Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is going home. TV’s longest running Christmas special returns to NBC in December, where it premiered 60 years ago.
Frosty the Snowman is coming along, too.
Rudolph will air 8-9:15 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, the exact date the show debuted in 1964. Frosty, after more than five decades on CBS, will be broadcast at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, following the beloved Dr. Suess cartoon, How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
The Bass-Rankin “stop-motion” animated Rudolph debuted a year before CBS premiered A Charlie Brown Christmas, and two years before Boris Karloff first narrated The Grinch cartoon on CBS.
Rudolph, hosted by folk singer Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman, aired every year on NBC through 1971. CBS obtained the rights in 1972, and showed it annually through last December.
The Frosty cartoon premiered Dec. 7, 1969, on CBS with entertainer Jimmy Durante narrating the story about the snowman who came to life after a magical top hat was placed on its head. It had aired on CBS every year since.
Rudolph was named the nation’s most beloved holiday program in a 2016 Hollywood Reporter survey of 2,200 adults, despite its political incorrectness. Rudolph is ostracized for his unusual nose; Hermey the elf is shunned because he wants to be a dentist instead of making toys; and outcast unconventional toys are banished to an island .
In addition to the 1949 title song written by Johnny Marks, the one-hour Rudolph includes “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” “We're a Couple of Misfits,” “Silver and Gold,” “We Are Santa's Elves,” “The Most Wonderful Day of the Year,” “Jingle, Jingle, Jingle” and other songs.
Again this year, Disney’s Freeform channel (formerly ABC Family) also will air Rudolph and Frosty in its “25 Days of Christmas" lineup. Rudolph and Frosty will be presented Friday, Dec. 7; Saturday Dec. 8; Monday Dec. 16; Tuesday, Dec. 17; Saturday, Dec. 21; Sunday, Dec. 22; Tuesday Dec. 24 and Christmas.
NBC’s new holiday specials this year include Jimmy Fallon’s Holiday Seasoning Spectacular (Dec. 4) and A Motown Christmas with Smokey Robinson, Halle Bailey, Gladys Knight, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, the Temptations, Ashanti, BeBe Winans, JoJo, mgk, Pentatonix and Jordin Sparks (Dec. 11).
CBS’ holiday announcement did not include the annual Thanksgiving parade in New York City, leaving NBC and Peacock with the only telecast for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. CBS also will not broadcast the 1992 animated Frosty Returns voiced by Jonathan Winters and the 1992 Rudolph the Reindeer cartoons this year.
CBS’ new holiday specials include a movie, Nugget Is Dead? A Christmas Story (Nov. 21); Nate Bargatze’s Nashville Christmas comedy and music show (Dec. 9) and a retooling of CBS’ annual A Home For The Holidays adoption program into a concept special, Josh Groban & Friends Go From For The Holidays (Dec. 20). The network will again air the animated Reindeer In Here (Nov. 30) and move the annual Kennedy Center Honors, which usually air between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, to Dec. 22.
ABC plans to air a new CMA Country Christmas from Nashville (Dec. 3), Mary Poppins (Nov. 28), The Lion King (Dec. 8), Olaf’s Frozen Adventure (Dec. 10), The Santa Clause (Dec. 22), Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade (Christmas) and five episodes of The Great Christmas Light Fight.
A Charlie Brown Christmas will not be broadcast on over-the-air or cable television again this year. Charles Schultz’s award-winning 1965 cartoon is only available on Apple TV+ for the third year.
