In American television, a is typically a one-time, half-hour program aired during the Christmas season. Some are extended episodes of currently running television series featuring the regular characters dealing with Christmas. Some specials are of a more Variety Show nature, featuring celebrities and/or singers and musical numbers and short skits. Many are Animated Cartoon productions aimed at children.
All such specials are naturally strongly Christmas-themed, but usually forgo the religious aspects of the holiday to concentrate on more general themes of giving, and goodwill towards others. Such secular icons of the season as Santa Claus often figure prominently in these specials as well.
Christmas television specials are also where non-animated characters from other media may first cross over into animation; examples include the '' Peanuts '' comic strip, the '' Bloom County '' comic strip, and the Dr. Seuss children's book '' How The Grinch Stole Christmas ''. The first episode of '' The Simpsons '' (1989) was a Christmas special, also known as " Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire ."
The Rankin-Bass animation studio is well known for its many holiday specials, including the stop-motion '' Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer '', which CBS has shown annually since 1964, and the animated '' Frosty The Snowman ''.
In British Television , a Christmas special is a one-off episode of a regular television series which may not otherwise be running in the winter or even that year, as in Britain television series tend to run on limited schedules of 6 to 13 episodes rather than year-round. Successive series of a program may run in non-consecutive years so a Christmas special may be of a series for which no other episodes have aired that year (or possibly for several years).
A Christmas special may or may not have a Christmas theme and often is not even set during the Christmas season but usually runs on Christmas day itself and is often longer than a regular episode of the series. There are noticeable patterns in Christmas specials, particularly in dramas and sitcoms, whereby the characters either have to endure Christmas Day in a typically unfestive manner (and thus allowing the writers to include plenty of clichés associated with the season), or they are taken out of their environment and go on holiday to an exotic location - an idea which can also occur in spin-off films.
Some examples include:
- ''The Frank Sinatra Timex Show Christmas Special'' (1957) with Bing Crosby
- ''The Bing Crosby Christmas Show'' (1961)
- '' Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol '' (1962)
- ''The Bing Crosby Christmas Show'' (1962)
- '' Judy Garland Show Christmas Special '' (1963)
- ''The Promise'' (1963) by Bing Crosby
- '' Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer '' (1964, Rankin-Bass)
- '' A Charlie Brown Christmas '' (1965)
- '' How The Grinch Stole Christmas '' (1966)
- ''The Little Drummer Boy '' (1968, Rankin-Bass)
- ''Bing and Carol Together Again for the First Time'' (1969) Bing Crosby , with Carol Burnett
- '' Frosty The Snowman '' (1969, Rankin-Bass)
- '' Bing Crosby 's Christmas Show'' (1970)
- '' Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town '' (1970, Rankin-Bass)
- '' Bing Crosby and the Sounds of Christmas'' (1971)
- ''A Christmas with the Bing Crosby s'' (1972)
- '' Bing Crosby 's Sun Valley Christmas Show'' (1973)
- '' Twas The Night Before Christmas '' (1974, Rankin-Bass)
- ''Christmas with the Bing Crosby s'' (1974)
- '' The Year Without A Santa Claus '' (1974, Rankin-Bass)
- '' Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus '' (1974)
- ''The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow'' (1975, Rankin-Bass)
- ''Merry Christmas, Fred, from the Crosbys'' (1975) Bing Crosby , with Fred Astaire
- '' John Denver 's Rocky Mountain Christmas'' (1975)
- ''The Bing Crosby White Christmas Special'' (1976)
- '' Perry Como 's Olde English Christmas'' (1977)
- '' Bing Crosby 's Merrie Olde Christmas'' (1977) with David Bowie
- '' Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas '' (1977)
- ''The Fat Albert Christmas Special'' (1977)
- '' The Carpenters at Christmas'' (1977)
- '')
- '' The Star Wars Holiday Special '' (1978)
- '' A Special Sesame Street Christmas '' (1978)
- '' The Pink Panther 's Christmas'' (1978)
- '' Perry Como 's Early American Christmas'' (1978)
- '' The Carpenters : A Christmas Portrait'' (1978)
- '' Bugs Bunny 's Looney Christmas Tales'' (1979)
- '' Perry Como 's Christmas in New Mexico'' (1979)
- '' John Denver and the Muppets : A Christmas Together'' (1979)
- '' Perry Como 's Christmas in the Holy Land'' (1980)
- '' The Osmond Family Christmas Special'' (1980)
- ''A Chipmunk Christmas'' (1981)
- '' Perry Como 's French-Canadian Christmas'' (1981)
- '' Christmas Eve On Sesame Street '' (1982)
- ''The Smurfs ' Christmas Special'' (1982)
- '' Christmas Comes To Pac-Land '' (1982)
- '' John Denver and the Muppets : Rocky Mountain Holiday'' (1982)
- '' Mickey's Christmas Carol '' (1983)
- '' He-Man & She-Ra : A Christmas Special'' (1985)
- ''The Christmas Toy'' (1986)
- '' A Claymation Christmas Celebration '' (1987)
- '' A Garfield Christmas '' (1987)
- '' Julie Andrews : The Sound of Christmas'' (1987)
- '' A Muppet Family Christmas '' (1987)
- '' Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special (1988)
- '' Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire '' (1989)
- '''' (1990)
- '' A Wish For Wings That Work '' (1991)
- '' Winnie The Pooh and Christmas Too'' (1991)
- '' Rugrats : The Santa Experience'' (1992)
- '' Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas '' (1992)
- ''It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown'' (1992)
- ''It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special'' (1992)
- ''A Flintstones Family Christmas'' (1993)
- ''A Flintstones Christmas Carol'' (1994)
- '' Perry Como 's Irish Christmas'' (1994)
- '''' (1994)
- ''Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree'' (1995)
- ''A Pinky And The Brain Christmas'' (1995)
- '' The Munsters ' Scary Little Christmas'' (1996)
- '' Sonic Christmas Blast '' (1996)
- '' Arnold's Christmas (1997)
- '' Olive, The Other Reindeer '' (1999)
- '' The SpongeBob SquarePants Christmas Special '' (2000)
- '' The Fairly OddParents in: Christmas Every Day'' (2001)
- '' A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas '' (2001)
- ''Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales'' (2002)
- '' Rugrats : Babies in Toyland'' (2002)
- ''I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown'' (2003)
- '': Holly Jolly Jimmy'' (2003)
- ''A Rocket Xmas'' (2003)
- '' My Life As A Teenage Robot : A Robot for All Seasons'' (2004)
- '' All Grown Up! : The Finster Who Stole Christmas'' (2004)
- '' Ed, Edd N Eddy 's Jingle Jingle Jangle'' (2004)
- '' Billy And Mandy Save Christmas'' (2005)
- '' Danny Phantom : The Fright Before Christmas'' (2005)
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