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Weekend Discussion Thread: Riffable Holiday SpecialsBoth MST3K and Cinematic Titanic got a mention in this CNN piece about the geekiest Christmas Specials, and that got me to thinking: Since last year we discussed riffable Christmas movies, I thought it would be fun to delve into the Christmas TV specials.
RiffTrax has done “The Star Wars Christmas Special” and “Nestor the Long-Eared Donkey,” but what other TV specials do you think are just begging to be riffed? Me, I am going with this: The Great Santa Claus Switch (1970), with Art Carney and the Muppets. What’s your pick? 111 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: Riffable Holiday Specials”Commenting at Satellite News
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I haven’t seen it in years, but I’ll throw out Glowworms Christmas. Who wouldn’t love to see them riff on Santa and those pesky highly collectable Glowworms nearly die in the ice cage of doom. Especially when you consider that the day is saved when the GWs melt the ice cage, but no one (including the people who made it) thought about the fact that if you melt the bars of the ice cage there is a good chance the roof will end up pancaking you.
Ooooh. “Christmas in Pac-Land”, the Christmas episode of the bizarre early-80s cartoon based on “Pac-Man”. It features those darn Ghosts stealing Santa’s toys.
Christmas Comes to Willow Creek, starring both of the Dukes of Hazzard boys as long-haul truckers trying to bring Christmas presents to Alaska. Very cheesy and melodramatic and has the feel of the “Over the Top” Christmas special.
Also, we watched the Christmas episode of the Six Million Dollar Man recently. That was pretty good. Lee Majors taught a clearly-phoning-it-in Burgess Meredith the true meaning of Christmas.
In a sorta related but really completely not note, just found the weirdest Christmas CD ever: A FLINTSTONES MOTOWN CHRISTMAS. The Flintstones and Rubbles decide to drive to New Rock City for Christmas but get lost and wind up in Motown, where they learn The True Meaning Of Christmas, with occasional segues to classic Motown versions of Christmas songs by The Jackson Five, The Temptations, The Supremes, etc. Unless Tarzan of The Apes intends to release a country western salute to our nation’s teachers, I cannot imagine a more random, disorienting mash-up of completely unrelated things. On top of that, of course, we have to remember The Flintstones are supposed to be prehistoric so we have to assume they somehow passed through a time-warp or something…
#29 “I don’t think there is such a thing as an unriffable Christmas special”
You forgot about ‘A Blackadder Christmas Carol’. A wonderful skewing of a time old favorite.
As for myself, I’d like to see ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ given the treatment. It purports to ‘answer’ everything about Santa, but leaves us with more questions. Who were these Claus people who left baby Kris at the doorstep? Was Santa illegetimate? What king were the Kringles toymakers to? Where exactly is Sombertown? Was the Burgermeister and his men an allegory for Nazi Germany? Whats the Winter Warlock’s backstory? Why wouldn’t Jessica’s parents give her a doll? Did that @%&*@! penguin serve any purpose? These are questions that the riffers need to address.
Emmet Otter is one of the most sweet and sincere Christmas specials Jim Henson ever did. My Mom loved some of the songs. There are plenty of bad specials to go around though.
The Smurf’s Christmas special, in which a bad guy obviously meant to represent Satan is plotting to drag two innocent kids back to hell with him, is pretty creepy for a kid’s show.
I dare anyone to find a Christmas special more misguided in it’s good intentions than “The Little Troll Prince”. ;)
@51: The best thing about that Glow Worms special is the cast. Sally Struthers tries to kill Carroll O’ Connor! Ya hit a lull, cheap All In The Family joke. Now that Hasbro has their own 24 hour channel, that one might actually get airtime again.
But for ’80s half-hour cartoon Christmas specials that need to be riffed to shreds, there is one that must be considered above all others because its pieces were barely even together to begin with. I said it last year, and the year before, and I’ll say it again: CANDY CLAUS (1987)
As much as I really want to see the older stuff that’s been suggested, was any other holiday special rushed to TV with cheap last-minute music-video segments to cover the fact that they weren’t even finished due to a bankruptcy or tragic accident? I honestly have no idea what happened to cause Candy Claus to turn out like it did, but I watch it on YouTube every year in hopes that I’ll somehow learn just that, much like how every time I pop in Red Zone Cuba, I think that maybe, just maybe, this time they’ll actually make it to that tungsten mine. It’s THAT magical.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_EXcO-qk00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nwq07xv-vE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOLGpssCC-E&feature=related
Her brother’s existence remains unknown,
He’ll die neglected, all alone,
Candy, Candy, Candy, Candy, CANNNNNNN-DYYYYYYY!
#55 Have you heard about that new Nutcracker movie? It allegedly takes WWII allegories to a whole new level!
@54 – Whereas “The Flintstones Christmas Carol” seemed rather normal by comparison, where the flu bug has hit Bedrock just in time for the annual stage show, and…yes, that symptom of the flu is rather graphically, if comically, alluded to several times in the script.
As for movies, however, even Joel and the Kevin-tied Ballyhoo Pictures documentarians were versed on K. Gordon Murray’s Italian kiddy-matinee goodness of “The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUhVvEFMnsM
Some excellent suggestions here. I can only add “A Very Brady Christmas” which was sappy, annoying, absurd and unnecessary all at once. Good stuff!
And one that I quite like, although some don’t take to- and anyone too young to have enjoyed Johnny Carson wouldn’t much get- is Rich Little’s A Christmas Carol. Highlights include Richard Nixon as Marley and pretty good musical number. Oh, W. C. Fields is Scrooge.
If at all possible to find, how about those horrible christmas specials created by the TV networks in the 1980’s to hawk their contracted celebrities. The ones where some cute star from one of their shows (gary coleman, emmanuel lewis, olson twins) gets lost or separated in a big city, and cast members from other network shows make cameos helping he or she find the “true meaning of christmas”.
It makes me want to faint just thinking about it.
Now that it’s digested in my mind like month old fruitcake, I’d say the Glee Christmas episode from this week deserves riffing. Even more soe than their Rocky Horror episode.
And though I love the show dearly, any of Doctor Who’s Christmas specials are just prime for riffing, particularly the one with Kylie Minogue.
Richie Rich’s Christmas Wish, a direct-to-video sequel to that horrible MacCauley Culkin movie. Either that or Santa with Muscles with Hulk Hogan.
The horrid Marlo Thomas redux of “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
I like to see the guys at rifftrax take on that last movie CNN mentioned. The one with the mouse and the family that looks like they’re on LSD.
And let’s not forget Unaccompanied Minors. The movie is awful in every way. I would normally blame the director for a turd like this, but the blame goes to Arnold a.k.a Mr. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! That’s arnold from troll 2 is in this movie. You better be readin’ this, mike.
Shrek The Halls. That thing needs a riffing to be even halfway palatable. I’ve not seen the new one but from the commercials I’d include that as well.
Here’s another set:
Any of the Power Rangers Christmas episodes.
Let’s not forget the horrible SANTA WITH MUSCLES with Hulk Hogan, BROTHER!
SANTA CLAUS THE MOVIE with Dudley Moore as an elf would also be prime reindeer poo.
I have zero memories of the oldtime Christmas specials, so I’ll chime in with a more recent offering: “The Man who Saved Christmas”, a schmaltzy, made in Canada TV movie starring Jason Alexander. It’s about a toy manufacturer during World War II who is forced to abandon making toys, and instead focus on making weapons and materials for the war effort. But, by the end, he’s back to making toys, for reasons I forgot. I do recall that it has, amongst other things, some of the fakest looking computer generated backgrounds I’ve seen in my life…
I’ll have to give the Riff-Trax “Star Wars” special another look; my first time, I couldn’t get past 20 minutes it was so bad. The riffing couldn’t even get me interested!!
Given what I saw in Merlin’s Shop, my choice would unequivocally be (even without seeing it first) “A Grandpa for Christmas” starring, yes, Ernest Borgnine. This is a fairly recent film, I might add.
I see visions of demon cats in stocking caps and evil monkeys under the tree when I contemplate such a thing.
This Guy (Post 50)
“Christmas Shoes” is a favorite of my family, but it is about as syruppy and sappy as a Christmas movie can be. The kid acting, alone, would make for some really good riffing. When the mother dies at the end, they could even reprise the great Joel riff from “Untamed Youth,” “Boy, I’m sorry I made fun of this movie.”
Tons of great specials mentioned already and although the theme is TV Christmas specials, of which I’ll throw in having some kind of riffing for that David Bowie/Bing Crosby Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth song that was on whatever special that was. But I think that the floor should be opened up to other holiday/Christmas movies as well because I believe that Santa Claus: The Movie would need riffing to make it watchable for me. How about any of those straight to TV Muppet Christmas specials? I don’t mean their Christmas Carol one, but any other Christmas special they did after that first movie should immediately be riffed.
I’ll second SANTA CLAUS: THE MOVIE. But I think they should go for broke and do the Santa Clause movies simply because they deserve it.
“The Ghosts of Christmas Eve,” a Fox Family special featuring the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I sat through it at a New Year’s party and wished I could riff it without offending the hosts.
My memory is probably off but I believe there was Rat Pack Christmas special probably on Dean Martin’s variety show. The Chairman, Candyman, Dino and all their elves were all swingin into high. Those cats knew how to swing baby. Since they are mostly all gone, it would be safe to riff them.
If anyone can confirm please post, thanks and Merry Christmas!
How about the Italian ‘classic’ “The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t”, starring and directed by Rossano Brazzi, who plays the evil bad guy who tries to destroy Christmas by evicting Santa Claus and his elves from the North Pole, until the children of the world pay his back rent with all of their spare change! It is always hilarious when a country like Italy or Mexico give us their take on the holiday.
A mouse, A Mystery, and Me.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0899197/
A animated mouse mystery writer helps a live action cast of characters find Santa Claus after he is taken hostage.
Was “Santa Claus: The Movie” the film that doesn’t actually feature Santa much, but actually focuses mostly on Dudley Moore as a clueless inventor elf who screws up Christmas for everyone, then decides the actual cause is “Santa just doesn’t like me!”, so his wagnst leads him to team up with an evil executive to create a competing “Christmas II” holiday?
Yeah, that’d be prime RiffTrax material.
#80
Yep, that’s the one…and John Lithgow was the evil executive.
I think it was also produced by Ilya Salkind who did the first SUPERMAN:THE MOVIE. He even used a similar tag line “You will believe reindeer can fly!”
#77, The Rat Pack Christmas special sounds too good for riffing! Let’s keep it cr*ppy.
Every ABC Family original Christmas special/movie. All of them.
If you are looking for Holiday movies to trash, might I suggest “Christmas With the Cranks”, “Deck the Halls”, or any other more recent Christmas film. You could also try “A Miser Brother’s Christmas”, a sort of sequel to “The Year Without a Santa Claus”.
Oh, By the way…They have already done “Star Wars Holiday Special” for Rifftrax…Let us not repeat ourselves, OK.
The live action version of A Year Without A Santa Claus. I’ve only seen the Snow Miser/Heat Miser song from the film, but that’s all it took to sour my attitude to the whole piece of garbage.
Oh, There is another one I remembered just now…I think it was called “The Night They Saved Christmas”… It starred Art Carney as Santa Claus and Paul Williams as an elf…and I think it had something to do with oil drilling jeopardising Santa’s headquarters at the North Pole..or something.
Or how about “Ernest Saves Christmas”.
I’d say “Ernest” movies are unriffable since they don’t take themselves seriously (even remotely).
Rudolph’s Shiny New Year and Frosty Returns. Ugh.
The “Three’s Company” Christmas episode. Helen (Mrs Roper) kept trying to have sex with Stanley (Mr Roper) to no avail. Jack got to kiss Janet and Chrissy under the mistletoe most of the show.
There was a Christmas special from the late 70s/early 80s called “A Cosmic Christmas” — the three wise men are aliens who’ve landed in a small town. Even as a kid, I thought it was one of the worst things I’d ever seen. I’d love to see Mike and the boys have a go at that one.
I don’t remember the name of it and I refuse to look it up but there was a CGI Rudolph special done about 5 or 6 years ago. Wrong in so many ways and so riffable.
I hate Santa Baby. Please kill it.
How’s about Frosty Returns? It’s an early 90s sequel that is oozing with self-important PC-ness that kills any of the joy of the first one. No Santa, no corn cob pipe, but there is a fertility goddess and a heavy-handed environmentalist bent. It also features a creepy-looking cartoon Jonathan Winters as a narrator and some awful attempts at humor. Bill Melendez (of Charlie Brown specials fame) gives us a lemon that rips off some of the more successful aspects of the Peanuts stories. Oh, and the bad guy raps.
I see there’s an iRiff (which are really, really varied in quality) so I may check that out to see if they did the thing justice.
#85: Live Action version? [checks You Tube] Oh, God! Make it stop! ARGH!!!
/gonna have to watch the original AND listen to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s version to get the taste of that outta my mouth…
The Miser Brother Christmas….ouch that one really hurt to sit through. As far a TV-Christmas-Movie – I nominate “An American Christmas Carol”…it starred The Fonz as Scrooge during the Great Depression????!!
Graboidz, I couldn’t agree more. I came here to nominate the horrible “Miser Brother’s Christmas”. “The Year without A Santa Claus” where they originally appeared is great but, ouch the other one hurts a whole bunch.
Yes to The Littlest Angel with Fred Gwyenne and Johnny Whittaker. That one needs a good riffing.
The SFX, which were incredibly state-of-the-art for 1960s TV, became hideously dated about five years later and are worthy of mocking. And it’s all about a singing, dancing little kid who’s, um, y’know, dead.
This Rankin/Bass special has been off tv for years: “The Little Drummer Boy.” Probably because of political correctness.
Does anyone else remember it?
Almost all the voices were by Paul Fries.
Since my mother feels compelled to watch every single one, I’d say ANY Hallmark Channel or Gospel Music Network made-for-TV Christmas movie. Even when she admits that they’re crap, she just. Keeps. Watching. More than half have cancer as a plot point, which must be a new Christmas tradition – the Yuletide Chemo Treatment? There’s manipulative glurge, and then there’s THESE. They NEED to be riffed, for the sake of everyone’s sanity.
#81: Yep, it was the Salkinds that produced Santa Claus: The Movie. Right after the smash that was Supergirl, which needs riffing, and before they sold the rights for Golan/Globus to make Superman IV: The Quest for Spock, or er, Peace, which needs riffing.
Actually the Salkinds have plenty of great riffing material what with Superman III and those Three Musketeers/Four Musketeers movies. I would think the Superman movies are easier to access on DVD though. But I guess they wanted to make Santa Claus: The Movie another tentpole franchise. And given that it was a huge success, if by success one means bitter failure, that’s what didn’t happen.
And why not go out on a limb and suggest It’s A Wonderful Life for Rifftrax. If they could do Casablanca, which has become a cinematic legend filled with what would later become cliches, then why not an oft-imitated oft-watched (thanks to the loooong public domain dispute) holiday film like that one? It is always touted as a holiday film even though content-wise it contains less Christmas than The Bishop’s Wife or Miracle on 34th Street per se to use some its contemporary holiday brethren. It might draw ire and fire, but I’ll just throw it out there. Do it Rifftrax. Mr. Potter has it waiting for him.