Squeezing one in before the Old Year ends

The Thrilling Days of Yesteryear faithful are certainly entitled to an explanation as to why it’s been so quiet around these parts since mid-August…and I’m not making much progress beyond going out for a pack of cigarettes and losing track of the time.  (I’ve heard this a time or two in movies and TV.)  The short version is that I came down with a crippling case of creeping crud around that time; just didn’t feel like doing anything blog-related.  Sadly, once whatever malady was waylaying me moved on, it was replaced by a equally devastating bout of ennui and laziness. 
 
In my defense, I haven’t been entirely bone idle: if you mosey by the Radio Spirits blog you’ll read birthday and anniversary shout-outs written by me, and I also contributed liner notes to collections of such vintage favorites as Burns & Allen, The Great Gildersleeve, Gunsmoke, and Suspense.  In addition, I’ve had a small hand in the back-of-the-DVD (and Blu-ray) notes on some ClassicFlix releases like Out of the Blue (1947), Public Defender: Season 2, and The Complete PRC Michael Shayne Collection (which gathers up all of the Hugh-Beaumont-as-Shayne programmers in a nice, tidy bundle).  (ClassicFlix will be releasing a collection in March of 2020 of the Hal Roach streamliners starring William Tracy and Joe Sawyer, which I contributed to as well.) 
 
So what’s been going on around Rancho Yesteryear in the interim?  Well, the ‘rents are heckbent on driving each other insane…and they’re not pre-disposed to taking me along to Crazy Village with them, either.  In other words, it’s pretty much business as usual.  Mom was nice enough to stake me to the fourth and final season of The High Chaparral when it was released in December (an early Christmas gift, along with some underwear) and presently we’ve been occupying our after-dinner hours with that.  (Yes, there was an ulterior motive involved.)  I’ve managed to acquire the odd Britcom collection or two that I hope to be motivated enough to write about in the coming year; there’ll be additional reviews of DVD/Blu-ray releases that I regret succumbed to my unplanned extended vacation.  I promise that will be rectified soon. 
 
I guess the big Christmas swag came in the form of a pair of Amazon gift cards I received from sister Debbie and her fambly (they spent a few holiday days visiting, which is always a welcome treat), which went toward the purchase of a Roku Express for my boudoir.  (Since I have an older TV in the bedroom, the composite cables with this made it tres simple to assemble.)  This will allow me to record streaming content with the greatest of ease, swelling my collection to the point where I’ll no doubt have to sleep in the hallway soon.  (You might want to send the kids out of the room when this happens—it won’t be pretty.) 
 
Now that we’re all caught up, I’m going to make it my mission to be chattier here on TDOY in 2020…I just hope the silence didn’t drive everyone away permanently.  Until we ring in the new one, I wish every cartooner a Happy New Year’s, hoping your holidays were fun and rewarding ones.