Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol returns to NBC 12/22!!
Stop the presses; Magoo's back in town! The first animated Christmas special to start it all will on NBC 12/22 at 8pm to no doubt commenorate the 50th anniversary!:
Re: Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol returns to NBC 12/22!!
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This is good news!! It all comes together in this one. The truly good original songs, the contemporary UPA animation, and the one-of-a-kind Jim Backus as Magoo/Scrooge. As brilliant in its own way as "Grinch."
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"If it's hot, don't sit on it." —NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Re: Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol returns to NBC 12/22!!
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Haven't seen it since it was first shown on British TV - must have been Christmas '64 (in B&W in those days: no colour until 1967!) but I remember enjoying it.
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Back by popular demand - "La-la-La-la.. I can't hear you!"
Re: Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol returns to NBC 12/22!!
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I just watched it, and it was really good. I wonder though, why they had the ghost of Christmas present appear first and then the ghost of Christmas past. I thought it was strange that it was reversed.
Also, I noticed during the scene with the ghost of Christmas future, they cut to commercial break while Magoo was still singing. When the show returned, he was in his bed. Was something cut? It just seemed odd that he went from singing by his grave to suddenly frightened in his bed.
Re: Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol returns to NBC 12/22!!
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Was something cut?…
Yes, cf4, in fact, a whole bunch was cut! It was good to see this classic back on TV, but what the network did to it was sheer butchery! Had the Magoo/Scrooge special been aired at its original 90 minute length, you would have seen the Magoo-on-Broadway subplot—with interstitials—that bridged the different acts together. The original producer thought (correctly) that audiences would ask "why have Magoo as Scrooge?", so they set the Dickens classic as a Broadway premiere with the near-sighted Magoo placing the production in jeopardy at every turn. Of course, the show is a hit and Magoo is a star once again. That's why this cartoon was so special—it had all original songs by real life stage composers Jule Styne and Bob Merrill. By deleting the cartoon's "stage production," the anniversary special that aired Saturday night was essentially a highlights reel that compromised the groundbreaking cleverness of the core idea. Too bad. Maybe one of the nostalgia networks on cable will pick it up and do it justice.
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"If it's hot, don't sit on it." —NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Re: Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol returns to NBC 12/22!!
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I had to work
This was 1 of many specials that finally made it back on TV this year. ABC put some Peanuts on that had been vaulted and *gasp* the He-Man and Shera Christmas special came on the Me-TV broadcast channel.
1 of the Peanuts specials was the 1 starring Peppermint Patty, with Snoopy in a secondary role and everybody else as a spectator (literally and figurativvely...they were audience members in the audience toward the end). Ole Patty pulled off some charm and beauty in her starring role. Chuck better get with that 1 of these days and tell the redhead to buzz off.
Re: Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol returns to NBC 12/22!!
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1 of the Peanuts specials was the 1 starring Peppermint Patty, with Snoopy in a secondary role and everybody else as a spectator (literally and figurativvely...they were audience members in the audience toward the end). Ole Patty pulled off some charm and beauty in her starring role.
That would be She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown (1980). Technically not a Christmas special, but it did take place in winter.
