Figure Skating Christmas Television Specials

silverpond · Nov 16, 2011

I was viewing one of my rather 'grainy' videotapes from the late 1980's that featured a really lovely Christmas special starring Dorothy Hamill, who then was still at the height of her athletic and skating abilities. :thumbsup:

Some of the segments featured skating performances that were filmed at indoor studios designed to resemble outdoor ponds - lots of trees with snowflakes, shining stars in the background, a burning fire in the distance, etc - and lots of kids zipping around, having a good time. Dorothy glided out and skated one of her typically beautiful numbers.

Brian Boitano has presented a "Skating Spectacular" for a number of years with a number of his skating contempories. These programs were filmed in a regulation skating rink with a large audience. Does anyone know where these programs were filmed?? While I always enjoyed these programs, it seems that the level of skating has decreased over the years - perhaps because the pro skaters in the shows have grown a bit older and may not be in the competitive shape they were in when they skated at Worlds and the Olympics.

I enjoyed "Nutcracker", which was filmed in the mid 1990s with Nicole Bobek, Todd Eldredge, and other skaters. Also, Oksana Baiul and Viktor Petrenko starred in a lovely "Nutcracker" skating show. The music and the story never grows old, IMHO.

What are your favorite holiday skating shows?

Sasha'sSpins · Nov 16, 2011

silverpond said:
I was viewing one of my rather 'grainy' videotapes from the late 1980's that featured a really lovely Christmas special starring Dorothy Hamill, who then was still at the height of her athletic and skating abilities. :thumbsup:

Some of the segments featured skating performances that were filmed at indoor studios designed to resemble outdoor ponds - lots of trees with snowflakes, shining stars in the background, a burning fire in the distance, etc - and lots of kids zipping around, having a good time. Dorothy glided out and skated one of her typically beautiful numbers.

Brian Boitano has presented a "Skating Spectacular" for a number of years with a number of his skating contempories. These programs were filmed in a regulation skating rink with a large audience. Does anyone know where these programs were filmed?? While I always enjoyed these programs, it seems that the level of skating has decreased over the years - perhaps because the pro skaters in the shows have grown a bit older and may not be in the competitive shape they were in when they skated at Worlds and the Olympics.

I enjoyed "Nutcracker", which was filmed in the mid 1990s with Nicole Bobek, Todd Eldredge, and other skaters. Also, Oksana Baiul and Viktor Petrenko starred in a lovely "Nutcracker" skating show. The music and the story never grows old, IMHO.

What are your favorite holiday skating shows?

My favorite is Oksana Baiul's "Nutcracker on Ice" . The version with Brian Boitano and Victor Petrenko is wonderful, although I thought Brian was a bit too old to be Oksana's Nutcracker Prince. I actually prefer the version she did with Petrenko's brother as the Nutcracker Prince. I've seen many versions including with Dorothy and Nicole but Baiul was pre-scandal, still waiflike and to me the quintessential Clara. Nicole by then already seemed to me to be kind of a party girl-type and I just couldn't really buy her as Clara. Dorothy's version with Robin Cousins (the quintessential Nutcracker Prince imo!) was lovely too.

I also love the all-too bried 'Nutcracker' Pas de Deux with Gordeeva and Grinkov-how I wish they'd done a whole Nutcracker On Ice feature with these two! They were both perfect for the leading roles!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwBX1SQckjk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfwGGZkB5-U&feature=related

silverpond · Nov 16, 2011

Sasha'sSpins said:
My favorite is Oksana Baiul's "Nutcracker on Ice" . The version with Brian Boitano and Victor Petrenko is wonderful, although I thought Brian was a bit too old to be Oksana's Nutcracker Prince. I actually prefer the version she did with Petrenko's brother as the Nutcracker Prince. I've seen many versions including with Dorothy and Nicole but Baiul was pre-scandal, still waiflike and to me the quintessential Clara. Nicole by then already seemed to me to be kind of a party girl-type and I just couldn't really buy her as Clara. Dorothy's version with Robin Cousins (the quintessential Nutcracker Prince imo!) was lovely too.

I also love the all-too bried 'Nutcracker' Pas de Deux with Gordeeva and Grinkov-how I wish they'd done a whole Nutcracker On Ice feature with these two! They were both perfect for the leading roles!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwBX1SQckjk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfwGGZkB5-U&feature=related

Nicole skated the "Nutcracker" tour during the 1995 Christmas season with a sore ankle. Her doctor advised her to stay off the ice; however, the contract was lucrative, so she decided to skate the entire list of performances. Unfortunately, this decision was her undoing at the 1996 US Nationals, where she was to have defended her title. She withdrew from the competition after the long program warm-up, due to extreme pain in her ankle and inability to land her jumps. The US powers that be were not overly charitable - presumably, they might have given Nicole a bye to the Worlds had she arrived at Nationals well trained and sustained an ankle injury during practice or had not participated in the "Nutcracker" tour. Nicole was not given a bye, and Tara Lapinski, who finished third, competed at the Worlds.

silverpond · Nov 17, 2011

A terrific World Professional Figure Skating Championships Christmas special was aired in the late Eighties, which featured many peformances from that championship held from 1981-1988. It was a great show, hosted by 1960 Olympic champion Carol Heiss, and included competitive performances by Peggy Fleming, Janet Lynn, Dorothy Hamill, Linda Fratianne, Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano, Brian Orser, Robin Cousins, Ludmilla and Oleg Protopopov, Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Judy Blumberg and Michael Siebert, and many more. BRAVO!!

Mathman · Nov 17, 2011

My fave was a Kristi Yamaguchi Christmas special, I forget what year. Khristi did Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in a red Santa Clause dress with fur cuffs. :love:

But the star of the show was 13-year-old Naomi Nari Nam. It was the first time I saw her "little Bitty Pretty One" exhibition. As I said at the time, she not only won the "cute" prize, she retired the trophy.

CoyoteChris · Nov 17, 2011

And now Naomi is married and has a kid! Where did the years go? I miss her but on Google Images there are lots of great pics of her.....Special must have been circa 1998- 1999

Tonichelle · Nov 17, 2011

We like the Target Snowden on Ice Specials that Kurt, Josee, Katia and Scott worked on... especially the second one where they included Raggedy Ann and Andy (who Kurt and Josee's characters were shadows of in a way)...

iluvtodd · Nov 17, 2011

silverpond said:
I enjoyed "Nutcracker", which was filmed in the mid 1990s with Nicole Bobek, Todd Eldredge, and other skaters. The music and the story never grows old, IMHO.

Brian Orser :love:

was also terrific (IMHO) in that show (as Drosselmaier) and Peggy Fleming was the Sugar Plum Fairy in it. Todd later regretted doing this show because it impacted on his training for 1996 US Nationals. However, we all know what happened @ Worlds 1996, I hope!

silverpond · Nov 24, 2011

iluvtodd said:
Brian Orser was also terrific (IMHO) in that show (as Drosselmaier) and Peggy Fleming was the Sugar Plum Fairy in it. Todd later regretted doing this show because it impacted on his training for 1996 US Nationals. However, we all know what happened @ Worlds 1996, I hope!

Yes! Rudi Galindo won the 1996 US title with a fantastic, inspired long program, and Todd Eldredge had to settle for silver. However...at the Worlds, Todd prevailed and won the World title, with Rudi winning bronze.

Figure Skating Christmas Television Specials

silverpond

Sasha'sSpins

silverpond

silverpond

Mathman

CoyoteChris

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

iluvtodd

silverpond

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