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First of all, don't let the title fool you. " A Sesame Street Christmas Carol " really doesn't have a whole lot to do with Charles Dickens. Copyright 2006 Sony Wonder Oh, sure. This 2006 Sony Wonder release does borrow a few key concepts from that classic holiday tale. In that -- on...

"Tell the truth. You're getting kind of tired of writing about ' A Christmas Carol ,' aren't you?" No, this wasn't an e-mail that some disgruntled JHM reader sent me. But -- rather -- the ever-wise & patient Nancy (Who -- FYI -- has been formatting each & every one...

Are you a fan of William Shatner 's Emmy Award-winning work on ABC 's " Boston Legal "? If so, then you should be aware that one of the main reasons that William was cast as daffy Denny Crane was because " The Practice " creator David E. Kelley supposedly caught Shatner's...

You know, if things had just gone a little bit differently, all us Disney dweebs would have had something truly spectacular to celebrate this holiday season. You see, 2006 was supposed to be the year that Walt Disney Home Entertainment finally released " Song of the South " on DVD. This limited...

Some adaptations of "A Christmas Carol" are like a huge holiday meal. Rich, meaty, memorable. Really stick-to-your-ribs kind of shows. And then there are those holiday specials like " A Diva's Christmas Caro l." Which are the television equivalent of Chinese food. Don't get...

There seems to be a wide variety of opinion when it comes to the Patrick Stewart version of " A Christmas Carol ." Some Dickens fans find this 1999 TV movie to be rather cold and joyless, while still others admire this adaptation for the extremely naturalistic approach that Stewart takes toward...

Well, at least there's some truth-in-advertising to be found in this 1998 home premiere. For -- though " An All Dogs Christmas Carol " may not actually be an adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic tale -- this holiday special is definitely a dog. Copyright 1998 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Animation...

As I mentioned in this past Sunday's review of " Ebbie ," " A Christmas Carol " is a surprisingly resilient story. It can survive a change of location or time period. Even giving Ebenezer Scrooge a sex change operation doesn't necessarily undercut the emotional effectiveness...

On paper, this sounds like such a clever idea. Shifting the location of "A Christmas Carol" out to the Old West. I mean, what better place is there to tell a ghost story than around a campfire? And then the truly genius notion of hiring Academy Award-winner Jack Palance to play a westernized...

This really shouldn't have worked. I mean, " An American Christmas Carol " already proved that Charles Dickens' holiday tale was strong enough / flexible enough to survive having its location & time period changed. But to do all that AND then give Ebenezer Scrooge a sex change?...

How exactly do you tell a story that's inspired by "A Christmas Carol" on a television program that's set in a time period that predates the birth of Christ? That was the challenge facing Chris Manheim , a writer for " Xena: Warrior Princess ." But to add to the fun of this...

Few would argue that "A Christmas Carol" is a story about redemption. But what happens when you try to retell Charles Dickens' timeless tale with characters that are utterly irredeemable? Well, you'd probably end up with something like that special Beavis & Butt-Head episode that...

There's nothing wrong with " A Flintstones Christmas Carol " that a sharp pair of scissors couldn't take care of. Copyright 1999 Turner Home Entertainment To explain: In its heart of hearts, this William Hanna, Joseph Barbera & Buzz Potamkin production really wants to be a faithful...

I got notes from a number of JHM readers yesterday who said that I was far too hard on " Alvin's Christmas Carol ." Though one in particular -- an e-mail from Trendy Trudy -- really stuck out. She said. What did you expect? This was an episode of an animated television series. You know...

Over the past few days, we've talked about some of the different forms that "A Christmas Carol" can take. There's the fairly faithful adaptation (I.E. " The Muppet Christmas Carol "), the out-right parody (" Blackadder's Christmas Carol ") as well as that truly...

Just how good is The Muppet Christmas Carol "? Well, to be honest, that depends on whether or not you saw the version that ran in theaters back in 1992 OR the version of this Brian Henson film that now runs on television and/or is currently available for sale on DVD. "What's the difference...

There's really no polite way to say this. So I'm just going to say it: " A Jetson Christmas Carol " is lousy. I don't know how familiar you folks are with this animated sitcom, so let me give you a quick history of the show: " The Jetsons " was produced by Hanna-Barbera with the hopes that this program...

When you've seen as many versions of "A Christmas Carol" as I have recently, you begin to notice that there's this pattern to the way a lot of actors portray Ebenezer Scrooge. That they tend to employ the same sorts of acting tricks in order to keep their performances entertaining & emotionally effective...

In ballet circles, " The Nutcracker " is now considered a lucrative cliché. Meaning that it's a show that most companies HAVE TO produce each year. Given that many people nowadays just don't consider it Christmas unless they're able to: Get dressed up. Go to the theater. Nod off while Clara & her...

First of all, I want to thank all of you JHM readers who have sent nice notes my way, saying how much you've been enjoying the site's new series. A fairly typical example of these e-mails comes from Katie G. Who wrote in to say: Dear Mr. Hill, I'm a longtime lurker at your website and ,up...