Have A Merry Whedon Christmas

Christmas is less than two weeks away, but the average TV viewer will bump into at least one holiday special a day, whether it be Rudolph, Scrooge, George Bailey or the Grinch.

The odds get even better thanks to cable TV offering literally hundreds of Christmas movies, mainly thanks to the Hallmark Channel and Lifetime. Their holiday libraries are so big they usually start just after Halloween, and wrap up on New Year's Eve. Through all those movies, it's likely that several members of the Whedonverse may appear.
In fact, there's several movies where we see our favorite actors...

Dear Santa:  Lifetime premiered this movie three years ago. Amy Acker plays a party girl named Crystal, whose parents demand she straighter herself out by Christmas or they'll cut off her credit cards. She gets an idea from a letter to Santa from a seven year old girl, who wants her widowed dad named Derek to get a new wife. He also runs a soup kitchen. Crystal volunteers there, but also has to battle Derek's jealous girlfriend. Acker is really cute in this movie, quite different from her roles on Angel and Person of Interest.

Holiday Wishes:  Also a Lifetime movie, I thought this had one holiday trope too many, but it's still OK. Amber Benson plays woman looks for her missing sister, and gets support from her boyfriend who may not be who he seems (hint: think angel). Then there's a rich girl and an orphan who switches bodies thanks to a magical ornament. With those three typical holiday plots, it's a bit crowded, but the helpful boyfriend does play a part is resolving things before his true identity is revealed.

Call Me Mrs. Miracle:  This was a sequel to a Hallmark Channel movie with Doris Roberts as the angelic helper who gets a job at a department store although no one remembers hiring here. Jewel Staite plays an assistant to a fashion designer, and she'd like to get her nephew a popular toy. Mrs. M comes up with a better idea that helps her and her store, and gives off a Jennifer Aniston vibe. Despite beng well-known to Firefly and Stargate Atlantis fans, it would be great to see her in a rom-com or two. I reviewed it in my other blog.

A Golden Christmas:  This is from Ion Television. Nicholas Brendon is in this story about a lawyer who's upset her family home has been bought by Brendon's character. The story makes her look like a Scrooge when she tries to get the stop the sale, but a dog plays a big part in changing her attitude. It also turns out they knew each other as kids, but she doesn't remember.

Help for the Holidays:  Another cute holiday movie from Hallmark, with Summer Glau as an elf who helps out at a Christmas store. It seems the owners put too much time in their store and not enough on their kids. She also has a purse that is a smaller version than the one Mary Poppins has. She also starts falling for a guy, which threatens her mission. Glau is a great elf, but I said in my review the story had a ton of missed opportunities.

A Christmas Wish:  The original Buffy, Kristy Swanson, is a woman with three kids whose husband leaves her and leaves her penniless. She gets a job waitressing at a diner that may also close down. However, thanks to finding a root beer recipe, thinks will be looking up for them. Swanson is in a new holiday movie on Ion called Merry X-mas, where she plays a woman who's about to divorce her two-timing husband thanks to some misleading photos. He can't get her to hear his side, but he hopes a blizzard could help.

Road To Christmas:  we can't leave out our favorite SHIELD agent, Clark Gregg, from the list. A Lifetime offering from 2006, it's about a fashion photographer who's on her way to a dream wedding, but is held up by bad weather. Gregg is an artist turned teacher with a teenage daughter. He takes in the photographer, and if you suspect she falls for the teacher, then you know your Christmas plots. Seems inevitable, since the photographer is played by Gregg's wife, Jennifer Grey

Snow Bride:  Tom Lenk plays a small role in this Hallmark movie>He's a reporter for a website hoping to get some dirt on a political family about to announce an engagement. A female rival tries to infiltrate the family, and does thanks to an accident. Thing is, this big-shot political family is more down-to-earth than the reporter thought. It doesn't stop the editor of the website from planning to use some info Lenk uncovers, whether it's true or not. Lenk's also sporting a mustache in this movie.

If you click the DVD covers, you will find out when they will air through Christmas. If not, you'll get a link to where you can buy the DVD.

Xander is coming to Sacramento

Nick Brendon, “Xander” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is among the guests at the 2011 Sacramento Sci-Fi Horror Show on Saturday, September 24th at the Scottish Rite Center at 6151 H Street in Sacramento. He’ll be talking to fans and signing autographs as well. Other guests will include Marina Sirtis from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Tickets are 10 dollars, and more information is available at http://www.sachorror.com/

From Slayer Slidekick to Hollywood's Top Christmas Elf: Nick Brendon in Santaland Diaires

(above picture from broadwayworld.com)

One man's memories of being a Christmas elf at Macy's in New York has turned into a live theater staple that rivals "A Christmas Carol". It's called "The Santaland Diaries", and it's being perormed by regional companies all around the country.
However, to the averge Buffy fan, there's only one version this year: the Blank Theater in Hollywood, where Nicholas Brendon is bringing Christmas cheer as Crumpet.

This version has attracted a lot of attention in Southern California when it was first announced last month. The play is based on an essay by writer and humourist David Sedaris. He talks about how he got the job as a Christmas elf at Macy's,and gives his observations about the costume, the kids, the parents and all the stress of Christmas in general. Brendon, who plays Xander on Buffy, was an inspired choice to play Crumpet. The play was certain to attract fans of both Buffy and Sedaris.
In fact, tickets sold so quickly, extra performances were added. Soon, it became the hottest tcket in town.



Thanks to an air fare sale by Southwest that made going to Los Angeles slightly more expensive that taking a bus to San Francisco, I decided to check out the play. When I came on December 10th, I noticed the stage was very small. There was room for 50 chairs, including a few on stage. This is as intimate as live theater gets.
The stage has very large Christmas presents arranged as if it could be part of "Santaland". What I noticed is that there were three garish fake trees on a shelf at the top of the stage, and some stockings hung on a wall....behind some chicken wire.

Brendon starts the play standing on the stage, explaining how his character, a 31 year old man, wound up applying for a job as an elf at Macy's. We learn the inside story about elf training, employee manuals, the different styles of being jolly, the different types of Santas, and the occasional mishaps and tantrums (and that's just from the parents).
He makes full use of the stage, and even interacts with a couple of the guests. The highlight is when we see Brendon put on the Crumpet costume for the first time. It is quite a hoot.

This play could have been done as a bigger venue, like maybe the Steve Allen Theater, and it could have sold more tickets. Still, using the Blank Theater's 2nd Stage, where only 50 people can be seated at a time, really makes the play work. It's as if we're sitting in a strange version of "Santaland". Instead of waiting for Santa, we're waiting to see Crumpet, who reveals what really happens "behind closed doors", the inside story the kids or their parents never learn about.

Aside from this, Brendon also appeared in a new Chistmas movie called "One Golden Christmas." It was on ION TV this past Sunday, and will be shown again before Christmas. He plays a single dad who's about to buy a home from a family whose daughter also wants to buy the house. What they don't know, but the viewer may figure out after 20 minutes, is that they spent a summer together in the woods when both were nine. They called themselves Han and Leia for some reason, which is why a stray dog pulls out all the stops to reunite them. The only thing I didn't like is how the female lead, Andrea Roth from "Rescue Me", was so selfish at first. We later find out she's still hurting from losing her husband, and feeling guilty she hasn't kept touch with her family. Of course, there is the happy ending that's typical of holiday movies usually seen on Lifetime or the Hallmark Channel. It was great to see Nick again, and it's something we should see more often.

But seeing him up close as an elf was also unforgettable. In fact, I'm sending him a Christmas card, care of the Blank Theater, of course. It's the least I can do.