Throughout my college years, whenever my friends and I would get together to celebrate Christmas festivities over hot cocoa and peppermint schnapps, talk would inevitably lead to our favorite holiday TV specials. We’d talk Rudolph and Frosty, A Charlie Brown Christmas and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
But there’d be mutterings about yet another special, one for which we could only remember bits and pieces, because unlike Rudolph and the other standards, this one hadn’t aired in years. Bear in mind, this is before the Internet was widely available, which meant looking something up on IMDB and Amazon was impossible, what with neither of them existing. So the one bit of information – a song called “Heat Miser” sung by a flame-haired little man – was no help. We’d weep for the brilliant piece of children’s television that we’d never see again. True, our emotions were likely heightened by all of the schnapps. But still.
I never imagined these words would be typed by my fingers, but thank God for ABC Family, which has once again brought this long-lost holiday special – the Rankin Bass production of The Year Without a Santa Claus – back to the airwaves. It is our good fortune that in this age of 19,487 channels, most are desperate for programming. And the network’s "25 Days of Christmas” is running a ton of all-time favorites (as well as that horrible live-action Grinch movie and a rather disturbing Tom Arnold vehicle, but let’s not go there).
For the uninitiated, The Year Without a Santa Claus (or TYWASC, as its known in freaky fan circles) tells the tale of a year, long ago, when Santa – convinced no one cares about Christmas anymore (and in bed with what appears to be either the flu or menstrual cramps) – decides to cancel Christmas. Mrs. Claus, along with head elves Jingle and Jangle, hatches a scheme to change Santa’s mind, and as you might imagine, all hell breaks loose. In this scenario, hell includes baby reindeer Vixen being disguised as a dog (and humiliated) by having her antlers covered with Jangle's dirty socks, and then being abducted by the dog catcher in Southtown, USA. Trust me; it’s not any less confusing on the screen.
Article comments
1 - Sean
Simply the greatest christmas show ever.
2 - El Bicho
"there's no doubt it would be massively popular."
There is some doubt. Dick Shawn, the Snow Miser, is dead. George S. Irving, the Heat Miser, is 83 and would likely be replaced. It was their vocal performances that made the characters what they were. Their shoes will be tough to fill.
3 - Trish
Hey there, El. I love dead people (some of my favorite people are dead). But my prediction that a Miser Brother Christmas special would be massively popular was predicated on both parties being alive at the time of production. It was also predicated on the idea of fantasy -- hence the use of the word 'if.' In which case, I suppose, there is absolutely no doubt that it would be massively popular -- whether Shawn and Irving were dead, alive, or -- like you and me -- somewhere in between.
But thanks for the where-are-they-now update. :)
4 - Duane
I should post the definition of "anal retentive" to reflect the flow of the comments.
:)
5 - duane
That wasn't me.
Nor was it I.