Your Favorite Holiday Special

[Dioltach]

Blackadder's Christmas Carol, and if we're including New Year in the holiday season, Blackadder Back and Forth.

 

[Zardnaar]

Blackadder's Christmas Carol, and if we're including New Year in the holiday season, Blackadder Back and Forth.

I'm going with this.

 

[Willie the Duck]

Of things not yet mentioned, I would add A Garfield Christmas (which is separate from the Saturday morning cartoon of the 80s) is surprisingly poignant. A Muppet Family Christmas is hit-or-miss, but the ending scene with one of the last onscreen performances by Henson himself catches me right in the feels. Two live-action specials - Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus, and A Christmas Memory are not as powerful as the Francis P. Church editorial and Truman Capote short story that inspired each, respectively, but still hard not to consider classics.

3. Seinfeld, "The Strike"
The episode that gave us Festivus for the rest of us! My friends and I actually observe this fake holiday, and "the airing of grievances" has become one of our favorites.

2. Twilight Zone, "Night of the Meek"
The best and wierdest Santa Claus story ever. If you haven't seen it, you really REALLY need to.

1. M*A*S*H, "Death Takes a Holiday"
This is probably the best episode of the whole series. The crew of the 4077th entertain a bunch of local orphans, which adds some much-needed levity to the main plot: BJ, Hoolahan, and Hawkeye work to save the life of a soldier so that his family won't think of Christmas as the day their father died.

Otherwise I go with It's a Wonderful Life.

These are all wonderful things, but episodes from existing series and movies were excluded by the OP criteria.

 

[beta-ray]

It's an oddly narrow set of criteria… but I guess my favorite "holiday" special (even if I'm not a big Christmas person) is "A Charlie Brown Christmas". I like the animation (in all its rawness), and the music is ace.

Second I think is the Rankin-Bass Frosty the Snowman with Jimmy Durante. I smile when I hear Durante sing the song and I remember as a child being truly sad on what happen with ol Frosty.

Third I guess is the Rankin-Bass Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Always liked stop motion animation and as a kid this one was so charming. Story is simple but classic and the misfit toys were fun.

 

[Willie the Duck]

It's an oddly narrow set of criteria…

I don't see what is odd about it. The 'TV Special' is a type of entertainment product familiar to most westerners who grew up from the 1950s to the end of network tv prominence. These tend to congregate around holidays, with the OP's timeframe limitations approximating what growing up I would have called the Year-end or Christmas-and-Christmas-adjacent holidays. This is a discrete conceptual thing (if hard to capture in a simple phrase), and OP wants to know which ones are our favorites.

 

[Ryujin]

Pretty much any of the old Rankin/Bass animated shows.
Whatever Doctor Who Christmas Special comes out that year, whether actually Christmas themed or not.
Honourable mention to Bill Murray's "Scrooged." You just can't beat the Solid Gold Dancers, at Christmas.

 

[trappedslider]

We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's run by a big eastern syndicate, you know.

 

[Deset Gled]

It's an oddly narrow set of criteria…

I don't see what is odd about it. ...

Holiday specials are admittedly an oddity in our modern culture. It's weird that there are so many of them, including such a wide variety of film and animation styles, religious influences, and historical eras that are still watched today. These specials are a unique cultural artifact, and I find them both fascinating and charming. Personally, I enjoy them for the combination of nostalgia, things to watch with my kids, and the fact that I really like animation.

Of things not yet mentioned, I would add A Garfield Christmas (which is separate from the Saturday morning cartoon of the 80s) is surprisingly poignant.

The Garfield special is one of my kid's favorites, and has already been scheduled for viewing on this year's Xmas day. If you like that one and enjoy animation in general, I would highly recommend another Garfield special: The Nine Lives of Garfield the Cat. It's an amazing anthology collection, and the perfect retort to anyone who claims Garfield is boring because he only eats lasagna and hates Mondays.

 

[edosan]

Year Without a Christmas seems to be very popular with the memes these days, quoting the Snow Miser/Heat Miser songs.

Here's the thing about The Year Without A Santa Claus - everyone remembers the Heat Miser/Snow Miser thing (which is fantastic!) but the rest of the show is really bad. There's a reason everyone remembers Heat Miser and Snow Miser.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

... retort to anyone who claims Garfield is boring because he only eats lasagna and hates Mondays.

I'll be honest - those are two things that really resonate with me. Viva Garfield!