Author Topic: Forgotten Christmas specials (Read 4080 times)

jmyrlefuller · « **on:** December 20, 2019, 04:31:13 pm »

Ah, 'tis the season... OK, if you've been listening to the radio or watching TV, it's been "the season" since late October, because it seems that there are more and more Christmas specials these days. Hallmark has made a meme out of churning out generic Christmas movie after Christmas movie, and I'm almost expecting some big-city successful woman to show up in my small town, fall for me and learn the real meaning of Christmas. (A guy can dream.)

Now a few of these have become mainstays of the Christmas special "canon," if you will. A Charlie Brown Christmas and the 1966 version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! have rightfully earned their place as perennials in the Christmas lineup, and Rankin-Bass's specials, thanks to some shrewd licensing, have made household names out of Rudolph and Frosty if they weren't already. The millennial generation grew up with Jim Carrey's version of The Grinch (which despite its mediocre backstory was made worthwhile by Carrey's equally manic and curmudgeonly tour de force performance) and Will Ferrell's Elf. We have Ted Turner to thank for remembering "you'll shoot your eye out!" as he was the one who put Jean Shepherd's semi-fictionalized paean to pre-World War II America, A Christmas Story, on cable repeatedly every Christmas. (If you really want to stretch the definition, I'll include Die Hard, a Christmas movie for people who don't like Christmas movies.)

But even so, even with over a month of space to program, there have been a few holiday specials that, for some reason or another, have fallen through the cracksâ€”either nobody bothered to renew the rights, or they just didn't hold up to the test of time as some of the others I mentioned. This thread is devoted to some of those oddities: some good, some bad.

Ladies and gentlemen of the Briefing Room, I submit for your consideration...

Forgotten Christmas Classics.

jmyrlefuller · « **Reply #1 on:** December 20, 2019, 04:34:10 pm »

Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas Celebration

Year: 1987

Synopsis: A musical compilation created by Will Vinton, whose main claim to fame was The California Raisins, who make an appearance among the seven musical acts (mostly soul music) animated mostly in Claymation. The songs are bookended by Rex and Herb, a classic double act of dinosaurs, seeking the meaning of the word "wassailing."

Status: Last seen on TV in the early 1990s, if at all. Bootlegged to Youtube.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x57fkhi

jmyrlefuller · « **Reply #2 on:** December 20, 2019, 04:38:05 pm »

Ziggy's Gift

Year: 1982

Synopsis: Directed by Richard Williams, this special is an adaptation of Tom Wilson's comic strip Ziggy. Ziggy (who does not speak; I always imagined him with a Sterling Holloway-type voice) takes a job as a Santa Claus only to find that he is surrounded by crooks. A soundtrack by Harry Nilsson adds a nice touch to this already touching animated feature.

Status: Bootlegged to Youtube.

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skeeter · « **Reply #3 on:** December 20, 2019, 04:40:46 pm »

Dunno if they still air the 1964 stop-motion TV production of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.

I liked that one 'cause it was the only Christmas special with a monster.

jmyrlefuller · « **Reply #4 on:** December 20, 2019, 04:42:01 pm »

A Christmas Carol (1971 animated)

Year: 1971

Synopsis: This is another Richard Williams production. There have been countless adaptations of Charles Dickens's classic novella A Christmas Carol over the years, but this version actually won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, something unusual as it had been originally released to television (the Academy tried to close this loophole but networks got around it by scheduling limited theatrical releases before their TV debuts). Alastair Sim, who had played Ebenezer Scrooge in a 1951 live-action film of the same story (one that continues to see lots of reruns today), reprised his role.

Status: Last airing unknown. Bootlegged to Youtube.

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jmyrlefuller · « **Reply #5 on:** December 20, 2019, 04:42:29 pm »

Quote from: skeeter on December 20, 2019, 04:40:46 pm

Dunno if they still air the 1964 stop-motion TV production of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.

I liked that one 'cause it was the only Christmas special with a monster.

Yeah, they still play it. Multiple times a year. That one is a perennial.

dfwgator · « **Reply #6 on:** December 20, 2019, 04:46:18 pm »

Quote from: skeeter on December 20, 2019, 04:40:46 pm

Dunno if they still air the 1964 stop-motion TV production of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.

I liked that one 'cause it was the only Christmas special with a monster.

Did Hermy, the Dentist wannabe, come out of the closet, yet?

jmyrlefuller · « **Reply #7 on:** December 20, 2019, 04:49:53 pm »

Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol

Year: 1962

Synopsis: This particular special, another adaptation of the Dickens novella, took an unusual approach to its source material: the lead characters were largely played by characters from the stable of its producer, United Productions of America. (Disney would take a similar approach with its original story Mickey's Christmas Carol two decades later.) In the lead role as Scrooge is the nearly-blind Mister Magoo, who largely plays it straight; Gerald McBoing-Boing serves as Tiny Tim. An original score by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill pads out the special to a full hour. It is notable for being the first animated Christmas special produced for TV.

Status: This one actually saw a revival in interest in the early to mid 2010s as NBC and the CW reran it, but has since disappeared again. As UPA's successors have maintained the rights to it, it's not available on the usual video sites, but the musical numbers are on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfcAAgTxni1I0wk4YB0w4_Z6vhaR8Hwyz

jmyrlefuller · « **Reply #8 on:** December 20, 2019, 04:50:19 pm »

Quote from: dfwgator on December 20, 2019, 04:46:18 pm

Did Hermy, the Dentist wannabe, come out of the closet, yet?

I knew I couldn't be the only one who came to that same conclusion!

skeeter · « **Reply #9 on:** December 20, 2019, 04:53:30 pm »

Quote from: dfwgator on December 20, 2019, 04:46:18 pm

Did Hermy, the Dentist wannabe, come out of the closet, yet?

Filed under questions I didn't ask in 1965.

jmyrlefuller · « **Reply #10 on:** December 20, 2019, 04:55:39 pm »

A Garfield Christmas Special

Year: 1987

Synopsis: One of several animated Garfield specials that eventually led to the long-running Saturday morning cartoon Garfield and Friends, this special features the main trio of Jon Arbuckle, Garfield and Odie as they head to the Arbuckle family farm for Christmas. As Garfield was never particularly deep, the ending may be a little heavier than one might expect for the gag-a-day cat.

Status: This one was a regular on TV up until shortly after the millennium turned. Over the next few years it changed ownership a few times and lost its spot on TV, until finally this year it ended up in Nickelodeon's hands. An account that may or may not be the official Garfield and Friends account posted a copy on Youtube last month.

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PeteS in CA · « **Reply #11 on:** December 20, 2019, 05:00:24 pm »

Quote from: jmyrlefuller on December 20, 2019, 04:49:53 pm

Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol

Year: 1962

Synopsis: This particular special, another adaptation of the Dickens novella, took an unusual approach to its source material: the lead characters were largely played by characters from the stable of its producer, United Productions of America. (Disney would take a similar approach with its original story Mickey's Christmas Carol two decades later.) In the lead role as Scrooge is the nearly-blind Mister Magoo, who largely plays it straight; Gerald McBoing-Boing serves as Tiny Tim. An original score by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill pads out the special to a full hour. It is notable for being the first animated Christmas special produced for TV.

Status: This one actually saw a revival in interest in the early to mid 2010s as NBC and the CW reran it, but has since disappeared again. As UPA's successors have maintained the rights to it, it's not available on the usual video sites, but the musical numbers are on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfcAAgTxni1I0wk4YB0w4_Z6vhaR8Hwyz

This one makes Mrs. S in CA cringe - she likes the classic movie versions - but it actually is pretty well done.

The mid-80s made-for-TV version of "A Christmas Carol" with George C. Scott is, IMO, pretty well done, and pretty faithful to Dickens story. An interesting ratio, BTW: ~120 pages, ~2 hours of footage.

jmyrlefuller · « **Reply #12 on:** December 20, 2019, 05:02:56 pm »

Tattertown

Year: 1988

Synopsis: This was one that was not very good. It actually wasn't supposed to be a Christmas special; it was a pilot for a series that was going to air on Nickelodeon. In it, an insufferable little girl, her stuffed dog and a toy doll get dragged into a world where discarded items come to life. The doll turns evil and wants to take over. The little girl decides to introduce Christmas there, why?, we have no idea. Apparently no one, including the little girl, has a firm grasp on what Christmas is supposed to be all about, and we shouldn't be surprised. The ever-edgy (and firmly Jewish) Ralph Bakshi, of Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic fame, was always the wrong choice to make a Christmas special.

As a series, without being tied to Christmas, Tattertown might have worked, but an overzealous preacher who started harassing him over an episode of Mighty Mouse (which Bakshi was directing at the time) where the lead character sniffs a flower (the preacher tried to say it was suggestive of cocaine) basically destroyed Bakshi's chances of getting the show to series. Bakshi's protege, the equally edgy John Kricfalusi, would get a shot with Nickelodeon with Ren & Stimpy in 1991.

Status: Last aired in 1992. Ralph Bakshi still owns the rights. Bootlegged to Youtube.

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libertybele · « **Reply #13 on:** December 20, 2019, 05:06:10 pm »

Thanks @jmyrlefuller for this thread. The only one that comes to mind is "Charlie Brown's Christmas", but I think it still airs?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwkN6yWHqis

jmyrlefuller · « **Reply #14 on:** December 20, 2019, 05:11:55 pm »

Amahl and the Night Visitors

Year: 1951

Synopsis: An opera composed specifically for television in an earlier time when highbrow programming aired live, Amahl and the Night Visitors is a fictional story set around the nativity of Jesus.

Status: Pulled from its annual live performances in 1966 in a dispute with Gian Carlo Menotti, the composer.

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Hoodat · « **Reply #15 on:** December 20, 2019, 05:14:56 pm »

Better Off Dead

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Cyber Liberty · « **Reply #16 on:** December 20, 2019, 05:15:24 pm »

I doubt we'll see Grumpy Cat's "Worst Christmas Ever" again.

jmyrlefuller · « **Reply #17 on:** December 20, 2019, 05:18:44 pm »

Quote from: libertybele on December 20, 2019, 05:06:10 pm

Thanks @jmyrlefuller for this thread. The only one that comes to mind is "Charlie Brown's Christmas", but I think it still airs?

Indeed, that one does (and as I noted in the intro, rightfully so), but there was a sequel that does fit the description.

It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown

Year: 1992

Synopsis: A sequel to the original classic, without some of the heavier material, It's Christmastime Again consists of stories adapted directly from the Peanuts comic strip.

Status: The Peanuts specials that were not part of the traditional favorites were fading in popularity in the 1990s and this one only got a few airings. It was replaced by Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales in 2001 when the original moved to ABC (also based on Schulz's strips), then another Christmas special, I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown! was added in the mid-2000s. It's Christmastime Again has been ~~bootlegged to Dailymotion~~ now on Apple TV+ along with the rest of the Peanuts library.

BONUS:

The version of A Charlie Brown Christmas we see today is somewhat altered from the original airing. See the differences in this video:

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jmyrlefuller · « **Reply #18 on:** December 20, 2019, 05:23:27 pm »

Quote from: Cyber Liberty on December 20, 2019, 05:15:24 pm

I doubt we'll see Grumpy Cat's "Worst Christmas Ever" again.

RIP Grumpy Cat, but yeah, that's one that wouldâ€”and shouldâ€”be buried in a vault, never to be seen again.

Oh, heck with it.

Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever!

Year: 2014

Synopsis: A star vehicle for Internet meme Grumpy Cat (Tardar Sauce, 2012-2019, as herself). Aubrey Plaza (really?) provides the cat's voice.

Status: Bootlegged to Youtube. Other than that, hopefully never seen again.

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dfwgator · « **Reply #19 on:** December 20, 2019, 05:24:01 pm »

Quote from: jmyrlefuller on December 20, 2019, 05:18:44 pm

Indeed, that one does (and as I noted in the intro, rightfully so), but there was a sequel that does fit the description.

It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown

Year: 1992

Synopsis: A sequel to the original classic, without some of the heavier material, It's Christmastime Again consists of stories adapted directly from the Peanuts comic strip.

Status: The Peanuts specials that were not part of the traditional favorites were fading in popularity in the 1990s and this one only got a few airings. It was replaced by Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales in 2001 when the original moved to ABC (also based on Schulz's strips), then another Christmas special, I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown! was added in the mid-2000s. It's Christmastime Again has been bootlegged to Youtube.

Charlie Brown It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown - video dailymotion

BONUS:

The version of A Charlie Brown Christmas we see today is somewhat altered from the original airing. See the differences in this video:

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I love this.

Hey Ya, Charlie Brown Style

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jmyrlefuller · « **Reply #20 on:** December 20, 2019, 07:54:03 pm »

Christmas Is

Year: 1970

Synopsis: A young boy in a Christmas play is disheartened that he has yet again been cast as a shepherd and doesn't understand the story of which he is a part. He is mysteriously transported to Bethlehem where he witnesses the nativity story in person. Featuring the voices of Hans Conreid, June Foray and Don Messick, Christmas Is was produced by the Lutheran Church (the same arm that gave us Davey and Goliath).

Status: Technically, this one isn't forgotten: AMGTV, a small network, still carries this one every Christmas morning.

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GrouchoTex · « **Reply #21 on:** December 20, 2019, 08:03:46 pm »

There was one I recall called The little drummer boy, but I don't believe it is aired anymore.
A Charlie Brown Christmas has been on twice this season.

berdie · « **Reply #22 on:** December 20, 2019, 08:05:48 pm »

Quote from: GrouchoTex on December 20, 2019, 08:03:46 pm

There was one I recall called The little drummer boy, but I don't believe it is aired anymore.
A Charlie Brown Christmas has been on twice this season.

I loved "The Little Drummer Boy"

berdie · « **Reply #23 on:** December 20, 2019, 08:13:56 pm »

I'm a big fan of the old western or comedy Christmas episodes. In particular Gunsmoke and The Rifleman. And Andy Griffith with the mean old man. Don't know if they still air.

There used to be a couple of movies that aired during Christmas that I remember when I was a kid and don't see any longer...Boys Town and All Mine To Give.
Not true Christmas stories...just heart tuggers about people doing the right or hard thing.

jmyrlefuller · « **Reply #24 on:** December 20, 2019, 09:33:35 pm »

Quote from: GrouchoTex on December 20, 2019, 08:03:46 pm

There was one I recall called The little drummer boy, but I don't believe it is aired anymore.
A Charlie Brown Christmas has been on twice this season.

That one is currently on Freeform (what used to be the Family Channel before ABC bought it), part of their 25 Days of Christmas lineup.