A Christmas Story Live!
  • Network: FOX
  • Series Premiere Date: Dec 17, 2017
Metascore
61

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11

Critic Reviews

  1. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: David Rooney
    Dec 18, 2017
    80
    Many will quibble about the choice of a musical that's not widely known, but on the whole, this was nicely done.
  2. Boston Herald
    Reviewed by: Mark A. Perigard
    Dec 18, 2017
    80
    The staging was clever and fun and the performances ranged from good to fantastic.
  3. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Caroline Siede
    Dec 18, 2017
    75
    There’s just not much depth to the story of Ralpie’s childhood desire for a gun-filled Christmas, but maybe that’s the point. A Christmas Story isn’t meant to challenge, it’s meant to comfort. And as reheated holiday leftovers, A Christmas Story Live! just about hits the spot.
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Lloyd
    Dec 18, 2017
    70
    It is a risky business turning a near-perfect thing into a somewhat less-perfect thing, but it feels churlish to cavil about so much hard work done in a celebratory spirit.
  6. Yahoo TV
    Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    Dec 18, 2017
    70
    A Christmas Story Live! was solid, but it lacked the kind of emotional resonance that makes people want to see the movie over and over.
  7. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Darren Franich
    Dec 18, 2017
    67
    The same aesthetic [on Fox's Grease or NBC's Hairspray] felt plastic when applied to this least plastic of holiday tales. So much of the bigness felt like a distraction: away from Ralphie’s tale, and maybe away from the basic (very difficult!) realities of employing child performers for a three-hour live musical event. You felt like there wasn’t a center to this thing.
  8. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Noel Murry
    Dec 18, 2017
    60
    A game cast, lively score and sturdy source material made Fox’s big holiday spectacular A Christmas Story Live! a pleasant enough way to pass a mid-December Sunday evening. But the presentation throughout was a letdown.
  9. The Daily Beast
    Reviewed by: Kevin Fallon
    Dec 18, 2017
    50
    [Matthew Broderick's] wry delivery, always somewhere on a spectrum from understated to unenthused, serves the story well, tempering the erstwhile loudness of the musical’s staging. ... The latent grin of the music is relentless to the point of off-putting, especially considering that nothing from the score sticks in your head long enough to keep you humming once the curtain falls
  10. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Hank Stuever
    Dec 18, 2017
    40
    Packed too densely with needless smarm and excess songs, A Christmas Story Live! stretched itself to three precisely executed but tedious hours Sunday night--including gobs of commercials.
  11. Variety
    Reviewed by: Sonia Saraiya
    Dec 18, 2017
    40
    It’s a choppy, flashy affair, with so many different sets that it struggled to cultivate a sense of place.
  12. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Kelly Lawler
    Dec 18, 2017
    37
    The added songs were too sugary sweet for the irreverent story, and as a whole package, it felt tonally dissonant and a little dull. The production tried to gloss over some of the more dated aspects of the narrative, set in the 1940s, with awkward results.

Awards & Rankings

61
#61 Most Shared TV Season of 2017

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
4.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 12 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 12
  3. Negative: 6 out of 12
  1. 74rickbass
    Dec 17, 2017
    0
    The worst! Why did they take a great movie and turn it into a stupid musical! Good thing I recorded it. I didn't have to waste so much timeThe worst! Why did they take a great movie and turn it into a stupid musical! Good thing I recorded it. I didn't have to waste so much time watching this ridiculous show!… Full Review »
  2. Marcmc
    Dec 24, 2017
    0
    This is the worst remake of any show that has ever existed. How can they turn one of the best Christmas movies into a musical that is moreThis is the worst remake of any show that has ever existed. How can they turn one of the best Christmas movies into a musical that is more about Hanukkah than Christmas? Can you tell the writers are Jewish? I have nothing against being Jewish but if it is called “A Hanukkah Story” don’t make 1/2 of the show singing about Christmas, and vice versa. Terrible remake.....… Full Review »
  3. preciouskiki
    Dec 18, 2017
    9
    Thoroughly delightful and entertaining, this is the type of thing I want to see more often on TV. When else do you get a chance to see a realThoroughly delightful and entertaining, this is the type of thing I want to see more often on TV. When else do you get a chance to see a real Broadway show, completely live, while relaxing on your sofa in your jammies?! People paid $200 to see this on Broadway, and you're getting it for free, with even better sets. Why quibble?

    PROS: The show was packed with real Broadway stars, each one more talented than the next. I must admit, at first I was skeptical, having been a big fan of the movie, but I recorded it to watch later, just in case. I turned it on at 11:00 pm after getting home from a Christmas party, expecting to watch it for a half-hour before going to bed. But I was enjoying it so much, I couldn't turn it off. Matthew Broderick was just perfect as the narrator (grown-up Ralphie). I figured I'd be disappointed by whoever played the father because no one could ever come close to Darren McGavin's performance in the original movie. But little by little, I found myself being won over by the performance of Chris Diamantopoulos as "The Old Man;" I was especially impressed by how smoothly and good-naturedly he handled a couple of minor flubs in the live production. And those minor flubs actually made the show even more fun to watch! And the same thing goes for the young actor who played little Ralphie. Who could ever compare to Peter Billingsley, I thought. I wound up being extremely impressed by young actor Andy Walken as Ralphie. He was so loveable, you just wanna hug that kid. I hope to see more from this talented young boy in the future. Maya Rudolph as the Mom, a tap-dancing Jane Krakowski as The Teacher, and Ana Gasteyer as Mrs. Schwartz: all marvelous! Oh, and the men, the men! A bunch of great surprises in the cast, expecially David Alan Grier (of "In Living Color" fame) as Mall Santa and Fred Armisen (of SNL/Portlandia) as the grouchy Mall Elf. And Ken Jeong ("The Hangover"), too... all so funny!

    CONS: Now I will admit that if I had been sitting in an uncomfortable theatre seat for 2.5 hours, I might have wished that they had ever-so-slightly trimmed some of the group numbers with the kids' group, but maybe that's because it was 2:00 am before I was done watching the show. I still enjoyed every musical number, though. The kids were all great, especially the bully, so this is a minor MINOR point.

    For those of us who loved the movie, there is no need to criticize the live production, because you can watch the movie anytime! That's like saying you didn't like the movie because the original book by Jean Shepherd was on PAPER, and the movie wasn't made of PAPER. This is just a DIFFERENT experience, with the same basic storyline – PLUS the addition of some enjoyable singing and dancing. It's all good! And the SETS! DId I mention the astonishing SETS?!? Just wonderful. I am very impressed by how they pulled this off. Kudos to whoever produced and directed this wonderful live event. You pulled off a miracle. Even the commercials were delightful.    … Full Review »
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