CBS trotted out its annual broadcast of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer last night, much as ABC last week offered up A Charlie Brown Christmas and How The Grinch Stole Christmas. These holiday perenials always garner solid ratings, as they're equally beloved by parents and children alike.
All of these productions are old school. Though The Grinch is beautifully designed (by Maurice Noble) and impeccably directed (by Chuck Jones), it is, of course, cel animated--the art form studios are convinced kids no longer want to see in the shiny new world of CGI and mocap. Charlie Brown is also cel animated, rather crudely, and its visual style is no more than functional, but its superb script and melancholy spirit make such matters irrelevant. The endearingly oddball Rudolph is brought to life by stop-motion, a technique nearly as old as film.
They also lack other mainstays of what we are these days served in the name of family entertainment. No fart jokes, no pop culture references (unless you count the caricature of Burl Ives hosting Rudolph...but really, was Burl Ives considered cool even in 1964?), no condescending vibes indicating their creative teams would rather be doing something else.
Yet they endure, and will long after whatever Big New Thing has come and gone, simply because they're good. You'd think someone in the entertainment world would be able to figure that out.
