TV ruins the holidays for me

[MissMillie]

We don't have a lot of expendable cash, so we rely on TV for much of our entertainment.

Now, don't get me wrong.. I enjoy the holidays, but I don't need 30 days of scary movies. I think about one week will do. Same thing w/ Food Network. Thirty days of gory cake decorating is more than I can handle.

And 2 solid months of Christmas movies and specials? It makes me lose my Christmas spirit/enthusiasm before December 1.

(When it comes to Christmas, the radio is even worse. We have one local station that starts playing nothing but Christmas music on Thanksgiving Day. Any reason they can't mix the Christmas music in w/ the regular playlist until December 11?)

Thank goodness sports are a pretty good option: I can get pro-football 3 nights/ week, hockey season started and the Red Sox are still in the hunt. Unfortunately, I won't be seeing any tennis until February.

[ginnyinWI]

1. Go to the library,

and get a stack of videos to watch.

They also have a lot of---books!

[MissMillie]

2. True enough.

I'm okay w/ reading books during the day, but at night when my guy comes home I really don't want to have my nose in a book. We like to watch stuff together. We talk and laugh about what we see.

I wish my guy were a card player. I wouldn't mind a few hands of gin or cribbage every week.

[ginnyinWI]

3. We like to watch old TV series.

We have the old Twilight Zone series, and we stream episodes of The Andy Griffith Show on Netflix. It makes for great escapism after watching the depressing news of the day!

I also enjoy British crime dramas and historical dramas on PBS and Netflix, but he doesn't, so I watch them another time.

[hlthe2b]

4. So many loooove Hallmark Channel's endless Holiday movies, which to me are

repetitive and so predictable as to deserve the pablum comparison. I suspect there may be 1 or 2 (out of the countless numbers of made for tv movies) that might be worth watching, but how one would identify them buried within the masses of others, escapes me. Plus they tend to repeat all this crap in July!

Now, there are a few "classics" on network tv (Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch who stole Christmas, Rudolph, A Christmas Story, It's a Wonderful Life, etc. ) that I have no problem watching if I just happen to be doing nothing else--(though I usually watch only 1 or maybe 2 every year). Oh, and radio? Forget it. NPR or spotify for me.


But, yeah, it is all TOOOOOOO much. I wish Christmas fare was limited to a couple of weeks and the Halloween crap, maybe a few days. But given the Halloween AND Christmas fare came out at some stores in early SEPTEMBER, I guess we've lost that war.

It surely isn't the respectful use of "Happy Holidays' that is destroying Christmas. ...

[lunamagica]

9. Hallmark movies are repetitive and predictable, but they are SO pretty!

I live in South FL, which is really blah when it comes to decorations, so I get my fix from Hallmark. I dream of spending Christmas in a town similar to those movies, but due to monetary and health reasons it is impossible.

It's a form of escape to me. Especially these past couple of years, that respite from the horror we are currently living, when I feel the stress is killing me, those stupid movies are something I look forward to.

[hlthe2b]

10. Oh, I have no problem with those who find them enjoyable and I agree escapism is helpful to the time

I tend to do the same with old familiar tv programs, like the Golden Girls, Frasier, Cheers, etc. and lots of British TV.

My sister loves those Hallmark movies too. Different strokes for different folks...

I'd enjoy them more if they weren't so ubiquitous, though.

[rownesheck]

5. the holidays

ruin the holidays for me. Bah humbug!

[pretzel4gore]

6. sad dot dot dot

to quote a notorious gasbag ('Trump Farted' is his name) the exploitation of the truly most beautiful time of the year to fatten up the already obese , imho, w/out regard for the long term damage done, is wrong headed - much like the movies took 'halloween' away from the tots, or demonised the poor ole Great White! (shark)...which REMINDS me about how in olden days the Gorilla was monstrous, the wolf was 'at the door' and the 'Indian' was not noble savage! We live in a culture that depends, THRIVES, on the log rolling aspect of news, and passing fancy effectively train the young! Your distress at the 'over do' of Xmas tunes is noted, but you must admit 'Driving home for Christmas' or Burle Ives 'Have a holly jolly xmas!' are worth waiting for!

[MissMillie]

11. I have a guilty pleasure when it comes to Christmas movies....

"The Homecoming," which I think was the pilot for The Waltons.

Sappy, for sure--but for me it's all about family being together and that's what makes a holiday.

[avebury]

7. How about checking out podcasts that you can listen to together?

You would be surprised what you can find online. I have found all kinds of old time radio podcasts that can be downloaded for free.
Old serial mysteries, comedies, classical books in multi-part forms, and so on. There is a lot of stuff out there to choose from. If you like hold movies you can find all kinds of really old movies on youtube.

You can get movies and books on CDs from the library that you can watch/listen to together.

I have an ap called Classic Flix on my phone that helps me locate classic movies that have been uploaded to youtube.

Another ap is Old time Radio Stations in one playlist or sorted by genre (drama, comedy, crime and so on)

Podcast Republic is a good podcast ap for news shows like Rachel, Chris, Lawrence, and so on

There are a lot of different types of entertainment options out there you just need to take the time to find out what is out there that meets your interests.

[lunamagica]

8. I'm weird because I can't get enough

I know I'm in the minority.

[rurallib]

12. The radio thing come about because one corporation had so many stations

in one market that they could give some of them up to total crap - thus one dog would be designated as the "Christmas station." Ain't consolidation and monopolies grand?

I like to listen to old time radio Christmas shows on youtube for a change of pace in deep and dark December.
Shows like Fibber McGee and Molly, Jack Benny Burns and Allen on and on