The Facts of Life, The Nanny, Carol Burnett & Mama’s Family | Who Has the Best Holiday Episode?

Weirdy we medio. Random digital world. That was cool. Just the micro that's something to say. Welcome to the party, microphone stand.

That's hilarious. Wildcat over there? All right, shall we try this? Sure? Bum boom babies, so pretty, babto the city.

God World. Pay bills are always nice. Okay, yeah, stop talking. I want to play the lashboard. Yeah, I'm ready, Kevin, thank you.

Welcome to eighties TV Ladies. Happy holiday bonus episode with your hosts Sharon Johnson and Susan Lambert had them Hello, I'm Susan. And I'm Sharon. We wanted to wish you all happy holidays and hope that you and yours are enjoying this wonderful season. I love Christmas lights.

I love candles and Hanukkah candles and the music. We started our holiday playlist just after Thanksgiving. Sometimes we started during Thanksgiving and the kids get very upset. Yeah see, I'm with the kids. I think one holiday at a time, you know, at that moment, as soon as Thanksgiving is over, it's now Christmas time and let the jingle bells ring.

I love that. Are you going to put out your Christmas play life list on Spotify for our Patreon members. I hadn't thought of it, Melissa, but thank you. Now I feel like I'm going to have to Wow, no pressure there, get it out quick. It could be short holidays.

Right around the corner. You know, we throw uh annual Christmas Eve open house party and it starts at. Four and goes forever for a long time. So we have a playlist that goes for hours. But Rich is responsible for that.

Even though I have say, you have editorials, I have editorial control. But so I got to come up with like a twenty minute playlist so people aren't overwhelmed. Yeah, just chunk out a piece. Chunk out a piece. Yeah, well look for it on our socials.

Because Melissa gave me an assignment before the holidays. Guess what are your favorite part of the holidays? Like you, I love Christmas lights. I don't know what it is, but there's just something about the lights and it just kind of brings me joway. So, as you know, I sing in the Candlelight Choir at Disneyland every year and when as part of it, we do this processional through the park, starting at the back of the park by Small World, make our way to Main Street and up on stage to do the show, and one of my favorite parts of the whole thing, and we're seeing at Christmas Carols as we go.

One of my favorite parts of the whole thing is as we go around the Hub where the statue of Mickey and Waldar, the lights on Main Street go down, and for whatever reason, every single solitary year, it gets me and I get a little overclumped and I need a moment as we're walking down it just there's just something about it. So that's one of my favorite moments of the holiday season. I love that. Meant you love that, But your head heading out of town for the holiday. I am heading back to see the family.

In all the years I've lived out here in California, I've there have only been I think two years where I have not gone back for Christmas. Since my siblings and I are all spread out, everybody has comes back to Mom's house and so it's the one time of year I could always be assured of seeing everyone in person. And happily, it looks like everybody's going to be there this year. That's fantastic. Melissa.

You are you traveling? Uh No, I'm going to your holiday party as I do I'm like, I'm the gimme. I have been at every single one since Queensberry. Kevin, are you heading out of town? Kevin is nodding, Yes, go into Massachusetts.

Where it'll likely be very, very cold comparatively speaking. That is nice. Do they have my favorite thing in Pennsylvania or Christmas time in the farmhouse as you would get a single candle burning in not the actual candle, but it'd be one candle in each of the windows. I love that about the farmhouses. That's nice.

What a roller coaster of a year it's been. Yeah, I was looking back at some episodes and realizing how joyful we were at a few of them. Hopeful, hopeful, optimistic, And that's what I'm trying to focus on during the holiday time and beyond getting there. Not there yet, but I'm getting there. Hope and community and what we'll get us through and joy and creativity and resistance.

That's a sweet of you. I didn't send you pictures of me doing the rocket launch. I'm sorry what you launched a rocket? Well simulation? You didn't see that?

Oh yeah, okay, that sounds awesome. Yeah and I did. I did a military simulator. It was fun. Yes, so I'm yeah, that's how I'm gearing up.

I'm ready holding a real rocket launcher. But the ordinance in it, yes, so it was lightweight. One would hope not. But well right, they didn't give you that much. No, although that would be really.

Probably not in a building, No, somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. Well that. Okay, Kevin Listeners. Do not use a rocket launcher in a building. Take it outside to the desert, yes, like any.

Responsible rocket launcher owner should do. Exactly. Oh gosh, this. Is not the episode you thought it would be. You know, we live in a world that includes war, and I have a deep respect of our soldiers.

Yes, underfire, Yeah, even from just doing a little simulation. Yeah, it's you know, for Pearl Harbor, I got to go on the USS Stennis out at sea for three days. Wow. Wow. Yeah, and it gave me immense respect.

I had respect. But that was like, oh, oh, this is what people do. Yeah, yeah, exactly was that I can only imagine it until you're there. Was that an aircraft carrier? Yes?

Did you do the tailhook landing? I did not do the tail hook landing? We walked on in San Diego, but we did do the launch off. Oh excellent. My brother, the retired navy captain, never got to do that, oh to his regret.

All right, I'm trying to focus on hope. Alright, I joined the army. Well, let's just joining the army and uh but inspired? What was this episode supposed to be about? Well, it were it's inspired by the eighties TV Ladies holiday episodes from shows that we're going to be talking about this season, The Facts of Life, Mama's Family and the Nanny.

I'm so grateful to the Patreon supporters that we have, so I want to thank some of our top Patreon supporters Michael and Ann of course. And Kate and Shari like Storry. And Megan and another Ann. And Tara and Kate another Kate. Do we really have two Kate?

We have two Kates? Thank you Kates. Missus s Becky, which I is a reference to Cagney and Lacy, I believe so, Missus s Becky, thank you. I can't even say it. That must have been hard.

God bless time daily Sharing, Gless. And David and Anne, Annie, excuse me, Ann and Annie. And Anne and Annie and Jeanette and Tanya. Thank you guys, so so so much for supporting the show and please keep it coming. I want to welcome some of our new like we have also free patrons.

You can be free for a while and see some things. Some of our new free patrons who are trying it out like Karen, Brian, Doctor Glenn, Sandra, Patty and Kendra and you too can try us for free. Yeah, there's a there's a free trial. So if you think, if you think you've been thinking about it, check it out and if you want to support us, it helps us immensely to produce this podcast. Advertising only pays a very small portion of a cost, so any support at any level would be really really appreciated.

And part of what we're going to do in twenty twenty five is really concentrate on providing really cool stuff for that Patreon and for our patren So later in January we will be dropping some more video include and first off will be our Dorothy Lyman interview the Zoom video from that, So stay tuned. We'll be doing a lot in twenty twenty five with Patreon. Now it's time to get to the holiday episodes. Yes, as we mentioned before, we want to take a look at the holiday episodes of Mama's Family, Facts of Life, and the Nanny. There were three Facts of Life Christmas holiday episodes.

There were two from Mom's family and three from the Nanny. I think there were four Facts of Life? Were there four? Did I? There were four?

Right? There's Oh my gosh, you're absolutely right. Four facts of Life? Wow. Two Mama's Family and three Nanny.

There you go. Okay, and so we're going to talk a little bit about those episodes briefly, and then we're going to say our favorite from each show. I think that's the way we should go. That sounds good. Okay.

Do you want to start us off faxt life? Sure? I throw you for a loop. Oh my god, my brain just took a break. Yeah yeah, yeah, sure, that's what I want to do.

That's right, let's go. The first holiday episode from the Facts of Life was season five, episode twelve. It's called the Christmas Show. Everyone was going off in different Christmases. Joe's plans go awry at the last minute, so she decides to stay with Missus Garrett and in the episode, Kim Fields and Charlotte Ray performed Dick the Halls.

I always love an episode that includes a musical number you know that. And I also I'm a sucker for the holiday shows, particularly Christmas shows. I always love when a TV series does. I'm a little surprised that Facts of Life didn't do it earlier. I am too.

I actually am surprised that with all the shows that there weren't more, that there wasn't one like every year. Yeah, for some reason, I think if I had had to guess beforehand, that's what I would have thought. It happened, but apparently not so. The next one is season six, episode thirteen. It's called Christmas in the Big House, and this one has a lot of singing in it actually, which is great.

All of our main casts have a chance to get out and shine and show off their pipes and it's really a lot of fun. That's the one where Blair is organizing a holiday benefit show that she thinks is for like a boy's orphanage, and it turns out it's a prison, right, a men's prison, So they still have to do it, and Blair doesn't want to. Lisa Welchel can sing. I mean, they all can, but that was sort of a nice little surprise. She sings a cappella in that episode, and she was of course on The Mickey Mouse Club, so of course she can sing.

She was raised by Disney. I enjoyed that one because it's got a lot of singing and a sweet little message. And then there's Christmas Baby and Blair's mother is having a baby. It's a slicely mo. Yeah, a bit of a surprise.

And she's due, she's her due date is coming soon. Yes, And so you get a Christmas baby episode. Nothing wrong with that exactly. And Marge du Say is Blair's mother, Monica, and she's recurring in these later seasons. I think she plays her mother more than one.

Yes, because we see her a couple of times. I believe in that season, at least in the lead up to the delivery, because of the surprise that her mom, you know, the surprise baby that her mom, it turns out, is carrying. And then it's a wonderful questener. That's season nine. Backs of Life ran a long time.

Once they did a Christmas episode, they did one every year to the end. There's your lesson sitcoms do a holiday episode doesn't have to be Christmas anymore. It was hard to find a Hanukkah episode in the eighties or Kwanza, not unexpectedly. I suppose, but still, and so it's a wonderful Christmas. Well, of course that's a take on it's a wonderful life.

All the girls have their own plans. And Beverly Anne who has now replaced Missus Garrett and played by Chloris Leachman, who we love. Yes, indeed, she feels underappreciated. So the episode is kind of a as the title the episode may indicate, kind of a take on it's a wonderful life and kind of giving her a sense of what might have happened if she were not there, since you sort of feeling like, yeah, maybe I just don't matter to these in this situation with these girls. So yes, it's it's lovely.

I'm looking at Which of those Christmas episodes was directed by Asad Colada. Yes, he directed the Christmas Show. Oh okay, the first one. So that's fun. Yeah, exactly, that's great.

Yeah, and so upcoming we might have a very special guest for those of you listening to this show. Exactly. Stay tuned anyway, So of those episodes the Facts of Life. Sharon, which is your favorite? Which is your top Facts of Life holiday show?

I think for me, it's Christmas in the Big House. I really enjoyed the musical numbers, the fact that they all had a chance to kind of play that way, and you know, I love a Christmas song, So. You know what, Sharon, I actually agree. With you, even though I'm like, well, I can't pick the same one now, so you can. But that little like Lisa Eentel moment was really nice because then Joe joins on the piano.

Whether that's really Joe playing or not. But you know, but it's it's very like it does it does work completely as a Christmas episode, uh, and af Facts of Life episode, although I'm going to also give that My second and bonus would be the Christmas Show because it kicks off the five holiday episodes to follow and clearly was successful and also has Kim Fields and Charlotte Ray sing. So, Melissa, what was the first Hankah show that you remember seeing on TV. Adam Sandler doing the Honkah song? Yep, yep, I think that has been for all of us of that time.

Yeah, would that have been in the ninth it was? It was not, Yeah, it was Saturday Live. There was a couple like Pee Wee's did Pee we do a Hanukkah show. Pee, we did Hankah in the Holiday show. There was a Honkah shout out in the Holiday show and that crazy insane thing.

And then I think in the nineties the rug Rats two Honkkah shows. Wow. Yeah, well, let's move on to Mama's Family. Good for something completely. I was just thinking too, is the eighties?

Is it like because now everybody has a Christmas episode, even serious shows. You know, I can't tell you how many Christmas episodes I did on episodic television. Do you think that was the start of it. In the eighties, You know, I don't. I mean, because variety shows would do Christmas.

That's true stuff. I'd be surprised if we didn't see Christmas episodes always way back. But I don't know for sure. It's become a standard thing to do, to do a Christmas episode or a holiday episode. I'm glad to see more diversity in that.

Okay, we want to keep talking. We're gonna take a short break, and then we'll keep talking for a little bit longer because we have all sorts of things. All right, We're gonna take a great break. Okay, we're back now. Mama's family.

So the first Christmas episode they only did two over the course of the show was season three, episode thirteen called Santa Mama Bubba wanted to And Bubba is Mama's nephew. Correct, he's Enis Enis's son, Eunis's son. Oh, my gosh, ais son. This is good too. My god, Uranus Uranus the son so Eunice and Ed Higgins, And I thought that's his last name.

His last name, So Bubba is Bubba Higgins. Good Times, that's a different show. I was a big fan of Good Time Times. Oh yeah, yeah. So Bubba's trying to raise money.

Yeah, because he wants to get a present for his girlfriend, and Mama's being kind of scroogey. Venton has gotten a job to be a Santa. Yeah, so in the mall. Yeah, and at the last minute, he loses his voice and they're actually at the ball the little kids are waiting the parents and the kids are are getting antsy, and since he's lost his voice there, the folks at them all are basically saying sorry, Santa can't make it, and everybody's getting all upset. So moms like, all right, fine, I'll do it.

So she Mama puts on the suit and and Santa to a parade of kids. Even though she declared at the top of the show that she was canceling Christmas this year because the star that her husband who passed away made for the tree is missing. And so she's like, there's no I'm I'm already miserable and this and made it worse. But then she has to be a nice enough Santa. Uh and and she's you know, she does she's not taking any anything, any crap off the kids, but still she's she does a good job with with the kids.

She she does, it does soften her up a little bit. A little softie past the crunchy exterior. And and so this is very nice for that. And it's fun to see Vicky Lawrence as Mama playing Santa Claus because it's like there's a dress up upon a dress up in that and uh so, uh, I thought that was actually pretty fun and uh yeah. And then the other Mama's Family Christmas episode is season six, episode fourteen.

Mama gets goosed, which you know, you gotta watch that one. And Mama's talking about her childhood and the hard scrabble life of her childhood because she's expecting a gift from one of her relatives, and the gift arrives and it's a goose, a live, real, live goose. That's intended to be served at dinner on Christmas Day, and the rest of the family is appalled, but Mama's thrilled and determined to when the time comes, she's going to fatten up that goose and she's going to kill the goose for Christmas dinner, because that's what you do. That's what happens wud whether it be a goose or a turkey. Or and spoiler alert, it turns out everybody leaves the house when it's time to do the deed, and she goes out to chop up the goose and ends up not And so she makes a ve What I liked is she makes a vegetarian fake goose, the.

First toe furkey, the first toe ferkey. Well, but they don't use the V word. She just talks about how she shaped the the other side dishesse likes into a goose, and then the actual goose joins them at the dinner table and gets some corn feed. So it's it's a it's a lovely it's a lovely game. Yeah.

Absolutely. But yeah, so which one is your favorite? I gotta say it's it's Mama Gets Goosed, just because of the scene with Vicky Lawrence as Mama talking to the goose when she's going like, okay, just just put your head down here so she can chop off his head, and he's not. I'm the sucker for that. I I thought I like Santa Mama, Okay, of the two, that was my favorite.

I really liked how they kind of threaded the needle of taking Mama Scrooge and turning her into really a pretty dark good store Santa. She did a she did a she did a really nice job and and really tried to make sure that the kids had a good experience despite some of the things that like one kid stuck a. Sucker that in the beer in her fake beard. Yeah that that. The gag of doing the photo flashing and catching poor Mama in uncomfortable shots during the course of trying to service the the kids and their Santa Love was pretty fun.

But I'm going to stick with the Mama Gets Good goost because you know, there's a live goose in the episode. It seems to be pretty happy. Although they drag it in and the first scene that literally like I kind of drag it through the door. You're like, okay, all right, I don't think Peter was on this. Even though they don't say vegetarian, it's very clear that they're going to eat vegetable side dishes for fake Goose.

Yeah, there's no meat on the table for Christmas din. There's no meat on the table for Christmas dinner. And you know, so I'm like, okay, all right, I'm you know, that's part time vegetarian. I'm like that. I do wonder what eventually happened to Luthor the Goose.

Luthor the Goose, They. I don't know. I don't know that he was ever mentioned again. Well no, but they talk about Luthor. They say something about we're going to keep Luther forever now and Mom is like, no, no, no, we're going.

To find home for something at the very end. So yeah, thing, maybe Luth the Goose went to hang out with the chicken found in Queen's by Eric Brown, a Mama's family. I wonder if the chicken story helped them make that May inspired even though Eric wasn't even in the show at that point. Oh that's funny, Okay, anyway, so, uh yeah, I'm gonna say Mama. Gets Goosed is my favorite.

Although there is a mention of a New York real estate guy in that episode, so I would if you if you don't want to hear that. It's just a mention it. And it goes by quickly, but I was it did catch my notice about how ridiculous people were to just promote New York mobster real estate guys, even in the eighties. I guess that's where it started, all right, The Nanny, the Nanny, and you know, we we're not really covering the Nanny during this season because it's not an eighty show, but we did talk a lot about it with Dorothy Lyman, and it's such a significant ladies show and ladies driven show, both in front of and behind the camera, that I thought it would be fun to see what their holiday episodes were and it was so.

The first one is season one, episode eight. It's called Christmas Episode. There seems to be a lot of that in this show. Okay, it's Christmas episode. It's interesting the titles from the eighties, yea, the TV title, the episode titles, they're not as thought out as they are now because people didn't really even know what they were exactly.

You had no way to really. It wasn't often that you would even know what the name of that title was. They were just titled in house for the writers and the producers, and every once in a while you heard about it, but it's not like it comes up in every episode. And now we are much more like aware of often the title of episodes. So I think that's pretty interesting that most of the time they were pretty perfunctory.

Right, and shows have gotten really creative about the show titles. I mean, friends and try with the one where I think one of my favorites though, was for The Good Wife. Season one episodes had one word titles, season two, two word titles, Season three et up to season four that's fun, and then when they went to season five they went backwards. Season five was three, season six was two, Season seven where they ended it was one. I thought that was really elegant that they did it that way.

Yeah, totally. Anyway, Christmas episode of The Nanny season one, episode eight, Max is not going to be home for Christmas again because he's producing a benefit at the Kennedy Center and the kids aren't particularly They're resigned to it, but they're not particularly happy about it, and fran is expecting a Christmas bonus because she's been told that he's very generous at the holidays, but instead he gets Max gets her one of a kind vase that she pawns it so she can buy the kid's presents, and then feels bad about pawning it, so she trades her mother her grandmother's watch for the vase, so now she has a vase back, but she's never grandmother's watch and etcetera, etcetera, and so hilarity ensues with all of this back and forth.

So that's their first. But they did a Christmas episode season one. I know, I like that. Yeah, And again they also didn't shy away from the fact that she's incredibly Jewish in the show, so she talks at least they talk about Hanukkah and she talks about oh, this is my first Christmas and uh. And the differences.

So I think that, you know, one of the things that I think was really cool about The Nanny was how front and center her Jewishness was, and that it was you know, it was a point of comedy, but it was also a point of pride for the character so I think that is nice. It was very much part of her character and probably was They were able to do that because she was an executive producer, so she was able to make that happen. Yeah, but it's funny because she ends up going to confessional. Oh dear, Yeah, she allowed. She shows up and literally she asked that in the thing.

It's like, can anybody go to confessional? And then of course mister Sheffield, mister Sheffield comes and finds her in the confessional. So everybody has to break into the country. Yes, in comedy, anything is allowed. No, No, it's true.

I think that. Well, anybody can go to confession as a very lapse Catholic. I'm pretty sure they don't ask for credentials when you go into the confession. You don't start doing confessional until you have been confirmed at thirteen. So after my butt mitzvah, Yes.

But you can't. I mean like, it's not like I'm not. Sure they would you away. I was a heap for skill drop anyway. Now, I can't imagine the priest would be happy to talk to you.

I'm sure, but there's nothing he can quote unquote do because guarded. Well, yeah, because what happens after the confession is you get a say and such and you don't believe that or you're not part of that faith, so you know it doesn't matter. Yeah, don't. I don't go and do the hail Mary's exactly, okay. But the chat, I think the chat would be fine.

Yeah, yeah, having the chat with the priest would. The interesting thing about the confessional if if they if they had used it properly, it was therapy, right, like it was a little bit of therapy. Yes, it is early days of therapy. Right. It's like it's private what stays here, it's you know, you're safe to say anything here and confess anything, and then I will give you some absolution.

I will give you some solution for how you can process that. Not my experience of a hell confessional thing, it was pretty much a these are my sins, do these hell Mary's, see you next time. I was terrified because I felt like I had because when you have to make your first confession, when you're thirteen and doing your first you know, and I didn't have anything. It was more like a like what do they want from me? I yelled at my mom, like yeah, that would be a sin?

Yeah, It all seemed kind of but it was I'm going, here's the thing. Like, so, my parents were divorced, I was raised in single mom household. So the idea of telling a guy who seemed like he was a sixty year old guy who had never been married, never in theory, had sex, never done anything bad because that was the perception of priests. Right, yeah, Oh I'm gonna you don't know me? What good is you to me?

Oh? God, this one didn't work out. It was this very mysterious thing. There was no it was never felt grounded in reality. Yeah, in my to me, it was.

Just because it happens like in the movies where you're behind a slatted thing, right, you don't know. The Weirdly, I think the first one we had to do Inderson, Oh it does. And I didn't like that. I never had to do I never had to do it person. I had to do it in person the first time because it was part of these teachings and stuff.

But again, all I had was I'm you know, I hailed at my sister and it's a. Good but you know, but you said, I I'm always wrong about these things. But honestly, I don't if I had had to guess, I would have said I started confession sometime in grade school. But I don't know. I mean, I were in the.

Japanese part of it. I was in the military. I was confirmed at thirteen, But I don't I mean, I've been going to Catholic school. I went to a Catholic school in kindergarten, first grade. Even so, we've been going to Mass every Sunday.

I honestly don't remember when I made my when I how old it was. It was in my memory in our church, and you know, Catholic, you know, can be its own death. I was Southern Catholic. I don't know what that means, but that's what I was raised. And it was part of the teaching because it was a little modeled on you know, Jewish faith, in that you did some you had to do some home work to go through the process of of your first communion.

Yes, and I mean your first confirmation, your confirmation into the faith, which. Is the same as the rating from the Taura, yeah, which. I never put together until just now that it's essentially the same thing. Yeah. Oh yeah, I mean all you know, all the Christian religions stole from.

The first religion. Well, you know, everybody, everybody follows the first five. Yeah, and then then then. We're all there in the first five. Yeah, that's true anyway.

So but yeah, so I thought. That that was kind of fun that the uh you know that she up. You know, it's just it's funny. Name gets away with a lot because weirdly, it is funny. It still holds up.

It's still funny. And interestingly enough, most Christmas episodes follow a particular set of situations having to do with getting presents, giving presents, seeing family, not seeing family. It's the variation of that. So in my mind, this is a very standard kind of Christmas episode. It's the details that are different.

But you know, people, they don't usually go too far afield in terms of what the Christmas episode is really kind of going to be about. And that's okay as long as as long as it's fun, as long as it's good. Well, speaking of that, the next episode they do is season three, episode fourteen, OI to the World. Now, there's a lot of OI titles in this season, and the rest of this season was directed by Dorothy Lyman, except for this one because it was special because it's an animated special. And I thought that was that before Community or other.

You know. Sort of shows did that. They did an animated Christmas special and I was like, oh, well, that's very very clever. I kind of wish the episode had been better. I agree.

I don't even remember what it was about. I'll be perfectly honest with you. It's very confusing. Anyway. She falls down, hits her head in the snow, like there's a big snowstorm, she falls down, and it just stays in animation.

And it's on one hand, you're like, that's the opening of the show, is the animated opening, and so you're like, Okay, that's very clever, this is cool, But this one is very Craig Cray. It's just there's a dog. Was there a dog in the show? Like I didn't remember there being a dog in the show, And there's suddenly a dog and the dog is talking, and then with the sun, and then we get into a Mott Niles the butler is a character other characters, and he gets to sing, which is fun. But the story in the in the within that episode is incomprehensible at best.

It's like, yeah, so I was a little underwhelmed. I was very excited when I saw that it was animated. It's also hard to find because it's it was not in the regular listing and so we had to go to a different platform to watch it. But yeah, so it was a it was a very a very a very weird Christmas especially, it. Was a very weird Christmas betial.

It was a big swing that unfortunately didn't switch the Swish Man. I'm going to call that a swish and it's rare. I'd give a lot, but that one was tough the very first, at least in our little grouping of Christmas episodes. Season six, episode ten of The Nanny the The episode is actually called the Hankkah Story. Love that.

Yeah. So by the time season six rolls around, Fran and Max are now married and she is pregnant with their first child. So Hanakah is coming and Hankakah is very important to her, and once again she's surprised to find that he's going to go off and work yes for Hanakh the first night of Hanukkah's and he's like, ah, there's other nights, and what difference does it make? Clearly I've been talking about this, So that's what the the episode is about about him coming to the realization of what this means to her and how important this is to her, and yeah, it's it's it's a it's a lovely episode. I think it is a lovely absodent.

And what it does do is give them an opportunity to explain Hankkah, and that does that, I think quite nicely. It's funny, but because it's her going no, this is important because blank by him going oh, I thought that we could do it another night, she gets to explain the importance of the first night of Hanukah and the story of Hanukah and all that stuff. So it actually sort of integrates that, I think pretty nicely. I love that Ray Charles has been a recurring character. He's dating her grandmother, like fantastic, so it's got all of her family in there.

So it is about family. And the kids are funny. There aren't too many songs. Someone asked me about that the other day. Yes, it's so and when it's dry and ready, oh Dradael, I will play.

That's it and then Adam Sandler. But it's very charming and also what I didn't realize until starting to look at the nanny again when Dorothy Lyman was on. Was that Sylvia ply Fine. Her mother is played by Renee Taylor, who is an incredible actress, has an incredible like done a ton of ton of ton of stuff. But I didn't know was also a writer and was nominated for an Academy Award for co writing the screenplay for the film Lovers and Other Strangers, based on the play.

She co wrote Lovers and Other Strangers, which I know because in the seventies I saw my dad perform it on stage. Yeah, and I did not know that. I knew of Renee Taylor, but I did not know of that either. That's really amazing. So I weirdly know that play, which is basically a sex comedy drama from the seventies.

So every nine year old should be in that audience. Now you're understanding what four mative years I had. So of the Nanny Christmas holiday episodes, which is favorite. You know, it's definitely not the animated one. Oi not the animated one, yes, correct.

I have been going back and forth between the Christmas episode from season one and the Hankkah story, and I think. It's a tie. Oh, I think it's I think it's just a tie for me. They both have so many things going for them. But on the other hand, I feel like, you know, I certainly can't vote against something with Ray Charles and Renee Taylor in it, So yeah, I gotta I gotta give it a tie.

That is so interesting. Okay, Well, and again you're not wrong, A. I think they're bold coming out of the gate season one with a Christmas episode, and they faced the Hankah issue of it all, so I have lots of points there. As a Nanny episode, it is a much better episode of than Nanny, which was the first one the first season, the season one episode eight. This the show is sort of, you know, is has hit its stride.

It's very it's a it's a very good but straightforward Nanny episode. But I'm gonna say, yeah, the Honkah story is my favorite, mostly because it's the Honakka and I actually think it's it's you know, it's got enough like sort of oh my god, tucking the heart strings and it still had some good laughs. But I'm gonna I'm gonna say the Honkah story because it was one of the few and I have no doubt she had to fight hard to go to be even called the Honkah story. Yeah, I'd like. To think that.

By then they were like, yeah, whatever, do whatever you want. You would I would too, I would too, but she had to wait six seasons for it. As you said earlier about my choice, you are also not wrong. So yeah, there is no wrong answer. There is no wrong answer.

Before we get to the winners, I'm gonna throw in a couple of weird, crazy bonus, okay bonus holiday moments from the sixties and seventies, because you know that wasn't on our list, and so I'd like. To keep you. I like to keep you. I surprise you. No, in the upcoming year, And in our next episode, we're going to take a look at the origin story of Mama Mama's family, starting with a look at the legendary Carol Burnett Show.

So here are a couple of Carol Burnett holiday episodes and snippets that while not all full holidays, these episodes were not full holiday shows, both of them have standout holiday moments in them. And that was the interesting thing about the Carol Burnett Show. It was a variety show, but within the show that aired around Christmas, they would do a lot of holiday sketches and songs. Yeah, there'd be holiday elements that are part of the show, but it wasn't the entirety of the show. And then they'd have a skid that had nothing to do with the Holls.

It was pretty interesting to kind of revisit that because we've started to because we're going to talk about Carol Burnett and the origin of Mama's family. But so and the interesting thing about the speaking of titles. The titles of these shows were the guest Stars Season two, episode twelve, which aired December sixteenth, nineteen sixty eight. I Want to Go Back, not the eighties, was entitled Eileen Ferrell, Bob Hope, and Marilyn Horn and it is a it's sort of it's a Christmas Special esque. Eileen Ferrell and Marilyn Horn, very famous singers and opera opera singers.

And that was a great thing about the Carol Burnett Show. It brought out incredible talent every week. But that was actually you know, the fact that they had not one, but two opera singers on a network show was what was done back then. You know, if you think back to the most infamous variety show of television history, I think the Ed Sullivan Show, he had all kinds of performers, including operatic singers, which was still something that was pretty popular back then because I think a lot of people listened to what like listen to the met on the radio, which people don't really do. I mean, it kind of lost its luster through the sixties, and certainly by the seventies, I think it had kind of diminished, but still in nineteen sixty eight when this episode aired, opera was still very much in the forefront for a significant segment of the audience that was watching television.

So that was really interesting to see. I'd kind of forgotten about that. The whole episode is a wonderful version of her show because it's got the opera singers coming out and singing. It's got a great sketch, it's got a knockout version of Big Spender with the three of them Carol Burnette, Eileen Ferrell, and Marilyn Horne singing Big Spender, which is super fun. And they look great because in there Bob Mackie was the costumer, so they it's just it's a it's an element of elegance that you just don't see on television anymore.

And absolutely amazing production value. Yes, there is a dance number when I believe it's when Eileen Ferrell sings, she's the first one that says yes. And there's there's a six male and six female dancers who do this number, and and and and and formal clothing. The men are in Texas, their women are involved. I mean it's it's you never see that kind of stuff.

I mean, that kind of production value anymore. And this was every week on that show. I know, I thought the skit was unexpectedly great. I mean, they're all good, but I was very like. So the skit is Lyle Wagner is playing a movie star and then this kind of nerdy writer is coming to interview him.

Played by Carol Burnette. She's the writer. Carol Burnette is the nerdy writer and she's you know, completely unfazed until the Lyle Wagner comes out in his you know, fancy suit and turns on the smoulder and so every time he kind of looks at her or talks to her, she drops to the ground and faints. And it's, I mean, such a great physical comedian. So it's fantastic the timing to talk about the production value of that sketch, right, It feels like she's in a rich house, right it.

They are moving all over that room to do every physical gag they can so that she can drop to the floor and to the couch and to the wall in all different ways. She crossed across the floor at one point and cracks up while wagner. So it gets the little, the little breakup moment, and then it has a great topper, which is, you know, so she you know, finishes the interview and they they scort her out, and then the butler you know comes over to help him and and he goes behind the screen and he's like, oh, thank god, I can relax now. And he takes off his cumber bun and his suit and all this kind of stuff, and then he walks out and it's Bob Hope. And it looks like Bob Hope when he's not being the movie star, always funny, and Bob Hope is always good at at playing you know, joking on himself and his looks.

And I just thought that's that sketch was better than I thought it was going to be in the Holiday special and had nothing to do with it. Yeah, that was sort of the only thing, and then they have a beautiful medley at the end of singing Christmas songs while they scroll on all the donations they're giving two various charities throughout both locally and nationally. Yeah that was pretty great. Yeah, pretty great. I always love a Christmas medley.

And then the other one is that is with Alan Alda as the guest that originally aired in on December twenty first, nineteen seventy four, season eight, episode thirteen, at the height of his mash Yes fame, Oh yes, absolutely, and of course it was also on CBS. Interestingly enough, there's backtracking a little bit. There's a moment in the previous episode we talked about where Carol Burnette and Bob Hope are talking and she mentioned something about is upcoming special on NBC, and then she goes, whoops, not supposed to mention the other, which I thought was kind of cute, which nobody cares about anymore, but it was very much a thing. The first skit, the first thing in the show was a Christmas thing.

They're they're both working in a like a Macy's, yeah, department store, and they sing a duet and I either had forgotten or just simply didn't know that Alan Alda has a good voice. Yes, Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, she was great. Nobody does it like me? Which is I was like, where is that song from? And it's so I had to look it up.

It's from Seesaw, a nineteen seventy three American musical with music by cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields, one of the few of the time female musical theater writers. Alan Alda Cara Burnette. They did the Four Seasons. Ye to guess, that's right, And turns out they were wildhood friends. They knew known each other since they were very young, oh like in their like preteen, like teenage preteen, and so there have been friends for a long long time.

So I there's there's a lot of chemistry between the two of them in this. In this sketch again, the production value of it, the choreography of it, it's just beautiful, and it's it's just again, this great, amazing sketch. The rest of the show I could, I couldn't find the whole show, but I found snippets. And so the other thing that's in that show is a is a is a family, the family Christmas Sketch with Alan Alda playing the sort of the brother we've not seen so in Eunice's brother, Eunice's brother who's been living in New York. They think not able to keep a job.

Yeah, because he's a freelance graphic designer and they. Don't understand what free life is, so they just think he keeps getting fired and uh and also very very funny like and so it's very funny the Family Sketch, very funny Unice and Vicky Lawrence comes in and so it it's kind of a neat segue into Our Mama's Family episodes. But so those were my two there. I think there were other times where they did a holiday thing or two, but I think these were the two ones where the most holiday stuff was in because you know, in the Family Sketch, he's home for the he's come to surprise Mama for the holidays, right, and things go awry as. They usually do or units and poor everybody.

But Alan Alda is very funny in that sketch, as we know he can be. But the surprise of the of that episode, of the pieces we got to see were was him singing that duet with her. That was really incredibly charming. Okay, so these two should have been Again, one's not a full episode because I couldn't find it. I'm going to keep looking.

But what what? What was your favorite? God Cheryl Burnette? The two Christmas specials as a as it were. It's a hard one.

Yeah, I going with Allanalda. Okay, Yeah, you can't get wrong with in nineteen seventy four. I gotta tell you. Well, First of all, that episode had more Christmas yes than the other one. It had alan Alda's singing, which was a lovely revelation, and it had a pretty good Eunice and Mama sketch.

Yes, some of them could get a little rough, Yes, rough in terms of dramatic serious as opposed to funny. Yes, this one I thought walked a nice balance between the two, and he was. He was great in that as well. So I think I have to go with alan Alda. What about you?

You know that is so funny because I think until you started, until you started making your argument, I was totally I lank Pharaoh, Bob Hope, Marilyn Warren, mostly because of the ending. No, but I think you're right. As a Christmas episode, it's got to be the Aleanalda because it's more Christmas and it is it is kind of the Carol Burnett Show firing on its perfect cylinders, right, like a special guest doing something you don't expect from them, And it feels the most like the precursor to Sarien Live right like in some ways, because it's like, oh, suddenly this guest is going to come on and do something we don't expect, Like, you know, if I Lean Farrell had come on and done Mama's Family sketch, that would have been interested.

She came out and sang opera, which was cool, right, and which I think was a gift of the times right too for people that wouldn't go to opera or couldn't go to opera to be able to see an opera singer sing that was part of the gift of the show. So, but I think I got to go with Alan old A season so season eight, episode thirteen, aired twelve December twenty first, nineteen seventy four. Right there in the seventies. I probably watched it, but didn't really know who Alan Alda was because I was too young to know to watch mash yet. Oh, I was watching mash You know, it's funny.

I've been thinking I may have missed that one because we might have, but we came back. Yeah, we came back from Japan in seventy four, so by December you would have been we would have been in the States and TV junkie that I am. I'm sure or I would have watched it. Yeah. I definitely watched the carober Net Show.

Yeah, oh my god, the whole Sunday night lineup, Faturday night lineup on CBS. You just couldn't talk about must see TV my goodness. So yeah, I definitely would have watched it. I love the Carol Burnett Show. I want to go back here.

We got to go all the way back to Facts of Life. Our top Christmas show, the Facts of Life was Christmas in the Big House. We agree, ding ding our top Mama's Family were split, Mama's family and Mama gets goosed, Sharon's a Mama's face, Sharon's a Santa Mama and Susan's and Mama gets goosed. The Nanny episode Sharon Is Christmas episode, season one, episode eight, No for the Nanny. I had a tie, Oh you had a tie?

You tied that Christmas episode of story I couldn't choose. Okay, and then I went with Honikah story, right, yeah, Okay, that's what it was, all right. I knew we had something there, all right. So they go and then of the bonus of the careburnet, go check out the Alan Alda episode or snippets of episodes, which brings us to our audiography for the day. The links to many of these episodes and the clips we talked about will be in our description.

So going into the holidays, I've also put some books on order Sharon for our audiography, but also for myself. One is a magazine article how to Survive the Broligarchy by Carol Cadwalder, and she's a great writer, and this is a very interesting article inspired by the next book I'm going to recommend, which is on Tyranny by Timothy Snyder, written first and in the aftermath of twenty sixteen, but he's got several revisions to it, but it's some very interesting reading that I find helpful. And The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, which I think I read back in college but want to revisit. And Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnant. Excellent.

So some light reading for. The holidays, Well maybe Some'm going to get them for the holidays. Maybe then they're plane reading if you're traveling. Yeah, you know, that'd be a good time maybe to you know, open up a book. I just thought that.

Maybe you know, there you go, get ready, go train with Melissa. Yes, we're ready. Well, speaking of Melissa, just a reminder about our Patreon. You can find it at patreon dot com slash Eighties tv Ladies and on Patreon. Melissa's Spotify music lists will be dropping, so please keep an eye out for that, plus videos about behind the scenes things that we shot at the forty three Union of the Scarecrow and Missus King event, where we got to meet a lot of really great people, many of whom had actually read, had actually listened to the podcast, much to our surprises, fans and some patrons exactly there.

And then starting in January, once a month, we'll be releasing videos on of our zoom interviews. Patreon dot com slash Eighties tv Ladies. I love that fantastic. I want to thank all of you guys for listening this year and for being a part of the eighties TV Ladies community. On the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube.

We are also now on blue Sky and Spoutable in case you're on those platforms and so and also we have a merch store which we launched this year. It was a busy year and so, but thank you all for listening and communicating. I am behind and returning emails, so there's lots coming in and I will. If I haven't replied to you, or one of us hasn't replied to you, we will be getting to you soon. So have a beautiful holiday.

We really do appreciate your feedback and if you like our show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever it is that you listen. You can mention what shows or ladies you'd like for us to cover. We want to hear from you and you can find us at Eighties TV Ladies on the various platforms. We will see you in twenty twenty five. Be sure to tune in January eighth for our next episode, which we'll be talking about Mama's Family by way of Carol Burnett and the Carol Burnett Show.

As always, we hope Eighties TV Ladies continues to bring you joy and laughter and lots of fabulous new and old shows to watch, all of which will lead us forward toward being amazing ladies of the twenty first century. Dun't don't, don't, don't. Oh how they pound raising the sound? Okay, I don't know how the rest of it goes. Okay, so you at least know what Good Year?

It's my favorite Christmas carol. Gaily they ring while people sing songs of good Year. Christmas is here, Marry marry, merry, Merry Christmas, Merry merry, merry, merry Christmas. Joyful tone to every happy Holidays. It's so pretty to the city.

But nothing dreamed of getting working hard, pull The money in the bamper anything, Riple