Countdown to Christmas: The Stockings Were Hung (The Shadow, 1939)

 Here's a holiday episode of The Shadow from 1939, and, yeah, it's been waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long since we checked in on radio's Dark Avenger.

Orson Welles stars in "The Stockings Were Hung". Disregard the fact that the thumbnail the YouTuber chose represents The Jack Benny Program.

Sports this 'n' that

 Is there a changing of the guard in the NFL?

Last season's Super Bowl teams, Kansas City & Philadelphia, are reeling.

The Chiefs' loss to Houston Sunday night ensures there'll be a new division champion in the AFC West, as Kansas City slips back below .500 at 6-7 with the loss on national television.

Philadelphia, the defending champions, have lost three straight, as the Los Angeles Chargers defeated them in overtime on Monday. Even though Dallas lost on Thursday, they're the only team with a realistic chance of catching the Eagles in the NFC East.

In the AFC East, Mike Vrabel has succeeded where former teammate Jerod Mayo failed last year, bringing the New England Patriots back into a position to win the division title.

Assuming Denver wins the West, everything old will be new again in the AFC. Cycles, you know?

"Narco", Edwin Diaz's theme, won't be blaring out of the loudspeakers at Citi Field anymore.

Diaz signed a 3 year deal with the World champion Los Angeles Dodgers earlier today at the winter meetings after an on-again, off-again run in New York. 

File photo courtesy Yahoo!.

This makes the signing of Devin Williams away from the crosstown Yankees last week even more daunting. Williams was even more erratic than Diaz last season, so the Mets will need bullpen insurance in case he gets off to a bad start as he did in the Bronx.

As for Diaz, Mets fans have turned on him on reddit already. The fickle ones always do. You'd think that after being a lights out closer during the post-season, Roki Sasaki would've been set as the Dodger closer next season, but team management still sees him as a starter. I don't need to watch MLB Network or ESPN to learn that. As more & more fans resent the Dodgers because of their ability to sign Japanese players (i.e. Sasaki, Shohei Ohtani), and the deep pockets of team management, it's easy to assume that the Dodgers could be in position to three-peat.

But, there's a caveat emptor with Diaz. He's blown his share of games during tenures in Seattle & New York. Devin Williams is not the answer for the Mets. He's just a band-aid 'til David Stearns can find someone else to complement Williams.

Moron TV: Almost Heaven (1978)

We've documented in the past how sitcoms with a religious or supernatural bent had short shelf-lives in the post-Bewitched era.

Around the time of Warren Beatty's "Heaven Can Wait", Paramount mounted a pilot, Almost Heaven, which postulated a crisis center in Heaven which mortals can only access through their subconscious. It was meant as a comeback vehicle for Eva Gabor (ex-Green Acres), co-starring with Robert Hays & Jay Leno. As hokey as it sounds.

Of course, Hays would rebound a few months later with Angie, and Paramount thought enough of him to cast him in "Airplane!". It would take a few more years before Leno would raise his profile with his stand-up act, and we know the rest of his story.

Rating: C.

The president needs a time out

 We've previously speculated that President Pampers watches television so he can have something to complain about. Rage watching is not good for anyone's health.

Unfortunately, Donnie Diapers doesn't listen to sound advice from anyone.

After Georgia's Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared on 60 Minutes Sunday to spill tea on her fellow Republicans, as the kids say today, President Pampers reiterated an earlier tirade against Greene, calling her "Marjorie Traitor Brown".

Photo courtesy MSN.com.

The Big Orange Onion can't handle criticism of any kind, even though it comes with the territory of his job. The problem is that he was never taught how to handle anything with dignity. His pitbull attitude is as phony as the rest of his facade. As more Republicans are making plans to leave office next year, Trump won't have the cushy safety net of the House of Representatives too much longer.

Of course, he had to whine about 60 Minutes, and lashed out yet again at CBS and new owner Paramount-Skydance, run by his friend, Larry Ellison.

This would explain why Ellison is mounting a hostile takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, to keep it away from Netflix. Ellison is figuring he has to get back in the good graces of President Pampers, so he'll do what he can. However, that figures to die stillborn.

It's not helping, either, that right wing gasbag Benny Johnson falsely claimed over the weekend that former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, who've produced documentaries for Netflix, have a vested interest in the streamer acquiring WBD. As usual with these charlatans, Johnson has no evidence to support his claims.

And this latest bit of news won't help Trump's mood, either, with news that embattled ambulance chaser Alina Habba has resigned her illegally obtained post as US Attorney for New Jersey, in favor of becoming a senior adviser to AG Pam Bondi. Imagine if Beavis & Butt-Head actually had sisters, or if Mike Judge's Texas Twits were originally meant to be girls. Yeah, there you go. One idiot advising another? In the words of 80's icon Gordon Shumway, "utter chaos". South Park would have a field day.

Finally, despite singer-actress Sabrina Carpenter asking the White House to delete a video using one of her songs to promote ICE, whomever is in charge of social media basically told her, bite me. Expect a lawsuit to follow, since Team Pampers refuses to pay royalties to any artist whose music they choose to use at any given time, and they likely owe a ton of money to artists like Carpenter, Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, and the estate of Isaac Hayes, to name a few.

And a lawsuit might actually force Team Pampers to finally face the music.

Countdown to Christmas: I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas (1953)

 Gayla Peevey was just 10 when she released "I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas", which landed her on The Ed Sullivan Show..........

72 years later, it still gets played every December.

Countdown to Christmas: Christmas 2025 (Insight, 1977)

 Science fiction? On Insight? Yep.

This week's Insight Sundays entry is a warped vision of what was then the future, as envisioned by writer John McGreevey in 1977. Producer John Meredyth Lucas is no stranger to science fiction, having written several episodes of Star Trek during its run (1966-9).

McGreevey's script is inspired by the works of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, and the movie, "Network", which came out a year earlier. Starring Elinor Donohue (ex-Father Knows Best, The Andy Griffith Show), Sam Groom (Another World, Police Surgeon), James Cromwell, Allan Lurie, & Sparky Marcus, in one of his first roles.

Insight Sundays returns after Christmas.

Countdown to Christmas: Christmas with Judy Garland & family (1963)

 Judy Garland invited viewers into her home in December 1963 for her Christmas show. Judy is joined by her three children, daughters Liza Minelli (17 at the time) & Lorna Luft, and son Joe Luft. Jack Jones & Mel Torme are among the guests.