Call for Comments: Cheesy Christmas Movies: Part II

From Hannah: Two years ago, I somehow convinced everyone to let me do a show on cheesy Christmas movies. And by wanting to talk about “cheesy” holiday films, what I really meant was “let’s talk about all these really ‘bad’ (but also sometimes kind of really fun and good in their own way) romantic comedies…

Call for Comments: Do we really like holidays anyway?

From Mav: As I finished teaching one of my Friday only classes, one of my students wished me a “Have a Happy Thanksgiving… or whatever” on his way out the door. It struck me that he was not just trying to be nice; as he was finishing the statement he realized the relative futility of…

e88. Yes, Internet, There is a Santa Claus

Christmas time is nearly upon us and that means… well, actually it means a lot of things. Maybe to you Christmas is about family, or love, or religion, or presents. Maybe you don’t celebrate Christmas at all. But one thing is for sure this time of year… you can’t escape Santa Claus. He’s everywhere. Santa…

e87. Sentimentalism: Punching Them in the Feels

As we move toward the holiday season, there is one thing for certain that we will see: more and more cheesy Christmas movies. You know the type… they’re on Lifetime, Hallmark Channel, and Netflix. Romantic stories about someone giving something up but then discovering the true meaning of Christmas is family or love or something……

Call For Comments: Hey Virginia, is there still a Santa Claus?

(Repost! This is a repost of an earlier posted blog that was lost in a server crash and upgrade) From Mav: Back when we asked for suggestions for future episodes, one of the ones that came up (suggested by John Darowski) was to talk about Santa Claus in Popular Culture. As we get closer to the…

e36. Cheesey Christmas Movies

If you’re Hannah, Christmas means one thing… watching cheesy Christmas romantic movies. She’s not alone. Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, and now Netflix have carved out a niche for themselves producing dozens of new low budget Christmas movies every year. They’ve become insanely popular. But why? Mav and Hannah are joined by Hannah’s sister Mary and Mav’s…

Call For Comments: But Baby is it really cold outside? Is it really?

From Mav: It’s the winter holiday season… that means lots of thing for pop culture: It means Christmas movies (which we already have a Call For Comments up for). It means endless consumerism, it means FoxNew turning to discussions on the War On Christmas. It means pumpkin spice everything. And it means Christmas carols… lots…

Call for Comments: Watching/Streaming Cheesey Christmas Movies

From Hannah: Over the past few years Christmas has somehow become synonymous with cheesy Christmas movies from channels like Hallmark, Lifetime, and ABC Family (before it became Freeform). I’m not imagining things — Hallmark, for example, has increased its production of holiday movies to 37 and will add Hanukkah movies to its schedule next year.…