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ABC announced it was cancelling the new Mike Judge series “The Goode Family”.

“The Goode family struggles with modern social and environmental responsibilities being liberals, and the paradoxes that arise for a working-class family when trying to be politically correct all of the time about everything.” (Wikipedia)

I saw a few of the 13 episodes and thought they were funny and really promising. It was a good combination of thoughtful political humor and modern American life.

ABC originally ran it on Wednesdays for a few weeks in late May and early June. Then the NBA playoffs moved the show to Friday nights where it stayed. Of course the ratings were terrible! Putting on a new series, in the summer, on Fri. nights?

ABC also never posted full episodes online — none at the show’s site on ABC.com nor on hulu.

This is a perfect show for getting linked to on the blogosphere. Given ABC’s lackluster online presence compared to other networks (especially NBC), I’m not surprised. I’m also not surprised that a show mocking modern suburban liberal attitudes was cancelled by a bunch of modern suburban liberals.

Mike Judge is a comic genius. Hopefully this show finds a good home somewhere else. Comedy Central always seems to be trying new things. And Fox seems to like restarting cancelled shows when they have a shot — see Family Guy and Futurama

So, if you want to bring back the Goode Family, send ABC an email and sign up for notification on Amazon when the DVD is ready.

Or is it Happy Hanukkah!

Chanukah starts this evening at sundown. Anyone who loves religious freedom and freedom from government oppression can appreciate the story of Chanukah. The story of persistence, reverence and dedication still applies today, regardless of your status as Jew or Gentile. Make no mistake: people throughout history have used the power of government to oppress the free expression of religion and speech. The desires of the Jewish warriors in the 2nd century BC for the freedom to live, believe, and worship as they choose continues today. We salute you.

On a much less serious note, I’ve never seen all 3 Adam Sandler Chanukah / Hanukkah songs in one place online, so here they are:

Adam Sandler’s original Chanukah (Hanukkah) Song:

Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song Part 2

Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song Part 3

Bonus Material … Bonus Material … Bonus Material

Did you know Adam Sandler is a Republican? Apparently that’s news to me. I don’t remember his performance at the 2004 RNC and I didn’t realize he gave money to Rudy in 2008 (although I think he would have been better off giving it to Bernie Madoff for that return on investment…)

Newsmeat.com has a long and interesting list of political donations from celebrities and others. You can also search for individual donors, candidates, and types of donors.

Saxby wins!

Norm is still ahead!

We got 6 inches of snow yesterday!

The newly installed tire chains on the 24 HP lawn tractor with the snow blade are awesome (and the key to victory).

We’re expecting 6 more inches of snow overnight and tomorrow. ( I like the cold and snow — I’m 100% Norwegian-American, so that may explain some of it. )

I’ve even noticed an uptick in people, businesses, and TV shows saying “Merry Christmas”, instead of those other dreaded generic “non-offensive” phrases (although what if I’m offended when people don’t say what they mean and mean what they say?).

I join Adam in his cause — you will only hear and see “Merry Christmas” from me.

Beyond that, it is also my mission now to be as joyous as possible. To remember the birth of our Lord and Savior. To have fun. To be informed of the news of the day, but to keep it in historical and spiritual perspective.

For a good distraction we have lots of Christmas Specials to watch — Mahalo and the Christmas Specials Wiki are nice reference guides.

Now who couldn’t smile when they watch this?

Monty Python now has its own youtube channel.

As an IT worker bee for many years, I’ve been in too many situations with managers and customers that really boiled down to making them feel better by showing them a “Machine that goes BING”.

Fortunately, none of them were ever Monty Python fans:

In a previous post I highlighted the Christmas TV specials list on wikia:

http://christmas-specials.wikia.com/wiki/Christmas_Specials

This is a really good list for the traditional, mostly animated, Christmas specials.

But there are lot more Christmas and other holiday specials on TV and online.

I’ve come across a nice list from Mahalo in a slightly different format. It includes non-traditional Christmas specials on stations like HGTV as well as YouTube videos.

http://www.mahalo.com/Christmas_Special_Schedule

Interestingly, Food Network shows are not included in the Mahalo list. But you can find them included on tv.com, edibletv.net, and DuckyDoesTV.

Plus, none of these include my favorite “Christmas” episode: Seinfeld’s Festivus. Fortunately, I just happened to catch it last night on TBS — it was a Festivus miracle!

According to tbs.com, you can catch it again on 7 p.m. EST, Sat. Dec. 22. And if they move it for some reason, it’s good to remember the episode is actually called “The Strike”. It originally aired December 18, 1997 (Season 9, episode 10; episode 166 overall). TBS has a couple more useful features: you can get an email reminder and send out Festivus ecards.

You can also see the list of upcoming Seinfeld episodes on TBS.

Wow. I knew there were a lot of Christmas and other holiday specials. It’s too bad there isn’t a master list somewhere. None of these look complete. It would be nice if someone could update wikia with these additions.

The Christmas Specials wiki:

http://christmas-specials.wikia.com/wiki/Christmas_Specials