[Note: This article is a work of nonfiction based on the personal opinion of the author.]
The Christmas TV special is an American tradition. But they have changed over the years, and sometimes, not for the better.
A Closer Look
Back in the day, and that “day” being the 1960s, the 1970s, and to some extent, the early 1980s, Christmas TV specials were defined and measured by animated programming such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and more.
In the “live-action” sector, any Christmas TV special hosted by Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, or Andy Williams, was considered prime programming that ignited and celebrated the season.
Fortunately, the aforementioned animated classics have become perennials and remain a hit with viewers, consistently winning their time slots, even if they are broadcast twice in the same season.
But the live-action Christmas or Holiday special seems to have lost its way.
When Hope, Crosby, or Williams hosted a Christmas TV special, we could bet our bottom dollar that there would be an audience, wonderful music, and charm. There were also lots of fake sets, fake snow, and witty interplay between the hosts and their guests, who included top TV, film, music, and sports celebrities of the day. It is indeed those “fake” backgrounds and props that add to the charm of the TV special.
Original television viewers (i.e. those who grew up with the medium in the 1950s and 1960s, when TV was still relatively young) embraced the unreality of such television specials and similarly produced weekly shows.
The Tinsel on the TV Helped with the Turmoil Off-Screen
Amid the tumultuous 1960s, television watchers were seeking to escape the harsh realities of war, race rioting, and the traumatic political assassinations of the era. Weekly TV shows with a supernatural or fantastical twist were hits, including those like Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Get Smart, the original Batman series, and many more.
In like manner, warm-hearted family shows like The Andy Griffith Show, The Brady Bunch, and The Partridge Family delivered weekly escapes into a world that we all wished could be true for everyday living.
Escapism had long been the reason for entertainment in any venue, dating back to the birth of Vaudeville, Broadway, radio, and motion pictures.
The miracle of television then brought all of those worlds together across a mainstream platform to countless home viewers. In the midst of what could be bitter realities, were joyful TV shows that granted viewers a reprieve from the daily struggles.
And classic TV Christmas specials, animated or live-action, took that dynamic to an entirely different level.
But somewhere along the way, the “fake” sets and snow were replaced with exterior shots on location in some snowy-ridden landscape. The live audiences were replaced with extraneous canned laughter and applause. That was okay for scripted TV shows or movies with a fabricated storyline, but not for when a musical star, for example, is hosting a Holiday special.
Who Needs Reality at Christmas?
Certainly, we must have concern for the needy and the homeless. Indeed, donations to feed the hungry, and to help cure devastating diseases must always be collected and distributed.
But when it comes to creating new, contemporary Christmas TV specials, let’s go back to the way they used to do ’em. No more breaking of the fourth-wall; no more ending a scene and then having the audience at home be able to watch performers walk off-stage, upon completing a song.
Let them stay, please, on stage, until the screen goes dark, and we go to a commercial.
Please keep the reality out of the fantasy. Please allow TV watchers to forget their troubles for a half-hour, an hour, or 90 minutes like Bob, Bing, and Andy used to do. Save the public service announcements for another time, another show—and bring on the fake snow.
This article originally appeared on newsbreak.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
Featured Image Credit: IMDB.
