Friday, November 24, 2023
Its the day after Thanksgiving in the US, so it's time for me to post my annual list of Christmas shows available on YouTube (& other places) for those of us who do not have cable but do have internet.
One of my favourites, a Muppet family Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi9qSKZuvC4
Christmas Eve on Sesame street: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF4XRQwzls8&t=4s
I still have this on VHS, copied to my computer. I remember watching Santa & the 3 bears with my kids more than 30 years ago!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLXyceT_j7M
Christopher the Christmas tree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s51ne_Pis-I
The pink panther in "a very pink Christmas" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDrAKCf6_Sg
The Snowman (with David Bowie intro!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGmOiccZFJM
The snowman & the snow dog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypY03WjDsOA
An awesome Christmas show, with music by Valdy: BlueToes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKHp1g4qXSQ
The bears who saved Christmas (originally known as Christopher & Holly):
the Berenstain Bear's Christmas tree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rGpKNRrQ14
the Smurf's Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDYXVPVvcFY&t=17s
Mole's Christmas is adapted from the TV show Wind in the Willows:
Father Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc-FI2zGsAs
Frosty the snowman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6p6LRtQ2WY&t=30s
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVxyW4MjnzU
A Garfield Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbL-uxd4ZVw
The Christmas Dinosaur: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxydrJeB4Mk
Thomas saves Santa's sleigh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkV4L6yfd_g
Olive the other reindeer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s54sLlRNmHc&t=9s
Santa Claus is coming to town (1969): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEUeJcAI4uM
And while this isn't exactly holiday themed, I still think it fits here as being somewhat winter-y. Do you remember watching the Woody Woodpecker show & there was cute 5 minute short in between Woody's episodes, called "Chilly Willy", a little penguin? Well, you can check them out again, here: https://www.chillywillyfan.com/video.php
I have found that some companies make some pretty amazing holiday commercials, so I decided to post some of these as well. John Lewis has a number of delightful ones, starting here in 2013, the bear & the hare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCmvz8rDYVU
And Ellie Gould signing Elton John's classic "Your song": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0zZScVSMEw
And their 2015 ad, with one of my favourite songs!! https://www.youtube.com/watchv=DShEAPKV0EU
I searched all over YouTube, no Charlie Brown Christmas specials this year. But, I heard somewhere that they will be coming back to TV this year, on Apple TV+ For a limited time during the holiday season, Apple TV+ will make three of the iconic “Peanuts” specials free to watch. “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” (Oct. 21-22) “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” (Nov. 18-19) & “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (Dec. 16-17) available for free to everyone. During that time, anyone wanting to watch these shows can download the Apple TV+ app on their smartphone or smart TV device. Once on the Apple TV+ streaming platform, viewers can watch their favorite “Peanuts” holiday special as often as they’d like during the free-weekend event.
It just occurred to me that I should also post here, how to watch TV without cable.
Speaking of saving money, have you ever considered giving up cable? I did & it ain't that bad. If you are in Canada, CBC, CTV, Global & CITV all have shows online that you can watch for free the day after they come out on TV. Links are here:
https://www.globaltv.com/shows/
https://www.ctv.ca/shows/all-shows#/
CTV also has a list of older shows available free online, as well as movies:
For CBC, go here: https://gem.cbc.ca/ & create a login account. They will of course, try to sell you a premium membership, you can just ignore it. You'll need to do some digging after that, but they have some interesting shows, including Coroner & Endlings.
In the US, CBS, & NBC also do this. ABC has something similar, but you have to wait a week after the broadcast date. Fox gives you a free hour, I think. Netflix is still under $10 a month I think, & in the US, Hulu is $7.99 a month & it also has a free trial & optional add-ons for HBO, Showtime & Cinemax (at an extra cost, of course). You can also watch Crackle free online, but it is no longer available in Canada, sorry.
Slice TV is available online for free: https://www.slice.ca/video/
Another interesting free site, lots of nature shows & documentaries: www.waterbear.com
A really wonderful free streaming site, is PlutoTV: https://pluto.tv/
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