Look, I watched a lot of TV as a child. Growing up I had my own TV with a VHS player and my parents were not shy about giving me things to watch on said VHS player. I also have a penchant for pop culture’s lost and forgotten, so even as an adult I consume a lot of holiday detritus in hopes of stumbling upon a gem.
So for this list, much like my earlier Halloween list, is me making my long memory all of your problems by listing out a bunch of (relatively) obscure holiday specials and why they’re still worth seeking out even if you’re not me.
And like the last list, I’m not picking anything I consider too played out, or thoroughly represented on Holiday programming lists. I already flexed my Rankin/Bass knowledge for this site and don’t feel the need to do it again. Maybe poke me around Easter and I’ll opine my love for Here Comes Peter Cottontail.
The Simpson’s Christmas Special
“Come on, Dad, if TV has taught me anything, it’s that miracles always happen to poor kids at Christmas. It happened to Tiny Tim, it happened to Charlie Brown, it happened to the Smurfs, and it’s gonna happen to us..”
Also called Simpsons Roasting Over An Open Fire, this is largely considered the Simpson’s first. Episode. Ever. The way to consider it in context is that that The Simpsons were a popular series of shorts on the Tracy Ullman Show and this was made as their first solo project to test the waters if the yellow springfieldians would work in longer format.
As such, it has a bit more animation budget than Simpsons‘ Season 1. The Simpsons aren’t quite so rubbery, though you may need adjusting to the deeper voices and milder tone. It’s a slow special about Homer struggling to provide a nice Christmas in the face of financial setbacks, even going so far as to become a Mall Santa. It’s remarkably tender and reminds us that the Simpsons were written like real people once, rather than their flanderized roles. The ending actually makes me tear up a bit, but maybe I just love dogs.
A Wish for Wings that Work
“As your records should show, I am a bird. Specifically, a penguin.”
In my Halloween list I called out that the success of Charlie Brown Christmas led to execs hungrily looking at other comic strips to adapt into seasonal specials. Johnny Hart’s B.C. got a Christmas special, which should tell you how much they were throwing at the wall. So here we have a special based on Berkeley Breathed’s Bloom County (Or Outland, or Opus, or Bloom County 2015) starring Mr. “Pear Dimples for Hairy Fishnuts” Himself, Opus the Penguin.
The story, partially adapted from a children’s book by Breathed of the same name, follows mediocre bird Opus as he wallows in the Christmas season due to his flightlessness, eventually writing to Father Christmas for a pair of flappable wings. People expecting a showcase of Bloom County characters might find themselves disappointed as this primarily focus on Opus and clinically brain-dead Bill the Cat. Fans of Rocko’s Modern Life may find a lot familiar to Breathed’s humor. A sort of surreal mixing of childlike wonder with noticeably cynical characters.
When the story reaches it’s small climax, the atmosphere is something really tender, giving the predictable revelation some real weight. I don’t think this is an exceptional special, but I think it’s worth seeking out if you want to mix-up your usual holiday viewings.
Am I crazy, or does that kiwi sound familiar?
The Carpenters at Christmas/A Very Murray Christmas
“I could’ve been someone…”
I knew this list needed some sort of celebrity-hosted Christmas variety show, but there were so many to choose from that I got choice paralysis. It’s an age-old tradition, popularized by Bing Crosby’s annual Christmas radio shows, that persist to this day. Get a celebrity singer, put them in a snowbound cabin or some crap, and have other celebs drop by for duets or schtick. I could recommend Bing’s Merrie Olde Christmas, or modern takes like Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show, or parodies like A Colbert Christmas (which would be on this list IF I COULD FIND THE FULL THING ANYWHERE.)
Instead I settled on this entry being a twofer. First we have the sincere, of the time, The Carpenters at Christmas from 1977. Love them or hate them, The Carpenters were kinda an ideal match for a Christmas special. The bittersweet tenderness of Karen’s voice gives us great renditions of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” or “Sleigh Ride” and Richard’s inclination for composition makes sure they’re not quite like any version you’ve heard before. The special alternates between Karen singing while getting ready for her big Christmas shindig while Richard does comedy with Harvey Korman. The hardest part for modern audiences to swallow is towards the end when considerable screen time is given to Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, garish characters from a mid-fifties public access puppet show that was old even when this special aired.
The modern special for this entry is A Very Murray Christmas. Some people struggle with this special and I think it’s because they’re unprepared they are for how straight it plays the “Celebrity Christmas Party” concept. Bill Murray is trapped in a hotel lounge at Christmas after special he was supposed to make fell through. He passes time by singing Christmas songs with other patrons. The singing is done live and lends a bit of authenticity to the proceedings. It reminds me of Vince Guaraldi’s score for Charlie Brown Christmas. There’s ennui, but it’s a shared ennui, and that loops it around to being warm and tender. It doesn’t last the whole special, as the ending songs are big show numbers taking place in Murray’s dreams with Miley Cyrus and George Clooney. Honestly think the special would be stronger without them, but it’s all still fun.
A Muppet Family Christmas
“Life would just pass in a blur if not for times like this.”
I know we’re all supposed to pump-up Muppet Christmas Carol for class solidarity or some shit, but honestly that movie never did much for me, even as an attested Muppet-head. The Muppets have actually done quite a few Christmas specials (more than one of them hosted by John Denver), but I think they never did it better than A Muppet Family Christmas.
The premise is quite simple, taking from the model of those celeb-driven specials I talked about earlier. The Muppet gang spend Christmas at Fozzie’s family farm and shennanigans ensue, but what makes this special extra special is that it’s not just starring the Muppets. Partway through, carolers from Sesame Street arrive and join in the proceedings (Swedish Chef tries to cook Big Bird for the Christmas dinner) and later Kermit and Robin take a trip down to Fraggle Rock. It’s the most ambitious crossover in history.
It’s classic Muppet Show comedy and musical numbers at their best and the crying shame of it all is that it will likely never see an official release because of it’s crossover nature. Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock are all owned by different companies these days and the best we got for a reunion was this, admittedly sweet, video we got back in October. Luckily, Muppet fans are all video digitization wizards and you have a large selection of HD restorations available through non-official means.
Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas
“A person’s got to take some chances or life will never come to nothin’”
Yep, I’m double-dipping into the Henson well, but this is a very different flavor of Jim Henson from the Muppets. Emmet Otter is…well it’s just sweet, and cold, but mostly sweet. The special is introduced by Kermit, but the characters have a more grounded, natural look to them than the usual Muppet cast.
Emmet Otter and his Ma live at the bottom rung of society in a podunk rural town. Both want to get the other a nice Christmas gift, so they enter the local talent show that’s promising a fifty-dollar cash prize. It’s a Gift of the Magi story with a bittersweet end that rings true. I can’t overstate how authentic the atmosphere of this thing is. The characters are bundled in layers and the pallet is quite muted, selling the idea of a grey midwest winter. Regular Muppet collaborator Paul Williams wrote all the songs and he just knocked it out of the park with some of these melodies.
And for Muppet-heads like myself, it’s a treat to see Henson’s team do bits of puppetry I can’t say they’ve done elsewhere. Some wideshots have the characters as marionettes set against miniatures, animatronics ice skate in the background, Emmet and Ma sing as they row up the river in an effect I still have no idea how they pulled off. Once you’ve watched the special you can check out this vid of Jerry Nelson and Frank Oz losing their minds from Henson’s perfectionism.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean
“Have you got the turkey on?”
This almost didn’t make the list, but then I remember I have literally watched it every year since discovering Mr. Bean in 2004. Like most of the short-lived series, Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean follows the mumbling menace bumbling through various holiday shenanigans.
I think what made Rowan Atkinson stand out amongst the elder silent comedy stars is the penchant for Mr. Bean to have a mean streak. He has no regard for boundaries or mortal laws and in other episodes it makes you smile just a bit to see Bean get his comeuppance. Here in the Christmas episode, the focus is much more on Bean’s childlike qualities as he eagerly shows off his stocking to his teddy bear, or mails Christmas cards to himself. Its all a bit sad, innit? Still, you can’t feel too bad for the guy given he’ll likely be over it the moment he catches sight of something shiny on his periphery.
If you know anything about the special it’s the scene where Bean gets his head stuck inside an absolutely massive turkey, but for me the real standouts are Bean’s Christmas gift to his girlfriend (a stupid punchline I won’t spoil) and Bean playing with a nativity set like they’re action figures which is exactly what I did as a child (much to my deeply catholic grandmother’s annoyance).
Recess: Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave
“Alright, pipe down you yule-igans, or you’ll be in detention till Christmas yet to come!”
This is getting on the list largely as an apology to the show Recess for not appreciating it in it’s time. Of the canon of shows about how cool it is to be a kid, arguably none did it better than Recess (though modern show Craig of the Creek might be it’s rival for that title). The distinct and diverse cast may articulate like adults, but their priorities and worldviews still very much reflect their age.
The Christmas episode (I know Recess did a whole 1 hour Christmas anthology, I couldn’t find it anywhere in time for this video) follow thespian and big beautiful boy Mikey grappling with the news that his friends don’t believe in Santa. His gradual disillusionment with the holiday threatens Third Street Elementary’s non-denominational holiday pageant, which just happens to be broadcasting to Times Square this year.
It is ultimately a very standard “Believing in Santa is a matter of faith” Christmas tale replicated elsewhere, but it’s really the one-liners that carry this. Again, I do not remember Recess being this funny. It also shows a time when Disney was bold enough to say “Santa’s not only black (voiced by James Earl Jones) but he also doesn’t have a beard.”
Rifftrax Live: Christmas Shorts-stravaganza!/Santa Claus
“Finally on the silver screen, the be-top-hatted spider-dog of my nightmares.”
Now let’s get a little esoteric with this list. I’m recommending not one, but two Rifftrax live shows here. For those that don’t know, Rifftrax is the successor project to Mystery Science Theater 3000, where professional comedy professionals crack-wise over forgotten public domain movies and shorts. It’s the liveshow factor that really make these regular viewing for me. The Rifftrax crew come out in ugly sweaters and wish the audience insincere kisses. The live audience reactions help pump up the comedy as sometimes the hosts just let the footage play and let the cringe speak for itself.
The older of these two shows Christmas Shorts-Stravaganza is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a compilation of cartoons and shorts ranging around the sixties and older that all carry an air of unintentional comedy, or a general sinister air. Prepare for creepy dancing dolls, and a sun-burnt, dead-eyed Santa walking around mall displays. Chairman of the US Pork Council Weird Al shows up to do a bit of guest riffing.
The other special also features a few holiday shorts, but is primarily built around the 1959 Mexican film Santa Claus wherein the jolly old elf battles…well, Satan. Merlin is also there. It makes for great riffing material and there’s a few spots where the audience is laughing so hard that the crew has to skip over jokes just to keep up with the footage.
A Claymation Christmas
“Here we come a waffling!”
In the Halloween Specials list I included Will Vinton’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Horrors, and while I’m iffy on that special because of it’s 90s ‘tude I have no such reservations about Claymation Christmas.
This is like a modern, holiday-focused, Fantasia. A pair of MCs introduce various carols and we see them adapted into Will Vinton’s style, often with an amusing twist. Carol of the Bells becomes an orchestra of living bells conducted by Quasimodo, Angels We Have Heard On High is set to ice-skating walruses, and the California Raisins sing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Claymation’s usual mean streak is restrained here and many of the sequences are beautiful. No joke, the do-wop version of We Three Kings is my favorite version of the song.
The utter shame of all my praise is, like many specials on this list, the special is hard to find unless you pony up for the physical copy. Streaming sites don’t carry it and illicit uploads are either incomplete, or in extremely low quality. Still, it’s extremely worth the effort taken to find it.
Hey Arnold!: Arnold’s Christmas
“Merry Christmas, Arnold.”
File Hey Arnold! with Recess up there as a show I did not appreciate when it was airing. Unlike Recess, I always knew there was something special about Hey Arnold! but I could never articulate it, and many of the episodes bummed me out, so I avoided it when it was on air.
Now I’m an adult and can appreciate the unique urban flair to the series and how it tackled heavy subjects from a child’s perspective. That comes up in this Christmas episode, where Arnold is paired with Vietnamese immigrant Mr. Hyuen for a white elephant party. Arnold’s idea of a perfect gift is to reunite Mr. Hyuen with his daughter after the two were separated by the Vietnam War.
So it’s a very different kind of story compared to the schmaltzier entries on this list. Everything still works out in the end, but the desperation and weight of the world is omnipresent in this special. It’s not Christmas miracles, but honest-to-god human selflessness that saves the day, and I think that message is better than any pair of Nancy Spumoni Snow Boots.
Olive, the Other Reindeer
“Forgive us if we all have attitude, we’re up a frozen crik!”
Including Olive was the reason I didn’t want to call this list “Forgotten Christmas Specials.” Cause I’m pretty certain no one who grew up with Cartoon Network has forgotten it. The trick is that the people who currently run the network seem to have forgotten it. Right now, you can watch Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer on Fubo or Prime Video, but to watch Olive you have to go to a rip on YouTube.
And that’s a shame because Olive is a real unique stand-alone special. The story of a small, dog-like reindeer rushing to the north pole to save Christmas sounds schmaltzy at first, but then you remember that this was written by 90s Simpsons writers. The humor is really sharp while still keeping it’s heart in the right place. The songs have the right amount of ear-wormy pep (keep your ears open for surprise Michael Stipe). The paper-cutout art style can at times look garish, but I think it lends a Paper Mario charm to the proceedings that’s probably the reason that it sticks in the mind. Martini might be my favorite cinematic penguin.
The only hiccup may be the villain of the story is a postman disgruntled with the obscene amount of work he has to do during the holidays, which I’m sure in 1999 was a good gag, but in 2024 we back our boys in baby blue and their right to protest consumerism.
M*A*S*H: Dear Sis
“Yes. Yes, I am a doctor, but I’m Presbyterian. Will that be alright?”
This may be the most strictly secular entry on the list (if you want one more explicit I recommend Don Bluth’s The Small One). For those unfamiliar with peak, M*A*S*H was a sitcom about a medical unit in the midst of the Korean War. I recently, finally, finished watching all 256 episodes and felt it proper to give tribute. Especially since this was one of my Dad’s must-watches of the holiday season.
The episode focuses on the M*A*S*H unit chaplain Father Mulcahy struggling feelings of uselessness. Not much use for faith amongst soldiers that have thoroughly given up on there being a benevolent higher power. The writing here is as sharp as the best of M*A*S*H, with Mulcahy’s over-the-phone prayer to Radar’s mother being one of the funniest scenes of the whole show.
The climax of Mulcahy’s arc is done quite sweetly. A message that sometimes faith doesn’t need to be useful, sometimes it just needs to be there, and you’ll call on it when you need it. Still, in usual M*A*S*H fashion, it’s undercut by a reminder of why it’s so hard to remember such a message. If you’ve never watched the show before, I think this is still great viewing on it’s own.
Mumfie’s White Christmas
“Who can you rely on when the chips are down?”
Hahahaha none of you know what this is. Back when TV streaming was new and novel, my high school chums and I often played a game called Hulu Roulette where we’d watch a random episode of a random show on Hulu. That was how we stumbled upon Britt Allcroft’s Magic Adventures of Mumfie, a 90s children series broadcast mainly in the UK, and subsequently fell into deep obsession with it. People that were there for the reappraisal of the 90s Moomin cartoon will find a lot similar to enjoy with Mumfie. Foremost, it gives no consideration to world-building or anything outside of fuzzy dream logic. Mumfie is an elephant serving the Queen of the Night. His best friends are a scarecrow and a flying pig. There’s a whale named Whale that was hollowed out into a living submarine. It is peak whimsy. Also, all the characters are voiced by one guy, so get used to that.
Yes, this entry is more to plug the show itself more than the special. Mumfie’s White Christmas is a quite simple story about Mumfie and the gang traveling north to get some snow so they can have a white Christmas. The closest thing the story has to an antagonist is brooklyn reindeer You-Are (As in “Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and you are?”) who steals Santa’s sleigh after feeling disused by North Pole staff. Otherwise, you’re just there for the sincere Mumfie charm. The songs are short, but reasonably catchy. I enjoy the eel song about beating the winter weather by getting hot and heavy.
So in short, watch the Magic Adventures of Mumfie, and include You-Are in your reindeer listings before the seasonal depression drives him to do something drastic.