26 years ago today, one Christmas special made its premiere with Fox but has since disappeared from TV in the decades since and has pretty much been forgotten as a result. It’s the perfect time of year to revisit some of your favorite specials for the holiday, and it’s a bit tougher in the current era as these specials used to regularly air on broadcast television at reliable intervals so you’d be able to catch your favorites with ease. Now that everything’s so spread apart by streaming, it’s tougher to seek out your favorites and watch them.
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But it’s even tougher for those specials that didn’t make the jump to streaming, nor are really airing on TV anymore. That’s the case for Olive the Other Reindeer, which first premiered on Fox 26 years ago today, on December 17, 1999. The special was produced by The Simpsons‘ creator Matt Groening and his The Curiosity Company studio, and even premiered in a prime time spot alongside Futurama at the time. But in the decades since, this heartwarming Christmas special has pretty much disappeared as it’s not really anywhere legally anymore.
What Is Olive the Other Reindeer?
Olive the Other Reindeer was based off the children’s book of the same name, originally created by Vivian Walsh and J. Otto Seibold. The special follows the titular Olive (voiced by Drew Barrymore), whose owner is upset that she really doesn’t act like a normal dog. He’s also sad that there’s likely not going to be any Christmas this year because a news report reveals that one of the reindeer is not able to fly, and Santa declares that “all of the other reindeer” are going to need to make up for the loss. Funny enough, this is what sparks the whole thing.
Olive mishears this as “Olive, the other reindeer” and assumes that she’s the one that Santa’s actually asking for. So to save Christmas, she decides to head out to the North Pole and make things better. Along the way, she meets a talking flea who helps her, a con artist penguin who tries to scam her at first, and a mailman nemesis who’s trying to catch her every step of the way. This special made the rounds across TV since its initial premiere on Fox too as if you didn’t catch it there, it made its way to stations like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
What Happened to Olive the Other Reindeer?
It’s home with Cartoon Network is likely the one that fans will recognize the most as it was the longest annual stint that Olive the Other Reindeer enjoyed on television. According to reports about the listing, the Christmas special stopped airing with Cartoon Network somewhere in the early 2010s and has been gone ever since. The only trouble with that also is that it’s not readily available on any of the major streaming platforms either. You can probably find not exactly legal ways to watch it, but that’s a far cry from the spotlight it used to enjoy.
It’s a shame Olive the Other Reindeer has pretty much been forgotten because it’s been gone for so long because it’s such a great special. It’s tightly made, and only runs under 30 minutes. It’s got a lot of fun jokes in it, and really fits right in with the rest of Matt Groening’s extended universe productions. It’s also got a very unique animation style too inspired by the original book, and we really haven’t seen anything like it since.
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