52 | DECEMBER 1 • 2022 

SPECIAL ‘HOLIDAY’ 
SHOWS, RETURNING 
SERIES, AND ALL ABOUT 
PEACOCK
This is the time of year 
that “holiday” shows begin 
flooding every “visual” 
media outlet. Usually, 
this means Christmas-
related shows. However, 
just because a show calls 
itself a holiday show, or a 
“holiday edition,” doesn’t 
mean they have much to 
do with Christmas. For 
example, two game shows 
airing this week claim 
they are special “holiday” 
shows. But they are really 
the same “old” game.
The NBC series That’s 
My Jam is hosted by 
Tonight Show host Jimmy 
Fallon. It is based on 
various games (trivia, etc.) 
that Fallon gets his celeb 
guests to play on the 
Tonight Show.
The “regular season” 
episodes of Jam feature 
two, two-person teams of 
celebrities who play for 
their favorite charities. The 
special holiday show, as 
NBC calls it, also features 
two-person teams of celebs 
who play for a charity. 
Frankly, I am not sure what 
is “special” about it. 
The Jam holiday special 
show airs on NBC on 

Monday, Dec. 5, at 10 p.m. 
The guests are all former 
SNL cast members (as is 
Fallon). Fred Armisen and 
Ana Gasteyer join forces 
to compete with the team 
of Rachel Dratch, 56, and 
Melissa Villasenor.
ABC calls Celebrity 
Wheel of Fortune a special 
holiday episode. Pat Sajak 
and Vanna White, who 
host the “regular people” 
version of Wheel, will also 
host the celeb version. The 
three celeb contestants 
can win up to $1 million (all 
winnings go to charity). 
The contestants are Jack 
Black, 53, Sasheer Zamata 
(another former SNL cast 
member) and Kal Penn 
(the co-star of the comedic 
Harold & Kumar movies). 
The show airs on Dec. 6 at 
8 p.m. 
I’m sure many people 
out there in “TV land” 
think of this episode as the 
Wheel “Christmas” show. 
I’m also sure that many 
people who think this way 
would be upset if they 
knew that the “Christmas” 
episode of Wheel features 
a funny Jew (Black), a 
funny gay Hindu (Penn) 
and a funny African 
American Christian who 
is a strong feminist and a 
spokesperson for the ACLU 
(Zamata). 

In July 2021, I wrote 
about the premiere 
of Gossip Girl and My 
Unorthodox Life. They got 
big enough audiences to 
get the “go-ahead” for a 
second season. I imagine 
fans have been looking 
forward to a second 
season. Well, the wait is 
almost over. 
I won’t provide a re-hash 
of the plot of Gossip 
Girl. Suffice it to say that 
this comedy/drama has 
two Jewish leads: Tavi 
Gevinson, 26, as Kate 
Keller and Adam Chanler-
Bert, 35, as Jordan 
Glassberg (Premieres Dec. 
1, HBO Max.)
My Unorthodox Life 
is a reality series that 
follows fashion designer 
Julia Haart, 51, and her 
adult children. She is a 
former member of a haredi 
community. (Premieres Dec. 
2, Netflix). 
The Calling, an original 
Peacock channel series, 
streamed its entire first 
season (eight episodes) on 
Nov. 10. The lead character 
is a quite religious Jewish 
NYC police detective.
I had a mixed reaction 
to the series. The Jewish 
detective is assigned two 
hard cases during the first 
season. The first case took 
up the first four episodes. 
The last four episodes 
were about the second 
case. The early scenes 
were intriguing because 
the lead character is so 
novel. But The Calling, 
overall, meandered in 
the first three episodes. 
However, I found the 
concluding fourth episode 
pretty exciting and 
surprising. (I won’t give 
out any spoilers about the 

second case). Overall, I 
give The Calling a mild 
thumbs-up. 
Peacock is a weird 
hybrid. There are free 
shows and movies on the 
channel. But most content 
is behind a “pay wall.” 
For example, if you don’t 
subscribe, you can only 
see the first episode of an 
original series. It’s $5 for 
a monthly sub that allows 
you to see everything, but 
you have to watch ads (and 
they hit you with a lot). It 
costs $10 to see everything 
without ads.
It’s worth subscribing 
for one month to see The 
Calling and some of their 
movie offerings. The latter 
includes the charming Mrs. 
Harris Goes to Paris (2021), 
a surprise hit in theaters, 
and a Peacock “exclusive.” 
(Brit actor Jason Isaacs 
has a supporting role). 
Also, the “pay part” of 
Peacock carries the “live 
stream” of many channels, 
including three Hallmark 
channels. On Dec. 18, 
Hallmark premieres its first 
“holiday season” Chanukah 
movie (Hanukkah Rye). It 
will probably be a so/so 
flick, but it is a “first” worth 
catching. I’ll tell you all 
about Rye, and other ways 
to view it, not long before it 
premieres. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

PHILIP ROMANO 

Rachel Dratch

EVA RINALDI 

Jack Black

DOD NEWS FEATURES 

Jason Isaacs

