Andy DehnartABC’s The Great Christmas Light Fight returned Monday night, and though it’s just in its second year, for me it’s becoming like NBC’s The Sing-Off, an upbeat, pleasurable way to spend a few hours watching TV every December.
(Alas, this year, while ABC expanded its series, NBC cut The Sing-Off short.)
For its second season, there are six one-off Light Fight episodes, each of which focuses on four holiday light displays; one of the four families receiving $50,000 at the end of the episode.
When does the Great Christmas Light Fight film?
and other answers to questions about the show
Along the way, there’s some clever editing of display construction footage, and there are also some surprisingly emotional moments.
But everything from the contest to the backstory are really beside the point, and like The Sing-Off, the show just gets out of the way to show off the main attraction: lights. So many lights!
Where do these people keep these lights? And might they need to call Matt Paxton? Seriously, though: There is no real battle, there are just families doing what they always do by bringing joy to their neighbors with their often insane light displays.
I’d spread the holiday cheer by embedding one of the first two episodes or directing you to it, but there’s ABC’s new-in-2014 “TV everywhere” strategy of bringing more viewers to its programs by preventing most people from watching its shows online for one week.
So instead, please enjoy these previews.