ABC's "25 Days of Christmas" Not So Festive

D.V.R.

I think you should take out any harry potter movies because what did
those movies have to do with the holiday seson. It would be fine to
have it on during halloween.
So my family as well as some other concerned family's would love if
you would not show any of the harry potter shows. There are plenty of
other christmas shows that you could play more then once.Instead we
have to turn on harry potter.What kind of things are we teaching the
younger generation.What we are teaching them is that witch craft is
good. What ever happened to teaching the children of our day about the
true story of christmas.
The way that ABC is going we are taking the true spirit away from the
season.

I am 36, hubby is 39, and we love the old Rankin/Bass Christmas
toons..and Charlie Brown too! So yes, they do appeal to more than just
the little omes. :-) All of us old folks grew up watching them every
Christmas after all. :-)

Give him some time, and pretty soon, no won't mean anything to him.
He has yet to go through his terrible twos and something that I have
learned, is that you can't make a screaming two year old listen. I'm
not saying that my kids get away with murder, but I have had to resort
to other things besides no, it is like talking to a wall. If this is
your first child, you'll learn soon enough. Maybe with what your
trying to teach him now, he will act better than my gang did when they
were little.

Don't worry, if he is ANYTHING like my husband and I were as kids,
"No!" will stop working. Soon! We were both hell-raisers as kids.
Its lucky we both survived! Our parents wanted to kill us! But, Man
it was FUN! We will use what ever works.

I think they are showing Mary Poppin's because it is a family type
movie. Harry Potter is also a movie that you can watch with the whole
family. Maybe by the 25 days of Christmas they meant to show both
Christmas and family movies because not everyone celebrates Christmas.

I do hate how tv shows are repeated over and over. However, just
because your child wants to sit up and watch cartoons is no sign you
should let them. You are the parent. ABC executives couldn't
possibly care less about whether your kids go to bed on time. They
could watch cartoons anytime of the day or night on the cartoon
network and you wouldn't let them do that, would you? I think the
deal with the Harry Potter movies is that they come out around
Christmas time. Rent some real Christmas movies from Blockbuster and
create your own 25 days of Christmas.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news...but doesnt the first Harry
Potter movie take place during X-mas? He receives his invisibility
cloak for X-mas!

I think you make some vlaid points. If they are not going to play
traditional Christmas favorites, maybe they should come up with
another name for the programming. And I agree... the timing of the
shows is kind of poopy when you have small kids.

How is the fact that YOU let your child stay up past her bedtime
"irresponsible" on ABC's behalf.

Just because something is on television, it doesn't mean she has to
watch.

Honestly, this letter is petty.

Maye HP isn't soley abut xmas...but every year they show the xmas
celebration...

I hate to say it...but I wish I had time to complain about something
so small...

They don't even show it every year on network TV. It's my favorite
Christmas animated program! Heat Miser! Cold Miser! Awesome stuff!

I have to say, I personally am loving the Harry Potter-a-thon
currently going on. That said, I can see that especially for those
who celebrate a more traditional Christmas this is not exactly in the
spirit of the season. I love my Harry Potter, but a Christmas Hero
the kid decidedly is not.

I also think you have a good point about the late night programming,
although as a so-called "grown-up" I must admit I am enjoying the heck
out of all the great old school holiday cartoons. But I can see it
would be tough to explain to the little ones that even though kids'
programming is on, it is still bedtime.

I like the way you make your points without being insulting or
demanding, and especially the fact that you point out what the network
is doing right. Nice letter, and I hope you have a Merry winter
holiday of your choice! :)

I haven't seen Mary Poppins since I was a child. Even though it isn't
Christmassy, I am hoping to catch it if it's still on. I do think it
brings you back to earlier years which gets you in that nostalgic mood
along with the other Christmas shows. I don't watch a lot of tv so I
have to try to pencil in some of these shows and try not to miss them.
I also see the wizard of oz will be coming on soon, not sure which
channel at the moment but usually that plays around Thanksgiving yet
it will be run soon too. A lot are being run at 9pm and later I
noticed. I remember when I was young they came on much earlier, so
thats something I did notice myself. Keeps the kids up on a school
night so I agree with that.

Given the viewing habits of a high school student who visits us
occasionally I suspect that cartoon specials may in fact appeal to
older audiences. And if they're old they may have a nostalgia factor
for adults as well. I see your point, but I'm not sure that ABC
Family is responsible for figuring out what everybody's bedtime is (in
each time zone -- I suspect Chicago six-year-olds are routinely up for
later programming than are New York six-year-olds) and stopping
programming aimed at people whose bedtimes are past.

And am I correct that you're talking about the basic cable channel and
not the broadcast channel? It's pretty normal for things to be
repeated on basic cable even as repeats become less and less common on
broadcast. I'd actually think that would be a blessing to you,
because at bedtime you can say, "We'll try to see it next time it's
on."

I guess my point is that I don't think ABC Family is making bad
choices here, given their desire to make as much money as possible,
and that despite the channel's name that doesn't necessarily mean
presenting the things that work best for families such as yours. Or
for that matter families who aren't celebrating Christmas (in either
the religious or secular versions) at all this year, but rather some
other holiday.

Of course, you're the sort of person they're marketing to, so I think
it will be valuable to them for you to give them your feedback, but
unless you can organize a significant chunk of the audience or get a
lot of media attention I don't think they're going to change things.

I hope that the two of you have a great time watching The Polar
Express. I haven't seen it so far, but I know it's a hit with a lot
of my neighbors.

I didn't know ABC forced you to watch it...