What Exactly Is The Year Without A Santa Claus?

Here's another exciting entry in this Holiday themed column, 25 Days Of Christmas Pop Culture! From now until Christmas Eve, I'll be tackling one piece of Christmas pop culture! It could be a book, movie, TV special, song....so long as it's festive for this time of the year, it'll be checked out in this daily column!

Among the Rankin-Bass holiday specials (which included, but are not limited to, Rudolph, Frosty The Snowman, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town), a few specials remain on the obscure side. The likes of Pinocchio's Christmas and Nester, The Long Eared Donkey are lucky to have a 6 AM showing on ABC Family while their kin flourish in primetime on one of the four major networks.

One special that falls into that category is The Year Without A Santa Claus, perhaps the only one of those obscure specials that may just teeter on the edge of achieving more fame. After all, it's popular enough to have inspired a spin-off entitled A Miser Brothers Christmas, while the tune from The Miser Brothers has become a well known tune, as evidenced by the fact that family in my mothers age demographic can hum it on a whim.

So why exactly has the program not become more famous? Well, the sporadic musical structure (which includes only the aforementioned Miser Brothers song, the underrated I Believe In Santa Claus and an opening song taking it's name from the special) is a hallmark of the specials overall story, which is faulty and episodic. Aside from the weather controlling Miser Brothers, few other characters really make an impact, unlike the ensemble casts in, say, Rudolph that are constantly lovable. Even with those flaws though, The Year Without A Santa Claus is diverting holiday entertainment, though one whose obscurity is mildly understandable.