Seasons of Belief
Now that we’re safely past Epiphany, and just before the last (and only) vestige of winter likely to slip briefly over Illinois this season, I will present to you the best Christmas television program ever. There’s a long tradition of Christmas horror stories, of course. Most are a bit silly, or disappointing. Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas, for example, declines steadily after its beautiful processional opening.
I discovered yesterday, when I should have been dissertating, that “Seasons of Belief,” a 1986 episode from the excellent post-Twilight Zone series Tales from the Darkside, is on You Tube. Sadly it’s broken into two parts, right in the middle of a little song that you may have heard me muttering to myself around Christmastime, or singing with my brothers, if you happen to have been spying on my family.
So then, without further ado, here’s some seasonal sadism, staring He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named:
Part 1:
Part 2:
1986, eh? Any relation, dare we ask?
UPDATE:
You might remember E.G. Marshall, the actor who plays the old-timer in this program (who is referred to, somewhat oddly, as “Dad” by the little kids in the episode). Marshall had a long series of film and television credits to his name, including (my favorite) one as the President in Superman 2 (”Kneel before Zod!“). Mr. Marshall is no longer with us.
But who, you might ask, is the flim’s leading lady Ms. Margaret Klenck, who seems interesting here in a Shelly Long sort of way? Her acting resume, it turn out is not so long, her last appearance having been in 1991. After this she vanishes for a while reappearing after the “lost years” as a (real) Jungian analyst, who is one of the panelists in PBS’s 2004 series The Question of God, debating in terms that echo “Seasons of Belief” the existence of a certain other he-who-is-not-to-be-named. It’s not quite clear whether Klenck’s 11 page article from 2004 landed her PBS gig, or whether it was the theologically wicked parenting skills on display back in ‘86, but if I’d been the PBS producer, you can bet it would have been the latter.