There was a time when only certain holidays qualified for special TV programming.
Now, it seems, most channels schedule special programming on most holidays — even if government offices, schools and other such places remain open.
Memorial Day is kinda like that.
When I was a child, I don't remember much of a fuss being made about Memorial Day. School had already dismissed for the summer. I have no memory of any offices being closed — but my family lived in the country so there really wouldn't have been any reason for me to notice something like that.
There may not have been any postal delivery. I really don't remember.
The summer holiday that was important then — and, I presume, is still important today — was the Fourth of July.
Television choices are far more extensive now than they were then. When I was a kid, we only had the three major networks and that was it.
Maybe the sheer number of choices has changed the game. I don't know.
Anyway, there are at least three really good options awaiting you tomorrow night:
- At 7 p.m. (Central), you can see a really spectacular examination of three war veterans trying to put their lives back together in "The Best Years of Our Lives" on Turner Classic Movies.
- Also at 7, you can see the now–legendary finale of the M*A*S*H TV series from 1983 on TVLand.
It's hard to believe it has been nearly 30 years since most of those people have been on TV regularly — but on the night they called it quits as an ensemble unlike any other in TV history, more people tuned in than have ever tuned in for the final episode of a TV series.
And that was appropriate.
If you have never seen it before, you owe it to yourself to see it — and then get caught up on 11 years' worth of remarkable television. - On The History Channel, you can see a documentary on the Battle of Gettysburg at 8 p.m.
"GETTYSBURG strips away the romanticized veneer of the Civil War to present the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg in a new light," says The History Channel. It's hard to see how a three–day battle that claimed nearly 8,000 lives and left more than 27,000 wounded and more than 10,000 missing could be regarded as "romanticized," but it should be interesting to see what The History Channel has to say.
