The Everything Family Christmas Book (44 page)

A Fat Albert Christmas

The Cosby kids help a family in distress.

Real People

The program profiles “the nation’s official Santa Claus.” Also: a woman who dresses up as a Christmas tree; and the story of Hanukkah as told by hand puppets.

Christmas Eve, 1981

High Hopes: The Capra Years

Lucille Ball, Carl Reiner, and Burt Reynolds review the career of the man who directed
It’s a Wonderful Life
and other classic films.

20/20

Hugh Downs offers a profile on the Salvation Army.

The Man in the Santa Claus Suit

Fred Astaire stars in this film about a mysterious man who changes the lives of three people.

Christmas Eve, 1982

Pinocchio’s Christmas

This animated holiday special is based on the classic tale.

The Nativity

Princess Grace of Monaco hosts this recorded musical-drama production set in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

The Muppet Movie

Kermit and Miss Piggy star in a special holiday broadcast of the popular film.

Christmas Eve, 1983

Diff’rent Strokes

Arnold invites a street-corner Santa home to share the holiday.

Christmas with Luciano Pavarotti

The world-famous tenor sings Christmas classics.

The Love Boat

On Christmas Eve, Mickey Rooney makes an otherworldly visit to the ship’s passengers.

Christmas Eve, 1984

Sleeping Beauty

Christopher Reeve and Bernadette Peters star in a made-for-cable adaptation.

Cagney and Lacey

Chris, Mary Beth, and company search for a quick exit from work on Christmas Eve.

Scarecrow and Mrs. King

Amanda and Lee find themselves spending the night before Christmas with Soviet agents.

Christmas Eve, 1985

Sing-It-Yourself Messiah

Three thousand San Franciscans join the Conservatory of Music Orchestra at Louise Davies Symphony Hall.

The Black Stallion

Mickey Rooney stars in the network broadcast premiere of this popular family film.

Joyeux Noël: A Cajun Christmas
A celebration of the holiday season, New Orleans style.

Christmas Eve, 1986

The Night They Saved Christmas

Art Carney and Jaclyn Smith strive to keep the North Pole from being blown sky-high.

St. Elsewhere

A rented Santa suffers a coronary while entertaining at the hospital.

Robert Shaw’s Christmas Special

Shaw offers two hours of song and celebration.

Christmas Eve, 1987

Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales

The Warner Bros. gang blows off some holiday steam.

The Magic Flute

David Hockney presents a new rendition of Mozart’s classic.

Oprah!

Oprah reviews the year’s holiday entertainment offerings.

Christmas Eve, 1988

A Claymation Christmas Celebration

The California Raisins perform in a series of skits ranging from Dickensian London to the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.

Christmas Comes to Willow Creek

Citizens of a poverty-stricken Alaska town learn the true meaning of the season.

The Garfield Christmas Special

The world’s most popular cat stars in a half-hour animated special.

Christmas Eve, 1989

A Christmas Carol

George C. Scott delivers the definitive Scrooge of our time in this rebroadcast of the popular special.

A Muppet Family Christmas

Kermit, Miss Piggy, Big Bird, and the rest of the gang celebrate the holiday.

Bill Cosby Salutes Alvin Ailey

Roberta Flack, Anthony Quinn, and others join Bill in a salute to the world-famous choreographer.

Christmas Eve, 1990

A Very Retail Christmas

Ed O’Neill stars as a nasty toymaker.

The New Visions Christmas Special

VH-1, the music video channel, welcomes Dr. John for an evening of holiday song.

A Child’s Christmas in Wales

The Disney Channel presents a new version of Dylan Thomas’s classic.

Christmas Eve, 1991

The Little Match Girl

F. Murray Abraham narrates this animated adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen tale, now set in New York City in 1999.

The Tailor of Gloucester

A musical adaptation of Beatrix Potter’s story about a mouse who helps a tailor on Christmas Eve.

Die Fledermaus

The Royal Opera presents this production of the Strauss opera about a maid who masquerades as a countess at a ball. Starring Marilyn Horne, Joan Sutherland, and Luciano Pavarotti.

Christmas Eve, 1992

The Night Before Christmas

Joel Grey narrates a half-hour animated musical version of Clement Moore’s poem.

Christmas in Vienna

An hour-long concert of seasonal favorites by José Carreras, Diana Ross, and Placido Domingo.

It’s a Wonderful Life

The much-beloved classic is still gracing the Christmas season.

Christmas Eve, 1993

Disney’s Christmas Fantasy on Ice

Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, and the rest of the gang prove that—no matter what shape or size feet come in—there are skates for them all, as well as exciting routines choreographed to everybody’s favorite holiday music.

Scrooge

Albert Finney and Alec Guinness give three-star performances in this movie about Dickens’s beloved miser.

The Christmas Star

Edward Asner and René Auberjonois star in this film about a con man who escapes from prison in a Santa Claus suit and meets two children who believe in him.

Christmas Eve, 1994

National Football League Playoffs

The New England Patriots played the Chicago Bears in Chicago in the final game of the regular season, while the Kansas City Chiefs fought the Los Angeles Raiders in Los Angeles in their final game. (The Patriots won 13-3, and the Chiefs won 19-9.)

Christmas Carol

Alastair Sim stars in this highly regarded, often-replayed, black-and-white take on the Dickens classic.

Hallelujah

Dennis Haysbert and James Earl Jones star in this drama about members of a Washington, D.C., church who want their new minister to work miracles three days before Christmas.

Christmas Eve, 1995

Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

A gala Christmas Eve concert led by conductor Erich Kunzel, and featuring special guest Mel Tormé.

Seasons Greetings from the Honeymooners

Ralph is a street-corner Santa; Joe the Bartender, Reginald Van Gleason III, and the Poor Soul visit; the Kramdens meet Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey.

The Honeymooner’s First Christmas

Ralph (Jackie Gleason) and Alice (Pert Kelton) share their first Christmas; other Gleason characters are featured in sketches.

Christmas Eve, 1996

Angel of Pennsylvania Avenue

This Hallmark TV movie starring Robert Urich, based on a true story, focused on three children who ask U.S. President Hoover to help free their innocent Dad from jail.

Unlikely Angel

Dolly Parton stars as a singer who’s sent back to Earth in order to earn a second chance at Heaven by doing good deeds.

Mrs. Santa Claus

The big red guy takes a back seat in this TV movie about Mrs. Santa Claus and her adventures with the sleigh.

Christmas Eve, 1997

Holiday in Your Heart

Based on LeAnn Rimes’s autobiographical novel, this Lifetime movie also stars the country singer, as she chooses between her dreams of the Grand Ole Opry and her grandmother.

Frosty the Snowman

Jimmy Durante narrated this perennial favorite about the chilly guy and his black top hat, first released in 1969.

Christmas in My Hometown

A 1996 TV movie from Lifetime, with Melissa Gilbert and Tim Matheson, features an executive who’s supposed to cut jobs at a tractor factory.

Christmas Eve, 1998

The Christmas Wish

Neil Patrick Harris is a grandson who, with grandmother Debbie Reynolds, deciphers a Christmas family mystery.

Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town

Another seasonal chestnut, this animated family musical is narrated by Fred Astaire, and was released in 1970.

I’ll Be Home for Christmas

Jonathan Taylor Thomas is Jake Wilkinson, a college student who makes a few discoveries about Christmas as he tries to get home for the holiday.

Christmas Eve, 1999

A Charlie Brown Christmas

The 1965 animated feature has given us the image of a limp, sparsely needled Christmas tree that nevertheless warms everyone’s hearts.

One Special Night

Julie Andrews and James Garner are trapped overnight by a blizzard in a mountain cabin.

A Song for the Season

It’s Bethlehem, Kentucky, in this movie starring Gerald McRaney as a school administrator who must fire music-teacher Naomi Judd.

Christmas Eve, 2000

Friends

Ross wants to teach his son, Ben, about Hanukkah, but accepts that Ben still needs Santa. Too late to find a Santa suit, Ross ends up in a “holiday” armadillo costume.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Nevermind the Jim Carrey movie—the original animated version launched in 1966, and is still a heartfelt Whoville treasure.

Trading Spaces Christmas Marathon

TLC airs back-to-back episodes of the home-decorating show in which two sets of friends decorate a room in each other’s homes—as a surprise!

Christmas Eve, 2001

The Simpsons

Corporate sponsors help to rebuild the church after Homer and Bart burn it down, but their advertising inside the church prompts a crisis of faith for Lisa.

Rudolph’s Shiny New Year

Rudolph gets another chance to shine in this cartoon adventure, released in 1976, in which he has to find Happy, the baby New Year.

Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas

Disney released this movie straight to video in 1999, with Donald Duck, Goofy, and Mickey and Minnie all starring in their own stories.

Christmas Eve, 2002

The West Wing

The White House staffers head into the Christmas season by promoting peace in the Middle East and supporting a funding initiative to combat infant mortality.

Silent Night