Pleasantly surprised

This is a minor thing, but two more things were filled in, both in the realm of Halloween specials.

First of all, looking for more information on The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas, I checked out the Wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bear_Who_Slept_Through_Christmas

This told me that there was a plush Ted E. Bear (which I don't need) and that there was a Halloween special ten years later, The Great Bear Scare.

I kind of needed that.

As it was, it's a little weird that something that seemingly didn't get a lot of air time got a sequel and plush and that it happened ten years later. Maybe there was someone who remembered it fondly.  

The Great Bear Scare does not refer to The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas at all. There are some of the same characters and voices, though it looks like they mashed up Patti Bear with the Weather Bear and used a completely different voice.

The animation appears to be bit cheaper, and it's not as well told and sweet. Ultimately the message, that our fears are often not real, is a good one, and I am glad I saw it.

I also got an answer on the cheesy variety specials of the 70s, though this particular one is from 1980.

That's when it was made in Canada. It probably did not air here until a year or two later. I do know that it aired on WGN, one of the earliest local channels to do well on cable. Fortunately, there is a Youtube channel, Fuzzy Memories, devoted to their airings.

Before that, I had been talking about the variety specials with my sisters and they mentioned liking Boo! 

I was surprised that they remembered a name that I didn't, but a lead is a lead. Sure enough, there was Dionne Warwick.

I said I had tried to find it through her credits before, as her identity was previously my only solid lead. In my defense, she does have 437 credits as "Self", not even getting into her soundtrack credits.

She also sings Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are" to the monster, plus we get Rip Taylor, a Columbo impersonator, and maybe a Bob Newhart impersonator. In some cases it can be hard to tell what they are going for.

(There was also a guy who kind of looked like Rick Springfield, so maybe it was Chris Potter, a Canadian.)

No, it's not "good" if you want to get technical. I will watch it with my sisters at one point, and we will see if they still like it.  

It is Canadian comedians dressed as famous monsters and joking about variety being dead, hence the perfect vehicle for them. Like, this could be one of the works that inspired Strange Brew.

That's not the point; a memory is resolved. I like that.

There are still no signs of the small intestine poem, but after this, anything seems possible.

Anyway, "Boo! We're going to scare the pants off of you."

Related posts:

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2025/01/blast-from-past-star-wars-holiday.html  

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2025/01/remembered-christmas-specials.html