DERRIK J. LANG examines whether 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' and 'Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer' still pack the same feel-good punch in the age of TiVo and YouTube.
"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" every year. (AP Photo/HO/Classic Media)
"Frosty the Snowman" hasn't melted after all these years. (AP Photo/HO/Classic Media)
"The Grinch" is stealing the Broadway box office. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Do you ever take Christmas off, Charlie Brown? (AP Photo/ABC, 1965 United Feature Syndicate Inc.)
Long before DVD, Pixar, YouTube and TiVo, animated holiday specials were appointment television for children and adults alike. But with the prevalence of video technology and cable TV, viewers can get jolly whenever they want.
"I think the way people watch television has changed," says Evan Baily, senior vice president of production and creative affairs for Classic Media. "When 'Rudolph' was made, there was no such thing as cable TV, let alone a 24/7 kids network, let alone many of them."
Surprisingly, that hasn't stopped Rudolph, Frosty, Snoopy and friends from remaining must-see TV after all these years. On Dec. 8, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was watched by 12.9 million people on CBS, according to Nielsen Media Research. It was the 18th-most-popular show on television that week. "CSI" was first. (And in case you missed it, "Rudolph" reairs Dec. 21.)
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GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS PAST
Classic Media has made a business of harnessing the nostalgia of such holiday specials. The New York-based company manages properties such as "Rudolph" and "Frosty the Snowman" across multiple platforms. That means everything from licensing DVD box sets to producing "Frosty Returns," a sequel to the 37-year-old animated film.
"We all crave those shared experiences," Baily says. "There's just no substitute when you know millions and millions of people are watching it at the same time. I think that's why HBO has been successful with a lot of its Sunday night programming. They know this and they trumpet it. They're making watercooler shows. These specials aren't hip or buzzworthy, but they're watercooler shows, too. They bring us together."
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BEYOND THE FLAT SCREEN
One animated special has transcended its two-dimensional roots -- twice. In 2000, Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" was turned into a live-action Jim Carrey blockbuster that hijacked the box office. This year, the tale of "Grinch" became a top Broadway musical in New York, grossing over $1.5 million and besting perennial powerhouse "Wicked."
The imagery from another animated holiday special is so powerful, in fact, it spawned two hot-selling holiday items: Charlie Brown's mopey tree and Linus' fuzzy security blanket. Retailer Urban Outfitters sold out of the "A Charlie Brown Christmas" replicas on their Web site well before the end of the holiday shopping season.
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CHARLIE BROWN'S INFLUENCE
The roots of this ABC mainstay are as humble as Charlie Brown's tree. In 1965, Coca-Cola wanted a "Peanuts" Christmas special to sponsor. Creator Charles Schulz created the animated staple in six months using real children as the characters' voices.
"A Charlie Brown Christmas" was watched by nearly half of all TV watchers that year. Executive producer Lee Mendelson says after the surprising success, ABC wanted more. So Schultz then created "Charlie Brown's All-Stars," a spring special about the title character's baseball team.
Not seasonal enough.
Enter "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" and about two dozen other Peanuts made-for-TV movies attached to omnipresent holidays. The specials have trickled onto TV over the past 40 years, both before and following Schulz's death in 2000, and most are annually televised.
"It was really quite funny," says Mendelson. "We waited every year to see if the ratings would dip, but they just stayed steady year after year. It was the most amazing thing. I don't think it was until about 1985 that we all thought, 'Well, guess they aren't going anywhere.'"
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Derrik J. Lang is an asap reporter and blogger for The Slug.
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