12/17/07: “Christmas Carol II: The Sequel” (1985)Today’s posting is the last of the year, and our Christmas spirit remains pragmatic. People who need sensitive insight can try last year’s epic piece on
It’s A Wonderful Life. (You’ll also catch us recycling two whole paragraphs in another recent entry.) This time, we’re honoring a more sensible right-wing Christmas message.
“Christmas Carol II: The Sequel” was fortunate to air as part of
George Burns Comedy Week. The anthology series was already set to be cancelled when this episode ran in early December. In fact, the series’ final episode would air on Christmas Day. At least the show enjoyed some initial hype. The 89-year-old host would introduce each half-hour show, and there were big names behind the scenes. Steve Martin was an executive producer, and directed an episode—as did John Landis.
Anyway, this episode was the best of what was a typically great show. The set-up is simple: It’s been a year since Ebenezer Scrooge was confronted by Christmas spirits, and he’s a changed man. He’s happy to hand out his fortune to all sorts of needy people. He treats Bob Cratchit extremely well, and he’s adored by the local citizens.
In fact, the citizenry is having a great time ripping Scrooge off on a daily basis. Cratchit has turned into a real creep who hardly ever stops by the office. Tiny Tim has also grown up to be a royal pain. Between his evil employees and a town full of parasites with sob stories, Scrooge is quickly going broke.
Fortunately, Scrooge is once again visited by a Christmas spirit. The spirit is wondering what’s gone wrong. Nobody ever told Scrooge to start handing out his money to every lowlife in town. And when did they ever complain about Scrooge making a living? The former miser is shown the future of his newly altruistic ways. It’s a pauper’s grave with his name misspelled.
“Christmas Carol II: The Sequel” doesn’t end with a big gag where Scrooge returns to his old habits. Instead, Scrooge simply wises up. He tells Cratchit to stop goofing off, and anybody who comes begging for money should only be doing so as a last resort. Scrooge even throws a gold coin to a street urchin and sends the kid off for a Christmas goose. Not too big of a goose, though, and the urchin better bring back Scrooge’s change.
Make it your own: You won’t be watching this one for the holidays. The episode and the series are both forgotten. We even had to settle for using that generic George Burns graphic. We’re still pretty sure we did a fine job of remembering the episode. There’s a great cast, too, with James Whitmore as Scrooge and Roddy McDowall as Cratchit. You can find a complete bootleg set of
George Burns Comedy Week, but our own copy isn’t arriving until January. Maybe we’ll put up an entire transcript next year. It should read like a radio play.
