Once upon a time, American families were drawn to so-called “fireplace chats.” Simply put, families would huddle near a radio while the living room fireplace lit (and more often than not warmed) our homes.

But when televisions were brought into the American living room, Time Magazine wrote that television had become “the new American hearth- a center for family activities, conversations and companionship.” And when Christmas programming began to fill the airwaves … well, that changed everything.

“It’s true. I think Christmas became more of what Christmas is today because of television,” said Herbie J. Pilato, author of Christmas TV Memories. “Mine is a personal book, but at the same time, it’s a very mainstream book because … well, everybody seemed to love what I loved. The response that I’m getting from the book is that I hit all the right chords.”

It’s not an overstatement to say that Pilato is a bonafide expert on entertainment, particularly television.

“The greatest love story in the history of television would have to be Herbie J. Pilato and television itself,” wrote Marlo Thomas (“That Girl”) who knows a thing or two about the medium.

Pilato’s book, which has a subtitle of “Nostalgic Holiday Favorites of the Small Screen,” is a head-spinning chronicle of how much Christmas has helped secure television’s place in the lives of the American family.

“I have four different categories: there are the variety specials and variety shows,” said Pilato. “There are the animated specials. There are the TV movies. And then there are the holiday episodes from weekly shows.”

Pilato traveled down a very personal road with Morning Edition host George Prentice to wax poetic about favorite holiday episodes that still have a corner of our hearts.

Find reporter George Prentice @georgepren

Copyright 2024 Boise State Public Radio