Vintage Christmas on DVD

I've been enjoying the holy heck out of this 4 disc DVD collection, Holiday TV Classics. The fine folks at Mill Creek Entertainment have gathered up 49 episodes of vintage Christmas television programing from the 1950's & 60's, slapped it on 4 DVDs and put it out for only $9.99 MSRP. If you pick it up at WalMart it's actually only $5.00!

I love old television, especially stuff produced for the holiday season. I wasn't around in the 1950's, but it seems that Christmas meant just a little bit more back then. I guess the country had been through some rough times and the holiday season was a really special time to slow down and appreciate everyone and everything around you. Anywho, this collection of old TV shows is great for someone like me who just loves the history of television. The footage on most of these shows is top notch and the audio is also fantastic for material that hasn't been remastered or probably preserved very well.

Now, I haven't watched all 49 episodes...yet. But so far what I've watched has been very enjoyable. Most of the original sponsor cards and announcements are still in place, and some of the shows still have their original commercial breaks still intact. The Bell Telephone Company sponsors Telephone Time, which I was expecting to be a game show but was actually a dramatic anthology series which ran on CBS for two seasons. The episode on this disc is called "A Picture of the Magi," a creative reworking of O'Henry's classic tale.

I, of course, also enjoyed a holiday themed episode of Date With The Angels one of Betty White's earliest network roles. The episode take place mostly in a department store and for my money there isn't a thing much more Christmasy than a 1950's department store at Christmas! From the looks of old movies and shows that I've seen, Toy Trains were the ONLY toys available to boys in the 50's.

There are plenty of shows that you have heard of before sprinkled among the set's 4 discs. There's several episodes of The Beverly Hillbilllies, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Dragnet and The Jack Benny Program. Holiday TV Classics is a real treat for the shows that you can't readily find on DVD...or VHS for that matter: Screen Writers Playhouse, The Paul Winchell Show, Dear Phoebe, and Racket Squad - just to name a few.

I watched the Lux Video Theatre episode, which I later discovered was a redramatization of the movie Holiday Affair. I also enjoyed discovering The Bob Cummings Show, which was racy for it's time but is now as tame as a Disney Channel Show (just more entertaining.)

This is a great collection of material that will provide nights of entertainment throughout the season. Look for Holiday TV Classics at WalMart in the $5.00 DVD section. At almost 21 hours of vintage Christmas television, that's around twenty three cents per hour for your entertainment dollar. Beat that!

Weebles Wobble But They Don't Hip-Hop

I took a video of this push-button store display at Wal-Mart for Weebles. It's nice to see the Weebles return to a style similar to their 1971 debut, but seeing them dance to their 2010 theme song remix is quite disturbing...


You, of course, remember their original slogan and jingle...


Weebles were awesome!

Behold The Metal

Check this out! At Wal-Mart they have actual metal lunch boxes for sale amongst all the other back-to-school goodies! It's been a while since good old fashioned metal lunch boxes have been for sale. Sure, they've been making those little lunch boxes filled with candy but these here are actual working lunch boxes. They are just about the same size as the original ones from back in the day. They don't come with a thermos anymore because kids all take juice boxes to school now. But, it's just great that metal lunch boxes are making a reappearance on shelves! In addition to Spider-Man and Hulk, Wal-Mart was also rocking Tinker Bell, Hannah Montana, and High School Musical. I guess I should ask if they have any Gremlins or Flintstones boxes in the back!?!

For more fun also read:My Deal Ol' Lunch Boxes from June 12, 2006.

Tim McGraw Fritos

As you should know by now, if they put a picture of a cartoon character on a grocery item I'm going to buy it. The same isn't necessarily true for pictures of country music stars, but when I came across McGraw's Spicy Jalapeno Fritos at my local Wal-Mart I had to throw a bag into my cart just for "blog's sake!" It's not everyday that a celebrity gets a food product named after them. The package says nothing about Tim McGraw other than the name of the snack and his picture and signature. I was expecting the back of the bag to have a little homespun story of how Tim McGraw's grandmother used to spend hours in the kitchen shaving jalapeno slices on to their home made corn chips while Tim sat on the front porch and learned to play guitar from his grandfather. But no - just a picture of Tim.

But then we ripped into the bag of treats and we knew that Mr. McGraw was onto something with these Spicy Jalapeno Fritos. They are outrageously good! We ended up scarfing down a whole bag of them in a matter of minutes. They're not spicy-hot that you need to drink a gallon of cold milk after a handful, they've got a nice natural taste of jalapeno dusted on them. They taste just like when your grandmother shaved jalapenos onto your fritos when you were little.

Anywho, I guess these bad boys are in limited supply because our Wal-Mart ran out of them already. We stocked up on a few bags when we saw the supply getting low, but then we ate all those bags too! Well played Tim McGraw....well played!

An Ernest Deal

Check out this sweet little deal I kicked off the New Year with: Six Ernest tapes on 2 DVDs! The real gem in this collection for me is "Your World As I See It," which is a collection of short films spotlighting various other characters Jim Varney created. I've only ever seen bits and pieces of this on YouTube so it's a blast to be able to add it to my collection. Second is "Hey Vern, It's My Family Album," a mid-80's TV special that Varney produced for Tennessee area stations. I've seen this film at least three dozen times and my VHS copy (which is a copy off of a rental) has seen better days so it's nice to upgrade this to DVD. Then you've got "Ernest's Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2" which are both often visited tapes in my library. They both contain about an hour's worth of vintage Ernest commercials from all over the country (but mostly the south) and some behind the scenes footage as well. Replacing my well worn copies of these two tapes with digital copies is also well worth the price I paid. Rounding out the collection are the last two Ernest feature films "Ernest Goes to Africa" and "Ernest in the Army" neither in the same league as the first five Ernest movies, but both way better than the seventh film "Slam Dunk Ernest."

How much would you expect to pay for such a fine collection of classic entertainment? Well, this beauty only set me back five bucks! Now playing at your local Wal-Mart bargain DVD bin. It don't get any better than that. KnowhutImean, Vern?