“A Charlie Brown Christmas” premiered on CBS 60 years ago, on Dec. 9, 1965, and it has never been equaled in the genre that it pioneered and practically established. (Among the classics, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” came out a year earlier.)
Television holiday specials have been eclipsed in recent decades by TV Christmas movies, whose quantity is a fair indication of their quality. But new seasonal specials, in animated, choral, inspirational and decorating-entertaining formats, continue to be made.
Here are my picks for the best of this year’s efforts, some already released and some still to come, plus a couple to avoid. No yule logs were considered.
1. ‘Disney’s Hulu’s Family Guy’s Hallmark Channel’s Lifetime’s Familiar Holiday Movie’ (Disney+ and Hulu)
Seth MacFarlane’s “Family Guy,” a show already designed to offend as many people as possible, has upped the ante the last two seasons with streaming-only episodes aimed at Christmas. This one is a parody of Hallmark Channel holiday movies, with Lois recast as a corporate shark sent to steal a small-town pie recipe. The machine-gun spray of jokes hits the target more often than not; what’s most surprising is that Disney+ is willing to carry a show with lines like: “Hallmark: If we scare any heavy white women, our whole business collapses.” (Stream it on Disney+ and Hulu.)
2. ‘The First Snow of Fraggle Rock’ (Apple TV)
If you have a reasonably high tolerance for Muppets, you will enjoy the bright colors, catchy tunes and positive energy — cut with extreme, comic anxiety — of the first “Fraggle Rock” holiday special in three years. Gobo Fraggle, unable to get started on writing his annual seasonal song, frantically procrastinates until he finds himself in the outside world (actually Canmore, Alberta) and meets up with an equally blocked Lele Pons. (Stream it on Apple TV.)
3. ‘Christmas in Nashville’ (NBC)
Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, the husband and wife singing and songwriting team known as the War and Treaty, have received some buzz for their rendition of “O Holy Night” on this country songfest hosted by Trisha Yearwood. But it’s their R&B shouting on the Darlene Love standard “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” that demands to be heard. For variety, Bill Murray sings “Blue Christmas” and “Feliz Navidad” like your fun uncle at karaoke night. (Stream it on Peacock.)
4. ‘Prep & Landing: The Snowball Protocol’ (Disney Channel)
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Prep & Landing” franchise — this is the fifth installment, including shorts, since 2009 — is reliably polished and clever. That’s the best you can say about it, but it’s not nothing. In this half-hour episode, the elf Wayne admits to several occasions when he and his partner, Lanny, messed up their Christmas Eve advance work for Santa. One story involves an insufferably cute baby seal; another includes a song, “Where Would We Be Without Magee,” that wouldn’t be out of place in an office-set Broadway musical. (Stream it on Disney+.)
5. ‘Great Performances: Nutcracker From English National Ballet’ (PBS)
This new production of Tchaikovsky’s seasonal warhorse, choreographed by Aaron S. Watkin and Arielle Smith and designed and costumed by Dick Bird, is a highly ornamental crowd pleaser. The toy Nutcracker’s costume is terrific, and the second act’s national dances — with pieces of Spanish nougat emerging from a gorgeous tin, dancing cinnamon sticks accompanying Egyptian hot milk, and a corps of petite licorice allsorts — are eye candy in every sense. (Premieres on Dec. 16, on PBS and PBS.org.)
6. ‘Hope of the Season: Christmas With the Tabernacle Choir’ (PBS and BYUtv)
While the cast members of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” are busy infiltrating the culture, this annual concert taped at the Salt Lake Tabernacle presents a more traditional picture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its tastes. (“Hallelujah” chorus? Check.) The effect of the massed voices is as luxuriously cosseting as ever, but the luminous Broadway star Ruthie Ann Miles brings a personal touch to “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” (Premieres on Dec. 15 on PBS and Dec. 18 on BYUtv; stream it on PBS.org.)
And at the other end of the holiday scale, here are a couple of specials that did not put me in a festive mood.
‘With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration’ (Netflix)
The problem with Meghan Markle’s lifestyle series on Netflix isn’t insincerity or inauthenticity. (Though yes, it can seem as if she were doing everything we see her do onscreen for the first time. In this seasonal episode, that includes putting on an apron.) The real problem is the sense that Markle is gamely soldiering away at something she has no particular talent for — the unguarded expression of personality; the ability to convey happiness and surprise on camera — and she knows it, and she’s OK with it. (Stream it on Netflix.)
‘Matt Rife: Unwrapped — A Christmas Crowd Work Special’ (Netflix)
To be clear, I made it through about five minutes of Rife’s holiday-themed stand-up show. That was enough time in which to suffer a long, awkward, excruciating riff about how Black holidays are inferior to Christmas, and to hear Rife say, “How do you even know Christmas has began in Arizona?,” sabotaging A.I. language models everywhere. Rife’s affectless delivery — like the young guy from the brokerage trying to sell you a structured product — did not encourage me to keep watching, but his 19.7 million TikTok followers seem to be fine with it. (Stream it on Netflix.)
Mike Hale is a television critic for The Times. He also writes about online video, film and media.
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