George C. Scott’s “A Christmas Carol” and Laurel & Hardy’s “March of the Wooden Soldiers.”
The first time the Grinch was on TV, I got to see the intro to it. Then we had to leave to go to the Cantata! Broke a 6-year-old’s heart, I tell ya-
Saw it the next year.
Anybody else ever see “the Christmas That Almost Wasn’t?”
I haven’t seen it, because it was broadcast only once, and it was never put on commercial VHS or DVD. Reportedly the Museum of the Moving Image has a copy you can watch – Rod Serling’s a Carol for Another Christmas. Sort of a Twilight Zone Christmas. It’s reportedly excellent, and I’d love to see it.
I’ll agree that the George C. Scott Christmas Carol is excellent, although I prefer the 1951 Alastair Sim movie. (Sim also voiced Scrooge in the Chuck Jones version I refer to above).
It is on tonight.
Christmas Vacation is a must-see for us. “Shitter’s full!”
I like How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas, particularly for Linus’s reading of that bit from the Gospel of Luke. I’m not even Christian but I always found it moving.
I always watch Mr. Magoo, and the other thing I watch isn’t really a special, but a short that runs about 2 minutes, “Hardrock, Coco, and Jo.” I knew Christmas was close when Frazier Thomas would show that!
The X-Files ‘How the Ghosts Stole Christmas.’
“Charlie Brown Christmas”
“Christmas Story”
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Scrooged. A classic with David Johannsen
“Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol.” It’s the first Christmas show I remember and long before I knew where the story came from and long before Thurston Howell III.
That’s in five-year-old time, not real time.
In my memory, I loved that cartoon. I haven’t seen it in decades.
Love Actually is a modern holiday favorite. An amazing cast and a story that pulls at your heartstrings without taking itself too seriously.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story are must-views for me every Christmas. The 'Tis The 15th Season episode of The Simpsons is also an excellent Christmas special (and a rare gem in the later seasons of the show), and even gives a shoutout to the Mr McGoo Christmas Carol “ahhh once again you’ve mistaken something for something else!”
I NEVER liked the Charlie Brown special (same goes with the Halloween one, although I always did like A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving), and I realllly don’t get all the hype about it.
There was a Muppet Christmas where they all gathered at someone’s mom’s house in the country, except Miss Piggy who was delayed by snow. Can’t rememeber the name of it, but it was very entertaining and they sang Christmas songs…I have, still, a couple of Disney Sing-A-Long videotapes featuring Christmas music and scenes from Disney cartoons (mostly older, like with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck) and they are utterly charming as background to trimming the tree…And I could happily sit down to watch A Christmas Story on TBS for the whole 24 hours and skip my Christmas altogether. I never get tired of A Christmas Story!
A Wish For Wings that Work and A Blackadder Christmas Carol.
A Christmas Carol, with George C. Scott as Scrooge.
A Christmas Carol with Kelsey Grammar as Scrooge, with the volume turned down so that I can ogle Jane Krakowski but not have to listen to Kelsey try to sing.
The Tim Allen Santa Claus movies.
A Christmas Story
I love The Garfield Christmas…the whole Grandma reminiscing about Grampa and Garfield finding the old letters…sniff
I always look out for The Night Before Christmas, you know, the one with the Santa worshipping clock. Although Santa was pretty much a jerk in that one. Unrequited love is not Santa’s style apparently.
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street