Christmas television special

American television

In American television, a Christmas television special is typically a one-time, 30 minute animated 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.

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 man.

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.

British television

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.

List of American Christmas television specials

• 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) [narrated 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 Crosbys (1972)
• Bing Crosby's Sun Valley Christmas Show (1973)
• Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974, Rankin-Bass)
• Christmas with the Bing Crosbys (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)
• Raggedy Ann and Andy in: the Great Santa Claus Caper (1978, directed by Chuck Jones)
• 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)
• Perry Como's French-Canadian Christmas (1981)
• Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (1982)
• John Denver and the Muppets: Rocky Mountain Holiday (1982)
• 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 Herman's Christmas Special (1988)
• Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire (1989)
• Shining Time Station: 'Tis A Gift (1990)
• A Wish for Wings That Work (1991)
• Winnie the Pooh & Christmas Too (1991)
• A Chipmunk Christmas (1992)
• Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas (1992)
• It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (1992)
• A Flintstones Family Christmas (1993)
• A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
• Perry Como's Irish Christmas (1994)
• Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree (1995)
• The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas (1996)
• Olive, the Other Reindeer (1999)
• Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales (2002)
• I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown (2003)