Nothing says Christmas like a holiday special that fills an hour while plugging a new album in the process.
That's what we have with Gwen Stefani: You Make It Feel Like Christmas, airing at 8 p.m. today on NBC following The Voice.
That's right. The lead singer of No Doubt has a special and -- and -- a new album that just also happens to be titled You Make It Feel Like Christmas. What are the odds of that?
Stefani and her current main squeeze, Blake Shelton (People's "Sexiest Man Alive"), co-wrote the album's title track. You may have caught them singing on The Voice back on Dec. 4.
Opening lyrics:
I want to thank the storm that brought the snow (oo-oo);
Thanks to the string of lights that make it glow (ooooo);
But I wanna thank you, baby;
You make it feel like Christmas.
It was as fellow coaches on The Voice in 2015 that Shelton, 41, and Stefani, 47, fell in love. The rest has been tabloid fodder ever since as the couple dumped their respective spouses (Miranda Lambert and Gavin Rossdale) and started dating.
Here's how the NBC publicity minions describe tonight's special.
"[It's] a modern take on the traditional Christmas specials that we all grew up with and love. Featuring musical performances and fun holiday sketches, this one-hour prime-time special will capture Stefani's infectious spirit and iconic style. It will take her accessible joie de vivre and the love in her heart and share it with audiences around the country."
"Joie de vivre." I love it when publicists class it up with French. For those who took Spanish in high school, joie de vivre means "exuberant enjoyment of life." I don't know why Stefani's joie de vivre would be more "accessible" than someone else's, but let's just call it her "je ne sais quoi."
I'm old enough to fondly recall the heyday of the "traditional Christmas specials we all grew up with." There were outstanding celebrations by everyone from Bob Hope and Perry Como to Bing Crosby and Dean Martin.
But the greatest of them all were the holiday specials from "crooner" Andy Williams. The most memorable were the lavish annual Christmas episodes during his NBC variety series, The Andy Williams Show (1962-71), featuring the singing Osmond Brothers -- Alan, Jay, Merrill and Wayne. Five-year-old Little Donny Osmond debuted on the show in 1963.
The specials included Andy's singing brothers (Bob, Don and Dick), their parents (Jay and Florence), and Andy's wife, "French songstress" Claudine Longet (until she and Andy separated "on good terms" in 1970).
Williams' Christmas specials continued each year until 1974 and then intermittently from 1982 into the '90s.
Everyone knows "Moon River" as Williams' signature song, but his signature Christmas song, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," was written specially for his 1963 Christmas TV show. It remains to be seen whether "You Make It Feel Like Christmas" will have the same staying power. I doubt it.
Meanwhile, back in the present, in addition to several songs from her new album, Stefani will sing a few old favorites, such as "Jingle Bells" and "Santa Baby."
Other than her boyfriend, there will be guest appearances by talk show host Chelsea Handler, Ken Jeong (Dr. Ken), Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, The Orville) and R&B singer Ne-Yo.
MacFarlane, by the way, sings surprisingly well.
• Golden special. Killing another two hours during the holiday season will be Golden Globes 75th Anniversary Special at 8 p.m. Wednesday on NBC. The special features the best moments of the last 75 years of the awards, along with interviews and comedy highlights from past hosts.
Eric McCormack and Debra Messing will host the show, which includes a countdown of the best Golden Globe-winning films of all time.
• The Librarians kicks off Season 4 at 7 p.m. Wednesday on TNT. In the episode, "And the Dark Secret," Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle) and the Librarians must stop a secret sect before it can destroy the Library of Alexandria.
Our intrepid Librarians are Eve Baird (Rebecca Romijn), Jacob Stone (Christian Kane), Cassandra Cillian (Lindy Booth), and Ezekiel Jones (John Harlan Kim).
John Larroquette plays Jenkins, the Library Annex's caretaker.
• House of Cards. Netflix has announced that the eight-episode sixth and final season of the series will have Robin Wright as the sole lead.
Production on Season 6 was suspended in October, after co-star Kevin Spacey was fired following a series of sexual assault allegations. Production without Spacey will resume early next year.
Eight episodes is a shortened season. There have been 13 episodes each in the first five seasons.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 12/12/2017