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christmas specials
Christmas TV Specials 2011: When They're On, and What Channel
by Denette Wilford, posted Dec 7th 2011 12:45PM
We've made a list, checked it more than twice and there are definitely movies and specials that are naughty and nice -- in other words, classic holiday fare for anyone and everyone.
The holiday season has come rather rapidly, and in case you missed some of your favourites, don't sweat it. In typical TV form, they'll repeat, and sometimes on the same network (we're looking at you 'Frosty,' 'Shrek,' 'Charlie' and 'Rudolph').
It's the time of year when loved ones get together to eat, drink and be merry, but television gets into the spirit of things by airing specials, movies and variety shows. There are the classics that have been airing for decades ('It's a Wonderful Life,' 'Miracle on 34th Street'), and some other modern treats that have received a yuletide spin ('Elf,' 'Kung Fu Panda,' 'The Elf on the Shelf') but whatever you fancy, here are the gems you should definitely be watching this month.
The holiday season has come rather rapidly, and in case you missed some of your favourites, don't sweat it. In typical TV form, they'll repeat, and sometimes on the same network (we're looking at you 'Frosty,' 'Shrek,' 'Charlie' and 'Rudolph').
It's the time of year when loved ones get together to eat, drink and be merry, but television gets into the spirit of things by airing specials, movies and variety shows. There are the classics that have been airing for decades ('It's a Wonderful Life,' 'Miracle on 34th Street'), and some other modern treats that have received a yuletide spin ('Elf,' 'Kung Fu Panda,' 'The Elf on the Shelf') but whatever you fancy, here are the gems you should definitely be watching this month.
What's On Christmas Day
by Bob Sassone, posted Dec 24th 2009 7:00PM
TBS is running A Christmas Story all day.- FX has Night at the Museum all day.
- AMC is showing National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation all day.
- Hallmark has Christmas TV movies all day.
- Nickelodeon has Christmas episodes all day, including iCarly, Fairly OddParents, True Jackson, VP, and Drake & Josh.
- BBC America has Christmas episodes all day, including Gavin & Stacey and Absolutely Fabulous.
- At 6AM, Cartoon Network and Boomerang start an all-day marathon of Christmas cartoons and specials.
- At 8, MTV2 has a Real World: Cancun marathon.
- At 8:30, Comedy Central has A Colbert Christmas.
- At 9, Discovery has a Mythbusters marathon.
- Spike has a Bad Santa marathon at 9.
- At 9:30, Lifetime has Christmas episodes of various shows, including Frasier, Reba, and Will & Grace, as well as Christmas movies.
What's your favorite Christmas special or movie?
by Bob Sassone, posted Dec 17th 2009 6:59PM
I'm the rare type of person whose favorite Christmas movies of all-time also happen to be my favorite movies of all-time period, It's A Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. We're in the middle of December now and we're all watching our favorite Christmas movies or animated specials (either on TV or via DVD), so I thought I'd ask which is your favorite. (I know, I didn't include every single Christmas special ever made, but that's why God created the word "other").
| It's A Wonderful Life | |
|---|---|
| Miracle on 34th Street | |
| Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer | |
| Santa Claus is Comin' To town | |
| A Christmas Story | |
| The Year Without A Santa Claus | |
| White Christmas | |
| A Christmas Carol (any version) | |
| Frosty The Snowman | |
| How The Grinch Stole Christmas (animated) | |
| A Charlie Brown Christmas |
Rudolph the Ratings Bully beats ABC, NBC, and FOX
by Bob Sassone, posted Dec 3rd 2009 5:28PM
This is the kind of TV ratings news that warms my heart: last night's airing of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer on CBS was the most-watched show of the entire night on any of the other networks, including Christmas in Rockefeller Center, So You Think You Can Dance, The Middle, The Grammy Nominations Concert, and Glee.The Rankin/Bass Christmas special with the dentist elf and random misfit toys grabbed an impressive 10.7 million viewers.
That's pretty good for a 45 year-old animated special that we've all seen 97 times (and probably own on DVD), no? There's something amazingly comforting about that: the same Christmas specials (Rudolph, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, It's A Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, etc) are pulled out every single year and we still watch them. It's the sort of television comfort food that we can't resist.
Neil Patrick Harris is Frosty the Inappropriate Snowman
by Bob Sassone, posted Dec 3rd 2009 2:33PM
This looks like something a fan made up on the web but it was actually created by CBS. It's to promote the upcoming airings of Frosty the Snowman and Frosty Returns, as well as How I Met Your Mother. Is there anything Neil Patrick Harris isn't in these days?
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Christmas Special rolls out red carpet
by John Scott Lewinski, posted Nov 15th 2009 9:05AM
The cast of the FX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia gathered a stone's throw from Beverly Hills this week to celebrate the release of the show's new Christmas special.A Very Sunny Christmas arrives on Blu-ray and DVD November 17 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. Fox teamed with Maxim Magazine to hold a festive bash last Thursday night at Guys and Dolls Lounge in the shadow of Cedar Sinai Hospital on Beverly Blvd. (Event gallery below.)
A modest red carpet set-up gathered a cramped collection of reporters and photographers together to greet the arrivals of show stars Danny DeVito, Kaitlin Olson, Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton and Charlie Day.
As if looking to mimic the bleak Philadelphia winter, rain sprinkled the LA streets in the hours leading up to the event -- and temperatures hovering in the low 50s made it a goose bumpy night for the several cocktail dress-clad ladies mingling in the crowd.
%Gallery-78219%
What's On Christmas Day: Marathons, Movies, and Specials
by Bob Sassone, posted Dec 24th 2008 7:01PM
Here's a quick guide to what's on Christmas Day, stuff to watch while you're opening presents, making snowmen, and eating way too much pumpkin pie. - HGTV and Food Network have holiday programming all day.
- TNT is showing Law and Order all day.
- TBS is showing the movie A Christmas Story all day.
- Nickelodeon and TV Land have Christmas episodes of various sitcoms and dramas all day.
- BBC America also has Christmas episodes all day long.
- At 7am, all of the morning shows (Today, Good Morning, America, and The Early Show) will have Christmas features, music, and recipes.
- At 8, Lifetime has a Golden Girls marathon.
- Sci-Fi has a Star Trek: TNG marathon at 8.
- Bravo has a Christmas episode of The West Wing at 8, then a Top Chef marathon.
Seven of the worst TV Christmas specials - VIDEOS
by Danny Gallagher, posted Dec 22nd 2008 2:15PM
Where would we be without the hallowed television Christmas special? We would be engaged in enthralling conversations with relatives who like to give the backstory about the gall bladder operation pictures they still carry in their wallet. We would be playing defense against every breakable item in the house while the neighbor's kids get enough sugar in their systems to power the Space Shuttle. We would not only have to muster the courage to taste Grandma's homemade rum and Kahula fruitcake, but also to pretend that we like it without our stomach turning inside out, crawling up our esophagus and out of our mouth. Even if those scenarios will be true for you on Dec. 25, I offer you my pity as my Christmas gift. Plus, you still would rather spend it listening to ol' Uncle Hernia Scar than watching one of these holiday hams.
What's your favorite Christmas special?
by Bob Sassone, posted Dec 1st 2008 8:06AM
Hey, it's December!
That means that the Christmas specials are about to start, if they haven't started already. Tonight we have How The Grinch Stole Christmas (8:30pm on ABC) and on Wednesday we have Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (8pm on CBS). And still to come, of course, are It's A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and many more. Not to mention all of those Lifetime Christmas movies where someone falls in love around the holidays, plus all of the Christmas episodes of our favorite TV shows. I think Heroes is going to have a special episode where Santa goes up against Sylar.
I would have to say that after all of these years, It's A Wonderful Life is still my favorite. I love The Grinch and Rudolph and A Charlie Brown Christmas as much as the next person (Frosty has never been a favorite, though), but It's A Wonderful Life is the movie I have to stop and watch if I come across it channel surfing.
One last story about Christmas TV, OK?
by Bob Sassone, posted Jan 9th 2008 8:24AM
I always get a little bummed out after Christmas and New Year's. The holiday buzz has died down, and the lights still up around town look a little sad and lonely. It doesn't help when the January weather is sunny and 63 degrees (that's just not right people). So forgive me if I post one more story about the holiday season.
TiVo got stats from 20,000 of their users and figured out what Christmas special was the most popular this year. It wasn't any show starring Charlie Brown or Frosty. It was that animal with the shiny nose that wasn't allowed to participate in any organized sports. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer was the most watched special with TiVo users, and that includes people who watched the show live and those who recorded it.
After the jump, the top 10.
What's On Tonight: Naruto, America's Most Wanted, Christmas Food
by Bob Sassone, posted Dec 15th 2007 4:03PM
At 8, ABC has Ben Affleck in Surviving Christmas. - NBC repeats the Saturday Night Live Christmas special at 8.
- Food Network has a bunch of holiday food episodes, starting with Emeril Live at 8.
- ABC Family has the movie Snowglobe at 8.
- At 8:30, FOX has a new Cops, followed by a new America's Most Wanted.
- At 9, Lifetime has the movie Christmas in Paradise.
- Cartoon Network has two new episodes of Naruto at 9, then a new One Piece.
- Hallmark has the movie Love's Unfolding Dream at 9.
Check your local TV listings for more.
Out of the Blogosphere
by Bob Sassone, posted Dec 8th 2007 9:17AM
What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.
- On December 17, Ann Curry is going to bungee jump off a bridge.
- Here's the trailer for the big screen Speed Racer movie.
- Behind the scenes of Rachael Ray.
- MTV picks the 10 most uncomfortable star interview moments (I think the Phoenix interview should be #1).
- Cracked picks the 13 most ridiculous TV shows of all-time (I don't agree with their choices of Quark and The 100 Lives of Blackjack Savage.)
- Tim Goodman has started a new TV blog, and he picks the 5 best Christmas specials, and I really can't argue with that list (though Miracle on 34th Street should probably be in there).
Grandma got run over by a lawsuit - VIDEO
by Bob Sassone, posted Nov 28th 2007 12:07PM
I heard this song a couple of nights ago and I wondered what happened to the guy who sang it. Now I know.
Elmo Shropshire, who sang the 1979 Christmas classic "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer," is being sued by The Fred Rappoport Company, who says that Shropshire is interfering in a deal the company has to make Christmas collectibles based on characters from a 2000 TV special based on the song.
Are you ready for a Christmas-themed reality show?
by Bob Sassone, posted Sep 21st 2007 6:23PM
Not even Christmas is safe from reality show producers.
The people who brought you Dancing with the Stars have another show up their sleeves: Clash of the Choirs. It will pit five celebrity singers who will go back to their hometowns and try to build a choir. Once the choirs are built and perform live, viewers will vote for them via phone (of course). The winner gets to pick a prize for their hometown (I suggest maybe passing a law that says no reality shows can be filmed in their hometowns). The four episode show will run just before Christmas, December 17-20.
Festivus Retro Squad: Frosty the Snowman
by Keith McDuffee, posted Dec 15th 2006 11:00AM
For the past few weeks now, I've seen the Frosty the Snowman Christmas special about ... oh ... fifty-seven times. No, it's not because I'm a big sucker for holiday specials (though I am). And no, it's not because I have an unhealthy attraction to strange American-looking, anime-like holiday cartoons (I know that sounds weird). It's because I've gone and introduced this Christmas classic to my two-year old son, and now I've gone and done it.
My son Owen is now a Frosty junkie.
So, seeing as my son is becoming much more of an expert at the show than I am, I thought maybe he should review it for you, with some translation from me of course. Let's take it scene by scene, shall we?
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