It's Holiday Specials Time Again!!

[AragornElessar]

I know we have a thread like this every year, so thought I'd start this year's.

Tonight we have...

NBC ~ 8pm ~ A Rockefeller Christmas and the lighting of the NYC Christmas Tree w/various singers and guests.

9pm ~ A Saturday Night Live Christmas ~ A bunch of their Classic Christmas/Holiday skits from over the years.

ABC ~ 8pm ~ A Charlie Brown Christmas

That's right peoples!! The one special that for many of us means that it's well and truly Christmas time when it's shown.

And not only is there snow on the ground out here, but Mom picked up Candy Canes yesterday and we still have some Land O Lakes Hot Chocolate mix left from what friends from the States brought us last year.

So I'm going to curl up w/a big ol' mug of Cocoa and my Candy Cane stirring stick and watch Snoopy out spread eagle Brian Boitano.

[Lynn226]

I'm watching Charlie Brown tonight. I love the Peanuts gang.

[A.H.Black]

Just as a heads up - "It's a Wonderful life" is on this Saturday, Dec 1st and again on Christmas Eve.

Also, the Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting is supposed to be repeated on Friday.

[overedge]

I'm not watching anything that's broadcast before December 1. Because the last time I checked, Christmas was in December, not in November.

[suep1963]

Christmas music and specials are fair game after Thanksgiving (US) for me!

[nubka]

I always watch my vintage Andy Williams Christmas specials from the 60's/70's at this time of year. I loved his specials when I was growing up, and it was always fun each year to see his children and ol' Claudine... The commercials are fun, too (Kodak, and a really gross-looking-Miracle Whip-jello salad-type-thing...)

Heck, even my 21 year-old daughter likes Andy! So sad that he has now passed on.

[HeatherC]

As long as it's after Thanksgiving, I don't care when they start airing the Christmas specials. I watched Charlie Brown Christmas tonight and it still makes me smile just like it always did when I was growing up. I just love that special!

[Marge_Simpson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQeKdvXliIU

I always tear up when the kids start singing.

[centerstage01]

A Charlie Brown Christmas is my all-time favorite Christmas special ever. It just doesn't feel like the holiday season until I see it.

[Artemis@BC]

Being a Canadian, the Christmas season for me starts Dec 1, not after Thanksgiving. But I have Charlie Brown and The Grinch on DVD, so I don't have to be at the behest of the network schedules.

Here's the schedule for CBC's holiday programs, beginning on Sunday. (PDF) Looking forward to CSOI on Dec 3 (even if it's only an hour!) and Holiday Festival on Ice on Dec 12 (even if it's gotten pretty cheezy). The 22 Minutes holiday special is usually pretty great too.

[Nan]

I saw the Grinch the other night....let Christmas begin!

[Cachoo]

Being a Canadian, the Christmas season for me starts Dec 1, not after Thanksgiving. But I have Charlie Brown and The Grinch on DVD, so I don't have to be at the behest of the network schedules.

Here's the schedule for CBC's holiday programs, beginning on Sunday. (PDF) Looking forward to CSOI on Dec 3 (even if it's only an hour!) and Holiday Festival on Ice on Dec 12 (even if it's gotten pretty cheezy). The 22 Minutes holiday special is usually pretty great too.

Being American I wish we had a few Canadian shows in regular rotation: Specifically I love the For Better or For Worse holiday cartoons (The Bestest Present and The Christmas Angel.) I gave up any notion of ever seeing them on tv again and bought the dvd's.

[Artemis@BC]

Being American I wish we had a few Canadian shows in regular rotation: Specifically I love the For Better or For Worse holiday cartoons (The Bestest Present and The Christmas Angel.) I gave up any notion of ever seeing them on tv again and bought the dvd's.

Lucky you! I haven't seen that one broadcast for years. I haven't seen the DVD anywhere either -- tho I see that my library has seasons 1 and 2 of the tv series, so maybe they're there. Thanks for the heads up!

I was, though, able to finally track down a DVD of another perennial favourite of mine, the Welsh-Canadian co-production of A Child's Christmas in Wales (with Denholm Elliot). They do broadcast that one every year on Knowledge Network (BC's public television), but the quality sucks. Alas, the DVD is only slightly better quality. But it doesn't matter, it's still fabulous.

[duane]

A Charlie Brown Christmas is my all-time favorite Christmas special ever. It just doesn't feel like the holiday season until I see it.

I get teary-eyed whenever I hear "Christmas time is here..." sung at the beginning. It SO takes me back to my 1960's childhood.

[Simone411]

One of my all time favorites is "It's A Wonderful Life". I checked the schedule, it's airing December 1st on NBC from 7 - 10 p.m. (central) - 8 - 11 p.m. (eastern)

[Artemis@BC]

One of my all time favorites is "It's A Wonderful Life". I checked the schedule, it's airing December 1st on NBC from 7 - 10 p.m. (central) - 8 - 11 p.m. (eastern)

I used to watch that one every year too but haven't for a while. A local theatre company has been doing a stage version every December for the past few years, and since I'm a subscriber I've seen it 3 times. (I know, hard to imagine a stage version ... but it's actually excellent. They use some multimedia and incorporate a few shots from the film.) But I gave my tickets away for this year, so I'll probably watch the movie instead.

The same theatre company also does White Christmas every year -- also excellent. And for the first time this year, their 3rd, smaller stage is showing The Santaland Diaries (David Sedaris). Freakin' hilarious.

[Cachoo]

Lucky you! I haven't seen that one broadcast for years. I haven't seen the DVD anywhere either -- tho I see that my library has seasons 1 and 2 of the tv series, so maybe they're there. Thanks for the heads up!

I was, though, able to finally track down a DVD of another perennial favourite of mine, the Welsh-Canadian co-production of A Child's Christmas in Wales (with Denholm Elliot). They do broadcast that one every year on Knowledge Network (BC's public television), but the quality sucks. Alas, the DVD is only slightly better quality. But it doesn't matter, it's still fabulous.

I have Seasons 1 and 2 and they have their own Christmas episodes....do you know if there were more seasons? I have not found any. And I better correct myself on those two episodes---they are on vhs---I wish they would put them on dvd.

One show I finally found on dvd was Jim Henson's The Christmas Toy.
I LOVE this mini-musical and love the original characters and the story. I know it was nominated for Emmy Awards but it never seem to catch on in the popular imagination. Too bad...

[Artemis@BC]

I have Seasons 1 and 2 and they have their own Christmas episodes....do you know if there were more seasons? I have not found any. And I better correct myself on those two episodes---they are on vhs---I wish they would put them on dvd.

I don't think there were more than 2 -- I'm surprised to here there was more than 1 season actually.

So the Christmas episodes you have as part of season 1 and 2 are not "The Bestest Present" and "The Christmas Angel"? Regardless, I'm going to check out the DVDs when I'm at the library tomorrow.

[AragornElessar]

Lucky you! I haven't seen that one broadcast for years. I haven't seen the DVD anywhere either -- tho I see that my library has seasons 1 and 2 of the tv series, so maybe they're there. Thanks for the heads up!

I was, though, able to finally track down a DVD of another perennial favourite of mine, the Welsh-Canadian co-production of A Child's Christmas in Wales (with Denholm Elliot). They do broadcast that one every year on Knowledge Network (BC's public television), but the quality sucks. Alas, the DVD is only slightly better quality. But it doesn't matter, it's still fabulous.

Artemis, check out YTV's sked for the For Better or For Worse specials. They used to be played there every year. One of my favourites I'm so happy to see starting to make a comeback is The Little Drummer Boy. I love that one and it's such a lovely telling of the Christmas Story. It' s become a tradition here to watch it at some point on Christmas Eve ever since I found the DVD about six or seven years ago.

[Cachoo]

I don't think there were more than 2 -- I'm surprised to here there was more than 1 season actually.

So the Christmas episodes you have as part of season 1 and 2 are not "The Bestest Present" and "The Christmas Angel"? Regardless, I'm going to check out the DVDs when I'm at the library tomorrow.

Well if you find something let me know---my vcr is on the fritz. The Disney channel had broadcast them along with a number of other episodes (I remember one Halloween episode where Farley saves the day!)