| New Tradition |
29 December 2003
|
TNT Runs "A Christmas Story" All Christmas Long
There are a handful of films that qualify as seasonal classics, such as "Miracle on 34th Street" and "It's a Wonderful Life." The newest entrant on this list is "A Christmas Story," which TNT cable network saw fit to run 12 times in a row beginning Christmas Eve. An excellent film, the new tradition seems forced.
Based of the musings of the late great Jean Sheppard, and published as In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, "A Christmas Story" is set in Indiana in the 1930s or 1940s, exploring the pre-Christmas plotting of Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) to get his hands on a Red Ryder BB gun. It's a delightful work turned into an amusing screenplay performed by a fine cast, especially Darren McGavin as Ralphie's dad. Directed by the same fellow who made "Porky's," the film proves that salvation is possible for artists.
However, force-feeding the public the film constantly over 24 hours, reduces the experience of watching it. After all, why commit to sitting through it, when one can go do something else on Christmas, come back and miss nothing? One may as well watch a DVD of the movie -- or not.
Christmas traditions arise from a certain degree of hype, of anticipation, and of rarity. The Charlie Brown Specials were just that, special. They required the viewer to sit down at a given time and focus on the story, or miss it until next year.
"A Christmas Story" deserves a better fate than to be the rival of the televised Yule Log (New Yorkers without fireplaces have been able to watch a fire burn on TV while carols play for years -- not the height of sophistication). TNT should remember this next year. Schedule it for some Saturday night, around 7 or 8 pm, and advertise its broadcast as a one-time only event. How the network fills the other 22 hours is a problem, but the sequel "It Runs in the Family" starring one of the Culkens and Charles Grodin might be appropriate.
Home