Ah, I remember the holiday TV of my youth. Rudolph, Frosty, Santa on the Norelco shaver, endless commercials for Chia Pets, and, of course, Christmas-themed episodes of my favorite shows. You had Steve Austin ripping off Dickens on THE SIX-MILLION DOLLAR MAN, Fonzie eating canned pasta (alone!) on HAPPY DAYS, and this bit from Letterman, maybe the most magical Christmas special of all.
It's from 21 years ago, and it's hard to imagine Dave devoting an entire show to such a concept these days. But that was a different Dave back then, someone who'd rotate the picture every 15 minutes, base every show decision on viewer's choices and deliver this little present for the holidays. I wish he'd bring his family back -- I'm dying to know whatever happened to those kids.
This is only the first nine minutes or so, by the way, but I think it'll give you the flavor of the entire show.
Coming tomorrow: Christmas is not only getting too commercial, it's getting too dangerous.
Monday, December 22, 2008
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3 comments:
Wow, that brought back memories. Some of Dave's "family" looked familiar. I wonder if they've continued their acting careers. After all, some of the kids who have appeared on the show in the past, mostly the Halloween trick-or-treaters, have gone on to successful careers. Mccauley Culkin is one who comes to mind.
But I also enjoy Dave's current traditions for the holiday: The meatball decorated tree, Paul doing his Cher impression, Jay Thomas telling his Lone Ranger joke and trying to knock down the meatball with a football, and of course, Darlene Love. I so look forward to that every year.
Obviously, the "Letterman kids" were consumed by the intellectual property issues that Dave dealt with when he left NBC. You've noticed that over the years, under no circumstances, does NBC allow Letterman to show any footage from the NBC days.
It's funny, because if they relaxed the issue, they could probably set these shows to DVD and make some money off of them.
Oh, that's right, Jay. So many good bits had to be abandoned or changed. So instead of steamrollering things, now they drop things off the roof. I do miss elevator races and Dave wearing bizarre suits (the Alka Seltzer one was my fav) but he might just be too old for the latter now.
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