Christmas Special



A mostly American subgenre -- special television shows, often one-shots, created with a winter or holiday theme for broadcast during the month of December. Most prominently feature Santa Claus and his associated mythology, as they try to preserve political correctness. Some try to elucidate us on the True Meaning of Christmas.

Perhaps the best-known Christmas Specials are the animated ones (including the stop-motion animations produced primarily by Rankin/Bass) from the 1960s through the 1970s that rerun annually. Far more numerous, though, are the various celebrity specials, which usually take the form of a low-key holiday-themed Variety Show. Usually the latter are rather forgettable by virtue of their one-off nature, but sometimes they can generate moments that survive decades. A case in point would be the Bing Crosby-David Bowie duet of "The Little Drummer Boy", which has taken on a life of its own above and beyond the 1970s-vintage Crosby special from which it sprang.

Compare Christmas Episode (generally known as Christmas Specials in the UK) and Halloween Special. If the holiday celebrated in the special only looks like Christmas but is renamed to match the setting, it's a You Mean Xmas.


 * Disney put out From All of Us to All of You on its weekly show in 1958 - some new cartoon footage linking excerpts from their classic animated films and old shorts, and preview clips from their new features. After a few decades it faded away from American tv, but continues to be a very big draw in the UK and Scandinavia.
 * Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962) was the first animated one of these to be produced expressly for television.
 * Dinner for One (1963, usually associated with New Year's Eve)
 * Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1964)
 * Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: The Movie (1998). It's mostly unrelated though.
 * A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965; directly references the religious basis of Christmas when Linus, in a spotlight no less, quotes the Christmas story from one of the gospels)
 * There are actually four Peanuts Christmas specials. Obviously, A Charlie Brown Christmas easily overshadows the other three, which consist of It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (1992), Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales (2002), and I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown (2003). Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales was created specifically to pad out an hour timeslot for A Charlie Brown Christmas so that it wouldn't have to be Edited for Syndication.
 * How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
 * The Little Drummer Boy (1968; one of the rare specials which focused on the Nativity)
 * Frosty the Snowman (1969)
 * The Night the Animals Talked (1970; another rare Nativity-themed show)
 * Santa Claus Is Comin to Town (1970)
 * The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974, animated; 2006, live action)
 * Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974)
 * A Cosmic Christmas (1977) (Canadian-produced and featuring aliens searching for the meaning of Christmas)
 * Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey (1977)
 * Emmet Otters Jug Band Christmas (1977)
 * The oh so infamous The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)
 * John Denver And The Muppets: A Christmas Together (1979)
 * The Snowman (1982) (notable as one of the first British examples)
 * In France, Le Père Noël est une ordure (1982) is broadcast virtually every single year on one of the six main channels around Christmas. It's actually a very dark comedy one of whose characters works as a Mall Santa.
 * He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special. Features some hilarious scenes in which Skeletor becomes infused with the Christmas spirit, much to his befuddlement. (1985)
 * The Christmas Toy (Jim Henson) (1986)
 * A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)
 * Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988)
 * The Barney franchise has four Christmas specials: Waiting for Santa (1990), Barney's Night Before Christmas (1999), Barney's Christmas Star (2002), and A Very Merry Christmas (2011).
 * Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas (1991)
 * Father Christmas (1991)
 * A Wish for Wings That Work (1991)
 * Nick and Noel (1993)
 * The Town Santa Forgot (1993)
 * The Reduced Shakespeare Company Christmas (radio, 1995)
 * Spot's Magical Christmas (1995)
 * Bear in The Big Blue House: A Berry Bear Christmas (1999)
 * Olive the Other Reindeer (1999)
 * Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire (1999)
 * Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer (2000)
 * South Park started out as one of those, Christmas In South Park. (2000)
 * Arthur's Perfect Christmas (2000)
 * Franklin: Franklin's Magic Christmas (2001).
 * The True Meaning of Christmas Specials (2002) with David Foley of Kids in The Hall (and News Radio) fame.
 * It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)
 * Cailou's Holiday Movie (2003)
 * The TV adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather (2006)
 * Doctor Steel's Dr. Steel Christmas Special (2007) and A Dr. Steel Christmas (2009).
 * Leap Frog's A Tad Of Christmas Cheer (2007)
 * Christmas Is Here Again (2007)
 * A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift Of All. Contains both actual religious issues, and killer bears. (2008)
 * A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008)
 * Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation! (2009)
 * Prep and Landing (2009)
 * Red vs. Blue often does holiday specials; in 2009, they made a 3-part special for Christmas.
 * Strawberry Shortcake has two: Berry Merry Christmas (2003 continuity) and The Glimmerberry Ball Movie (2009 continuity).
 * Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special (2010). Given the setting is ancient China, the producers use the Winter Festival instead for the occasion, which also makes the special applicable from American Thanksgiving to New Years in the future.
 * Hoops & Yoyo Ruin Christmas (2011)
 * "'Elf on the Shelf'' (2011)
 * Bitchin Kitchen (2011)
 * Charlie and Lola had an episode with the siblings visiting the elves and saving Christmas.
 * The Venture Brothers "A Very Venture Christmas" - introduced the Krampus to much of America.
 * The Adventures Of The League of STEAM episode, "The Fright Before Christmas".