As Christmas approaches , there is one matter on which we can always swear , twelvemonth after year : festive television specials . For those who are tired of cunning Christmas episodes where everyone from the Brady Bunch to Buffy the Vampire Slayer pay back into the gay spirit , or do n’t need to see yet another program of the much - lovedRudolph the Red - Nosed Reindeer , here is some alternative Christmas programming , with clips that are definitely worth watching this vacation time of year .
1.Dragnet"“ The Big Little Jesus (1953)
Even in the early sidereal day of TV , play serial publication had Christmas episodes . This one , from Oscar - winning screenwriter Richard Breen , was so democratic that it was first heard on the wireless serial , shoot for the 1950s TV series , and film again ( as " The Christmas Story" ) for a 1967 series revival . In the story , Sgt Joe Friday ( Jack Webb ) and his partner ( Ben Alexander in the first TV series , Harry Morgan in the second ) spend their Christmas Eve looking for an almost " worthless" statue of the Baby Jesus that has been stolen from the Old Mission Plaza Church , hoping to yield it in fourth dimension for Christmas mass . They find that it was borrowed by a young child , who had been give a beach wagon for Christmas , donated by Greek valerian , and wanted to take the baby Jesus on the first ride . " Paquito ’s family" ¦ “ explain the non-Christian priest , " they ’re poor . “ Friday look at the Nativity prospect . " Are they , father?“ he says .
2.Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas(1977)
Christmas variety show were an ineluctable part of Christmas for about 30 years , hosted by Perry Como ( who did no less than 39 Christmas specials ) , John Denver , Bob Hope , The Carpenters and many others . One of the more serious , without the common comedy sketches and " surprise" appearances by Santa , was Johnny Cash ’s 1977 Christmas special , including an all - whiz tribute to Cash ’s friend Elvis Presley , who had died a few months originally . That same class , however , provided an even more unusual , and even more moving , Christmas show . For his sixteenth Christmas special in a quarrel , fabled singer Bing Crosby desire to sing with a young mavin . As he was on a concert tour of London , someone intimate 30 - twelvemonth - old David Bowie , who was then one of Britain ’s more offbeat glam - tilt artist . Bowie happen to be a huge Crosby fan , so he jumped at the chance . In a segment filmed on September 11 , they sang " Little Drummer Boy , " which was perfect for Crosby ’s crooning , but as Bowie ’s voice was higher , he also sang heartsease on Earth as part of the same number . Bing was impressed by the " clear - cut kid" and give him his telephone set number . Sadly , the crooner died a calendar month afterwards , giving extra poignancy to the special when it was testify in November .
3.The West Wing— In Excelsis Deo (1999)
In this democratic episode , Toby ( Richard Schiff ) detect that a roofless man who had die wearing one of his old coats was a Korean War veteran . Using the authority of the president ’s office , Toby arranges a full military funeral at the Arlington National Cemetery . President Bartlet ( Martin Sheen ) is not felicitous , afraid that this could create precedent . " I can only hope so,“ aver Toby . He attends the funeral , along with the president ’s writing table , Mrs. Landingham ( Kathryn Joosten ) , who divulge that she lost her twin boy in Vietnam on Christmas Eve 1970 . Also in attending : Arlington superintendent John C. Metzler , Jr , appearing as himself " “ presumably the only metre he has go to a funeral for a sham someone . The episode was made with the Pentagon ’s full cooperation .
[ We could n’t find an embeddable version of this instalment , but you canwatch it on YouTube . ]
4.Mystery Science Theater 3000”“ Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1991)
The rage showMystery Science Theater 3000was about a janitor and two robots who are trapped on a space artificial satellite and forced to check terrible B - picture show . The movies were material , and the show was an apology to play them with running commentary from the three characters . double the series had Christmas sequence . Santa Claus(1959 ) , the focal point of the 1993 instalment , was a very unnoticeable , badly dubbed Spanish film in which Santa does battle with a demon sent to Earth to make all children naughty . ButSanta Claus Conquers the Martians(1964 ) was already notorious . Despite awful reviews ( " perfectly the bad scientific discipline - fiction flick ever made , measure none!“ annunciate the fanzineThe Monster Times ) , it was re - released every Christmas for days , easily returning its $ 200,000 budget many meter over . In this celluloid , Martian invaders kidnap Santa ( played by minor Broadway actor John Call ) to save their own children from misery . Though Santa defeats the baddie ( as the claim suggests ) , one of the happier Martians takes over as the local Santa . It finishes with the boppy Sung " Hooray for Santa Claus " ( " He ’s fatty and orotund , but jump jiminy , he can rise down any chiminey . “ )
5.Xena”“ A Solstice Carol (1996)
How does a TV show do a Christmas special if it ’s countersink in the day before Christ ? Very few serial have had that dilemma , but one elision wasXena : Warrior Princess , set in ancient Greece . In this installment , Xena and Gabrielle visit a kingdom dominate by the miserly King Silvus , who plans to close down an orphanage and has ban Winter Solstice celebrations . In a nod to Charles Dickens’A Christmas Carol , they mask themselves as various ghosts and do some playing period - acting in his bedroom to convince him to interchange his ways . Gabrielle even gives a language about Winter Solstice that could easily have been drop a line for aBrady BunchChristmas episode : " On this special night , a unexampled light , a young chance , is bear to us all . So it ’s a fourth dimension for miracle and grace towards all living creatures . “
6.Blackadder’s Christmas Carol(1988)
A Christmas Carolis a ritual of Christmas television . Many interpretation of have been filmed , star everyone from impersonator Rich Little ( toy Scrooge as W.C. Fields ) to the Muppets . But the funniest was probably the British comedyBlackadder ’s Christmas Carol(1988 ) , about Ebenezer Blackadder ( Rowan Atkinson ) , a good-hearted and generous storekeeper in Victorian London . By the installment ’s end , the Spirit of Christmas ( Robbie Coltrane , looking like he did as Hagrid in theHarry Pottermovies ) inadvertently enliven him to become selfish and savage " “ and stop being exploit by everyone else . Bah humbug , indeed !
7.Doctor Who— The Christmas Invasion (2005)
The BBC science fiction seriesDoctor Whois almost as much of a British institution as Christmas TV specials . For the past three years , they have combined the two , so that Doctor save the worldly concern from foreign invaders each year at Christmas . As a result , everyone is too frightened to lead their star sign during the festal time of year . The first Christmas special , however , had a bonus for fans . After his all - too - abbreviated stint in the title function , worker Christopher Eccleston was leaving the series , and the Christmas special properly introduced his heir , David Tennant . After pass half the sequence layer - ridden , as the vicious Sycorax raceway prepares to subjugate humanity , the new Doctor appear just in the the gouge of clip , still dressed in his pyjamas . " Did you overleap me?“ he smiles " “ and fans barrack in experience elbow room all over Britain . From that moment , his friend ( and the viewers ) know that the situation was all under ascendance .
8.A Ghost Story for Christmas(1971-1978)
In case you want a prison-breaking from Christmas revel , the BBC had just the thing for audiences in the seventies : scare the life out of them ! From 1971 to 1978 , they would conform a skittish story , usually by horror - fantasy writer M.R. James , into a truly chilling TV frolic . ( One of them , The Signalman , was from a story by Charles Dickens , who was no alien to Christmas ghosts . ) During Christmas calendar week 1972 , in grammatical case one Christmas specter story was n’t enough , they also showedThe Stone Tape , compose by repugnance / skill fiction master Nigel Kneale , about a group of scientist who move into a haunted hall . The strange Christmas tradition of shoot the breeze haunted home even reachedThe go - Files . In the 1998 episode " How the ghost Stole Christmas , " the ghost of two ill - fill out lovers ( played by Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin ) endeavor to ram Mulder and Scully to kill each other . Of course , they fail in their lethal quest " ¦ unlike many of the ghouls inA Ghost Story for Christmas . Here ’s a clip fromThe Signalman :
