TV Show Review: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1964)

Every year for many decades, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer airs on TV. Since I was a little girl, I really enjoyed watching it. There were a few years when I didn’t want to watch it, but this year, I felt like I needed to watch it. On November 29, 2022, CBS aired the beloved Christmas special. Even though I own the show on DVD, I wanted to watch it on TV. I needed to watch it this way due to nostalgic reasons.

I wanted to write more posts about classic Christmas specials for Blogmas. Since I felt it was very important to watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer this year, I decided to write a review post this year.

The official summary of the show by CBS (At least when I watched the show on TV and looked for an episode summary given on my TV) is…

A special reindeer with a bright red nose goes through life being mocked and shunned by his reindeer peers, but when a particularly foggy Christmas Eve occurs, Santa Claus asks him to use his gift as a light to guide him on his Christmas deliveries.

As expected, I really love the show. It has catchy songs, the story is simple yet enjoyable for all ages, and the stop animation used to create the show is well done. The message the show also teaches about shunning people due to their differences and how that could cause more problems than anyone ever believed possible is still as important today as it was back in the 1960’s. The version I watched on CBS had a remastered version of the show. Of the things that have changed in this remastered version are the colors are brighter, the details of the film are much clearer, and the audio sounds better on modern day TVs and speakers. These changes didn’t bother me. I really enjoyed watching the show in full detailed and color glory.

Even though I love the show very much, I have learned over the years the show is not everyone loves it. For the sake of those that may not enjoy it, I’ll talk about the problems I think may cause people not to like it. The main complaint I can find with the movie is with the remaster version’s audio. Unfortunately, the remastered version’s audio isn’t perfect. Despite the fact it is remastered and sounds very nice on my TV, the audio isn’t perfect. For an example, the end of the song Silver and Gold, sung by Burt Ives, sounds great until the very end of the song. That’s when the final notes and cords of the song sound off. This happens other times throughout the show. It’s not consistent throughout the show, but when it happens, it can bother people who are sensitive to certain sounds. People I have meet that don’t like the show don’t like it for other reasons. Some of them don’t like the songs themselves, no matter if they are remaster or not. Some don’t like story. Others don’t like certain characters.

Since the show is so popular, I suggest anyone who has not watched the show watch it once. Only after watching it they should decide if they like it or not. It is an American Christmas classic show and is part of American Christmas pop culture. Even though not everyone will love it, watching it once is something I hope anyone who has not see the show, and has a chance to watch it, will take the opportunity to do. It is a great show for the whole family to sit and watch during Christmas time. I highly recommend it!

Well, that’s all for now! Thank you for reading!