A Christmas Story Live!

Musical numbers

Two songs were created exclusively for the live broadcast that were not in the original Broadway production: "Count On Christmas" and "In the Market for a Miracle". Three songs from the Broadway production were cut or reworked: "Overture" and "Parker Family Singalong" were cut, while "Act One Finale" was reworked as "Ralphie's Nightmare". The song "Up on Santa's Lap" was included in the television broadcast but not on the A Christmas Story Live! album.

The opening number was "Count On Christmas" performed by Bebe Rexha. Act I included songs such as "It All Comes Down to Christmas", "Red Ryder Carbine Action BB Gun", and "A Major Award". Act II featured numbers including "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out", "At Higbee's", and "A Christmas Story".

Production

The production was based on A Christmas Story: The Musical, which was based on the 1983 film. Marc Platt reprised his role as co-executive producer from Grease: Live (2016), joined by Adam Siegel, with television director Alex Rudzinski and theatrical director Scott Ellis. It was broadcast from Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California, primarily using outdoor sets.

Ellis emphasized the "feeling of family" as an important aspect, noting the challenge of never losing sight of the family aspect amid the musical numbers. Songwriting duo Pasek & Paul wrote three new songs for the production: "In the Market for a Miracle", "Ralphie's Nightmare", and the opening theme "Count on Christmas". Pasek noted the team tried to balance preserving iconic film moments with expanding through musical theater.

Platt remarked that working on live TV involves preparing for the unknown. Unlike previous years, NBC did not broadcast a live musical for the 2017 holiday season; the broadcast competed against ABC's The Sound of Music and NBC's Sunday Night Football. Fox also broadcast a live, 2-and-a-half-minute commercial for The Greatest Showman, billed as the first live television commercial for a film.

Reception

The 2017 live television production of A Christmas Story was not well-liked, with casual viewers being even more critical than reviewers. It scored 43% on Rotten Tomatoes from 14 critic reviews. The main complaints targeted its three-hour runtime and musical numbers, since Fox had not advertised it as a musical, and the big Broadway-style songs felt out of place in the story's humble Midwestern setting. On the positive side, most actors and the technical crew, including scene and costume changes, earned praise.

The Los Angeles Times highlighted performances by Matthew Broderick, Maya Rudolph, Chris Diamantopoulos, Andy Walken, and Ana Gasteyer, but noted the show's added plot tangents and grand musical moments overwhelmed what made the original film a classic. Overnight ratings hit a 2.8 rating and 5 share with 4.52 million viewers, far below Grease: Live's 7.4 overnight and 12 million viewers in 2016. A trimmed two-hour rerun on December 24, 2019, drew 1.11 million viewers and a 0.3 overnight rating, losing to the original film's TBS marathon, which had more than double the audience.

Did You Know?

• The special was set in 1940s Indiana and followed 9-year-old Ralphie Parker's desire for a Red Ryder BB gun.
• The live commercial for The Greatest Showman was simulcast on Facebook.