Every day of the week has a category in the 2021 Countdown! The categories will not be used as the days move closer to Christmas Day. They will resume during Christmastide (12 days of Christmas) until Epiphany. I like to watch my favorite versions close to Christmas. As stated elsewhere and every year, there are particular versions I have always watched on certain days. For example: for decades, Christmas Eve has always been reserved for the George C. Scott version. Since 1980, the Albert Finney musical version is what I enjoy watching on Christmas night.
Here are the brief descriptions of the countdown categories:
- Musical Monday
- Mondays are dedicated to musical versions of A Christmas Carol. Being a musical is the only criteria. The version of A Christmas Carol in this category could be traditional or an adaptation; it could be live-action or animated.
- Traditional Tuesday
- Straight traditional versions are reserved for Tuesday viewings. Traditional is defined as a presentation that is faithful to the original A Christmas Carol novella. Any deviations of omissions or additions that do not distract or take the original story off-course do not disqualify. A traditional version can also be live-action or animated.
- Wednesday Miscellaneous
- A Wednesday viewing is mostly intended for a version that may not fit in the other daily categories. But is could potentially also be in any category. It may also be on that day the mood was a desire to watch a particular version!
- Time Displaced Thursday
- Some adaptations of A Christmas Carol, whether they are tradional or adaptions, take place outside of Dickens’ 1840’s Victorian time-frame. They have their own little spot on Thursdays.
- Female Friday
- Fridays are dedicated to adaptations where the main character of Scrooge, at least, is a woman. Some of these adaptations have many other traditional roles with changed genders.
- Saturday Cartoon
- Harking back to the days when Saturday morning television in the U.S. was the domain of children’s programming, this category is for versions specifically produced for juvinile audiences. It should be noted that not all animated versions were meant for child-only viewing.
- Silent Sunday
- Sundays are meant for quiet. What better day to dedicate only to silent movie versions of A Christmas Carol? However, we will run out of the existing silent versions before we’re through.