingler, The (1959)
4:30pm Mad Magician, The (1954)
6:15pm House Of Wax (1953)

Haunted Houses
8:00pm House On Haunted Hill (1959)
9:30pm Haunting, The (1963)
11:30pm Poltergeist (1982)
1:30am Phantom of the Opera, The (1925)
3:15am Quiet Place in the Country, A (1969)