AMBER’S BAHUMBUG HOLIDAY FILMS & TV EPISODES TO WATCH

1. There is no argument to be made ever at any time of any year that the greatest Christmas movie ever could be something other than DIE HARD. After that, they are kind of in any order.

diehard-machinegun1

2. WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING – I love this cast. I occasionally torture myself with romantic comedies and their happy endings. I’m kind of a sucker for Sandra Bullock even though there are plenty of her films I haven’t seen yet.

while-you-were-sleeping-gif

3. SCROOGED – it’s the best version of the Dickens story. Admit it.

ThatDoesSuck

4. PEANUTS – It’s kind of a sappy Christian movie but Snoopy and Woodstock are too endearing to leave off a film list.

charliebrownxmas

5. LETHAL WEAPON – only the first one because the sequels go downhill. It opens with Jingle Bell Rock and then a body plummeting from a building. If all you see is that, it’s fine. This was when Mel Gibson was only acting like a crazy motherfucker before he really became one.

lethalweapon-stooges

6. The NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS counts. Don’t try to say that it doesn’t.

Nightmare-Before-Christmas-cant-believe-my-eyes-GIF

7. Not a film, but an episode of USA Network’s PSYCH, one of my favorite shows. It’s on Netflix if you need to marathon it. Season 2 Episode 10 – GUS’S DAD MAY HAVE KILLED AN OLD GUY which guest stars Ernie Hudson and Phylicia Rashad. I watched this episode last night and like it much more than the THE POLARIZING EXPRESS in Season 5, although 80’s sitcom Gus is pretty hilarious.

ShawnGus-lepew

8. There are a few great MONK episodes during the holidays. One was when Monk was suspected of killing Santa. Another was when an officer at the Santa Barbara Police Dept. was killed and it looked like the intended victim was supposed to be the Captain.

MonkXmas

9. Nothing makes me feel a twinkle in my Scroogey heart like LEVERAGE and seeing Parker decorate a tree in millions of dollars of diamonds and say, “Happy birthday, Jesus.” Plus, it’s one of the episodes with Wil Wheaton as Chaos up against Hardison.

parker-xmas leverage

10. Simply one of the best shows ever made, no less best animated shows ever made, BATMAN TAS or as it’s officially known THE ADVENTURES OF BATMAN & ROBIN. Most people call it TAS for The Animated Series which was the branded name for a while.

BatmanTASjoker

I did think that Tim Allen’s THE SANTA CLAUSE was pretty good; it was original and entertaining. It’s nothing I would turn on though but if given a choice between that the millionth viewing of A CHRISTMAS STORY, I’d go with it. I heard the new Grumpy Cat movie was actually good so I’ll probably give that a chance. ELF is another that’s tolerable mainly because anything with Bob Newhart is gold.

I FORGOT SOMETHING IMPORTANT! (edit: 12/27/14)

11. Should be EMMET OTTER’S JUGBAND CHRISTMAS!!!

<iframe width=”420″ height=”315″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/Q6trGocstHI” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

Subscribe to my newsletter

Avoid those algorithms! Get news delivered to your inbox. You'll also receive a free short story when you subscribe!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.