I have watched Manos: The Hands of Fate multiple times and not once did I ever say, “What is the point of this.” I have watched many of Hallmark Christmas movies and have never wanted to turn the channel. Sure, I know what is going to happen as soon as the movie starts, but it is a level of cheese that is needed around the holidays. It takes a lot for me while in middle of something wishing I could be hit in the head with Grandmother’s fruitcake, but it finally happened. I watched a holiday special so bad, no even Jesus himself could have saved it. The worst holiday special of all time is NBCs Grinch Musical special.
For the past few year’s networks have jumped on the bandwagon of doing live musicals around the holiday season. The most notable, ‘A Christmas Story’ aired on FOX a couple of years ago, that performance did not yield rave reviews. Did I think it was great? No. Did I think it was enjoyable? Yes. That special at least had a charm about it. The Grinch special was the equivalent of Santa leaving shit in a box and putting a bow on it instead of the traditional lump of coal.
So, positives… The Set was fantastic. Simple and looked like it was ripped from the pages of a Dr. Suess book. BooBoo Stewart and Denis O’Hare tried so hard to make this work, but something just seemed to be missing the mark. The ensemble cast was just there. For some reason, at the end of the night, it almost felt the Whos of Whoville were an afterthought.
And then there is the Grinch…I like Matthew Morrison but oof, did he stink, stank, stunk at the role of the Grinch. I never want to see a sexualized version of The Grinch every again unless the Grinch is played by Timothy Olyphant. He just did not fit the role very well. I was hoping the entire time that Sue Sylvester would stop the show and hit him with a milkshake. But that would have been a Christmas miracle I was not ready for while watching this.
If you want to waste two of hours of your life with a feeling of dread and infinite sadness, watch this abomination. If you do anything else instead of watching this show, please know, your life will automatically be better. Stay away from it. And I have hated on the Jim Carey version for years, I will no longer do so again. I would rather watch that version 100 times in a row with no sleep than do this again.
