Last week I wrote a post about my top five Christmas movies of all time, and as expected, I got beat up a little bit by people who disagreed. All the emails and comments brought a smile to my face and some validation that it’s ok for a middle-aged dude to enjoy Christmas movies. Many of the notes I received made arguments for TV specials like A Charlie Brown Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, etc. My response was the same: this poll was about movies only, not TV specials. So, guess what I’m writing about this week? That’s right: My Top Five Christmas TV Specials.
Before revealing the list, let’s discuss some rules I added to ensure a fair contest:
- The full length cannot exceed 60 minutes.
- Regular TV series annual specials are included, but graded harshly. For example, the Festivas episode did not make the list primarily because Seinfeld was a TV show that happened to air an episode about Christmas (actually, it wasn’t about Christmas at all, but you get my point).
- Claymation shows received bonus points because I was a little boy in the 1970s and they have a special place in my heart.
- If it originally aired on Hallmark station, it was disqualified.
This was a much tougher task for me than the movies. There wasn’t a clear number one like It’s a Wonderful Life. However, I believe I captured the best five. Alright, drumroll please…
- Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I tried so hard to keep this one off the list, but how can I do that? When I was a kid, my mom made sure we knew the exact day and time this aired on CBS.
- A Charlie Brown Christmas. “Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!” Does that ring in your head? I think this is the only Peanuts feature in which Charlie gets any respect.
- Happy Days – 1974 Christmas episode. This was the first year of Happy Days, when Fonzie was still developing into a character. At dinner time, he’s asked to say grace, and his prayer is probably the best one you’ll ever hear.
- Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas. Many of you won’t know this Jim Henson special first produced and aired by HBO in the late 70s, but the ones that do know it understand why it’s on the list. What a simple and unique story … and if you look really hard, you can see the puppet strings.
- A Year Without a Santa Claus. “I’m Mr. Heat Miser, I’m Mr. Sun. I’m Mr. Green Christmas, I’m Mr. 101.” I admit, I went back and forth on number one, but when it comes down to it, the Miser brothers pulled away from the pack.
Others to receive votes: Twas the Night Before Christmas, Flinstones Christmas (where Fred had to be Santa Claus), and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Santa Claus is Coming to Town had too much hippy influence for me.
BTW, if you can find the Riptide Christmas episode from 1985, watch it. I didn’t include it because many of you don’t know of that show. (Also, I didn’t want to be the guy that claims The Airborne Toxic Event among the greatest rock and roll bands of all time just to sound cool.)
Happy Holidays everyone!
