M*A*S*H featured earlier on this list with the profile of Alan Alda's Hawkeye Pierce. And while Pierce may be my favorite, he's not the...

It doesn't get any better than an avatar of giving and love, a jolly old soul who cherishes children and encourages goodness. Hey, maybe...

In December of 2003, Sarah and I had been dating for about a year. She was midway through a six-month volunteer stint in New Zealand, and...

We all know that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is the most savage and hellish of the classic holiday specials, depicting a Hobbesian...

I do enjoy a good supervillain, and The Grinch has to come in among the first rank for Christmas antagonists. He's cunning, twisted,...

I've worn a lot of different hats during my four decades, but one of the more unusual among them was my stint as Executive Director of...

Among the modern Christmas classics, it's hard not to include Elf in the first rank. It's engagingly and unapologetically silly, and...

I get it. There are people who despise Love Actually. There are those who find it treacly or shallow or trite. There are those who take...

Of all the classic Rankin-Bass stop-motion holiday specials, my undisputed favorite is 1970's Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. I'm a sucker...

Yeah, he sucks his thumb. Yeah, he carries around a security blanket and lets his big sister push him around. His head is lumpy and his...

I'm cheating a bit here: this entry is really about two characters, though a single archetype. First, I love Ebenezer Scrooge. I love...

I think we've all got a bit of George Bailey in us. Life rarely pans out the way we thought it might when we were young. We plan to lasso...