How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV special)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV special)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a 1966 television special directed and co-produced by Chuck Jones. Originally telecast in the United States on CBS on December 18, 1966, it went on to become a perennial holiday special. The half-hour special was seen multiple times per year until 1987 during the Christmas season until NBC acquired the rights in 2006.

About How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV special) in brief

Summary How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV special)How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a 1966 television special directed and co-produced by Chuck Jones. It is based on the 1957 children’s book of the same name by Dr. Seuss. Originally telecast in the United States on CBS on December 18, 1966, it went on to become a perennial holiday special. The special also features the voice of Boris Karloff as theGrinch and the narrator. The Grinch is a surly, antisocial green creature with a heart \”two sizes too small\” who lives alone in a cave atop Mt. Crumpit, located above the village of Whoville. He especially hates Christmas and has spent the last 53 years annoyed by the town’s Christmas celebrations. One Christmas Eve, he decides to stop Christmas Day from coming to Whovilles by disguising himself as Santa Claus, his dog Max as a reindeer and, in a reversal of Santa’s visit, steal all gifts, decorations and symbols of Christmas. Realizing that Christmas means more than just material possessions, he has a change of heart; returns what he stole; and joins in the village’s celebration. The half-hour special was seen multiple times per year until 1987 during the Christmas season until NBC acquired the rights in 2006.

The WB took over the special’s annual screening rights in 2001, and it returned to television by adding its own annual screening in 2001. It was then acquired by NBC in 2006, after which it was repeated multiple times a year until the end of the 2011-2012 television season. It has since been adapted into a live-action 3-D animated film and a number of other animated television specials, as well as the 2000 and 2018 animated film adaptations of Dr. Seuss’ book. The full text of the book’s text, with some slight embellishment, was adapted into the special; to pad the 30-minute time slot, songs and animated sequences without words were added. The song was written in an square-dance type form by Albert Hague. The original broadcast was sponsored by the Foundation for Full Service Banks, whose sponsor plugs within the original airing were later edited out for subsequent broadcasts. As the major networks had color schedules by 1966, the special was flipped to full color, establishing the color convention.