Since I’ve known my lovely wife this romantic comedy set on Christmas Eve and starring Dick Powell and Debbie Reynolds has been her favorite among what she calls “her cute little movies.” Shot in that beautiful Technicolor process among crisp colorful sets (Powell’s apartment gets my vote for Most Fifties Ever!) that give off a nice holiday feel, it tells the completely contrived tale of a thirty-five year-old Oscar-winning screenwriter (Powell, who was actually 50) forced to deal with a seventeen year-old delinquent (Reynolds) over Christmas Eve. He desperately needs a muse and she’s looking for a daddy of the sugar variety and … well, you can see where this is going.

Sounds awful, don’t it? That’s what I thought and refused to pay it much attention for years. But the lead performances, supporting cast and dynamite dialogue are all superb, and it really is a cute little movie with some crisp cynical shots taken at Hollywood to boot — most of them courtesy of Alvy Moore who most of you will recognize from “Green Acres.” (more…)

Television is often treated like the unloved step-child of the arts.  It’s been called a vast wasteland and worse.  And vast it certainly is.  It’s on all the time and on hundreds of channels, so it’s no surprise that most of it is just awful.  The surprise is how much of it is worthwhile, and I’m not just referring to the artsy-fartsy stuff that shows up on Masterpiece Theatre. 

Of course everyone’s list is going to seem eccentric to other people.  My own is no exception.  For one thing, there have been very popular shows that I never even tuned in.  I’m thinking of “Beverly Hillbillies,” “Bonanza,” “Green Acres,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “Dallas,” “Dynasty,” “Knott’s Landing,” “Peyton Place,” “L.A. Law,” “Six Feet Under,” “ER,” “Chicago Hope,” “CSI,” “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” “Ally McBeal” and “Sex and the City.”  There were a few I watched once or twice to see what all the fuss was about, but I didn’t care for “Star Trek,” “Picket Fences,” “The X Files,” “Boston Legal,” “Touched By An Angel,” “Monty Python” or “N.Y.P.D. Blue.”  (more…)