A Christmas Story Live! on Fox: When to watch, expectations
Before CarterMatt dives any further into this article we should note that A Christmas Story is high on our personal list of favorite holiday movies ever. We’re one of those people who has seen it approximately twenty or so times and knows every part of it by heart, whether it be grumpy Santa, “you’ll shoot your eye out”, Ralphie saying “oh, fudge” in the slowest possible way ever, or the “major award” that came in the form of the classic leg lamp. The fact that there are people who actually buy a lamp like this because of the movie proves just how beloved this film is.
A Christmas Story Live! trying to replicate the success of this movie is an extremely steep hill to climb. A new version is not something anyone really clamored for given that so many still watch the original movie ever year as part of tradition. It’s firmly rooted in nostalgia and everyone will inevitably compare the two. It may still be a worthwhile experiment, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is, at its core, an experiment. It could be disasterous and make Fox wonder why they ever wanted to do this in the first place.
The biggest difference between the performance tonight and the original A Christmas Story is simply this — A Christmas Story Live! is a musical. If you go into it expecting a faithful recreation of the original you’re bound to be disappointed. There’s bound to be some changes and you’re going to get some big, entertaining numbers. With a cast that includes Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph (perfect last name for a Christmas musical), you at least know you have performers who are used to being on a live stage.
When is A Christmas Story Live! airing?
This is important to note since it starts on Fox at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time. This is somewhat-controversial time to air the musical given that it’s up against a couple of enormous NFL games. We question why Fox didn’t just air the project during the week instead — we know that they typically only program two nights of prime-time but would it really have been so bad to extend beyond that for one night? Are local affiliates really clinging to local-news broadcasts and Seinfeld reruns so much that they would be upset about pushing it back? Maybe there was a concern families would need to go to bed by 10:00 p.m. Eastern and they couldn’t start it off at 7:00 during the week for some odd reason.
Ultimately, this is a questionable scheduling decision, but we’ll see how it pays off in the ratings tomorrow.
Are you excited to watch A Christmas Story Live! this weekend? Do you think it’ll deliver? Share below!
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