Bill Murray: Will his holiday special succeed on Netflix?
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
Netflix will be streaming a holiday special this year, and it will be hosted by none other than Bill Murray.聽
The special, 鈥淎 Very Murray Christmas,鈥� will arrive on Netflix on Dec. 4, and, like the holiday specials of decades past, will include plenty of guest stars, including George Clooney, Chris Rock, Rashida Jones, Maya Rudolph, and Miley Cyrus. Paul Shaffer of David Letterman鈥檚 鈥淟ate Show鈥� will be popping up on the piano. The special is directed by Sofia Coppola of 鈥淟ost in Translation.鈥澛�
Holiday specials used to be almost a genre of their own and often followed a variety show format.聽Singer Bing Crosby, actor Dick Van Dyke, and even the 鈥淪tar Wars鈥� cast headed up holiday programs in the 1960s and 1970s. The specials often include celebrity guests and are often based around the conceit that the TV network happens to be filming a holiday get-together between friends.聽
The format has been revived recently 鈥� while still on Comedy Central, Stephen Colbert aired 鈥淎 Colbert Christmas鈥� in 2008, with guests including Elvis Costello, Toby Keith, John Legend, Feist, and Willie Nelson, among others.
Staples of network television鈥檚 past are popping up all over the place. NBC revived the live聽TV musical with 鈥淭he Sound of Music Live!鈥� in 2013 and seems to be making the programming a new holiday staple, airing 鈥淧eter Pan Live!鈥� last year and planning on 鈥淭he Wiz Live!鈥� for this year. The network also put a new variety show similar to programs like 鈥淭he Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour鈥� and 鈥淭he Brady Bunch Variety Hour鈥� on the air with the new program 鈥淏est Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris.鈥� It remains to be seen whether 鈥淏est鈥� will be a success.聽
It鈥檚 interesting that Murray鈥檚 holiday special is popping up on Netflix, however, since these revivals of old TV formats have so far mostly been on network television. Murray鈥檚 special continues Netflix鈥檚 effort to diversify its programming. Besides its original scripted series, Netflix will be debuting another network staple: a talk show hosted by comedian Chelsea Handler will be released sometime next year.
