stumbled onto this on youtube while looking up other stuff and currently going insane over it. it feels like the version of It's a Wonderful Life they'd play on Sliders to show the cast is still in an alternate reality

sorry, in my excitement i sort of buried the lede a bit. to put this in context:

yes, this is genderswapped It's A Wonderful Life. Yes, it stars Orson Welles. both of these would make this an interesting curiosity, something to collect but probably not something worth THAT much attention. HOWEVER

you've probably heard about how It's A Wonderful Life originally bombed, wallowing in obscurity until it entered public domain where tv stations, looking for cheap content to fill slots around christmastime, started airing it constantly. This was made before that happened. The movie is, based on my quick skimming, pretty much beat-for-beat exactly like the original. The characters all have the same names, with George and Mary just basically swapping places. There are entire lines lifted wholesale! Some of the sets look, if not identical, at least heavily inspired by the movie. It is eerie to watch if you're very familiar with it.

And, at least according to wikipedia (not a good primary source), it was a huge success! This was almost the canonical version of the movie-- the one that gets referenced, quoted, parodied, the one that plays on at least one channel every christmas. We came this close to that reality coming to pass. THAT'S what's driving me crazy