Yuletide TV Day 5: Dorm Life

Photo courtesy of a Google image search

Series: Dorm Life

Episode: S1E20 "Finals"

Original airdate: May 27, 2008

Santa? Shane-ta Claus

Other holidays mentioned: None

Availability: YouTube and Hulu

Unique Christmas Story:
Unfortunately, there isn't a neat little theme song to explain what Dorm Life is, so I'll do my best to give you the gist of this web series in a few short sentences.

Dorm Life follows the lives of freshmen students living on the fifth floor of a dormitory at a University in California. It takes a mockumentary approach similar to The Office except the characters use their laptop webcams for their testimonials.

Yeah, ok, that's good enough.

A significant part of Christmas is trying to wrap up everything else going on in our lives so we can set it aside and enjoy the holiday. This episode isn't exactly a Christmas episode in the way the previous episodes I have covered are, but it as more of an episode in preparation for Christmas. That's all I'm trying to here anyway, so I figure it still works.

In college, the end of a semester is a celebration of itself, but it's also a time of anxiety. During freshman year people spend four months trying to settle in only to be shipped back home for three weeks. When things come to an end it causes people to act in very peculiar ways. They take drastic action that under normal circumstances they wouldn't even consider.

It is these ideas that drive "Finals." While Dorm Life features an impressive sprawling cast of characters, this episode is mostly about three of the male protagonists, Mike, Gopher and Danny B. summing up the courage to go after the girls they have been crushing on all semester.

Each are different stages with the girl they like and begin asking each other for advice like:
How firm is too firm on handshakes?
Should I just walk up to her and say hey?
What? How am I the only one who didn't know that?
And: Has anyone seen that Don Cheadle movie about hotels?

They all decide to confront the girls they like and (SPOILER) they all crash and burn in a variety of spectacular fashions. Even though these guys fail, the emotional stakes get progressively raised in each scene.

Mike approaches Brittany who he just realizes has liked him all semester, only to find out she's been seeing someone else. It hurts, but Mike is almost Ted Moseby-ish in that he is kind of the center of the ensemble, but is not even close to being the most interesting character.

Elsewhere Danny B. takes a girl he met in the elevator to play puttputt, only to find out she appreciates him as a friend. His experience stings a little more, but he never puts himself out there to get rejected. She just puts him in the friend zone without him telling her how she feels.

The killer is Gopher, who suits up, grabs some flowers and writes a letter to Abigail. He lays it all on her doorstep, literally, only to have her quietly tell him she's engaged before shutting the door in his face.

We put everything aside once we get to the 24th of December. Our brains switch gears and we focus up on Christmas. Most of us know what we're doing from Dec. 24 through Jan. 1, but what lies on the other side is a mystery. So while the end of this episode has three guys moping about in the hallway of a college dorm, they know they're leaving only to come back to a whole new realm of possibilities.

Watch the entire episode below and share your thoughts in the comments.

Unique Christmas Message:

Celebrate the season with a smile in your heart and a song on your face.

Tomorrow:
I go from college back to grade school and kick off a string of animated episodes.

Yuletide TV Day 4: The Inbetweeners

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Series: The Inbetweeners

Episode: S1E6 "Xmas Party"

Original airdate: May 28, 2008

Santa? Nope

Other holidays mentioned: None

Availability: Netflix and Hulu

Unique Christmas Story:

When is a Christmas episode not a Christmas episode? When it's a prom episode.

It's weird to think about, but prom and Christmas aren't all that different. They both involve a lot of planning, spending money, and hanging out with people that are (hopefully) fun to be around.

And Christmas, like prom, is a single night that has a lot of excitement and anticipation leading up to it. 

This episode is unique because it also functions as a season finale. Story lines come to a head here and, this being British TV, offer some resolution without completely resolving anything. The show's focus, William McKenzie, has struggled to fit into is school all year, but the opportunity to plan the Christmas dance has him hoping he finally gain the respect of his peers.

The Inbetweeners often has the boys at the center of the show involved in self-absorbed behavior, so it is surprising that in this episode, Will is really trying to plan a dance that will be fun for everyone else. Sure, he know if that party is terrible it will come back on him, but the amount of anxiety Will goes through demonstrates his desire to make sure his classmates have a good time.

Christmastime is overrun by parties. Parties with friends, relatives and coworkers, all piling up on each other. It's hard enough trying to find the time to attend, but it's even harder when you're the person who needs to make sure everything falls into place properly.

Will feels that stress throughout most of the episode and his annoying persona becomes even more grating to those around him as he convinces himself that there is no way anyone will enjoy themselves at the party. Miniscule details, like the lack of signs pointing out the bathrooms, get blown out of proportion, and despite the reassurances of his friends, Will has a hard time seeing all his hard work might just pay off.

It isn't until almost the end of the episode that Will is able to let go of his anxiety. He ends up being badgered by one of the school bullies during the dance for looking at a girl the wrong way. He seems doomed to a beating until the rest of his classmates tell the bully to lay off because Will has actually managed to throw a pretty good party. It's a sweet moment and one Will ultimately ruins by being himself, but it's one of several satisfying plot points the episode manages to nail.

Watch the entire episode below and it the comments with your thoughts.

Unique Christmas Message:

Sometimes, the best gift to give someone is respect.

Tomorrow:

I continue my trip through a Christmas in teen-land but move out of high school and into college.

Yuletide TV Day 3: That 70's Show

Series: That 70's Show

Episode: S4E12 "An Eric Foreman Christmas"

Original airdate: Dec. 18, 2001

Santa? Claymation Santa

Other holidays mentioned: None

Availability: Netflix

Unique Christmas Story:

First of all, I love shows that alter their opening credits for Christmas episodes, and few sound as good as this:

That 70's Show has a surprisingly good run of Christmas episodes throughout its eight seasons. That might not seem like much, but I was surprised when preparing for this series of post that many shows shy away from big Christmas episodes. Think of Friends, that show has a number of memorable Thanksgiving episodes, but how many people could name more than one Christmas episode? And I bet even fewer could claim they actually liked it (I'm looking at you, Holiday Armadillo).

What's even more surprising is that this season of That 70's Show actually used a great Christmas premise in its season opener. "It's a Wonderful Life" featuring Wayne Knight as Eric Foreman's is perhaps one of the best episodes of the entire series. But the reason it works is because it is taken out of the Christmas context.

For their actual Christmas episode, That 70's show decides to riff on another holiday classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Eric takes on the role of Charlie Brown in this episode, after being elected by his mother to direct the church Christmas pageant after she believes he has lost his Christmas spirit (see I told it wouldn't be the last). But unlike Joan from yesterday, Eric actually takes to the opportunity of rekindling his love of Christmas. However, while Charlie Brown had to deal with a group of friends who were simply uncooperative, Eric has to deal with friends who think they are too cool to get wrapped up in the joy of the holiday.

Undercutting Eric's story is one on the other end of the spectrum. While Eric is looking to find his Christmas spirit, Kelso is positively bursting with it, much to the annoyance of the rest of the gang.

All Kelso wants to do is watch those classic Christmas specials (like the ones I said I was going to ignore). His friends mock him for being childish, and in a great dream sequence, Kelso is forced to confront his conflicted feelings over the Christmas.

The C-plot of this episode goes to the adults. Bob, forever lonely, puts up a gaudy Christmas display next to the Foreman household complete with sound effects. Red takes it upon himself to steal the display and put it in a dumpster behind the liquor store. It's pretty simplistic, but a nice piece to go along with the rest of the episode. I forgot how good Debra Jo Rupp and Kurtwood Smith were as Kitty and Red. There is reason CW shows phase out the parents and these two stuck with the show for its entire run, they can be just as funny and interesting as the younger actors the show is focused on.

Anyone who has seen A Charlie Brown Christmas knows how this episode will play for Eric, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. The characters age means they get to make some edgier jokes and the references to A Charlie Brown Christmas extend beyond the similarities in plot. It's a nice take on a familiar story, with just enough differences to keep it interesting.

Unique Christmas Message:
No one is ever too old to enjoy Christmas.

Watch the episode and hit the comments with your thoughts.

Tomorrow:
Take a trip across the pond for a Christmas episode that isn't quite that.

Follow @cswiets

Yuletide TV Day 2: Clone High

Series: Clone High

Episode: S1E11 "Snowflake Day: A Very Special Holiday Episode"

Original airdate: April 13, 2003

Santa? Claymation Santa

Other holidays mentioned: Snowflake Day, Kwanza, Hannukah

Availability: YouTube

Unique Christmas Story:

What? Never heard of Clone High? Ok, let me get you up to speed.

Good, let's continue.

If you break this episode down to its core components there are many elements that reflect yesterday's Saved by the Bell episode. "Snowflake Day" has teens hanging out at the mall and encountering the homeless to gain a bigger perspective on the holidays, but that's pretty much where the similarities end.

In the world of Clone High, Snowflake Day is a new secular holiday put in place by the U.N. after banning all religious holidays for being too exclusive. The episode makes a lot of solid digs at the overreaction to secularize the holidays or abolish them all together.

So, if there is no Christmas, what does Snowflake day celebrate? The episode does an impressive job of throwing in tons of small little details to help flesh out the made-up holiday. The food of choice is lamb tacos, the holiday mascot is a pirate named Snowflake Jake, the tradition garb is a flaming sombrero and the traditional dance is the cabbage-patch. All of which, to be honest, sounds like a pretty awesome holiday.

While Clone High features five regular characters, two of them (JFK and Cleopatra) are put on the wayside to focus on Joan of Arc losing her Snowflake Day spirit and the get-rich-quick scheme of best buds Gandhi and Abe Lincoln. Although, it is worth mentioning that JFK puts out his own Snowflake Day themed album titled "JFK Sings Er, Ah, Snowflake Day Hits."

Joan's story is the first, but not the last, this blog will cover that sees a character lose their holiday spirit. A secular made-up holiday is, almost at its core, commercial, and it is this aspect that Joan struggles with. Of course part of the irony is how do does someone really understand the true spirit of made-up holiday. She is sick of everyone's holiday spirit and takes it upon herself to ruin everyone else's celebration. That is, until she meets an attractive homeless person who may or may not be Mandy Moore living in a dumpster.

Meanwhile, Abe goes to work in mall restaurant to make some money so he can buy a present for his girlfriend Cleo. Joined by Gandhi, the two quickly ditch working in favor of trying to market a combination knife/fork, a device of their own design powered by coal, in an effort to get rich quick.

Abe and Gandhi show the pratfalls of trying to take shortcuts during Christmas. Their scheme ultimately fails and Abe has nothing to show for it but a repeatedly cut up mouth. Most of the time it is just easier to stick to stick to getting people what the say they want rather than trying to a cheap alternative.

Joan, meanwhile, has to learn from not-Mandy Moore that she can find her Snowflake Spirit by spending time with those she cares about. The same goes for Christmas. Things may get overwhelming with buying gifts, planning parties and travel, but what really matters is cherishing the time spent with family and friends.

Watch the entire episode below, the hit the comments with your thoughts.

Unique Christmas message:

The harmless celebration of our religions is offensive.

Tomorrow: 
I go back in time to visit another group of teens celebrating Christmas.

Yuletide TV Day 1: Saved By the Bell

Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia

Series: Saved by the Bell

Episode: "Home for Christmas (Parts 1 & 2)"

Original airdate: December 7 and 14, 1991

Santa? Mall Santa and Zack Morris Santa

Other holidays mentioned: None

Availabilty: Netflix

Unique Christmas Story:
To kick off the festivities I'd like to go back to simpler time. It was called the 90's, and it is where I spent about half of my life so far. It was a time of boundless, and no show encapsulated that better than Saved by the Bell.

But in it's two-part Christmas episode "Home for the Holidays" Saved by the Bell forgoes classic sitcom tropes, like trying to find the right gift for a loved one, and decides to take on a serious social issue, the homeless.

Christmas is a time of giving and charity and it is these principles of the season, not the over hyped commercial ones, that this episode tries to stress.

It begins innocently enough with the gang all hanging out at the mall over their Christmas break, either working to make a little extra cash, or shopping for gifts. Each character has their own minor problem they are dealing with. Slater is wrapping gifts, but he isn't very good at it. Jessie is working at the Santa photo booth and dealing with annoying kids. Kelly is working at a clothing store for a cranky boss, and Zack literally runs into a girl who then disappears into the mall. Oh, and Screech is Screech and Kelly is off helping kids at the hospital. (The biggest disappointment of this episode is that Mr. Belding does not appear, but Santa can't grant every Christmas wish.)

The episode takes a turn from trivial to serious when Zack and Screech encounter a homeless man shaving in the mall bathroom. There are a surprising number of off-color jokes about the homeless in this two-parter, but that's perhaps part of the genius of this episode.

Saved by the Bell is about six affluent teens whose biggest concerns are who to take to prom and how they can scrounge up enough money for a car. One of the points that keeps getting hammered in this episode is the fact that these kids have never met any homeless people before. "Home for Christmas" may make a lot of cheap jokes at the expense of the homeless, but its heart is always in the right place.

Most of the episode is focused on Zack, as it is later revealed that (spoiler) the girl he is looking for is actually the daughter of the homeless man he and Screech had met earlier. Zack and his friends then take it upon themselves to help the man and his daughter have a Merry Christmas.

Overall, the episode is a little trite and a good portion of the second part of the two-parter is devoted to one of the worst stagings of "A Christmas Carol" I have ever seen. Nevertheless, this is a great episode to start getting into the Christmas spirit. It has shopping, familiar Christmas stories and a good message of helping those in needs.

Unique Christmas message:
Now is good time to start changing misguided views about others by listening to what they have to say.

Tomorrow:

I take a look at another show about teenage kids hanging out at the mall and dealing with the homeless.

Watch this episode and hit the comments to share your thoughts.

ABC Family Ain't Got Nothin' on Me

Ladies, gentlemen and everyone in between, tomorrow is December 1. While most people kicked off their Christmasing as soon as the turkey was in the fridge, on this blog, I'm going to do it right.

Over the next 25 days I'm going to be throwing up daily posts celebrating the Christmas season in the best way possible, through the magic of television.

Image courtesy of rankinbass.com

Most people wait every year for Rudolph, Charlie Brown and the Grinch to make their appearances, and that's fine, those guys are cool by me. For the purposes of this blog though, they aren't popping up on my radar.

Instead, I'm going to be bringing out some hidden treasures. I'm talking about TV shows both new and old that have great Christmas themed episodes. Because while the specials get to shake off the dust and hog the spotlight each year, the classic Christmas episodes get put on the wayside, relegated to syndicated reruns. But never fear, for the Narrator is here to bring you 25 amazing Christmas episodes to get in the holiday mood.

I got it all covered. Sitcoms, dramas, British TV, miniseries, 90's shows, 80's shows, war shows, variety shows, animated shows and more or less anything else you could ever want. Trust me when I say I have a plan, but check back each day and follow me on Twitter (@cswiets) because I'm not putting up a schedule in advance. Everyday will be a new surprise.

So follow along starting tomorrow, as I celebrate the season with 25 days of Yuletide TV.

Hit the comments with your favorite Christmas episodes.

State of 2012 Films So Far: September/October

Summer has long since past, but that doesn't mean there haven't been some notewothy cinema releases. September and October have typically been as dismal as January and February in terms of notable releases. It's that unfortunate period between summer blockbusters and the holiday ones. 2012 has been full of pleasant surprises though, and the past two months each held some nice morsels among the trash.

As always,  I present mini-reviews of the films I've seen in order that I saw them, not in the order they were released.

Premium Rush

The second of three Joseph Gordon-Levitt films I've seen this year sees him playing a bike messenger being pursued by unknown evil entities because of a mysterious package he has been asked to deliver. It is a premise that looked intriguing from what the trailer offered, but that's the problem with trailers: They don't povide the details.

JGL delivers a fine, but ultimately flat performance in an ultimately flat movie. The action is pretty standard, the villain is idiotic, and a promising climax amounts to nothing.

The biggest problem with this movie is that the stakes never seem high enough to warrant the actions the characters are taking. This isn't a movie about saving the world or anything so outlandish, but in a movie focused on bike messengers and twisted cops, maybe it should be.

(Not to mention that when I left the theater, I had this terrible feeling of just having spent 90 minutes watching people bike around Manhattan.)

Impressed or Unimpressed: Unimpressed

Looper

The third of JGL's 2012 films was also his most successful. While JGL knocked it out of the park in The Dark Knight Rises, Looper put the focus solely on him (and Bruce Willis playing future him).

Reuniting him with the director that put him on the map with Brick, Rian Johnson, JGL delivers in a thoughtful and mesmerizing sci-fi masterpiece. Good sci-fi, and more directly good time traveling stories, are very hard to come by. There are always going to be holes to poke in time travel plots, but what separates good films from bad is whether or not the story can carry it over those hiccups. In that aspect, Looper suceeds. It's an amazing piece of storyteller combined with solid special effects.

Time travel is always a hard concept for audiences to wrap their head around, but Looper lays the rules out pretty early to help the audience get up to speed with the world they are about to encounter. Johnson takes some gutsy moves in the storytelling, interrupting the movie just as it starts to get interesting to go back and get Willis's perspective, but the pacing and suspense keep the story interesting without bogging it down.

The movie keeps the audience guessing from start to finish, with an ending that may seem simple, but ultimately illustrates the development of the character during the journey, which is all any film can hope for.

Impressed or Unimpressed: Impressed

Taken 2

I think the numbers Taken 2 has pulled in at the box office clearly demonstrate the passion and excitement people have for this film franchise. Taken was a surprise hit, one that neither asked for nor demanded a sequel. But audiences repsonded to Liam Neeson kicking ass around eastern Europe, so most people were up to see what would happen if he was allowed to go Round 2.

However, Taken 2 is  only 2/3 of a good movie. The movie starts out by hitting many of the same beats of the first, and that's what works. People want to see Liam Neeson taking out baddies. They want to see someone get kidnapped. But the difference between this film is and the first one is that the first movie was a mystery. The audience never knew where his daughter was, who had taken her, or for what purpose. The fun of the movie was following Neeson along as he unraveled the mystery.

This time, the opening scene reveals everything. It kills most of the tension that the film can never build back up. But even that misstep isn't the most egregious falt of the film. Without giving anything away there is a very distinct point where the film goes from being exciting, to preposterous, to simply boring. A movie like this should never be boring. It doesn't have to be good, but it at least needs to prevent me from falling to sleep.

Impressed or Unimpressed: Unimpressed

Argo

Here's a weird thing about Argo. Argo is a great movie. It's a fascinating story that Ben Affleck executes brilliantly.  The but: There isn't anything remotely memorable about this film. The acting is good, but no one stands out. It's well written, but I can't recall any particularly good lines.

In many ways this movie reminds of Jarhead starring Jake Gyllenhaal. That movie focused on snipers during the Gulf War, but the notable thing about the movie is how they never fire a shot in battle.

Argo is not a guns-blazing action film, it's a slow-burning thriller. It's amazing to see behind the scenes of how this operation was put together and the lengths that the CIA went through to make the production of this film seemed legitimate. In a world before the internet, it might be easy to think creating a movie that would never be produced would be easy to fake, but this movie shows how hard it was. They had a harder time putting on an elaborate ruse in the U.S. than they had fooling people in Iran.

I would encourage everyone to go see Argo, but I doubt anyone will be rushing to see again.

Impressed or Unimpressed: Impressed, even though it was a little impression-less

Cloud Atlas

This might not make the most sense, but The Avengers and Cloud Atlas may be the two most ambitious movies of 2012. With The Avengers, Marvel built perhaps the first cohesive cinematic universe through five films that amounted to a successful team-up super-film. No easy task, and one that paid off.

Cloud Atlas, on the other hand, was telling a story across five time lines with a core cast that was playing different characters in each time line, sometimes changing gender and race to do so. Cloud Atlas is based on a book of the same name, and if someone went into this movie cold (meaning having not seen a trailer or read anything about it) I would guess they would hate it.

That being said, Cloud Atlas is not the best movie I've seen this year, but it is arguably the coolest. The movie spans time and genres beautifully. It is amazing to have the movie flow so well, never feel too long (despite a running time close to three hours) and never get too bleak (as films of this nature are wont to do). The one reason I say this is not the best movie I've seen this year is that the message it leaves the audience with is not exactly revelatory.

Anyone looking for a mind blowing experience though cannot go wrong with Cloud Atlas.

Impressed or Unimpressed: Impressed

Seven Psychopaths

There have been very few good comedies in 2012, but Seven Psychopaths bucks the trend by being batshit insane in the best way possible. Seven Psychopaths picks up on the laugh-out-loud dark humor of director Martin McDonagh and Colin Farell's first collaboration, In Bruge, while still managing to go  in a completely different direction.

The movie has a lot of pleasant surprises. Today, it is rare for a trailer not to give away most of a movie's plot, but there were quite a few things about Seven Psychopaths I wasn't expecting, all of them wonderful. I'm a sucker for anything about writer's, so having Colin Farrell's character work as a screenwriter was an added bonus for me.

The real delight of this film is how electric the actors are together. Chirstopher Walken is an absolute standout giving one of his best performances in years. The chemistry between him, Sam Rockwell and Colin Ferrell is the best trio since the first Hangover movie. The one oddity is Woody Harrelson, who for some reason just doesn't fit into this movie as well as he should.

That being said it's good fun with outstanding dialogue and just the right amount of action.

Impressed or Unimpressed: Impressed

Agree? Disagree? Hit the comments and let me know

On deck as we head towards the end of the year: Skyfall, Flight, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Red Dawn, Django Unchained, The Hobbit, Hyde Park on the Hudson, This is 40, and Les Miserables.

Wow, that's a lot. We'll see what actually happens.