Dec. 30:
'Colors' Repeats See Sizeable Audiences
As was previously noted, NBC opened their holiday programming with Dolly's 50th Opry Anniversary special and closed it with repeats of her 2015 and 2016 autobiographical movies Thursday and Friday night to great success. Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colors came in second for the night in total audience Thursday with 3.53 million and tied for first place in the 18-49 ratings with a 0.5 share. Then Dolly Parton's Christmas Of Many Colors: Circle Of Love also came in second for the night in total audience with 3.44 million viewers and tied for second place in the 18-49 ratings with a 0.4 share. The first movie's original broadcast was seen by 15.6 million viewers, making it the most-watched movie broadcast on the big four networks in nearly six years, and the second movie's original broadcast had an audience of 13.3 million.

U.S., U.K., Aussie Chart Updates
After one week at No. 1, Dolly's collaboration "Faith" with Swedish duo Galantis and Danish rapper Mr. Probz fell one to No. 2 on Billboard's Dec. 28 Dance Airplay Chart last week. The track lost three places to No. 14 dance digital sales, rose three to No. 31 dance club play songs and gained two to No. 16 on the overall hot dance/electronic songs chart. "There Was Jesus", her duet with Zach Williams, drops three to No. 35 hot Christian songs. Once Upon A Christmas with Kenny Rogers inched up one to No. 25 country albums and down one to No. 4 country catalog albums, gaining one to No. 47 holiday albums and two to No. 15 holiday album sales. Dolly's "Hard Candy Christmas" dipped two to No. 35 holiday digital song sales. Down Under, the "gold series" re-issue of The Very Best Of Dolly Parton (Australian Tour Edition) regains three to No. 7 in its 432nd chart week on the Australian country albums chart since its original 2007 release. Across the pond, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe by Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt once again loses the top spot on the British country compilation albums chart, sliding one to No. 2 in its 172nd chart week. Also on the U.K. country compilation albums chart, Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Ronstadt) falls three to No. 14, while Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) holds steady at No. 13, Essential Dolly Parton shoots up six to at No. 12 and Ultimate Dolly Parton re-enters the top 20 at No. 19.

Dollywood Responds To Charlie Brown Lawsuit
Dollywood earlier this month responded to A Charlie Brown Christmas producers Lee Mendelson Productions' lawsuit alleging misuse of the show's "Christmastime Is Here" song in the park's 'Twas The Night Before Christmas. As you may recall was reported here, the producers alleged the appearance in the musical revue show constituted a theatrical use, which requires a special license directly from the rights holder rather than the blanket usage/performance license from the rights management companies like BMI and ASCAP. As was expected, the park's response argues that the usage was not theatrical in nature and therefore they had the appropriate license to use the song. Read more from WBIR here. In related news, Mendelson himself passed away on Christmas Day.

Dolly Dive Bar Opens In New York
A self-proclaimed "dive bar" in Brooklyn opened for Christmas featuring a Dolly bathroom covered in her albums. It calls itself, appropriately enough, Dolly's Swing & Dive. Read more from Time Out New York here.

Dec. 24:
'Faith' Hits No. 1 On Dance Airplay Chart
Dolly notched another No. 1 on her belt of hits last week when the Dec. 21 Billboard charts were released and saw her collaboration "Faith" with Swedish duo Galantis and Danish rapper Mr. Probz advance two spots to No. 1 on the Dance Airplay Chart. The magazine noted the achievement here. The track lost two places to No. 11 dance digital sales, where it had previously hit No. 1, gained five to No. 34 dance club play songs and fell three to No. 18 overall hot dance/electronic songs. "There Was Jesus", her duet with Zach Williams, slipped one to No. 32 hot Christian songs. Once Upon A Christmas with Kenny Rogers held steady at No. 26 country albums and No. 3 country catalog albums, losing six to No. 48 holiday albums and three to No. 17 holiday album sales. Dolly's "Hard Candy Christmas" re-entered the holiday digital song sales chart at No. 33. Down Under, the "gold series" re-issue of The Very Best Of Dolly Parton (Australian Tour Edition) drops five to No. 10 in its 431st chart week on the Australian country albums chart since its original 2007 release, it was revealed Saturday. Across the pond, The Complete Trio Collection Deluxe by Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt gains one to regain the No. 1 spot on the British country compilation albums chart in its 171st chart week, it was revealed Friday. Also on the U.K. country compilation albums chart, Harris's Original Album Series: Volume 1 (with two Dolly covers, one track with Dolly harmony and one track with Trio harmony by Dolly and Ronstadt) rises two to No. 11, while Ronstadt's Original Album Series (featuring one Dolly cover and one track with Dolly harmony) slips one to No. 13 and Essential Dolly Parton re-enters the top 20 at No. 18.

PaleyFest LA To Recognize Dolly In March
The Paley Center for Media this month announced its first program selections for 2020 will include what is being billed as the first tribute to Dolly's work in television, which will feature a panel discussion at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood featuring Dolly and her creative team behind her Netflix series Heartstrings. "A Special Evening with Dolly Parton & Dolly Parton's Heartstrings" takes place March 14. In a press release, Maureen J. Reidy, the Paley Center's President and CEO, said in a statement. "And we're so honored to have the distinct privilege to host the very first ever tribute to Dolly Parton's television work at PaleyFest LA." Dolly responded in the release: "What a wonderful honor to be recognized by the Paley Center for my Heartstrings series on Netflix. I am very proud of the series and proud of my partner, Sam Haskell, the wonderful creative team, and all of the talented actors that participated in the series."

Dolly Stops By 'Today' Show
Dolly made an appearance Monday on the final hour of NBC's Today show to promote her Netflix series with Hoda and Jenna. Watch it here.

Christmas, New Year's Television Features Lots Of Dolly
Dolly will be all over the television this holiday season. Across the pond, BBC Two has dedicated Christmas Day to Dolly, airing a brand new documentary on her life and career, Dolly Parton: Here I Am, at 8:30 p.m., followed by a repeat of her 2014 set at The Glastonbury Music Festival at 10 p.m. In the U.S., as was previously reported, NBC ends its Christmas programming with Dolly, Dolly Parton's Coat Of Many Colors repeats at 9 p.m. Dec. 26 (a change from the earlier-scheduled 8 p.m. broadcast), followed by her most recent The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon appearance repeating at 11:35 p.m. that night, and Dolly Parton's Christmas Of Many Colors: Circle Of Love repeats at 8 p.m. Dec. 27. CNN airs the documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound Of My Voice, which features a Dolly interview, at 9 p.m. New Year's Day. American cable network AXS will dedicate New Year's Day to Dolly, repeating her episode of Brian Johnson's A Life On The Road at 6 p.m., Dan Rather's The Big Interview with her at 7 p.m., and her co-hosting gig for this year's CMA Awards at 8 p.m.

Big Ratings, A Little Controversy, At Hallmark Channel
Of course, The Hallmark Channel's Christmas At Dollywood repeats throughout the week: 5 p.m. Christmas Day, 4 p.m. Dec. 29, 4 p.m. Jan. 1, 6 a.m. Jan. 4, and 5 a.m. Jan. 5. The network recently experienced some controversy, dropping a lesbian-themed commercial when it received a petition of a few thousand signatures from the one-person operation One Million Moms, a women's auxiliary for hate group the American Family Association. A public outcry ensued, with several petitions opposing the decision submitted with many times the signatures that the original petition had drawn, and the network reversed its position. Since Dolly's film was the centerpiece of this year's Christmas offerings, and given her public position as a major LGBTQ advocate, she and her project were often mentioned in the news stories about the controversy, such as this piece from Variety here and additional coverage from USA Today here. In related news, the film was the highest-rated of the season for the network, bringing in 5.6 total unduplicated viewers, compared to 4.1 million for Kristen Chenoweth's holiday film and 4 million for Candace Cameron Bure's.

One Podcast Ends, Another Is Coming
A new Dolly podcast will be coming next year: My Year With Dolly will be released next month, produced by Esquire writer Justin Kirkland, WVLT reported here. They're encouraging anyone with a Dolly story to e-mail them at MyYearWithDolly@gmail.com. Meanwhile, the podcast Dolly Parton's America is being heralded on many lists of the best podcasts of 2019 and will drop its ninth and final episode, focusing on Dolly's faith, next Tuesday, New Year's Eve. Podcast producer Shima Oliaee was interviewed about the program by Indie Wire here, and The Dallas Morning News used the podcast and its examination of her unifying factor as the jumping off point for an editorial singing her praises here.

Boston Celebrates Dolly, Her New 'Christmas Carol'
Dolly had a lot of press in Boston this month for the premiere of Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol, popping in for the show's opening night and making an unannounced visit to the city's Christmas tree lighting ceremony. The show closes Sunday. Check out an interview from public television station WGBH here. Coverage from her appearances are available from CBS Boston here, WHDH here, The Boston Globe here and WCVB here.

Grammy Noms Get Notice, Dolly Sets Record
The Hollywood Reporter recently chatted with Linda Perry about how she and Dolly created their Grammy-nominated song "Girl In The Movies." Read the piece here. Billboard noted that Dolly's two nominations this year increases the number of years in which she has been nominated to 32. She is tied with pianist/composer Chick Corea for No. 2 overall (after No. 1 position held by composer John Williams with nominations in 39 years) but her number of years is the No. 1 record for a vocalist, No. 1 record for a woman, and No. 1 record for a country artist. Previously, she had been tied at No. 1 for vocalists with Sir Paul McCartney, who has nominations in 31 years. Read more here.

Lawmaker: Honor Dolly In State Capitol Instead Of KKK Leader
One Tennessee lawmaker suggested earlier this month replacing Ku Klux Klan founder and Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's bust in the state Capitol rotunda with one of Dolly, and the story quickly went viral. Read the details from USA Today here.

'God Only Knows' Gets Remix
Another remix of Dolly's collaboration with For King & Country, "God Only Knows," was released earlier this month. Check out the Team Timbo Remix here.

Carpenter Records 'Little Sparrow' Cover
Hot off her smashing performance of the song on Dolly's Grand Ole Opry 50th anniversary special, Candi Carpenter went into the studio with her producer, Brandi Carlisle, and recorded "Little Sparrow," which is available for download here.

Carlisle Praises Dolly's Acceptance
Meanwhile, Brandi Carlisle herself spoke with Billboard magazine as part of its women in music conference on her greatest inspirations and on Dolly she spoke of how she was the first LGBTQ advocate in country music and how much that impacted her life as a young queer person growing up. Read more here.

Billboard: '9 To 5' Is More Popular Than In Years
Billboard also noted that Dolly's "9 To 5" had a great resurgence in popularity and streaming this year, detailing some of the numbers here.

In Memoriam
Dolly lost two former co-stars earlier this month. Ron Leibman, who played her boss in Rhinestone, passed on Dec. 6 at age 82. He was best known for Norma Rae and playing Rachel's father on Friends. Then René Auberjonois, who played her manager in A Smoky Mountain Christmas, passed Dec. 8 at age 79. He was best known for his longtime roles on Benson and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in addition to the film version of M.A.S.H.. In addition, sculptor Jim Gray, who designed and created her famous statue on the Sevier County Courthouse Square, also died at age 87. Read more about him from WBIR here.

Dec. 19:
Season's Greetings From The Past!

Webmaster: 'I'm Not Dead Yet!'
A couple dozen readers have contacted me the past couple of days to make sure I was okay and that I hadn't retired from the site. Thank you all for your concern. Everything is fine. It just happened that when I returned from Thanksgiving vacation (during which I was able to update the site), I was faced with a huge workload on the job, including several evening meetings and events, plus several family commitments at home that simply kept me too busy to find time to update the site for the past three weeks. I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things this week and catch up on the news we missed sharing over the past three weeks. Sorry for the absence!