Summary of 2011: the Good, the Bad and the Mostly Mediocre

This year, for Mainlining Christmas, we watched 77 things, by my list: 6 Shorts, 21 Movies, 27 Episodes and 23 Specials

That includes eight Christmas Carols (versions of or episodes inspired by) and five Nutcrackers.

We also branched out a bit, with quite a few music and book reviews.

By this time last year, I was experiencing extreme time dilation. I had been convinced the next day was Christmas for about three weeks. This year I'm feeling a bit of the reverse. I feel like we have weeks still to go. This sense might have been exacerbated by the fairly high temperatures we've been having here in NYC.

Best and Worst lists are a bit tricky this year; my response to the vast majority of what we watched this year was "meh". Even the things that were great would have a difficult time going up against the best of last year, when we watched our very favorite specials and movies. Hell, things that I loved this year have a hard time beating out some great stuff I couldn't fit on my top ten list last year. Even the worst of this year... not much of it is as terribly bad as the worst of last year.

Check out my best and worst lists from last year here.

So I don't feel like I can put together just a best-of-this-year, but I can throw a few extra categories at you.

Things which I would gnaw off my own arm rather than sit through again:
Ernest Saves Christmas
Home Alone 2 (I actually left during this one, I admit)
Glee: A Very Glee Christmas
A Christmas Carol (2009 CG)
Looney Tunes: Bah Humduck!


Things which I would never ever willingly watch again, but at least were amusing to make fun of:
The Happy Elf
Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey
The Little Drummer Boy
The Polar Express
The 12 Dogs of Christmas


Stuff that wasn't necessarily great, but it was weird, and I'm really glad I watched it:
Amahl and the Night Visitors
The Stingiest Man in Town
The Lemon Drop Kid
The Twilight Zone: The Night of the Meek


And finally, things which deserve to be somewhere on the extended version of my Best List. (Somewhere in 11-25?) These are things that I would be happy to add to a list of things to watch every year. In no particular order:

Arthur Christmas
Rare Exports
Community Christmas Episodes
Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Blue Carbuncle
Terry Pratchett's Hogfather

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