It may be that television viewers are tiring of shows and characters that have become fixtures of Christmas programming, but that is not to say that they are necessarily hankering for something new. On Friday night, NBC presented “It’s A Wonderful Life,” the Jimmy Stewart-Donna Reed classic, and drew 5.37 million viewers, according to Nielsen figures, while Fox attracted 2.64 million viewers with “Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown,” the most recent (2011) Peanuts Christmas special.
Dwarfing them both was another oldie, but one that has not been exploited year after year: the “I Love Lucy Christmas Special” — actually two episodes of the popular 1950s sitcom (“Christmas Episode” and “Lucy’s Italian Movie”) shown in colorized versions. The “Lucy” revival reached an audience of 8.65 million, just over half a million more than “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the Peanuts special combined.