Spent the rest of the morning finishing up the wrapping. This time, I did get everything done, including Jessa's and all of Lauren's. That ends my gift shopping. Anyone else who turns up unexpectedly will get cookies or a gift card. I'll get the gift cards tomorrow or Wednesday.
Watched My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever on Tubi as I worked. Hoping to lighten their workload, the Mane Six do what they call a "Hearth's Warming Helper" (or a Secret Santa to us humans) and choose one pony to give a gift. Spike desperately changes recipients with Fluttershy in order to impress Rarity, then can't figure out what to give her. Fluttershy falls for a cheap toy being sold by resident con-ponies Flim and Flam as the "must have gift for Hearth's Warming." Applejack helps her get back at them, but they spend all their money doing so. Discord pesters Rainbow Dash into catching a seemingly cute little critter for Fluttershy, not realizing it isn't so cute at night. Pinkie Pie is sent north to get her gift from a trio of flying reindeer who claim she'll understand what it is later. Twilight desperately tries to make Pinkie a certain magical pudding, but her little niece Flurry Heart adds a few too many ingredients, and it floods everywhere. In the end, after they figure out how to fix the pudding and Fluttershy tames the critter, they realize that the real "Best Gift Ever" is their friendship, not something that came from a store.
Had a quick lunch while watching The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas, which is also on Tubi. Most bears hibernate through the cold months, December included. Ted E. Bear, however, is a curious little fellow, and he's most interested in Christmas. He's heard stories about it and wants to see all the colors and lights, but can't seem to stay awake long enough to see it. His girlfriend leaves him over it; he loses his job when he talks about it to the press. He finally stumbles to the big city, where he learns that Christmas isn't just a time of year. It's a feeling...and one that's best spent with someone you love.
Called Uber after I finished eating. It was way too cold to even consider the bike today. It barely got into the 30's! To my shock, the driver arrived in less than a minute. I was at the school in less than five.
Things did not begin well today. The Collingswood elementary schools are on half-days this week, thanks to parent-teacher conferences. The kids were all rowdy and full of energy, and not being able to take them outside due to the cold didn't help matters. Even the big kids stayed in today. They were especially crazy in the bathrooms, bouncing off the walls, running around in the bathrooms, and refusing to listen to anyone, including me. I tried to read to them after lunch, but they would sit down. The head manager kept having to move them further and further back into the music offices/storage area.
They weren't all that happy when the head manager told them they had to stay at their assigned tables and play with what was there, either. They're used to being able to go to whatever table interests them. That said, I did have some nice conversations with some of the children at my table, including a little girl dressed as Alice In Wonderland who looked like something out of Tenniel. The kids at my table played with magnetic tiles. I made geometric shapes and a "skirt" with the young lady until she was allowed to join the coloring table. I then chatted with the remaining boys until enough kids went home to move them and the tiles to the front of the cafeteria. By 4:30, it was down to three younger kids and eight older ones, and it had calmed down enough for me to go home.
Instead of calling Uber right away, I walked the brief five minutes a couple of blocks down to Speedy Mart on Collings Avenue. Picked up four bagels for lunch this week and a Propel water for later. Once again, the Uber driver arrived quickly - six minutes at the height of rush hour - and other than some traffic on Collings, got me home even faster.
I took the recycling outside, then put the laundry in the washer and watched The Price Is Right. The wheel was hot this evening! A handsome young Air Force pilot and a pretty lady both hit $1,000, and he got $10,000. He did make the Showcases, but way underbid on a donut-themed Showcase with a trio of trips to Solvang, California, Mexico, and Germany. The other lady ended up winning.
Let it continue into Match Game '73 during dinner. They jumped way, way back tonight, likely to honor Bob Barker, whose birthday would have been this week. Barker made his first appearance on the show during its second week, along with Arlene Francis, Della Reece, Michael Lerned, and Richard Thomas. Thomas and Lerned would be the only actors from The Waltons to appear on any version of Match Game. Learned seemed to have a great time, but Thomas looked like a deer caught in the headlights and didn't really seem to get the humor.
Worked on The WENN Nutcracker Suite next after I put the laundry in the dryer. Mr. Eldridge continues to tell the story of how Queen Mouserinks took her revenge on King Alexander and Queen Lana of Toyland when they trapped all of her sons but one, the equally greedy and mean Prince Rollie. When their daughter Princess Pirlipat refused to marry Prince Rollie, his mother cursed her into an ugly monster who could only be cured by the meat of a certain very hard nut. Scott gallantly cracked the nut for her, restoring her beauty. The furious Mouse Queen bit him and cursed him into the form of a Nutcracker...but not only did he crush her falling over onto her, Prince Rollie stole his Christmas Star Sword, a family heirloom that could help restore him. Pirlipat refused to marry a Nutcracker and banished him and Mr. Eldridge forever.
Finished the night after I brought the laundry upstairs with game shows featuring host Bob Goen. Goen came in late to game shows, having gotten his start as a California-area correspondent for ESPN in the early 80's. He started out on game shows with Perfect Match, a Newlywed Game clone, in 1986. Basically the same deal, only the contestants get to bet on what their spouse will actually say, and there's more fill-in-the-blank games. Though the spicier stories could be funny, it mostly came off like the cheap syndicated imitation it was. It was gone in eight months.
In fact, Goen is another host who never seemed to catch a break. He always ended up hosting flops like Blackout or summer replacement shows like The Hollywood Game. Blackout from 1988 was the more creative of the two. In fact, I have fond memories of watching this one. Two contestants joined two celebrities to solve pun-filled puzzles. One would record the description of a word. The other would push a plunger and "black out" parts of the recording, making it harder to figure out what was being said. I enjoyed it as a kid and was disappointed when it only lasted four months.
The Home Shopping Game from 1987 was much worse. This syndicated show had people playing a word game somewhat similar to Wheel of Fortune for prizes that a contestant from home could call in and win, too. Goen is charming, but the game is dull, and the home shopping aspects are more confusing than exciting.
The Hollywood Game fared only slightly better. This summer replacement show from 1992 was basically "Jeopardy with movie trivia." Contestants even bet on how well they could answer a question. It wasn't unique enough to stand out at a time when game shows were falling out of favor and didn't even last a month.
Today, Goen is best-remembered as the host of the daytime Wheel of Fortune from 1989 through its demise in 1991. It was the closest he came to helming a hit. Alas, there seems to be no footage of his tenure online at all, other than a few ads and one badly-recorded tape of a tape recording.
He didn't have nearly as much luck with Born Lucky from 1993. This was part of Lifetime's attempt to create a shopping-game block with Supermarket Sweep and Shop 'Til You Drop, and it was by far the least-successful of the three. Filmed in malls across the country, contestants had a chance to win "Mall Money" by playing various quiz games and silly stunts. Cute, but the mall setting couldn't disguise that it was basically a less-gross Double Dare with shopping components.
That's the Question would seem to have more going for it. This 2006 GSN adaptation of a Dutch show had contestants answering questions that filled in letters on a phrase. The answer to the question was already shown. The letters would fill in the question, until one contestant could guess what the question was. Fast-paced and actually kind of fun. I wish this one had lasted longer than a couple of months. (And although Goen continues to host live game shows and hosted Miss Universe and Miss USA for several years in the mid-2000's, That's the Question is his last TV game show gig to date.)
Learn movie trivia, try to figure out what the celebrity is saying, and hope you're born lucky with this disc jockey and sportscaster turned game show charmer!
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