A Special Sesame Street Christmas

Premiered December 18, 1978.

It's Christmas time on Sesame Street.  Its residents Big Bird (Caroll Spinney), David (Northern Calloway), Mr. Hooper (Will Lee) Maria (Sonia Monzano) and Bob (Bob McGrath) are in a celebratory mood.  They're joined by singer-actress Leslie Uggams, who is visiting for the holidays.

However, Oscar the Grouch (Spinney) hates Christmas and lets everyone know his opinion.  The others are tired of his attitude, he's starting to get in the way of having a good time.  Oscar seems determined to ruin Christmas for everyone.

In the middle of all this, Maria rescues an injured stray cat in the alley.  She and Leslie decide to name it "Tiny Tim" after the character from Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  Oscar doesn't like the cat because it tried to steal trash out of his can the previous month.

Leslie gets an idea.  She will give Oscar the "Scrooge" treatment and try to get him to change his ways. She recruits Anne Murray to pretend she's the Ghost of Christmas Past...

...Imogene Coca to be the Ghost of Christmas Present...

...and Dick Smothers to portray the Ghost of Christmases yet to come.

Can these "ghosts" work their magic in time to save Christmas and make Oscar little less grouchy for the holiday?

Plus, musical performances from Leslie Uggams, Anne Murray and Ethel Merman!

J.A. Morris says:
People who grew up in the 1970s and 80s remember Christmas Eve On Sesame Street, the Emmy award winning special that (deservedly) became a classic and was rerun for several years on PBS.  A Special Sesame Street Christmas was produced the same year but was never rerun and quickly forgotten (until its DVD release).  Upon watching it for this review, I can understand why.

It's an odd special, it feels more like a Leslie Uggams variety special, with Sesame Street actors as guest stars.  Some of the celebrity cameos are strange and random.  Michael Jackson appears onscreen for less than 5 minutes, yet his face is slapped on the DVD cover.  Screen legend Henry Fonda gets even less time.

If you're a fan of Oscar the Grouch, you'll enjoy this special.  Oscar is hilariously mean to all the entire cast.  Carol Spinney does a great job, the highlight being a funny performance of the Coasters' "Yaketty Yak."  I don't think I've ever seen Oscar "play" an electrical guitar anywhere else.

Tiny Tim the cat is certainly cute and sympathetic and serves as a nice contrast to Oscar.

Ethel Merman's appearance is memorable if nothing else.  She tells Imogene Coca that she "looks like an idiot", which is a strange thing to say in a special aimed at children! Merman's performance of the song "Tomorrow" belongs in the "over-the-top" showbiz hall off fame.  She certainly gives it her all though!

Anne Murray has a good voice, but her performance of "You Needed Me" (which topped the music charts the year this special was produced) feels out of place. Same goes for some of Uggams' songs.

On a positive note, I like the ending of the show.  Uggams and Merman join the Sesame Street folks in a medley of Christmas songs.  This means we get a brief duet of Merman singing "Winter Wonderland" with Oscar!

And I have to say that Maria and David look pretty cool in 1920s clothes during the "Christmas Past" scene.

A Special Sesame Street Christmas is more of a curiosity than essential viewing, but it's recommended to everyone who watched Sesame Street in the 1970s and especially recommended if Oscar was your favorite character.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5

2 and a half candy canes.
  
RigbyMel says: 

A Special Sesame Street Christmas is interesting but ...odd.   The writing feels very uneven.  As J.A. says above, there is some dialogue that seems inconsistent with Sesame Street's message of kindness and tolerance.

Plus in wacky 1970s variety special fashion, the celebrity cameos are random as all get out.  Henry Fonda shows up on a fire escape in a bathrobe to expound about Christmas morning for a grand total of maybe 30 seconds.  Michael Jackson literally walks across the set, hands Oscar a book about ghosts and leaves.

We get a couple of Broadway songs that have tangential (at best) relationships to the story, such as Ethel Merman's memorable performance of "Tomorrow."  Anne Murray sings her hit song "You Needed Me" to Big Bird, which seems wildly out of place as it's a romantic love song.

The special is also odd in that although it involves some of the regular human cast (Maria, Bob, David and Mr. Hooper) in addition to Big Bird, Oscar and Barkley the Dog (Toby Towson), it does NOT involve important contributors such as Jim Henson and Frank Oz, which may have contributed to the issues the special has with tone.

That being said,  Caroll Spinney does a great job as Oscar and Big Bird.  Casting Oscar in the "Scrooge" role makes a lot of sense, and Tiny Tim the Kitten is adorable. 

In doing some research about the special,  I found that others have compared it to the Star Wars Holiday Special, because of its weird 70s variety special format, celebrity cameos, and the fact that it only aired one time on a major network.  Both also maintain a cult following.

A Special Sesame Street Christmas has its moments, and the cast gives their all, but I can't really give this a strong recommendation unless you're a hard-core fan.

RigbyMel's rating:

2 candy canes

Christmas Eve On Sesame Street

Premiered December 3, 1978. 

It’s Christmas Eve and the residents of Sesame Street are feeling the spirit of the season.  After a trip to the local ice skating rink, they pick out Christmas trees, sing holiday songs and shop for gifts.

Big Bird (Carroll Spinney) and his friend Patty (Debbie Chen) are excited about the impending arrival of Santa Claus.  However, he still has lots of questions about how the “Jolly Old Elf” can get down a chimney, let alone all of the chimneys.  Oscar the grouch (Spinney) has doubts about this and expresses these doubts rather rudely.  

He says that if Santa can’t fit down chimneys, kids won’t get presents.  Big Bird asks his friends Kermit (Jim Henson) and Grover (Frank Oz) to get children’s theories of how Santa delivers toys. 

Later, Ernie (Henson) spots a box in Mr. Hooper’s (Will Lee) store and thinks it would be a perfect place for his friend Bert (Oz) to keep his beloved collection of paper clips.  He has no money to pay for the box, so he offers Hooper his treasured rubber ducky as barter, which Hooper accepts. 

When Bert visits Hooper’s store, he sees a pink soap dish that would make the perfect home for Ernie’s rubber ducky.  He gives up his paper clips in exchange for the soap dish!

As evening approaches, Big Bird is determined to stay up and watch Santa make his way the chimney.  He goes to the roof of the Sesame Street apartment building so he can see what happens.  The heavy snow and frigid temperatures put Big Bird in jeopardy of freezing.  

Patty gets worried when Big Bird isn’t in his nest.  She goes to Gordon (Roscoe Orman), Susan (Loretta Long) and Maria (Sonia Monzano) for help locating their feathered friend.  

Will Big Bird see Santa arrive?  Will Bert and Ernie’s Christmas be "ruined" by their selflessness? 

Plus, Cookie Monster (Oz) tries to write a letter to Santa Claus! 

J.A. Morris says:

I rarely say this of anything we review, but this special is just about perfect.  I was born two years after Sesame Street debuted, so it was a big part of my childhood.  While the cast changed a bit while I was watching, this is more or less “my” Sesame cast.  So Christmas Eve On Sesame Street is a wonderful way to visit my old TV friends every December. 

The whole cast, puppets and humans is great, but Carroll Spinney is the real standout.  It probably wasn’t easy for Spinney to provide voice for Big Bird’s excitement about Santa and Oscar’s nastiness, but Spinney excels here. 

Frank Oz and Jim Henson's scenes as Bert and Ernie are among their best work.  Their performance of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” brings me tears of joy every time I watch it.  Their story line is one of the best versions of  "The Gift Of The Magi."

Big Bird asks Mr. Snuffleupagus (Jerry Nelson) to help him solve the Santa/Chimney conundrum.

Roscoe Orman is wonderful as Gordon.  Orman plays the perfect father figure for Big Bird, Patty and even Cookie Monster.  I also thought it was sweet that Susan and Gordon invited Cookie Monster and Big Bird to spend Christmas with them. 

Christmas Eve On Sesame Street features three new songs and they’re all great, with “Keep Christmas With You” being the best.  When I was a little boy who loved the holiday season, I tried to take the song’s message to heart.  I remember grabbing a notepad and writing down the lyrics so I’d remember them “all through the year!”

This special is highly recommended and especially recommended to everyone who loved this particular Sesame Street cast when they were kids. 

J.A. Morris’ rating:

4 candy canes!

RigbyMel says: 

As I am a few years younger than J.A. Morris, this 1978 special DEFINITELY features the Sesame Street cast I remember.    The special was appreciated when it first aired - it won the 1979 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program - and it holds up wonderfully well.  

Impressively, Christmas Eve On Sesame Street manages to present the "spirit of the season" in a sweet, but not sappy way and does so in a completely secular context.   

There is even a nod to the fact that not everyone is crazy about the holidays with Oscar The Grouch's "I Hate Christmas" song and he is the primary antagonist for the episode.   Fortunately, he does reform a la Rankin-Bass a little bit -- he's grouchy, but not a monster, for pete's sake!  

I also like that the special "opens out" the world of the cast a little bit -- we see the Sesame Street gang ice skating (with a little help from the cast of Holiday on Ice) and riding the subway back uptown.   Plus the ice skating sequence with Big Bird and a little girl skating to "Feliz Navidad" is precious -- especially the little girl's genuine reaction when she hugs Big Bird at the end of the number. 

The songs are great  -- full disclosure,  my first ever live concert was seeing Bob McGrath on stage!  As J.A. Morris says, "Keep Christmas With You" is a standout.   However, I find that "True Blue Miracle" has been really sticking with me in recent years as well.   There's something really charming about the Caribbean tinged tune. 

The original Muppet performers always make me smile, wonderful touches abound, like Oscar being helped over the turnstiles in the subway and Kermit and Grover's interviews with kids regarding how Santa does his job.

Plus, the human cast all gets moments to shine.   I particularly love Bob's interactions with Linda Bove.  Linda teaches the kids how to sign "Keep Christmas With You" in ASL as a present to Bob.

Mr. Hooper's intervention into Bert & Ernie's "Gift of the Magi" tale is a delight also.  It's a nice touch that the Jewish character (Mr. Hooper) wants to make sure his friends have a merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve On Sesame Street is an absolute classic and worth sharing with your family each year if you don't already do so!  Cannot recommend this one highly enough!

RigbyMel's rating: 

4 candy canes!!!