Christmas Through the Decades

Take a trip back in time to see what Christmas and the holiday season were like in America not too long ago as we reveal how many of today’s popular holiday celebrations and traditions had their start in the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s. With experts and cultural icons offering their own insight and personal memories, we reveal how your favorite holiday films, fads, television specials, songs and toys are still part of your holiday celebrations today.

The Midnight Special

The Midnight Special is an American late-night musical variety series that aired on NBC during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Burt Sugarman. It premiered as a special on August 19, 1972, then began its run as a regular series on February 2, 1973; its last episode was on May 1, 1981. The ninety-minute program followed the Friday night edition of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. The show typically featured guest hosts, except for a period from July 1975 through March 1976 when singer Helen Reddy served as the regular host. Wolfman Jack served as the announcer and frequent guest host. The series also occasionally aired vintage footage of older acts. As the program neared the end of its run in the early 1980s, it began to frequently use lip-synched performances rather than live. The program also featured occasional comedic performances such as Richard Pryor and Andy Kaufman.

CD:UK

CD:UK was a British music television programme. Originally run in conjunction with SMTV Live, the programme first aired on ITV on 29 August 1998 to rival the BBC's Live & Kicking and was the replacement for The Chart Show, which had been airing on the network for nine and a half years. In contrast to its predecessor, which only showed promo videos, CD:UK was broadcast live on Saturday mornings with a studio audience and featured live performances, as well as star interviews and competitions. It also featured the Saturday Chart, which although was unofficial, usually reflected the new chart positions a day before the official chart was announced on Radio 1. This made the BBC's long-running Top of the Pops, which aired only the night before, seem very out-of-date broadcasting the previous week's chart. CD:UK later utilised an interactive chart based on viewers' votes, called the MiTracks Countdown. From 1999 to 2004, the show was sponsored by Tizer. In 2002, the programmes was criticised for showing "raunchy" performances in a slot aimed at children, sparked by a performance of "Dirrty" by Christina Aguilera. In response, a spin-off programme entitled CD:UK Hotshots, featuring music videos which could be considered unsuitable for daytime viewing, was launched in January 2003 and broadcast overnight.

Top of the Pops Reloaded

Top of the Pops: Reloaded is a weekly children's music show broadcast as part of the Saturday morning CBBC schedule on BBC Two. It was based on the show, Top Of The Pops, following on from its predecessor Top of the Pops Saturday. It was shown on BBC Two at 11am on Saturdays and repeated at 6pm on the CBBC Channel on Sunday. Presenters included Fearne Cotton, Sam Nixon and Mark Rhodes. The show also regularly featured Radio 1 DJs JK & Joel. From episode twelve onwards, a new feature was introduced where digital viewers could press their red button to access a different choice of music. Richard Oliff was the first ever 'Dad-Dancer' to be featured on the show, performing to Mylo's Doctor Pressure.

The Sixties

The space race, the cold war, "free love," civil rights and more: The decade of the 1960s shaped our history -- and changed the world. In collaboration with Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog, CNN explores perhaps the most transformative decade of the modern era in a 10-part documentary series and brings new insights into how those events shaped today.

I Love the 2000s

Listen up, people! This ain't no Ponzi scheme - it's the real deal! VH1 is back to celebrate the decade that kicked off the 21st century with I Love the 2000s. As entertaining as "Jersey Shore", as sexy as Paris Hilton through night vision goggles and almost as long as all the Harry Potter movies combined, VH1's: I Love the 2000s is more fun than a game of Grand Theft Auto. VH1 is bringing back its wildly popular and hilarious I Love the 80s style for the I Love the 2000s series because, well, we can! Viewers will get a major dose of the essential music, movies, TV shows, products, fashions, fads, trends, scandals and major events that defined pop culture in the '00s. From Angry Birds to Snakes on a Plane, "Poker Face" to Facebook, from hipsters to Twihards, we will revisit it all from the inspirational to the preposterous and everything else in between.

Home Time

Gaynor Jacks, aged 29, returns to her mum and dad's house in Coventry after running off to find her place in the big wide world when she was 17-years-old.

Je t'attendais

I Love the '90s

I Love the '90s is a television mini-series produced by VH1 in which various music and TV personalities talk about the 1990s culture and all it had to offer. The show premiered July 12, 2004 with the episode "I Love 1990" and aired two episodes daily until July 16, 2004, when it ended with "I Love 1999". On January 17, 2005, a sequel was aired in the same fashion.

I Love the 80s

I Love the '80s is a decade nostalgia television program that was produced by VH1, based on the BBC series of the same name. The first episode, "I Love 1980", premiered on December 16, 2002.

The Chart Show

The Chart Show is a music video programme which ran in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 between 1986 and 1988, then on ITV between 1989 and 1998. The production company was Video Visuals, and was credited as "A Yorkshire Television Presentation" from 1993 and 1998. The show has lived on through a Channel 4 revival in 2003 and a more recent revival on the digital music channel Chart Show TV, which ran sporadically from 2008 and 2009.

Yo! MTV Raps

Yo! MTV Raps is a two-hour American television music video program, which ran from August 1988 to August 1995 through its original Yo! MTV Raps name and later by Yo!. The program was the first hip hop music show on the network, based on the original MTV Europe show, aired one year earlier. Yo! MTV Raps produced a lively mix of rap videos, interviews with rap stars, live in studio performances and comedy. The show also yielded a brazilian version called Yo! MTV and broadcast by MTV Brasil from 1990 to 2005.

In a Good Way

In the summer of 1995, childhood friends Zheng Ren Wei and Lin Jia En took their college entrance exam. Zheng got into a college in Taipei and was ready to start an exciting life in the big city. Lin, unfortunately, failed the test and was stuck in the countryside. Bored out of her mind, Lin decided to go find Zheng and spend her 4th year of high school in Taipei as well.

The Eighties

The third installment from executive producers Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog, following in the footsteps of critically-acclaimed series THE SIXTIES and THE SEVENTIES, tackles 10 years shaped by exceptionalism and excess. Like its predecessors, THE EIGHTIES intersperses rare archival newsreel footage, interviews, and comments by historians, journalists, politicians, celebrities and others, painting a perspective-rich picture of a vibrant decade. Episodes examine the age of Reagan, the AIDS crisis, the end of the Cold War, Wall Street corruption, the evolving TV and music scene, and everything in between.

Stranger Things

When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one strange little girl.

B4

B4 was an early morning music video programme broadcast since 2004 on weekdays on Channel 4 at 7am. It was normally broadcast as part of Channel 4's breakfast programming following children's programme The Hoobs and preceding a number of comedy programmes normally imported from America. Produced by the firm behind ITVs The Chart Show, and spin off from their B4 music channel on cable and satellite, the show features around 7 new upfront videos each day that will be released in the United Kingdom in the near future, normally within the next month.

Red Oaks

A coming-of-age comedy set in the "go-go" 80s that is equal parts hijinks and heartfelt about a college student enjoying a last hurrah before summer comes to an end--and the future begins. David Myers, an assistant tennis pro at the Red Oaks Country Club in suburban New Jersey in 1985, is both reeling from his father's heart attack and conflicted about what major to declare in the fall. While there, he meets a colorful cast of misfit co-workers and wealthy club members including an alluring art student named Skye and her corporate raider father Getty.

Making the Video

Making the Video is an MTV show, consisting of half-hour episodes, which chronicles the process of filming various music videos. Usually the director outlines the concept of the video and the show often includes light-hearted and humorous moments. It always concludes with a premiere of the finished video. The show premiered on July 11, 1999 and is currently on a hiatus as of 2009. MTV2 has a similar show entitled [Name of Band/Artist] Makes a Video that has featured artists such as 50 Cent, Fall Out Boy, Dashboard Confessional, Evanescence, and Mos Def among others.

I Love the '90s: Part Deux

I Love the '90s: Part Deux is a miniseries on VH1 in which various music and TV personalities reminisce about 1990s culture. It premiered on January 17, 2005. This series is a sequel to I Love the '90s. Its title is a reference to the 1993 comedy, Hot Shots! Part Deux.

I Love the '80s 3-D

I Love the '80s 3-D is the follow-up to VH1's 1980s nostalgia show I Love the '80s and its sequel I Love the '80s Strikes Back. It premiered October 24, 2005. Like its predecessors, it premiered in one hour installments, each describing the events and trends of a year between 1980 and 1989, two shows per night until Friday, October 28, 2005. The show is actually in 3D, using a process called ChromaDepth that appears in 3D when using a special pair of ChromaDepth glasses, but the process allows the show to be viewable in normal 2D. The ChromaDepth glasses for the show were available free at Best Buy stores across the United States.

Sons of Anarchy

The Sons of Anarchy (SOA) are an outlaw motorcycle club with many charters in the United States and overseas. The show focused on the original and founding charter, Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original, often referred to by the acronym SAMCRO, Sam Crow, or simply Redwood Charter. The charter operates both legal and illegal businesses in the small town of Charming, California. They combine gun-running and a garage, and involvement in porn film industry. Clay, the charter president, likes it old school and violent; while Jax, his stepson and the club's VP, has thoughts about changing the way things are done. Their conflict has effects on both the club and their personal relationship, especially when Jax goes on a personal quest to cleanse the SAMCRO name and image.

Scrubs

In the unreal world of Sacred Heart Hospital, John "J.D." Dorian learns the ways of medicine, friendship and life.

Star Wars Rebels

Set between the events of Star Wars: Episodes III and IV, the story unfolds during a dark time when the evil Galactic Empire is tightening its grip of power on the galaxy. Imperial forces have occupied a remote planet and are ruining the lives of its people. The motley but clever crew of the starship Ghost — cowboy Jedi Kanan, ace pilot Hera, street-smart teenager Ezra, the “muscle” Zeb, warrior firebrand Sabine, and cantankerous old astromech droid Chopper — is among a select few who are brave enough to stand against the Empire. Together, they will face threatening new villains, encounter colorful adversaries, embark on thrilling adventures, and become heroes with the power to ignite a rebellion.

Sons of Liberty

A radical group of young men band together in secrecy to change the course of history and make America a nation.

Better Call Saul

Six years before Saul Goodman meets Walter White. We meet him when the man who will become Saul Goodman is known as Jimmy McGill, a small-time lawyer searching for his destiny, and, more immediately, hustling to make ends meet. Working alongside, and, often, against Jimmy, is “fixer” Mike Ehrmantraut. The series tracks Jimmy’s transformation into Saul Goodman, the man who puts “criminal” in “criminal lawyer".

This Is England '86

It's 1986 - the year Maradona ends England's World Cup dreams in Mexico; the year Top Gun is the highest grossing film; the year over 3.4 million Brits are unemployed and the year Shaun is leaving school.

Only Fools and Horses

The misadventures of two wheeler dealer brothers Del Boy and Rodney Trotter of 'Trotters Independent Traders PLC' who scrape their living by selling dodgy goods believing that next year they will be millionaires.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Follow the intergalactic adventures of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard and his loyal crew aboard the all-new USS Enterprise NCC-1701D, as they explore new worlds.

Planet Earth II

David Attenborough presents a documentary series exploring how animals meet the challenges of surviving in the most iconic habitats on earth.

Irma Vep

Mira is an American movie star disillusioned by her career and a recent breakup, who comes to France to star as “Irma Vep” in a remake of the French silent film classic, “Les Vampires.” Set against the backdrop of a lurid crime thriller, Mira struggles as the distinctions between herself and the character she plays begin to blur and merge.

Almost Human

The year is 2048. By mandate, every cop must partner with a robot. Detective John Kennex returns to work after waking up from a 17-month coma. As he adjusts to working with his new partner, Dorian, a discontinued android with unexpected emotional responses, John also must learn to get along with his new colleagues.

What We Do in the Shadows

A documentary-style look into the daily (or rather, nightly) lives of a group of vampires in Staten Island who have “lived” together for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Dollhouse

Echo is a member of a highly illegal and underground group of individuals whose personalities have been wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. Confined between missions to a secret facility known as the Dollhouse, the "Actives" are hired by the wealthy, powerful and connected to wholly become—with mind, personality and physiology—whomever the client wants or needs them to be. They know no other life than the specific engagements they are in at that time—or do they?

Arcane: Bridging the Rift

The story of how Arcane came to be. Learn the origins of Riot Games' relationship with Fortiche Productions, the animation studio behind the series, and how the two teamed up to bring the world of League of Legends to life and create the animated series’ unique story, characters, and style.

How I Met Your Mother

A father recounts to his children - through a series of flashbacks - the journey he and his four best friends took leading up to him meeting their mother.

Pacific Blue

Pacific Blue is an American crime drama series about a team of police officers with the Santa Monica Police Department who patrolled its beaches on bicycles. The show ran for five seasons on the USA Network, from March 2, 1996 to April 9, 2000, with a total of one hundred and one episodes. Often compared as "Baywatch on bikes," the series enjoyed a popular run among the Network's viewers, and was popular in France, Israel, Sweden, Bulgaria, Norway, Spain, Russia, Austria, Germany, Italy, South America, Canada, Denmark, Poland, and other foreign markets.

Animal Kingdom

17-year-old Joshua "J" Cody moves in with his freewheeling relatives in their Southern California beach town after his mother dies of a heroin overdose. Headed by boot-tough matriarch Janine "Smurf" Cody and her right-hand Baz, who runs the business and calls the shots, the clan also consists of Pope, the oldest and most dangerous of the Cody boys; Craig, the tough and fearless middle son; and Deran, the troubled, suspicious "baby" of the family.

The Missing

A gripping anthological relationship thriller series exploring the emotional fallout of a child's abduction not only on the family but on the wider community, told over two time frames.

The Green Planet

This documentary series about plants is the first immersive portrayal of an unseen, inter-connected world, full of remarkable new behaviour, emotional stories and surprising heroes in the plant world. Planet Earth from the perspective of plants.