TV Shows on DVD/ / / / / TV Blog/ / / / / Punk Book/ / / Holiday
Specials on DVD
|
|
|
|
|
TV Shows on DVD/ / / / / TV Blog/ / / / / Punk Book/ / / Holiday
Specials on DVD
|
||||
by Billy Ingram Probably the most sentimental TV Christmas episodes of all time were found the Lassie series (1954-1973) but specifically the years (1958-1964) when the show starred June Lockhart, Hugh Reilly, Jon Provost as Timmy and the boy collie they called Lassie. This cast was so beloved, when June Lockhart left in 1964 there was a public outcry. No-one did ‘touching scenes’ with less schmaltz and more unbridled caring than Lockhart. The next year she was playing basically the same character on Lost in Space. There were Lassie Holiday episodes almost every year, TV vignettes providing an insight for modern viewers into what Christmas was all about in the minds of Americans during those years. Keep in mind, most folks during that era lived on farms or were rural dwellers. My vote for best Christmas storyline is Episode #270 entitled "Yochim’s Christmas" from Season 8, telecast on Christmas Eve of 1961. If your eyes are dry after watching this, the Christmas Spirit has left your soul.
The first Lockhart Christmas episode from December 21, 1958 has Lassie at death’s door after saving a toddler. Talk about a tear-jerker!
From December of 1964, this Lassie episode has the newer opening without strings replacing the whistling theme song. Also missing, the cast listing. The show was slow transitioning to a new format with no Timmy and the Martin family, when US Forestry Ranger Corey Stuart became Lassie’s caretaker. A great deal more somber, a lot darker and less sentimental… and a lot less effective if you ask me.
Like most boomer TV lovers I watched Lassie in the early years and returned to watching during season 11 when Lassie roamed the countryside, like a canine Route 66, solving people’s problems while attempting to find his way back home to with Ranger Corey after becoming lost following a plane crash. |
|
