Made a short run out next. It was nearly 1 when I headed to WaWa for my last treat of the year. Tried a Sugar Cookie Smoothie. Yum! Really did taste like a butter sugar cookie. Bought a Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi and a soft pretzel for later. They were surprisingly not that busy for the last day of the year and around 1:30. Maybe everyone was getting ready for tonight.
Or they were avoiding the weather. It remains the same as yesterday - cloudy, cold, and windy. Which, to be fair, is what it's supposed to be doing at this time of year. At least it wasn't snowing or raining.
When I got home, I had the pretzel and soda, along with lunch, while watching Rudolph's Shiny New Year. I went further into this Rankin-Bass special at this Musical Dreams Movie Revews blog entry from 2019.
Wrote birthdays on my new calendar and looked something up on my phone while I had Holiday Inn on. I did my review of this classic Bing Crosby-Fred Astaire holiday-themed musical on New Year's Day 2019.
Switched to a couple of sitcom episodes when I went online. "New Year's Eve - 1960" proves to be an exciting one for Laverne & Shirley. Laverne's ecstatic to be going to Shirley's party with an old guy friend of hers from high school, but she's heart-broken when her date doesn't go as expected. Shirley is with Carmine, but she's caught a cold. At least they can watch Lenny drop Squiggy before midnight instead of the ball.
The cops on Barney Miller have an equally memorable "Happy New Year" when they bring in a pregnant shoplifter who doesn't speak English. While Barney's wife Liz stays with her, the others prepare for the blessed event. Fish is more concerned about a man who is going to jump off a building if the war in the Middle East doesn't end, and Harris has to deal with a drunk who is waiting to file a complaint until he's sober.
Cathy Lane is looking forward to the arrival of her father, a newspaper correspondent, on The Patty Duke Show. Her cousin Patty is almost as excited, until she learns from her father Martin that not only is Cathy's father in jail for getting involved in a revolution, Martin has to fire him for disobeying his boss' orders. Everyone tries to prepare Cathy for "The Christmas Present" not coming home, but she insists that he'll come no matter what.
Even after Cathy's dad Ken makes it back to the US, "Auld Lang Syne" still isn't terribly pleasant, due to him being fired. The girls try to get him a book deal, but he's happier out in the field. When the revolution starts up again, there's only one man his boss wants out in Europe. Cathy may miss her dad, but she knows he's happiest covering the news, and she's happy with Patty as her cousin reminds her that they "made it through another one."
Worked on writing for a while after that. Rover the dog is sniffing around when a large lion with a curly mane nearly pounces on him! He sends Charles reeling, but pulls back after he realizes he can't get through Richard's tin. Joyce isn't happy about him going after Rover, though...
Did a couple of cartoons themed around New Year's, parties, and clubs during dinner. Popeye says "Let's Celebrake" when he, Olive, and Bluto head out dancing for New Year's. Popeye gallantly brings along Olive's grandma. She's no swinger at first, but spinach really gets her feet moving. Bluto is jealous in "Morning, Noon, and Nightclub" and tries to sabotage Popeye and Olive's dance act. Popeye uses spinach to turn the tables. Mickey and Minnie Mouse are the original party animals in "The Whoopee Party." They get so into the music, even the furniture dances along!
Finished the night on YouTube with the Match Game Sunday Classics marathon. Every year in the 70's, Match Game celebrated the New Year with the changing of their sign, dropping balloons and streamers on the set and in the audience, and giving the panelists noisemakers and hats. Charles came out in a firefighter's hat and carrying a huge Match Game balloon in 1975, which he popped to reveal a smaller 1976 balloon. In 1976, Charles caught an egg dropped by an exceedingly ugly paper mache "Goody-Toddy Bird" that said Match Game '77. Head honcho Mark Goodson came out to praise the job they were all doing and how popular the show had gotten at that point.
Brett was out doing a play in 1977, but Fannie more than adequately took her place. They dropped the balloons first that year, probably to have more time for the game. By 1978, they had a new sign that only needed to have the number screwed in. After Charles and Gene finally figured out how to get the numbers in place, Charles and Brett "christened" it by breaking bottles over it. As the balloons dropped and the others celebrated, Gene passed out from the excitement!
1978 was the last Match Game New Year's episode on CBS. There wouldn't be another New Year's episode until Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour in 1983, and that was limited to comedian Gallagher playing with balloons during the Leave It to Beaver theme week. Match Game '90 got far more into the holiday. There were black and silver balloons arching over the set, and everyone dressed to the nines in gowns and tuxes. Charles was on vacation during that week, so Brad Garrett did a dead-on impression of him.
No game show celebrates New Year's like Match Game! Celebrate the start of 2024 with these hilarious episodes!
As Match Game '90 began, I heard booms going off all around me. One was so close, it shook the house! The New Year had arrived here, too. I sipped my apple-cranberry sparkling juice and watched the sparkles around me.
Here's hoping you have a safe and happy 2024 with all the people you love to match with!
No comments:
Post a Comment