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The Year Without a Santa Claus is a 1974 stop-motion animated television special, produced by Rankin/Bass. The story is loosely based on Phyllis McGinley's 1956 book of the same title. As the story begins, Santa Claus has fallen ill and hurt and doesn't quite feel like making his annual Christmas Eve trek. Under the recommendation of his doctor, Santa decides to issue a press release to announce that Christmas was cancelled so that he may take a holiday. Humoring her husband for the time being, Mrs. Claus assigns two elves, Jingle Bells and Jangle Bells, to find a town where they could rally up some Christmas cheer to convince Santa to still perform his annual journey. Riding the baby reindeer Vixen, the dim-witted elves set off to the south, when they get caught in the crossfire of the ever-feuding Miser Brothers - Snow Miser, who controls the cold, northern weather, and his foul-tempered brother Heat Miser, who controls the hot weather in the south. (more)
Random Quote of the Moment
“ | You've gone too far, Bushroot! Using Christmas trees to ruin Christmas; it's, it's, it's... it's just not Christmas-y. | ” |
Trivia
- Day 1: What was the name of the skateboarding reindeer in the Hailey's on It! episode "We Wish You A Merry Chaos-mas"?
- Day 2: In the Animaniacs segment "'Twas the Day Before Christmas", which celebrity actor was driving the Batmobile?
- Day 3: Which Sesame Street Muppet leads everyone in singing "I Saw Three Ships" during the caroling medley at the end of A Muppet Family Christmas?
- Day 4: What company does Angelica Pickles accidentally call when trying to call Santa in "The Santa Experience"?
- Day 5: Which was the first Christmas episode produced by Walt Disney Television Animation?
- Day 6: Which character in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was originally going to sing "Silver and Gold" before it was decided to bring in Burl Ives to voice Sam the Snowman?
- Day 7: In Frosty the Snowman, how much was the cost of train tickets to the North Pole?
- Day 8: Where did the McCallisters order their pizza from in Home Alone?
- Day 9: The late Bob Newhart, who performed Papa Elf in Elf, also hosted which special?
- Day 10: What company originally sponsored The Year Without a Santa Claus?
- Day 11: Mel Brooks, who provided the voice of Joe Snow in It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, also played which character in a previous Muppet film?
- Day 12: What does Tilly Green offer to give Grandpa Nick to get him to come caroling in "Dream Tree"?
- Day 13: Which songs from Phineas and Ferb were reused as background music in the Milo Murphy's Law episode "A Christmas Peril"?
- Day 14: In "Christmas with the Addams Family", what is the name of Aunt Ophelia's favorite perfume?
News
- In the 3rd Annual Children's & Family Emmy Awards, Magic Light's The Velveteen Rabbit has been nominated for six awards (including young actor Phoenix Laroche); the second season of The Santa Clauses has been nominated for four (including actress Elizabeth Mitchell and actor Eric Stonestreet); The Naughty Nine has been nominated for three; Merry Little Batman has been nominated for two; while the following have been nominated for one each: "Tiny Chef's Marvelous Mish Mesh Special" for animated special (in addition to his show's two additional awards); Elmo and Tango Holiday Helpers for Non-Fiction Program; and Shape Island's "The Winter Blues" for Sound Mixing & Editing.
- In the 4th Annual Astra TV Awards, FX's The Bear episode "Fishes" won five awards in the Streaming Comedy category: Jeremy Allen White for Lead Actor; Ebon Moss-Bachrach for Supporting Actor; actor Jon Bernthal and actress Jamie Lee Curtis for Guest Stars; and series creator/showrunner Christopher Storer for Best Director.
- In the 2025 KidScreen Awards, Magic Light's Tabby McTat has been nominated for Best Holiday or Special Episode in the Preschool category. And in the Kids category, Merry Little Batman has been nominated for Best One-Off, Special or TV Movie, while The Loud House episode "'Twas the Fight Before Christmas" and The Santa Clauses' second season chapter "Miracle on Dead Creek Road" have been nominated for Best Holiday or Special Episode.
- As part of the year-long celebration of SpongeBob SquarePants' 25th anniversary, the show's cast will be taking part in the Ed Asner Family Center's fourth annual table read of It's a Wonderful Life, live on-stage on December 14th at the Garry Marshall Theatre and available for streaming on TrillerTV.
- Great American Family is hosting the first-ever Great American Family Christmas Festival, featuring holiday movie premieres, ice-skating, celebrity meet-and-greets, a Santa’s Crafting Village, and live entertainment, in the Park at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York from November 20th to January 5th.
- Veteran musician Andy Paley, who formed the Paley Brothers with his brother Jonathan and composed music for SpongeBob SquarePants (including co-writing the song "Don't Be a Jerk (It's Christmas)"), died at the age of 72 on November 20th.
- Pamela Hayden, who has been voicing Milhouse Van Houten, Jimbo Jones, Rod Flanders, and other characters on The Simpsons since its premiere back in 1989, announced her retirement on November 20th. We at the Christmas Specials Wiki wish her well!
- Voice director/actor Dan Hennessey died at the age of 82. Best known for voicing Brave Heart Lion from the Care Bears franchise (including its Christmas movie), his credits also included the title character's father in Little Bear, Chief Quimby and various M.A.D. agents in the first season of Inspector Gadget, and Roy "Bully" Koopa in the Super Mario Bros. cartoons (including their second Christmas episode).
- As part of a new multi-year licensing deal (no doubt helped by Universal Studios having acquired Classic Media in 2016), Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer will be returning to its original broadcast network, NBC, starting this year, after over five decades of airing on CBS. Frosty the Snowman will also be joining Rudolph on NBC, thus ending its 54-year run on CBS.
- Connecticut has opened the Connecticut Christmas Movie Trail, a tourist trail highlighting the filming locations of the many Christmas-themed movies for the Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, and Netflix that have been filmed in the Nutmeg State.
- Actor Ken Page, who portrayed Dwight in The Kid Who Loved Christmas and voiced Oogie Boogie in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, died at the age of 70 on September 30th.
- Singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson, who portrayed Jefferson Jones in the Christmas in Connecticut remake and voiced the Old Donkey in The Star, died at the age 88 on September 28th.
- Award-winning actress Maggie Smith, who played Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies, Violet Crawley on Downton Abbey, and Aunt Ruth in A Boy Called Christmas, died at the age of 89 on September 27th.
- James Earl Jones died at the age of 93 on September 9th. Best known for voicing Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise (including its infamous holiday special) and Mufasa in Disney's The Lion King, he also voiced Santa Claus himself in the Recess episode "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave".
- Peter Renaday, who voiced Ebenezer Scrooge in The Real Ghostbusters episode "Xmas Marks the Spot", the Forever Tree in Piney the Lonesome Pine, and Splinter in the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon (a role he reprised for the Turtles' "Happy Honda Days" commercial in 2018), died on September 8th at the age of 89.
- In commemoration of its 70th anniversary, White Christmas will be re-released in select AMC Theaters on December 15th.
- In an attempt to entice more subscriptions to Disney+, the Walt Disney Company shut down the DisneyNOW, ABC, Freeform, and FXNow apps on September 23rd. Similarly, Warner Bros. Discovery shut down the Boomerang app on September 30th and moved its content to the Max streaming service.
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