Special Christmas Programming

Over the years, the idea of special Christmas programming has become an assumed part of our cultural heritage as Americans. The clay mation cartoons and the music variety shows are as much a part of Christmas tradition as stocking hung by the chimney with care. As we get older, we still have our favorite Christmas specials, and we want to pass these on to our own children. So below are just a few of these beloved classics.

Who can forget Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and his adventures on the island of misfit toys? One of the classic claymation specials that runs through our networks every year, this story has become synonymous with the idea of the underdog. As we all know, Rudolph does get to lead Santa’s sleight and the reindeers to eventually let him play, but every year we come back to see the same story all over again.

Another cartoon favorite is the story of Frosty the Snowman, who can laugh and play just the same as you and me. Following the pattern of the familiar Christmas song, this cartoon leads us through the streets of town, right to the traffic cop. There is a tragic ending though, with the beginning of spring, and we learn that Frosty cannot stay with us forever.

A Charlie Brown Christmas is one in a long line of Charlie Brown holiday specials that have captured the hearts of children and adults alike. In this half hour special, Charlie Brown searches for the true meaning of Christmas amidst a mass of commercialism. Even today, the term “Charlie Brown Christmas Tree” is used to describe the wilting or scrawny trees that many of us have in early apartments or dorms (or when we put our tree shopping off until the last minute).

Robbie the Reindeer is a spin-off of the beloved Rudolph franchise, but tells the story with a bit of a twist. The famous team behind the Wallace and Grommet cartoon series livens up the old reindeer games story with a bit of British humor and some reindeer romance games between the stuck-up Blitzen, femme-fetale Vixen, and the shy girl next door Donner as Robbie competes against Blitzen for the honor to pull Santa’s sleigh.

One Magic Christmas, a full length feature made by the Disney company in the early eighties also pops up into the frequently played roster. Following a popular trajectory, One Magic Christmas follows the tragic Christmas of one family from bankruptcy to bank robbery and kidnapping to a magical intervention that brings everyone back together at the end.

It sounds a little bit like the all-time favorite Christmas special, It’s a Wonderful Life. This Capra classic stars Jimmy Stewart as a man who wishes he had never been born and learns from a guardian angel just what things would be like if that wish came true. It is where we all learned that every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings. No Christmas is complete without it.