by TBS was one of my favorite TV channels in the late ’80s and the early ’90s, so I like to go back in time and talk about the things that made me love it so much.
A Christmas Story hasn’t always aired as a 24-hour marathon on Christmas on TBS. That tradition didn’t begin until 1997. Before that though, TBS did show the movie at various times throughout the holiday season. The ad pictured above is from 1992 and was from the time that TBS was running the TBS Award Theater movie most days at 10:35 am. The criteria for the award feature was pretty simple I think, in that as long as a movie had won any kind of award, that was all the excuse they needed to run a movie in that block.
This ad in particular is one I come across advertising a TBS Award Theater showing of A Christmas Story from an issue of TV Guide from the week of Christmas in December of 1992. I can’t remember the date of the showing though, because I didn’t think to write it down or keep up with it, but it was almost certainly on a weekday. Being out of school on Christmas break that week every year means that I may have very well watched this exact airing in 1992.
The as is a good one as it features Ralphie in his cowboy get up from his dream sequence of ridding the neighborhood of Black Bart and his gang with his trusty Red Ryder B.B. Gun. While I’m a huge fan of the thought of this movie airing in its now traditional 24-hour marathon on Christmas Eve, I also like the idea of it being destination viewing on random days in the month of December.
And if you’re someone who likes the movie and/or the marathon (and I know you are), then check out my friend Jeff’s feature A Brief History of the “24 Hours of A Christmas Story” Marathon over at The Retro Network!
