Ran my True Value Hardware collections all day, including the four new LPs I picked up on eBay. Started with the newest of the records, Volume 23 from 1988. This is the one we had when I was a kid in the late 80's-early 90's. I remember listening to it when we decorated the Christmas tree together. It was the first time I ever heard the Bing Crosby version of "White Christmas" somewhere other than the radio. Other good ones here include the classic Chuck Berry version of "Merry Christmas Baby," the very 80's "This Christmas" by the Jets, the Andrews Sisters' "Winter Wonderland," and "Greatest Little Christmas Ever Wuz" by Ray Stevens.
Went through the doll outfits Lauren sent from Amazon a few days ago after I did the dishes. There were two bathing suits with raffia-style flower hair clips. I kept the floral one for Ariel, who doesn't have a bathing suit, and put aside the green shamrock-print one. Ariel also claimed two sundresses in green floral and yellow polka-dots and a very 70's ensemble of floral bell-bottoms with a ruffled sleeveless blouse. The sparkly purple princess outfit, tiara, and fur wrap will be used as a costume. There was a red Christmas-print dress and a pink floral sundress that aren't the right color for Ariel, and I already have Christmas outfits for the girls. I'm considering picking up another from eBay after the holidays, so I saved those.
Dressed the dolls in their holiday outfits after I got their new ones put away. Whitney wears the lovely Snowflake Ball Gown from 2010 with black tights, black velvet strap shoes, and a black bolero jacket taken from a Springfield Collection outfit. Molly's in her green velvet dress with thin tights borrowed from one of Whitney's outfits and strap shoes from Samantha. Sam gets her Cranberry Christmas Dress with red strap shoes and the original white ribbed tights. Ariel's sporting Julie's purple paisley Christmas dress and white tights with Molly's white t-straps from her Polka-Dot outfit. Josefina looks like a Mexican princess in her yellow Christmas Dress and black mantilla. Felicity gets to twirl on the dance floor in her bright blue Christmas Gown. Jessa's modern Chinese New Year Outfit with the red brocade pants and jacket are at least the right color for the holiday.
Had a very quick lunch at quarter of 2 while continuing with the Happy Holidays series. Julie Andrews tops Volume 22 with a lovely "Away In a Manger." I also like "Felix Navidad" by Jose Feliciano and "Silent Night" by Ella Fitzgerald. Volume 20 kicks off with the original Bing Crosby version of "Little Drummer Boy." We also get "The Christmas Song" by Mel Torme, "It's Christmas" by Ronnie Milsap, and "I Wonder as I Wander" by Leotyne Price.
Scrubbed the bathroom from top to bottom while the LPs ran. The big thing here was scrubbing the tile floor. I put off doing it because of my arm. I don't think anyone's scrubbed it in a long time, maybe even Jodie. Also did the windows in the whole house I could get to inside.
While the bathroom floor dried, I went outside with a broom and finally swept all the leaves and debris from my patio. I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but either the weather's been bad, or it was too cold or too windy, or I just didn't have the time. It was really starting to build around my front door, allowing leaves and sticks to blow into my hall.
After I set up the bathroom, I went into writing. To Brett and Richard's horror, Governor Mark Goodson intends to make Gene walk the plank. They all protest, but to no avail. Goodson believes it the best way to get the renegade captain out of his hair for good.
Broke for dinner at 6:30. Had leftover turkey soup and macaroni and cheese for dinner while finishing Volume 19, which I started earlier. The big one here is the original Carpetners version of "Merry Christmas, Darling." "What a Merry Christmas This Could Be" by Willie Nelson is also fun.
Moved to CDs for Volume 32 while I made cranberry sauce. This is one of the six True Value collections I bought from the hardware store in Cape May during the late 90's and early 2000's when they were owned by the company. Favorites here include "Christmas In Your Arms" by Alabama, "Christmas Is the Time" by Lou Rawls, "The Christmas Waltz" by Nancy Wilson, "Christmas Passing Through" by the Roches, and "Christmas for Every Boy & Girl" by Clint Black.
Finished the night online with more game shows on YouTube. I enjoyed Buzzr's Black Friday Frenzy so much, I thought I'd do my own version tonight. Supermarket Sweep goes further back than most people realize. The original version actually debuted in 1965. Only a single episode from 1967 exists today...or maybe two, given the returning champs are different in each part. There's a lot that's different here, from everyone being allowed to keep their groceries to filming in a real grocery store to everyone being allowed to keep what they get in the Big Sweep.
The original pilot for the 1990 Supermarket Sweep came closer to the first show than the version every 90's cable fan knows and loves. David Ruprecht himself introduces the copy shown at Wink Martindale's YouTube channel. Once again, they filmed in an actual supermarket. It was a more formal affair, with David in a suit and everyone in good clothes. As with the original, there were fewer of the mini-games, too. Not only did this pilot add the 5,000 bonus round, but one of the couples became the show's first big winners with at least ten seconds left on the clock.
The original 60's daytime Let's Make a Deal is mostly gone, but the late 60's-70's syndicated version is pretty much intact. That show barely changed in 50 years, except to change out Monty Hall for Wayne Brady in the current itineration. Even in the 1970 episode I watched, it's still people in crazy costumes swapping deals around with Monty, hoping to avoid zonks. They did win a car here, and got the Big Deal, too.
Fortunately, the entire almost 50-year-run of The Price Is Right remains intact. I went with an early episode from 1973. This is a half-hour show that's played more like the nighttime shows from a decade later. Bob Barker brings people into mini-games and eventually the Showcase Showdown, but there's still no wheel or extra 1,000.
Alas, only audio exists online for the original 1969 Sale of the Century. I moved on to a 1984 daytime episode instead. They already had the match-the-prizes board by then, but other things were very different. There was another lady besides Summer Bartholomew and the contestants still picked octagons on the Fame Game instead of pushing a buzzer. The champ got a good run from an older man early in this one, but he bought a vacation that set him back considerably. The champ not only killed at the Speed Round, but he picked up the car on the prizes board.
Shop 'Till You Drop was paired with Supermarket Sweep on Lifetime and PAX (now Ion Television) for most of its off and on run. Shop is basically the same idea as Supermarket, only set in a mall instead of a grocery store. People play pricing games to earn points. Enough points will win the chance to grab packages from the mall "stores" that add up to 1,000. The 1992 episode I watched ended with a couple winning a trip to Zurich, Switzerland.
It was revived and overhauled in 2003. This version moved the action to a Costco-style wholesale market and make some of the mini-games guess-the-person rather than fun with props, and upped the bonus round winnings from 1,000 to 2,5000, but otherwise remained largely the same. I kind of preferred the original version, partially because of the colorful set, and partly because I found the '92 host Pat Finn to be far more appealing than noisy JD Roberto.
Check out these shows as you away to do your own Cyber Monday shopping! As a bonus, Sale of the Century and The Price Is Right come with their original commercials and the commercials from its run on Game Show Network respectively!
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