The Christmas specials started airing earlier than ever this year, it seemed. Rudolph and his team of reindeer were so fast, they arrived before Thanksgiving. Not that anyone seemed to mind; TV’s yuletide classics never seem to wear out their welcome. The most durable specials continue to find new audiences among the children and grandchildren of those of us who watched them when they were new, and every year since.
Those two sides of the equation combined are what give The 25 Best Teen TV Dramas of All Time their undying significance. These are the shows that parents and their kids can watch together. What's the best TV show of all time? This poll is strictly about favorite shows, the programs people in Hollywood hold nearest to their hearts — that remind them of better times. The list, appearing in next week's issue, will get the countdown treatment in an ABC special on May 13, 'TV Guide's 50 Best Shows of All Time,' part of the magazine's celebration of its golden.
For Gen X-ers especially, those stop-motion animated specials made by the Rankin/Bass studios in the 1960s and ’70s are like the Saturday-morning Schoolhouse Rock shorts: lessons taught early and often, and set to memorable songs that can’t play more than a few bars without opening floodgates of nostalgia. They’re thoroughly dated and yet not dated at all, quaint yet influential (it’s impossible to imagine, for instance, the movie Elf without the visual and narrative blueprints created by Rankin/Bass).
Of course, there were other specials, too, and you can catch them all at some point between now and Christmas, either on network TV or basic cable. Watch the selection below (presented in chronological order) and learn again the lesson that there’s enough holiday spirit to warm every heart at this season, even if (like so many of the heroes and heroines of these specials) you’re an oddball or a misfit.
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Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
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- What's the best TV show of all time? This poll is strictly about favorite shows, the programs people in Hollywood hold nearest to their hearts — that remind them of better times.
- The 1990 series finale of alien comedy 'Alf' brought 21.7 million viewers to their TV sets all at the same time. For comparison, last year's season finale for the most-watched show on TV, CBS's.
The granddaddy of ’em all builds an elaborate narrative out of Johnny Marks’ venerable carol about the lonely but heroic nonconformist reindeer. This Rankin/Bass special has it all, from Burl Ives as the snowman narrator , to the Island of Misfit Toys, to Hermey, the elf who longs to be a dentist — and who saves the day by performing a dental extraction on the Abominable Snow Monster.
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A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
The first-ever Peanuts special was this surprisingly muted tale of Charles Schulz’s neurotic kid hero and his pathetic little tree. It introduced the immortal Vince Guaraldi lounge-jazz score that came to be associated with the Peanuts gang forever after. Also, it’s one of the few Christmas specials that actually makes a point of remembering that the holiday is all about the birth of Jesus, not just the secular and commercial avatars that have come to dominate the season.
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How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
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In 2000, Ron Howard spent $123 million on a lavish, overstuffed, noisy, live-action, big-screen version of Dr. Seuss’s fable about how Christmas isn’t about greed and materialism. Sorta missed the point, didn’t it? Better to catch this modest hand-drawn version, animated by the great Chuck Jones (the Warner Bros. animator behind some of the most celebrated Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck shorts) and narrated by Boris Karloff (who also does the creepy honors as the title character). Includes the priceless ditty “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” sung by Thurl Ravenscroft (a.k.a. the voice of Tony the Tiger).
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The Little Drummer Boy (1968)
Greer Garson narrates this Rankin/Bass production, based on the carol, about a poor boy who joins the three wise men in journeying to Jesus’ birthplace, only he has nothing to offer the newborn savior except his skilled beats. Jose Ferrer shows up to voice a circus ringmaster, while the Vienna Boys’ Choir performs the title tune.
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Frosty the Snowman (1969)
This Rankin/Bass special involves hand-drawn animation instead of the more elaborate 3D puppetry of the studio’s other specials, but it’s no less beloved. This was the career highlight for nightclub comic Jackie Vernon, who is best remembered today for voicing the charismatic snowman who comes to life when a magician’s top hat lands on his head. Jimmy Durante (drawn complete with schnozz) narrates and sings the title song.
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Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (1970)
Mickey Rooney plays Kris Kringle in this Rankin/Bass origin story that purports to explain the origins of all of the traditions surrounding Santa Claus. Fred Astaire (as a dancing mailman) narrates. Featuring one of the most memorable Rankin/Bass villains, the toy-hating Burgermeister Meisterburger (Paul Frees).
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‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974)
Another hand-drawn Rankin/Bass special, this one brings to vivid life all the events of the beloved Clement Clark Moore poem about a typical visit from Santa.
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The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)
When Santa (Mickey Rooney again) gets sick, Mrs. Claus (Shirley Booth) tries to take center stage, but she’s upstaged by two of the most unforgettable Rankin/Bass supporting characters, feuding brothers Snow Miser and Heat Miser, each with his own vaudevillian anthem and lair full of Mini-Mes.
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Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas (1977)
Jim Henson and his Muppeteers adapted Russell Hoban’s children’s book twist on O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” into this all-critter singalong, with tunes by Paul Williams. With its use of full sets and tracking cameras, it was the most elaborate Muppet production to date, one that anticipated the filmed-puppetry innovations of the Muppets’ feature films.
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Jack Frost (1979)
Perhaps the last of the most vivid Rankin/Bass specials, this one features Robert Morse as the title wintertime sprite, who yearns to become mortal after he falls in love with a human girl. Featuring Rankin/Bass mainstay Paul Frees as another colorful villain, Kubla Kraus (a Cossack monarch with a mechanical horse and a robot army), and Buddy Hackett as the narrator, a chubby-cheeked groundhog who looks like a rodent version of the comic.
Ranking the best TV dramas of all time is certainly no easy feat, especially considering the speed at which we are consistently getting new contenders for this list. From Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon to more traditional broadcast and cable networks, television programming is now more prolific than ever. Remember when Netflix said they were producing over 700 TV shows in 2018?
In all its forms, television is more popular than ever, and it has become a one of the best mediums with which to tell interesting and nuanced stories. Film directors have pointed out that television is currently telling the tales that film doesn’t have the capacity for or is afraid to tell. Viewers are getting the television experience of a lifetime right now, with many shows (finally) placing an importance on diverse casts and stories.
So, how exactly does one whittle down the hundreds upon hundreds of great dramatic programming? A lot of arguing between co-workers, of course. But beyond just our peers, we’ve also taken into account the many of the shows that paved the way for what we’re tuning into today, from Twin Peaks to The West Wing—many of these OG classics have had a direct influence on the shows we love, like the creepy procedural of Hannibal or the fragmented dramatic timelines of This Is Us. You’ve gotta appreciate the predecessors!
That’s why our best TV dramas span many time periods, dabble in other genres (Sci-Fi! Fantasy! Teens!) and, in our humble opinion, encapsulate what makes these TV dramas so damn watchable. So get your favorite TV snacks ready and prepare for your watch lists to double: these are the best TV dramas of all time.