holiday specials, 2006
Okay, folks. It’s time. Say what you will about the rest of the holiday, I really love animated Christmas specials. Let’s let down our critical guard for a moment and look at what we might enjoy this season. Just for you (and for me, so that I can just check back here when I want to know what’s on in a give week), I distill the Post-Gazette’s list of holiday specials down to what’s crucial:
- Tuesday, November 28: “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” ABC, 8:00. I’ve said it in this spot before and I’ll say it again: that moment when Linus gives the lecture on what Christmas is really about, Charlie Brown, is the moment of the year when I kinda almost wish I still believed heartily in all that. This is a must-watch yearly. We don’t get WTAE very well, but I’ll rig up the rabbit ears and/or go to someone else’s house and make this happen.
- Tuesday, December 5: “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town,” ABC, 8:00. A classic Rankin-Bass with some wonderful songs: “Put One Foot in Front of the Other” gets stuck in my head in a sort of awful way, but that’s okay. The Burgomeister Meisterberger’s number about banning toys and there being no more toymakers to the king is my fave, though. I don’t think this one has been on network TV the past few years — good to see they’ve brought it back.
- Friday, December 8: This is a big night; I hope there’s nothing exciting going on outside of my house because I don’t plan on leaving. CBS’s animated holiday special tour de force: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and “Frosty Returns.” It seems like a bit of overkill to put these all on one night, but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures, and it takes a lot of firepower to beat out Stossel AND “To Catch a Predator” in the ratings. “Rudolph” is the king of the holiday specials. Frosty says inane stuff like “You wouldn’t be sneezing if you weren’t cold!” and “Frosty Returns” features such mid-’90s stalwarts as John Goodman. ‘Nuff said.
- Saturday, December 9: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” ABC, 8:00. If you don’t catch it on network TV, turn on TBS anytime between now and Christmas Eve. If “A Christmas Story” is on, you waited too long.
- Sunday, December 10: “It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie,” WBGN, 11 a.m. This was apparently made for NBC in 2002 and features cameos from Yoda and Triumph. I don’t remember if I watched it then, but it sounds decently funny, or at least campy. Apparently not a keeper, though, since in four years’ time it managed to slide from a prime time spot on NBC to a Sunday morning slot on that channel that’s, like, not really public access, but still shows “The Beverly Hillbillies” several times a night.
- Monday, December 11: “The Year Without a Santa Claus,” NBC, 9:00. Kudos to NBC for bringing this one back to network TV. Why the hell is it on at 9:00? Little kids go to bed at 9:00, guys. The Snowmiser isn’t THAT scary.
- Tuesday, December 12: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” ABC, 8:00. Since TBS showing it daily for a month AND ABC showing it once in prime time wasn’t enough.
I’ve left off all the shows on cable because, hey, I don’t have cable. Also, as I may have noted above (below?), Garfield is notably absent from this year’s crop of specials. My righteous indignance knows no bounds with respect to this. Perhaps I will fire off an ugly email in the direction of Rob Owen.
I’m not sure if it’s against protocol to comment on your own blog post rather than make a whole new post, but I had another thought on this subject. Conspicuously absent this year is Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire. The UK version was great; it became kind of ugly when CBS overdubbed most of the voices (with Britney Spears and Brad Garret) for an American release somewhere around 2001 or 2002. Also, what’s funny is that IMDB lists the American version as the “English version.”
I do it all the time…
i’ve gotta say that in addition to holiday movies made in the mid-60s (a charlie brown x-mas and rudolph) the mid-80s had stellar movies as well - though they’re not shown much anymore. i’m thinking of “a christmas toy” and “a muppet family christmas.” they’re probably so stellar cause they’re both fueled by the late jim henson. and they’re probably not shown cause then everyone will remember how great those were and how disney is a piece of shit.
Ditto that sentiment for Emmett Otter. That one’s not on broadcast this year (I don’t think it has been since I’ve been aware of my surroundings) but we’ve got that shit on VHS.
Is “A Muppet Family Christmas” the one with John Denver? And Maureen the Mink? I used to make fun of my sister about that because her name’s Maureen. I miss that one — we’ve threatened to buy it, but I don’t think we ever have.