And that's that. Too bad this seems to have come to an abrupt end on Disney Junior last April. I really enjoyed it. As someone who also loves baking, I appreciated the themes of trying new foods and how food can bring communities together. Some people online has complained that Alice is too bland compared to the original. I disagree. I think she's a lot of fun. My favorite characters are sweet little Princess Rosa of Hearts and her decidedly spicy Queen of Hearts mama. Honestly, if you're a fan of Alice In Wonderland and/or baking like me, you and your little one can do far worse than the charming tales of the most splediferous young baker in all of Wonderland.
After breakfast, I took my overflowing laundry basket downstairs, then went back up to my rooms and pulled out the remaining Christmas decorations. I always forget I have so much! There's the jolly Santa statue Mom gave me years ago and the Winter Cinderella Barbie-sized doll I found at a yard sale. There's the printed elves, angel made from fabric and a button, stuffed "gingerbread" people and the garland with the fabric stars and green grosgrain ribbon Mom made herself. The colorful wooden "Noel" candlestick holder has been in my family for years. I bought the little white frosted bottle-brush wreath from the Special Service Middle School's annual Christmas bazaar in the mid-90's. Amanda gave me the "Gretel" gingerbread Beanie Baby, and my gingerbread Squishmallow is a doggie toy I found at Target and thought was too cute to be chewed up by some dog! I have lots of holiday Beanie Baby bears, too, Gift and Herald the angels, Wallace in the plaid scarf, the bear with the jingling hat, Ginny "The Beginning" with the silver stars. Aunt Terri gave me the American Girl tin with the recipes for Christmas 2001.
Watched Christmas specials while I worked, starting with the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas. Chuck is upset by all of the grab, grab around him, from Snoopy entering a big neighborhood display contest to Lucy insisting she wants real estate for Christmas. Directing the local pageant seems to be what he needs to boost his flagging spirits, but his pals refuse to listen to him and insist on turning it into a jazz concert. It's when Charlie brings a tiny tree back to the church and the kids make fun of it that Linus reminds them of what Christmas is really all about.
It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown is a less-linear holiday special from the early 90's. Peppermint Patty avoids Christmas break homework and goes to see the Hallelujah Chorus with Marcie. Snoopy works as a sidewalk Santa, while Chuck tries to make money to buy a gift for the Little Red Haired Girl. Sally writes to Santa's wife and tries to learn her one line in the Christmas Pageant.
The He-Man She-Ra Christmas Special is probably the least-likely holiday show in existence. Orko accidentally transfers two Earth kids to Etheria, where they teach She-Ra, He-Man, and all their friends about the magic of Christmas and peace on Earth. Horde Prime doesn't appreciate the good will they're spreading and orders Skeletor and Hordak to bring them to him. Skeletor gets to them first...but gets a rather strange lesson in the Christmas spirit when he ends up defending the kids against robot monsters.
Switched to the series finale of What's New, Scooby Doo? while eating lunch. It's an "E-scream" when Mystery Inc visits a fan convention that's overrun with Osmons, tiny furballs that are usually very popular, but seem to have gone crazy and are destroying everything in their path. As they solve the mystery, Velma notices that her friends don't seem to be acting like themselves, leading her to wonder if she's solving a real mystery at all. (Incidentally, this is one of the few times in the entire franchise where there's no unmasking, and technically, no villain.)
This is still one of the best and best-regarded Scooby series. They balanced the usual mysteries with people in masks with unique episodes like "E-Scream" (where there's no villain), "Camp Comeandscareya" (throwback to the Shaggy/Scooby/Scrappy solo shorts of the late 70's-early 80's), and "High Tech House of Horrors" (where technology was the villain). There's echoes of The New Scooby Doo Movies in episodes featuring celebrities like "Riva Ras Regas" and "Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman," too. In fact, if you have younger kids, this might be the best place to start if you want to introduce them to the franchise. It's faster-paced than the original Scooby Doo, Where are You, and has more stories that might appeal to them.
Headed out to run some quick errands before school. Hit WaWa first to use their ATM machine. I haven't had a smoothie from there in ages. Peppermint Mocha really hit the spot, very minty and even more chocolatey! I got one of the things I needed at Family Dollar, which was laundry detergent, but forgot a timer.
I barely had time to put everything upstairs and head back out again when I got home. I'm glad I just got there on time. We needed all hands on deck. One teacher left, so now the one who was taking care of the pre-schoolers had to step up and take the older kids. The kids were all antsy today, every single one. They would not stay in their seats and gave us a hard time about wearing their coats outside, too, even though it was in the 40's.
It was a nice day once we got out, though, sunny, cold, and breezy. You'd never know we're supposed to get torrential rain tomorrow. I did have to break up some of the kids who were sitting around on the top of the playground equipment, trying to push each other on the slides or blocking them. They aren't supposed to be pushing on the slides, and they certainly didn't need to block them. Other kids wanted to go down the slides, too. I also chatted with kids looking for people walking dogs and admired the beautiful gold sunset as we went inside.
When we got in, I helped the kids color and sharpened colored pencils. I wish they'd just stick to coloring and leave other things alone. Their attempts to cut out paper and use tape ends with them making messes and us with no masking tape. Some of the kids were rowdy even inside and would not sit down and play games. They were finally settling down with the magnetic tiles when I left.
Went straight home and watched Match Game '78 during dinner and as I finally brought the laundry upstairs. We finished the Joe Gargiola week and went on to one with Avery Schriber and Lee Merriweather. At one point when told to "show us your G-string" (answer), Betty White took off her vest and scarf and did a mock striptease, to the delight of the audience and the annoyance of Gene!
Finished the night at YouTube with shopping game shows. People have been shopping or bidding for items on game shows for a long time. Bid n' Buy is a short-lived Price Is Right imitation from 1958. Players began with $5,000 to bid on clues to a prize. If they could guess the clues, they got the prize. If not, they still got to keep any money they had left from the bidding. This one was kind of confusing, and I can understand why it didn't last longer than its summer replacement slot on CBS.
The Price Is Right itself, on the other hand, is still very much going strong today on CBS. This episode from 1977 has a lot going on. There's a big Showcase win, a buxom blonde in a dress barely containing her cleavage that Bob couldn't take his eyes off of, a rare sighting of the extremely short-lived Professor Price trivia game, and an even rarer sighting of a model in a fur coat (before animal-loving Bob Barker banned them).
Two shopping games from the 1980's exemplify the good and bad sides of shopping shows. Done right, they could be genuinely exciting ways to see people get a bargain, as in this 1986 episode of Sale of the Century. Bargain Hunters from a year later was far less interesting as people attempted to figure out the price of an item. It seemed far more interested in selling the item to home viewers than playing the game.
Supermarket Sweep went through many different mini-games during its runs on Lifetime and Pax TV, but this episode from 1993 is one of the most emblematic. For all the mini games, the hook - that "Big Sweep" where everyone is running around, gathering items - remains genuinely exciting, and it feels like a real win when they get the bonus clues!
Mall Masters from 2001 was filmed in America's largest mall, the Mall of America in Minnesota. There's echoes of Bargain Hunters here, as mall shoppers team up with contestants to help them answer questions about stores or other places in the mall. Slow-moving and not the most exciting, I can see why this cross between Bargain Hunters and Family Feud only lasted a few months.
Look for good deals on Cyber Monday with these unique ventures into shopping shows past!
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