The TV Zone

You want a handmade holiday present? Here's a biggie – hundreds of Christmas episodes, cartoon specials, music, comedy, cooking shows, seasonal cinema, holiday history.

You name it – for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa – and it's likely listed chronologically here at The TV Zone by date and time within handy genres, collected under the Christmas Tube category on the right side of this page (scroll down below Recent Posts). Some of the season's most popular highlights got the spotlight in Newsday's Monday print edition (like "A Charlie Brown Christmas," pictured above and airing Nov. 27 on ABC), but this online repository is where the real riches reside.

This annual list gets put together the old-fashioned way – literally by hand, typing everything in after scouring TV channel press releases and advance schedules, not to mention personally pestering all my tube info contacts. (Thanks, guys and gals, for putting up with my incessant nudging.)

It's a humongous effort, getting more intense every year. But it's worth it, both for my own Christmas viewing/recording and for the hundreds of readers who annually tell me how much they love being able to find their faves.

Enjoy the listings already posted, and don't forget – this list is updated continually through the end of December, so check back frequently for added shows.

And click the "Comments" link right below this paragraph to let us know what you think. Happy holidays!

Listen to tube faves talk away at the Just My Show site, where the podcast menu includes such names as Tom Wopat of “The Dukes of Hazzard,” Ted Lange from “The Love Boat,” Marion Ross of “Happy Days,” and even memorable recurring players like Len Lesser, “Seinfeld’s” Uncle Leo.

Behind-the-scenes folks can be found, too -- “Sledge Hammer” creator Alan Spencer, “Seinfeld” inspiration Kenny Kramer, “Charlie Brown” animator Bill Melendez, and many more. Just My Show also puts together cool panel chats, like this three-hander dissecting TV Land’s “100 Greatest TV Quotes and Catchphrases.”

The site’s appreciation of retro pop culture (it also covers movies, music, even fashion fads and competitive eating) is put together in slick fashion as a labor of love by an NYC guy who likes to remain anonymous. He isn’t some nostalgic boomer, either -- he’s just 31, so many interviews reflect his own frame of reference (“The Great Space Coaster,” “The Baseball Bunch”).

Just My Show's current top attraction: over an hour of 35th anniversary “M*A*S*H” memories with Mike Farrell, William Christopher and Jamie Farr [photo at left].

Like Television offers dozens of free streams of old TV series and commercials, hoping to entice you to subscribe to its download service ($15/month, $125/year).

The big treat here may be Woody Allen's 1969 NBC comedy special (with Candice Bergen and Billy Graham -- yes, that Billy Graham).

LikeTelevision Embed Movies and TV Shows

Among the other (mostly public domain) goodies:
• Betty White’s 1953 sitcom “Life With Elizabeth.”
• Mary Tyler Moore’s first TV show, “Richard Diamond, Private Detective” (only MTM’s legs were seen).
• Early “reality” show “Night Court USA,” reenactments from the 1950s.
• 1950s ad with dancing Lucky Strike cigarettes.
• 1960 Corvair auto promo film (in color!).
• 1970s Malibu Barbie spot.
• 1990s Apple computer ads.
• Sally Field's 1971 TV movie “Maybe I’ll Come Home in the Spring.”
• Johnny Carson “Tonight Show” highlights.
• Groucho Marx’ “You Bet Your Life” quiz show.
• Episodes of “Ozzie & Harriet,” “Burns & Allen,” “Beverly Hillbillies,” “Bonanza,” “One Step Beyond,” and lots more.

Without the CD, there would be no (same size, looks alike) DVD. And without that, the average house wouldn’t have such a wealth of vintage tube on tap to watch whenever we want.

This BBC news story celebrates the compact disc’s 25th birthday by providing such wonderful facts as the very first commercial music CD. (Do you know what it was? Answer below.)

Also in the story is the interesting observation that the audio CD thrived thanks to its single, open standard -- none of that destructive VHS/Beta rivalry or NTSC/PAL incompatibility. Any CD you buy anywhere in the world should play anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of video DVDs, with the world’s different TV engineering standards and the distributors’ control-freak region coding. Now the Blu-ray/HD-DVD battle is slowing the purchase of high-def video players, scaring consumers wary of betting on the wrong horse, Beta-style.

The CD will always be historic for starting us down the digital entertainment path, offering a clarity, ease of use and storehouse of info that DVDs (and now high-def discs) have only expanded upon. Learn more about the original development of the compact disc here.

Sure, the CD may go the way of vinyl records and VHS tapes someday -- perhaps someday soon. MP3s and other hard-drive/flash-stored entertainment are already challenging the disc’s preeminence. With video on demand becoming familiar in digital cable, users don’t have to store anything, just electronically click to see/hear a title or a genre/format transmitted from the system's head-end whenever they want.

Oh, that initial CD? “The Visitors” by ABBA.

Can an LI guy ride a bucking bull? Can a white rapper? A black NFLer? We can all find out in CMT’s just-debuted reality roundup “Ty Murray’s Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge” (new episodes Fridays at 9 p.m. on CMT).

Stephen Baldwin of the Massapequa acting brothers [at right in CMT photo] is among the nine who started the live-in gig last week, though by the end of that hour, wimpy ’70s teenybopper Leif Garrett had already pulled the covers over his head and refused to get out of bed. In the premiere’s final moments, Baldwin went down for the count himself -- but in action -- being thrown from a bull’s back with devastating results.

That episode repeats today at 2, 6 and 10 p.m., prepping us for the series’ second hour at 9 and 11 p.m. (Catch a repeat double-feature on CMT Saturday 3-5 p.m., 8-10 p.m., midnight-2 a.m.; also Sunday 8-10 p.m. and 11 p.m.-1 a.m.)

Vanilla Ice and Raghib “Rocket” Ismail are among the other celebs learning the ropes, literally, from seven-time all-around bullriding champ Ty Murray (you know, Jewel’s boyfriend), Professional Bull Riders hotshot Justin McBride, and former rider turned PBR judge Cody Lambert. Also aiming for eight seconds: reality dude Jonny Fairplay, actor Francesco Quinn, gladiator “Nitro” Dan Clark, motocrosser Kenny Bartram, and UFC fighter Josh Haynes.

Tough guys all. But the bulls look tougher. We’re betting Baldwin sees the hospital this week.

Intrusive government investigation for political reasons? It’s nothing new. “The U.S. vs. John Lennon” frames that tale in ’60s and ’70s terms as the latest of VH1’s “Rock Docs,” airing commercial-free this Saturday at 9 p.m. on VH1 and VH1 Classic. (Encores air Saturday night at 1 a.m. on VH1, Sunday at 3 p.m. on VH1 Classic, and Tuesday at 9 p.m. and midnight on VH1 Classic.)

The film festival sensation (seen at Toronto, Venice and Telluride), from moviemakers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld, traces Lennon’s evolution from unaware young pop star to committed peace activist over the Vietnam-shadowed decade 1966-76. As the world-famous rocker became more involved in current events, the American government became more concerned with keeping his activities under scrutiny and even control.

Recounting that tumultuous era: activists Angela Davis, Bobby Seale and Ron Kovic; observers Walter Cronkite and Gore Vidal; politicians Mario Cuomo and George McGovern; Nixon administration officials John Dean and G. Gordon Liddy, and many others -- including, of course, Lennon widow Yoko Ono, who provided the filmmakers access to rare and unseen archival material.

We’ve got a month to go till Sept. 13’s third-season return of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” but FX is revving up the promo machine for its cockeyed barroom comedy.

Already online is the very funny third-season episode “Mac Is a Serial Killer,” streaming on the series’ MySpace page through Thursday, Aug. 23. Meanwhile, a DVD set pairing Seasons 1-2 hits shelves Sept. 4 from Fox Home Entertainment.

“Sunny in Philly” has 15 new episodes due this season, with two episodes premiering each Thursday at 10 and 10:30 p.m. for the season’s first five weeks (and one weekly thereafter). Misbehaving dad Danny DeVito is back on board, too.

Need a fix of fine TV? The Brilliant But Cancelled web site currently has some real treats unreeling. (Well, streaming anyway.)

Darren McGavin’s 1970s “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” goes after vampires and zombies. Gary Cole creeps us out in Shaun Cassidy’s mesmerizing “American Gothic.” Heath Ledger heats up ancient Ireland in ABC’s 1997 costume drama “Roar.” And there’s the two-part pilot of Fox’ parallel-universe trip “Sliders.”

Also at this BBC: pop culture news, bloggery, critics tips, “Make It Stop” rants, “Pop Autopsy” of dead shows, opinionated comment boards.

Too bad the rest of the site (which originated on-air as part of the late, lamented cable/satellite channel TRIO) is devoted to shilling for site owner Bravo’s less-than-brilliant reality slate. (“Shear Genius”? Pleeeeze.) Instead, why not bring back vintage TRIO faves like John Cassavetes’ 1950s jazz sleuth “Johnny Staccato” or the sly ’90s single-camera copcom “Bakersfield, P.D.” with Ron Eldard and Giancarlo Esposito? [Photo below.]

Another caveat: The video’s standard viewing window is tiny, though there’s also a full-screen mode (which tends to look crummy).

Got a hankering to see Johnny Carson? Sing the “Mister Ed” theme song? Or savor the 1960s toy Swing Wing commercial?

Then visit the Classic Television Blog, celebrating “Television the Way You Remember It.” There you’ll find a look back at the week in TV history. (This week: Lucille Ball and Garrison Keillor are born, Richard Burton dies, and filming begins on “West Side Story.”) Also, clips and recollections of classic TV moments. And some random riffs on the tube (whatever happened to slapstick?).

The blog is sponsored by R2 Entertainment, the folks behind DVD sets of Johnny Carson, Sonny & Cher, and many other vintage treats. But selling seldom gets in the way of the nostalgic fun.

And with a scientific sheen. Who could resist? This isn’t gawking. It’s educational.

“Science of Dwarfism” and “Science of Gigantism” air back-to-back Monday on National Geographic Channel, which is hot on the heels of its Discovery Channel predecessor, taking the real world much more seriously these days than Discovery’s one-time documentary showcase seems to. (“Survivorman”? “Dirty Jobs”? “Cash Cab”? Come on.)

“Science of Dwarfism” (Monday at 9 p.m.) looks at both common and uncommon types of extremely short stature by profiling “extraordinary humans.” But the show also explains the genetic mutations and medical reasons why dwarfism occurs and how it physically affects their lives.

“Science of Gigantism” (Monday at 10 p.m.) explores the physiology and health problems of people with an extremely tall and large “superstructure.” Shaquille O’Neal would be a shrimp next to one 7-feet-8 man profiled here, alongside other “giants.”

This is such a hot/cool subject that ABC is airing its own related report on “20/20” tonight (Friday at 10 p.m., ABC/7).

Watch fascinating video previews online.

NatGeo photo: The Campbell family's mother, father and daughter all have different kinds of dwarfism.