Growing up in the 70’s, I was fortunate enough to be a kid during what could arguably be considered the Golden Age of Christmas TV specials. Rudolph, Frosty, Charlie Brown, The Grinch…all of these classic shows and more were not to be missed when they aired each year. Many of these shows are now considered classics, enrapturing new generations of kids even today. But there’s one special from the tail-end of the decade that was beloved at the time but has vanished from the scene. I’m talking about John Denver and The Muppets: A Christmas Together.

As far as I remember, it only aired once during that 1979 holiday season, and never again. For whatever reason (probably legal) it has never been seen on TV since, and has never been released on home video. And that’s a shame. The show paired music star John Denver with Jim Henson’s Muppets, who at the time had their own classic show ‘The Muppet Show.’ This seemingly odd pairing somehow worked. The show combination of traditional Christmas songs and new John Denver songs. The plot, in an early example of pop culture being meta, revolved around the production of the special itself. There’s lots of Muppet humor, as well as heart-touching songs (‘Alfie the Christmas Tree?’ Niagara falls, Johnny Angel.)

John Denver and The Muppets: A Christmas Together was a blend of the secular and the religious, seriousness and comedy, unusual in its day, and unheard of today.

John Denver and The Muppets: A Christmas Together – The Album

The soundtrack to John Denver and The Muppets: A Christmas Together was released, and if anybody knows about the special today, it’s probably because of the soundtrack. Released in October 1979, featuring 13 songs from the special. It was released on CD in 2000 in a truncated version featuring only 10 songs (again, why???) Current versions of the soundtrack available digitally include all 13 of the original tracks. We had the soundtrack album in our house, and it got a lot of play that Christmas season. I still have that original album, and cherish it to this day.

Thanks to the treasure trove of lost things that is YouTube, you can see the special today. Again, I’m not sure why this was never  released on video, or why it’s not a part of our annual Christmas viewing. It should be. It’s a funny, touching, warm little piece of holiday goodness.

Sadly, Jim Henson passed away in 1990, and John Denver followed in 1997. Luckily we still have the music and the images of John Denver and The Muppets: A Christmas Together as reminders of their immense talents, as well as the talents of the rest of the Muppet crew. Learn more about this lost classic over at the excellent Christmas TV History blog.

Enjoy…

Stream it, baby!

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