Halloween just ended a few days ago, but news broke Friday of a pretty big shift in the holiday TV special landscape. After spending over five decades airing on CBS, the 1964 Rankin-Bass stop-motion animated special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is moving to NBC, accompanied by the 1969 special “Frosty the Snowman.”
“Rudolph” originally debuted on NBC in 1964, but annual airings moved to CBS in 1971, where it’s stayed up to this point. “Frosty” has been on CBS from the get-go. Since it’s the 60th anniversary of “Rudolph,” NBC is giving it the royal treatment. It’ll air in its entirety as a 75-minute special (presumably uncut, as found on modern DVD/Blu-ray releases) on NBC December 6 at 8 PM ET, the same day it debuted back in 1964. An extra airing will be broadcast on December 11. Meanwhile, “Frosty” will air on December 5 at 8:30 PM ET, with another airing on December 12 at 8 PM ET.
I note that Comcast, NBC’s owner, already owns the rights to the pre-September 1974 Rankin-Bass library, which includes the aforementioned specials. Warner Bros. Discovery owns the post-September 1974 library, including the 70s Rudolph and Frosty sequels.
Also, while the specials will air on NBC, that’s just the over-the-air version. For Peacock, neither special will be available, as music rights currently prevent such. Presumably, the streaming version of NBC through Peacock will air a “sorry, not available”-style title card during the specials’ airings. PBS did something similar for when its over-the-air stations aired the “Peanuts” specials a few years ago, as it wasn’t able to offer the specials via streaming.
CBS no longer the animated holiday special king?
CBS was once the home of the biggest classic animated holiday specials: the Rankin-Bass specials like “Rudolph”; “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”; and the “Peanuts” specials, including “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” While there’s been a metric ton of holiday specials since, it’s “Rudolph,” “Grinch,” and “Charlie Brown Christmas” that are considered the most famous ones of all. Even adult-oriented holiday special parodies will often reference at least one of these three.
That said, a lot’s changed for the Tiffany Network since the 1960s (including nobody really calling them by that nickname anymore). The “Peanuts” specials left CBS in 2001 for ABC; in 2020, they moved to their current home, Apple TV+. PBS aired the specials for a few years after the Apple TV+ deal, but these airings have ceased. Your only non-Apple TV+ option for watching Charlie Brown and Snoopy is to buy the DVDs and Blu-rays.
Meanwhile, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” aired on CBS from its 1966 debut until 1988, when it moved to cable (Turner Broadcasting’s networks such as TNT and TBS). It went back to broadcast TV in 2001, airing on The WB and ABC before moving to NBC in 2015, where it’s stayed to this day. (I assume it helps that the 2000 live-action film starring Jim Carrey was made by Universal.) “Grinch” is also available to stream on Peacock, as well as buy on various DVD and Blu-ray releases.
Still, with the loss of “Rudolph” and “Frosty,” this leaves CBS without any major classic animated holiday specials. At this point, the most famous classics are now basically split between Comcast and Disney’s various arms (Freeform, Peacock, NBC, ABC, etc.). For anyone old enough to remember when seeing the “CBS Special Presentation” bumper on TV was a big deal, this feels like a major change.
It’s unclear why “Rudolph” and “Frosty” have hopped networks, though I suspect Paramount’s current financial woes might be why. Recently, CBS lost the rights to air the Grammys, which it’s aired since 1973.
Going forward, I assume CBS will continue to air the handful of newer animated specials it usually airs during the holidays, even if none of them are as memorable as “Rudolph” or “Frosty.” Two things CBS might want to do:
- Revive airing “A Garfield Christmas.” Garfield’s now owned by Paramount; the recent “The Garfield Movie” was successful, showing the cat still has an audience; and the special (which aired on CBS from 1987 to 2000) is still remembered by Gen Xers and Millennials—it still has nostalgia, while being a “newer” special than the Baby Boomer-era “Rudolph”/”Frosty.”
- Air some of Nickelodeon’s holiday specials. Which certainly means “SpongeBob,” and perhaps “Paw Patrol.”
Conclusion
Of course, the shift from linear TV to streaming might make these changes a non-issue for some viewers.
Fortunately, you can watch “Rudolph” and “Frosty” on video. While they aren’t streaming, they’re available to buy on a variety of DVD and Blu-ray collections, as well as digitally.
Image: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” (Rankin-Bass)
