Celebrate the Season by Watching the Star Wars Holiday Special with Bea Arthur

A long time ago, on TV sets all across America, the Star Wars saga took a turn far worse than creating Jar Jar Binks when CBS broadcast the Star Wars Holiday Special. 

On November 17th, 1978 America was crazy about Star Wars. It was just one movie then, and it wasn't called A New Hope nor was it labeled Episode IV. It was just Star Wars.

CBS saw an opportunity for big ratings and produced The Star Wars Holiday Special, a two-hour extravaganza that included the cast of the movie and some people that should never have been in a galaxy far, far away.

For the sake of history, someone has uploaded the entire show to YouTube since it has only been seen on TV once and never released on home video.That's a good thing, but if you're curious here's the link. You've been warned.

It was part story, part variety show, part cartoon, and it was awful. The biggest stars in TV and music were a part of it, including Bea Arthur, Harvey Korman, Art Carney and Jefferson Starship. Carrie Fisher even sings a song as Princess Leia.

No one at CBS said "I have a bad feeling about this" even once. It totally bombed, and people who were fans of Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk were too happy that their shows got preempted for this piece of garbage that should have been crushed in the compacter before it made it to air.

One good thing that did come out of this was the introduction of Boba Fett in a short cartoon, and he of course went on to play a part in three more movies.

Now that you've looked at this, go watch The Force Awakens to see how Star Wars done the right way.