December 9 - TV Land Merry-thon 2012

13 years ago, TV Land was a great channel on my cable dial and they launched a holiday themed weekend called the merry-thon. Shows from though out television history filled 48 hours and delighted viewers with rare and unique holiday themed episodes of some of my favorites and some shows I had never heard of.

In 2012, TV Land is sadly a shadow of its former self with just a handful of shows, some that have only been off the air for a few years rather than a host of classic TV from decades ago. That is well known and a decision that is what it is, but I tuned to this year's Merry-thon to see what might be there. Big difference in that it was just a few hours long and only featured episodes of shows from the past 20 years.

The Roseanne episodes were enjoyable, but the ongoing story arcs of the seasons were given much more time than the holiday stories. It's ok, but unlike some of the best holiday episodes of years past which stood alone and were aired year after year, these shows ask the viewer to be watching the reruns of the series currently to understand the issues at play or to remember the story lines being advanced here.

The Everybody loves Raymond and King of Queens episodes fared better in that those series were less reliant on heavy story arcs. I didn't make it all night until 6am with the other series, but they too were of the same era airing on TV Land today.

All this having been said, I think I will be creating my own Merry-thon in the next two weeks with some classic tv Yuletide episodes from Netflix and my own collection. The Beverly Hillbillies and Andy Griffith are at the top of the list.