The internationally renowned superstar Barry Manilow takes requests for Christmas songs and performs live with a band, an orchestra, and special guests including Cyndi Lauper. And in a rare holiday treat, old friends Barry and Bette Midler join together, via media magic, in a duet that each taped separately. Mr. Manilow also hosts this 2-hour festive songfest.
Executive transvestite Eddie Izzard takes his show to San Francisco to give a brief history of pagan and Christian religions, the building of Stonehenge, the birth of the Church of England and of Western empires, and the need for a European dream. Along the way, he dramatizes Dr. Heimlich's search for a maneuver, the naming of Engelbert Humperdinck, Scooby and Shaggy as archetypes, Neil Armstrong on the moon, society's tolerance of mass murderers, how we sing anthems and carols, Hollywood adapting British films, JFK's trip to Berlin, thoughts on puberty, and how to work schoolbook-French phrases into Parisian conversation. Closeups catch the glint in his eye and his carefully-applied make-up.