By Frank Roberts

Today we have a variety of things from your sometimes-humble columnist.

“The Sound Of Music” elicited a variety of responses. There was general agreement that non-actress star, Carrie Underwood, did a yeoman’s job as Maria. Although the three-hour live show had a glitch or two, it came off rather well, and there was general agreement that it was nice to see a ‘non-smut’ show on the tube.

I would have preferred the original flick, which, incidentally, was put down by one of its stars, Christopher Plummer, who referred to it as “The Sound Of Mucus.” Fie on him.

Also on the tube, a new version of “Bonnie & Clyde” — more accurate, but less interesting. The stars can’t touch Beatty and Dunaway.

…

Seasonal note: Two of the best-loved Christmas songs were both penned by Jewish writers. “The Christmas Song,” about chestnuts roasting on an open fire, was written by Mel Torme, and “White Christmas” was courtesy of Irving Berlin.

…

If you watch the promos for the local news shows you might notice that channels 3 and 13 both claim to be the No. 1 newscast at 11 p.m. Somebody must be fibbing. When I was doing the news in North Carolina, I was No. 2 to the CBS outlet, but I was first on our station to give them a run for the money, with the highest ratings our NBC outlet ever had.

In response — and this is true — the wife of their newscaster accidentally ran into my car. We had a good laugh when it was over, although her insurance company probably did not.

…

Christmas will be more surprising than usual. My 4-year-old redheaded great-granddaughter, Trinity, wrapped cups, pencils, strings, notepads, etc., and put them under the tree.

Frank Roberts’ 60-year career has covered newspapers radio and television. Email him at froberts73@embarqmail.com.