BY GEORGE DICKIE
TANIYA NAYAK
Christina Rollyson (center) and her parents Derrald and Becky
OF ‘THE GREAT CHRISTMAS LIGHT FIGHT’ MONDAY ON ABC
Parents help their adult kids find love on ‘Married by Mom and Dad’ At first blush, the premise of TLC’s “Married by Mom and Dad” might seem at the very least a little Old World and at most kind of creepy. After all, a lot of people might not want their parents selecting a mate for them. But when you consider everything, the reasoning is sound. Parents know their children probably better than anyone, certainly better than co-workers, most friends or Internet dating websites, so it would follow that they would be best suited to finding their offspring a significant other. Especially when said offspring is either too busy to do it themselves or has had repeated failures. And so it goes for four singles as they undergo what TLC is billing its “social experiment” that premieres Sunday, Dec. 13. Christina Rollyson, a 33-yearold travel agency owner from Charleston, S.C., decided to give it a try since her work didn’t allow much of a social life. But first she had to get the folks on board “I called my stepmom,” she says, laughing, “and I said, ‘Hey, this is what’s up. This is what I want to do.’ And she knew because I texted her, like, ‘It’s important. I want to
talk to you.’ So I called her and she was like, ‘OK, you’re either married, you’re pregnant or you have a dog.’ So I told her what was going on and I said, ‘Well, I want to get married and guess who is deciding on my husband.’ And I said, ‘I want you to explain all this to Dad while he’s sitting down ... and break the news to him.’ And surprisingly they called me the next day and he was on board and he was excited about it.” The process, at least in Rollyson’s parents’ case, involved them reviewing profiles and videotapes and winnowing down the field to a few, whom they then met. At some point after that, Rollyson met the ones they liked. “There were a lot of surprises, I will say that,” she says. “But it was a great experience for me; it was a very positive experience. You know, you’re obviously close to your parents. I’m close to my dad and stepmom but to get to know somebody on that level, it brings you closer together because now they’re like, ‘Oh, I didn’t think that maybe Christina would want this in a guy but she does.’ And it just made us talk and communicate so much more, and we had a blast doing it.”
Jay Harrington, recently of “Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow” on Lifetime “I’m kind of all over the place but I have for comedies ‘Modern Family,’ ‘You’re the Worst’ on FX. ... ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine,’ I sort of watch that because the crew of that show was the crew for ‘Benched,’ the last show I did. And I just got into it and I’m an Andy Samberg fan. But one of my favorite shows just ended, which was on Cinemax, called ‘Strike Back.’ It was so good and had such a great ending, too.”
Muskogee Phoenix
What are some of the more outrageous displays you’ve seen on ABC’s “The Great Christmas Light Fight”?
Generally speaking, I can tell you that I saw everything from live dance shows to fire – in a good way, not accidental fire (laughs). I’ve seen smoke, water. I mean, it was just over the top. Musical coordination, like synchronized light shows that had everything from a Broadway feel to club music to Christmas songs. I saw just about everything you could possibly imagine. Live dance displays?
Yeah, dancing, live singers. I mean, I’ve seen sports fanatics. I’ve just seen things that I never thought I would see in a Christmas light display. ... Very theatrical. Do you think these people are going bigger and better just to get on the show?
No, these people, I can tell you because of the accumulation and the time it’s taken them, they do this from their hearts, they do it because they love it, they do it because of the kids, because of family, because of the community. I don’t believe any single person that I met during the run of this show was doing it just for television. With all the activity and TV cameras around these houses, how have the neighbors reacted?
BY GEORGE DICKIE
I feel like a lot of the neighbors are very accepting. And you have to remember, these people have on a yearly basis hundreds to thousands of cars that will drive through in their neighborhood to come and watch the light display. So luckily, I think they have great relationships with their neighbors. I have seen a few people where they’d have a couple of lights that might have said ‘Ditto’ with an arrow in lights pointing to the house next door (laughs). I think people have fun with it.
S. Epatha Merkerson of “Chicago Med” on NBC “I’ve binge-watched ‘Sense8’ and ‘The Killing’ – I think there are some great shows on Netflix – and I love ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Poldark.’ I’m a big TV person.”
Kelsey Nixon of “Kelsey’s Homemade” on Cooking Channel “ ‘Curious George’ and ‘Sesame Street’ and ‘The Mickey Mouse Club.’ (laughs) But that’s all for my son, obviously. For me, I love ‘Project Runway,’ which is airing right now. ‘Homeland’ is a favorite. Those are kind of my two shows right now, ‘Project Runway’ and ‘Homeland.’ ”
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Tarek and Christina El Moussa of “Flip or Flop” on HGTV “(Tarek and Christina) ‘Shark Tank,’ ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ ‘Fresh Off the Boat,’ ‘Game of Thrones’ ... (Christina) and ‘Don’t Be Tardy’ on Bravo. That’s my treadmill show.”
December 13 - 19, 2015