HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIES

Hallmark Christmas Movies are a lot like re-runs of Mister Ed - incredibly schlocky but people watch them anyway. The plots are all basically the same. Boy/girl has girl/boy friend; said boy/girl friend is o.k. but is not "the one". Along comes "the one" - a cousin/brother/co-worker, etc. of the girl/boy friend and things happen, and voila! a Christmas romance with, of course, "the one".

Awwwwwwww. Pass the tissues.

Take a guess at how many Hallmark Christmas movies have been filmed?

According to IMDb - 174. Do you realize that that's slightly more than all the "Rocky" and "Rambo" films combined?

In perusing the list of Hallmark Christmas movies there are an extensive number that fall into the "A ________ for Christmas" genre. These include*:

A Boyfriend for Christmas
A Wish for Christmas
A Crown for Christmas
A Bride for Christmas
A Family for Christmas
A Grandpa for Christmas
A Song for Christmas

* This is an actual list.

Beyond these movie titles we should also take note of the characters in the Hallmark Christmas Movies. The men are handsome but never overly sexy (and they have good jobs) and the women are all pretty and generally blonde but not blonde enough to be hampered by blonde stereotypes (and they have good jobs).

The interesting part is "good jobs". I suppose that it creates greater audience appeal among viewers who also have good jobs...

...and can afford a $7.50 Hallmark Christmas card.

Readers, enjoy your holidays.

HUGHES RUDD

Both of my readers may have never heard of Hughes Rudd. Here is a brief bio from Wikipedia:

Hughes Day Rudd was a television journalist and CBS News correspondent. Rudd was known for his folksy style, gravelly voice, and unimposing sense of humor, often ending his newscasts with human interest stories that sometimes made him break into a chuckle on camera.

I always enjoyed his home spun wisdom and style of reporting the news. On occasion he would tell a joke, one of which I have never forgotten. The timing of the joke during mid-term elections seems appropriate.

The joke goes something like this:

A U.S. politician running for office takes some time to visit a Native American reservation in the Southwest U.S. He talks to the chief and asks permission to speak to the whole tribe. The chief agrees and assembles the tribe. The politician stands in front of the tribe and begins his election pitch:

"If elected I will insure that all Native Americans receive free college tuition."

The tribe responds with excited chants of "ooom-galla-galla, ooom-galla-galla".

Feeling emboldened by this reaction, the politician continues:

"If elected I will insure that all Native Americans will receive adequate
compensation for past broken treaties."

The tribe again responds with excited chants of "ooom-galla-galla, ooom-galla-galla".

Feeling that he has the tribe in the palm of his hand the politician now states:

"If elected all Native Americans will receive free health care."

The tribe, whipped up into a frenzy, responds with more excited chants of "ooom-galla-galla, ooom-galla-galla".

After the politician's speech to the tribe, the chief asked the politician to come and view the tribe's very successful cattle operation. Both he and the chief walked through a wide field where the chief showed the politician the many hundreds of cattle that the tribe used to sustain their existence. The politician was absolutely blown away by this and asked the chief many questions about the business end of the tribe's cattle enterprise.

The chief, noticing that the politician was not looking where he was walking, turned to him and said:

"Be careful - don't step in the ooom-galla-galla."

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(Please vote in the mid-term elections. That's no ooom-galla-galla.)

Readers, enjoy your day.