Best Classic Holiday TV Specials
Can't recall the most famous made-for-TV specials of all? Relax, we've got them here. Consider it our little gift to you.
'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'
One had a very shiny nose, one just wanted to make a living in orthodontia -- Hermey the outcast elf is never mentioned in the song, but he's a charmer, as are all the cast-offs on the island of misfit toys. This Claymation-animated holiday treasure takes the triumph-over-adversity story line to new heights, and wraps it in a pretty package. Buy the DVD
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'A Christmas Carol'
'Star Trek: The Next Generation''s Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) goes boldly where no actor (OK, maybe a few dozen) has gone before -- portraying Ebenezer Scrooge in this Emmy-nominated rendition of 'A Christmas Carol.' Also not to be missed is Stewart's one-man audio version of the Dickens story. Buy the DVD
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'It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie'
While Kermit is struggling to keep the theater running (natch), he has a 'It's a Wonderful Life'-style dream of what the world would be like without him ... and though it's certainly more laugh-filled than George Bailey's epiphany, it isn't a pretty picture. Filled with fun cameos by the likes of David Arquette and Whoopi Goldberg. Buy the DVD
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'Happy Holidays With Bing and Frank'
In his heyday, Bing Crosby was practically Mr. Christmas himself (and we still totally dig his '80s-era 'Drummer Boy' video with David Bowie). In this '57 special, Crosby joins forces with Old Blue Eyes, proving the formula: Bing Crosby + Frank Sinatra x Christmas = instant classic. Seriously. We did the math. Buy the DVD
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'A Charlie Brown Christmas'
This special has it all: Snoopy gone mad with a decorating obsession, Linus moving us to tears with his plaintive retelling of the birth of Jesus and Charlie Brown just being Charlie Brown, forlorn little underappreciated tree and all. Still magical to watch after all these years, it's a yuletide gem for the whole family. Buy the DVD
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'The Donny and Marie 1978 Christmas Show'
She's a little bit country, he's a little bit rock & roll -- and in this special they're all business (about Christmas). Filmed at the height of their variety show success, the show features the whole Osmond clan cooking, skiing and doing what they do best, singing (though now, in Marie's case, that would clearly be dancing). Buy the DVD
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'Olive the Other Reindeer'
Hands down, the best holiday special centering on a misheard lyric. When Santa's prized reindeer Blitzen is injured, spunky dog Olive decides she's destined for the task of saving Christmas because she misunderstands the words "all of the other reindeer." Drew Barrymore brings Olive sweetly to life in this funny and touching animated tale. Buy the DVD
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'George Balanchine's The Nutcracker'
Kevin Kline narrates the action as a wispy vision of a Sugar Plum Fairy glides around the stage. Ignore the appearance of Macaulay Culkin (if you can), and just enjoy George Balanchine's choreography; it's the definitive version of this timeless ballet. Buy the DVD
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'The Simpsons' - Christmas
The first full-length 'Simpsons' episode is still one of the best. Lovable loser Homer takes a job as a department store Santa to make some money for gifts but gambles away all the loot at the dog track -- and then in quintessential Homerian fashion, still figures out a way to save the (Christmas) day. As Homie might say, "Ho, Ho, D'oh." Buy the DVD
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Comments
by bc, posted Dec 2nd 2010
The choice of the 1993 film version of 'The Nutcracker' over the transcendent 1977 television production with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland, on a TV-centric site to boot, is baffling.
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by Karen, posted Dec 6th 2010
I read about the incredible bargains that people were getting from the online penny auction sites and thought they had to be scams. The one that has the best deals is Http://bit.ly/BestPennyAuction and I checked with the Better Business Bureau and was told that it is all legit. How they can sell gift cards, laptops, cameras, and all kinds of goodies that we all want for 50-90% off, I don't know. I do know that I bought my son an iPad there for less than $100 and my husband a $250 Loews gift cards for $48. Why would I even think about buying my Christmas gifts anyplace else?
by SebastianCanada, posted Dec 2nd 2010
A Christmas Memory is wonderful. I think I only actually saw it once, but it made a tremendous impression. It is in the same category as A Christmas without Snow. I will go in search of the DVD.
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by John F.C. Taylor, posted Dec 2nd 2010
Of all the versions of A Christmas Carol, the one I would watch last has to be the one with Patrick Stewart. First would be the 1938 version with the Lockhart family, then the 1951 version. Yes, definitely Charlie Brown and all of the Rankin/Bass stop motion animated classics.
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by Adam, posted Dec 2nd 2010
A Muppet Family Christmas beats the crap out of Very Merry Muppet Christmas.
Also, Claymation Christmas, underrated.
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by alk02g, posted Dec 3rd 2010
true story. A Muppet Family Christmas is my very, very favorite.
by Blaquestarr, posted Dec 6th 2010
Actually, I'd take Muppet's Christmas Carol over both of those.
It encompasses both the Dicken's classic and the Muppet's zaniness in a wonderful yuletime package
by Brett Alan, posted Dec 2nd 2010
Nice to see A Year Without A Santa Claus on there.
Just to pick a nit, the Bing Crosby/David Bowie duet was in the 70s, not the 80s. Crosby died in 1977, not long after it was filmed.
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by Ann Marie FASBINDER, posted Dec 3rd 2010
Where is Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol???????
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by pookeydo, posted Dec 4th 2010
on my dvd rack along with "the yule log" and "the house without a christmas tree"
by sherry, posted Dec 6th 2010
you can buy it on Amazon! Love that show!
by Joe Phillips, posted Dec 6th 2010
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, whoever you are, Ann Marie, for remembering this Mr. Magoo gem! I know it's not politically correct any more to like anything to do with the myopic Magoo, but growing up as a kid, this special was, pardon the pun, an eye-opener -- a real departure into drama for Magoo, the right mix of comedy and stark storytelling. Makes me wonder if Jim Backus would have made a great live-action Scrooge. And some of the songs: I still cry at the simplicity of "I'm All Alone In The World," and laugh my butt off at the three villains -- "LAH, LAH, La-la-la-la-LAH! We're just blankety-blank-blank -- NO GOOD!" My wife found this on the internet a few years ago and it was one of the greatest Christmas presents ever! Cover your ears but open your eyes for the goofy opening "Broadway!" number, crack open a jar of Wuffleberry Dressing and settle in for an animated masterpiece!
by zpunk, posted Dec 4th 2010
YESSS the Ule Log
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by Tommo, posted Dec 5th 2010
Everybody knows there is only one Ebenezer Scrooge and that is Alistair Simm......IMHO of course.
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by Joe Phillips, posted Dec 6th 2010
Goerge C. Scott is pretty amazing too....
by Audrey, posted Dec 5th 2010
I think one of the greatest Christmas movies starring Kris Kristoferson was Miracle in the Wilderness. Wish it was on tv every year but I have not seen it in years on tv...Wondering why its not shown?? Thank you Merry Christmas and God Bless you.
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