 The Christmas Special. It can be a one-off made for TV feature or it could be a Christmas episode of a favorite TV series. But what makes these so special that we're willing to wait an entire year and watch hours upon hours of specials for over a month straight? Christmas specials are often non-secular in order to appeal to a wide audience, while others revolve around a more religious storyline, i.e. the birth of Christ. Some of the best Christmas specials are in animated forms such as He-Man and She-Rus Christmas Special, Life with Louise Premier Episode, Batman the Animated Series Christmas with the Joker, and of course Mickey's Christmas Carol. Then we have the classics such as Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. But why do they mean so much to us and why have we seen a steady decline in them over the years? The liberalization of the world has led to many waging war on Christmas and becoming offended by the very expression that people say in passing during the special time of year. It's been changed from Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays and some prefer you not even say that. Many Karens out there and I use the name in the broadest sense as both male and female throw such a fit at anything that has to do with the holiday season because of some sense of self entitlement. What these people seem to forget though is that to Christians Christmas may be about Jesus but as it's evolved to the rest of the world that may just be a name only. Before Charles Dickens wrote his classic A Christmas Carol Christmas was actually really only celebrated by the upper class. In fact I guess you could say a Christmas Carol could be considered the first Christmas special. Published on December 19th the first edition sold out by Christmas Eve by the end of 1844 13 editions had been released. Now look at how much it's influenced the world and our view on Christmas. The story had nothing to do with Jesus. In fact religion didn't even play a part. The point of the story was actually about maintaining the Christmas spirit. You know kindness sharing giving family and friends. All this from the first Christmas special. It's a tradition that's gone on for well over a century. That's the whole point of Christmas specials isn't it? To recapture that special feeling we got the first time we read or heard or watched a Christmas Carol that is unless you're the Hallmark Channel then it's all about how you can get the maximum number of people to watch the same story of two strangers falling in love over the holiday. But ultimately it's about getting people to feel warm inside. To put aside their differences and if only for 30 minutes appreciate the true meaning of Christmas. For as long as I can remember my family has gathered around the television throughout the month of December to watch our favorite Christmas classics. For many it begins when the Hallmark Channel premiered their holiday selection as soon as Halloween is over. Some of my personal favorites have long been Mickey's Christmas Carol, Heman and Shearer's Christmas special, National Lampoon's Christmas vacation and the many rank and bass productions. Each Christmas special starts out the same whether it be an episode of one of our favorite tv shows, a Christmas classic or a movie. They all generally start out with a dreary character who has to learn a lesson or prove their worth to those around them. They're meant to lift our spirits and in times like these we need our spirits lifted drastically. So let's dive into the history of the Christmas special. As mentioned Charles Dickens classic book to many was the very first Christmas special then making its way to live readings by the author on tours to theater productions, movies and reinterpretations through existing television series before 1962 when Mr. McGoo's Christmas Carol premiered. True Christmas specials made for tv were either adaptations of stories such as a Christmas Carol with live actors or the Antibody story or episodes of variety shows highlighting Christmas music. They were often hosted by such celebrities as Perry Cuomo, Jane White or Florence Henderson. This also changed once variety shows began dying out in the late 1980s and Rankin Bass began producing more and more Christmas specials. The first Rankin Bass Christmas special was Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer which originally aired Sunday December 6th 1964 on NBC television in the United States. Other production companies soon followed suit with a Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965 and How the Green Stole Christmas in 1966. Other Rankin Bass productions which set the tone for Christmas each year were the Little Drummer Boys in 1968 Santa Claus is coming to town in 1970 the year without Santa Claus in 74 the first Christmas the story of the first Christmas to know in 1975 Jack Frost in 1979 among many others. In the 80s television series began to normalize dedicating one episode from each of their seasons to Christmas the Cosby Show Who's the Boss and so on. It became a tradition the 90s continued in the trend with home improvement Roseanne Boy Meets World and the list goes on however with the coming of the 2000s Christmas specials and holiday episodes of tv shows began to die off and have even become rarer and rarer with each passing year. Certain channels do have their 25 days of Christmas and some sitcoms do continue with this Christmas episode trend but other shows simply leave it as part of the background just becoming another story of the week opposed to anything special which stands on its own. How many more interpretations of a Christmas Carol really need to be produced? It seems the originality and spirit of what this season is all about has disappeared along with the phrase of Merry Christmas yet there's hope. In 2018 Netflix premiered quite an original take on a Christmas mythology with Christmas Chronicles starring Kurt Russell as Santa Claus. The film was such a success that they followed it up with the Christmas Chronicles 2 in 2020. If you've seen the films you can tell just how much the cast enjoyed playing their roles. In fact Russell enjoys playing Santa so much that he's gone on record as saying he wants Santa Claus to be the very last character he ever portrays on screen. With as popular as the films have become could they possibly be the beginning of a new era in which Christmas specials make their return? After the year we've had in 2020 could the meaning of Christmas once again be kept in the hearts of all mankind all year long? Well that's for you to decide. Each of us on our own must meet our own ghost of Christmas past present and future and reclaim our Christmas spirit. If you enjoyed that video make sure you hit the subscribe button right there so you stay up to date on All Thanks Geek Culture. Also go ahead and check out one of these two playlists on the side for more videos just like the one you just watched. I'm Shane and for Comic NTV the only place on YouTube where all geek culture collides. Take care Geeks.