Articles by Jeff Pfeiffer

Do you hear what I hear? It’s a few more Christmas music videos! Since you’ll no longer see them on MTV or VH1, allow me to play VJ for you. * Here’s Twisted Sister trying to recapture their video glory days. At least they didn’t bring back Mark Metcalf and put him in drag as the Neidermeyer-like lady who needs some rockin’ Christmas spirit: * Wham!’s “Last Christmas.” You might be surprised at just how many other groups have covered this tune:

If your only exposure to the experience of listening to dried fruit sing Christmas carols comes from the Simpsons episode where the family watches the “California Prunes” sing “O Pruney Night” (which happens to be “offensive to Christians and prunes”), then you may not be old enough to remember 1987’s A Claymation Christmas Celebration, which included a guest appearance from then-popular pitchmen … er, fruit … the California Raisins. The animated singing group was created for a series of commercials by the California Raisin Advisory Board to make sure their wrinkled crop was ingrained in consumer consciousness … and boy, […]

Time for another station break … we’ll be back after these words. An FYI, though — If you plan on giving the first item to someone this year, I would recommend remaining a very Secret Santa.

I have to admit, I’m a sucker for “ambient”-type programming — shows that feature relaxing scenes that you can have on in the background and look up at for a few minutes on occasion. The Puppy Bowl, for example, or some of those aquarium scenes you can watch on your computer. But the granddaddy of them all also happens to be my favorite — the Yule Log. The original idea came in 1966 from Fred M. Thrower, president and CEO of the WPIX television station in New York. It’s brilliantly simple: Video of a roaring fire is aired, with popular […]

We’re back! We now join the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special, already in progress. What? You didn’t know they celebrated Christmas in Eternia? Apparently so. It only makes sense, given that the Masters of the Universe series was almost solely created to promote action figures that kids likely would be asking Santa for. In one of the lamer A Christmas Carol parallels, even the evil Skeletor has a Scrooge-like revelation thanks to the magic of the holiday.

Sorry to interrupt Stocking Stuffers, but it’s time for a commercial break already. We’ll be back after this brief word from our sponsor that might help with your holiday shopping, especially for that “professional entertainer” in your life: