tek's rating:

The Stingiest Man in Town, on... ABC or NBC, I'm not sure which
BCDB; Christmas Specials Wiki; IMDb; Rankin/Bass Wiki; Wikipedia

This animated special first aired in 1978 (when I was three years old). I watched it on DVD in 2016, and as far as I know, that's the first time I ever saw it. Bits of it seemed vaguely, potentially familiar, so it's possible I'd seen some of it while channel surfing, years ago. But none of it was familiar enough to be sure I'd ever seen it at all. Anyway, apparently it's a remake of a live-action TV musical from 1956, which I've certainly never seen. (And it's kind of hard for me to believe, because the songs in this special seem to me like they'd only really work in animation. Then again, maybe the original version had better singers than the remake.) Well... the only reason I saw this is because it's on a 4-disc set of 10 Christmas specials I got on DVD this year. The first disc's main feature is How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and there are three other specials on the disc, including this one. Whether or not I'd ever seen (or heard of) this special, the other two (The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold and Pinocchio's Christmas) were definitely totally unfamiliar to me. And while I thought this special was just sort of okay, it can't help but compare favorably to those two.

Anyway... it's based on "A Christmas Carol," so the story itself is very familiar. (And the special, in my opinion, compares rather unfavorably to any other adaptation I've seen of it.) So there's not much I feel like saying specifically about this version, except that it's sort of narrated by a bug named B.A.H. Humbug (voiced by Tom Bosley). Ebeneezer Scrooge is voiced here by Walter Matthau, and the ghosts of Christmas Past and Present are voiced by Paul Frees. And I don't really know what else to say. I'm glad to have seen the special, but I'm not sure whether I'll ever bother watching it again. (Which is still better than the "Leprechaun" and "Pinocchio" specials, which I am pretty sure I'll never watch again.)


specials index
musicals

Untitled Document Novella: A Christmas Carol
(The following are adaptations and parodies I've seen or want to see. There are many more I've either forgotten or never seen, most of which I'd have no interest in.)

Films: Scrooge (1951) * Scrooge (1970) * Mickey's Christmas Carol * Scrooged * The Muppet Christmas Carol * A Christmas Carol (2009) *
The Man Who Invented Christmas
TV movies: The Stingiest Man in Town * A Christmas Carol (1984) * A Christmas Carol (1999) * A Christmas Carol: The Musical * Karroll's Christmas *
A Christmas Carol (2019)
TV episodes: see Holiday Parody Episodes



Rankin/Bass
The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass; TV Tropes; Wikia; Wikipedia

stop-motion specials: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer * Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town * The Year Without a Santa Claus * Rudolph's Shiny New Year *
Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey * Rudolph & Frosty's Christmas in July * Pinocchio's Christmas * The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold * The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus

animated specials: Frosty the Snowman * 'Twas the Night Before Christmas * Frosty's Winter Wonderland * The Hobbit * The Stingiest Man in Town

TV series: The New Adventures of Pinocchio * Tales of the Wizard of Oz * ThunderCats * SilverHawks

Movies: Mad Monster Party? * The Flight of Dragons * The Last Unicorn