The Carpenters - A Christmas Portrait originally aired Tuesday, December 19th 1978.

This was the third television special by the singing group The Carpenters for ABC. The Carpenters were joined this time by special guest stars Gene Kelly, Georgia Engel, as well as Jimmy and Kristy McNichol. The main emphasis of the show was obviously on the music and included many traditional and some more pop inspired melodies. Karen sang the majority of the tunes but the guest stars also had some musical numbers. The music for the special was arranged by Richard and seemed to contain more earnest Christmas tunes than the year before. There were also a few funny numbers as well as some short comic banter between songs.

Richard and Karen are preparing for another Christmas party. But unlike last year Richard isn't in a melancholy mood so they can proceed right to the festivities. Also along for the ride is some kind of "invisible" Christmas fairy (some hack magician that hasn't been seen before of since) to aid in the festivities. The guests all start arriving and before you know it the holiday fun begins!

This was Kristy's second appearance on a Carpenter special, having appeared on last years The Carpenters At Christmas. This time though she appeared with her brother Jimmy whom she just did a record with. Karen, Richard, Jimmy and Kristy all had a cute numbed called "Big Brothers, Kid Sisters". Kristy also sang a song (along with Karen and Georgia Engel) called "Angel In the Christmas Play" and her and Jimmy had a duet entitled "Fhum Fhum Fhum".

This show isn't as well done as the previous year's special but it still has many pleasant moments. The comedy seems more forced than before and it also contains more somber musical numbers. Karen appears even more emaciated than in last year's special and that can't help but be a constant reminder of all of the unfortunate events that were occurring behind the scenes while this syrupy Christmas special was being made. But despite these problems this show is still enjoyable and stands as a testament to the incredible music of The Carpenters and especially to Karen Carpenter, whose voice remains one of the most powerful and memorable in the history of pop music.

Buying note: This show has never been available on commercial home video. But there are other sources for this as well as many other Kristy McNichol appearances that you might be looking for.

5-22-2006