It's that time of year again! There's a crisp chill in the air, Christmas decorations are finding their way to storefronts and malls everywhere, and the sounds of the season are beginning to hit the airwaves. Among the most beloved classic holiday songs heard on radios and playlists each winter are those by Karen and Richard Carpenter. The brother and sister duo proved to be the most successful American popular music act of the 1970s (20 Billboard Top 40 hits including three #1s and five #2s, plus fifteen Adult Contemporary #1s, for those counting!), but their music has remained relevant and popular ever since. Last year, TJ Lubinsky's TJL Productions released the 3-CD set The Complete Singles as a Public TV pledge premium exclusive, presenting the A- and B-side of every one of the Carpenters' U.S. singles released by A&M Records in the form of their original single version spanning from 1969 to 1989. Earlier in 2016, the U.K. saw the A&M release of The Nation's Favourite Carpenters Songs, a 20-track anthology. It opened at #2 on the U.K. Official Albums Chart and eight weeks later remains in the top 100. Now, TJL (also responsible for this year's Ultimate Anthology for The Mamas and the Papas for PBS) is celebrating the season and the Carpenters ' legacy with a brand-new public television special: My Music Presents: Carpenters - Christmas Memories.
KAREN, RICHARD, CUBBY O'BRIEN AND SNOWY FRIEND
Carpenters' Christmas Memories features some of the most beautifully-sung and lushly-arranged yuletide music of all time. With new introductions by Richard Carpenter, this program presents the very best of the Carpenters' holiday performances, unavailable in any format since their original 1970s television broadcasts. Included are Karen and Richard's sparkling, enduring renditions of "The Christmas Song," "Winter Wonderland, " "Silver Bells," "White Christmas," "Sleigh Ride," "Christ Is Born" and "O Holy Night".
RICHARD, KAREN AND CARPENTERS GROUP MEMBERS (1977)
A special Public Television-only DVD will offer not only the songs heard on the television broadcast - digitally remastered in stereo from the original sources - but numerous additional selections, as well. These include "Make Me Laugh," "Christmas Alphabet," "It's Christmas Time," "Merry Christmas Darling," "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," "Carol of The Bells" and "Ave Maria." All selections on the DVD are presented in full song performances.
1977
If you're interested in receiving a copy of the DVD, simply make a pledge at the level designated by a Public Television station airing the show. Anyone can donate online or via telephone to any Public Television station that broadcasts the show; it doesn't matter where you live in the United States. Some stations, particularly those in areas such as Detroit and Buffalo, may ship to Canada, as well. All of the individual Public Television outlets have websites where pledges can be made as well as phone numbers that are active much of the time regardless of when the show is actually broadcast. Fans in Europe would need to have a friend or relation based in the U.S. make the donation. It's possible that some stations may be willing to ship overseas for an extra charge, though such an occurrence is a long shot.
My Music Presents: Carpenters - Christmas Memories begins airing later this month as part of the acclaimed My Music series on Public TV stations everywhere. Check your local listings for information on air dates!
Release Round-Up: Week of November 1
A Special One for You: 'Christmas Once More' Offers New Mixes of Carpenters Holiday Classics
Yesterday Once More: Richard Carpenter Returns with Solo "Piano Songbook"
Holly Jolly Christmas: TJL Presents Ultimate Holiday Celebration on Public Television, CD and DVD
Another Carpenters' release unavailable outside the US. Rather frustrating.
Totally agree! 🙁
Very very very frustrating!!! The soundtrack of my life..... I'm very depressed!
As much as I would want these PBS exclusives, I refuse to make a contribution out of protest of their discrimination of the elderly in their programming. PBS programming should be for all ages regardless of the demographic pledge potential.
Hi Zubb - Would you mind expanding on your comment? I'm genuinely interested in understanding your perspective. The majority of PBS programming in my area consists of dramas like "Downton Abbey" and "Call the Midwife" and documentary series like "American Experience" and "American Masters." I would consider those to be intended for and appealing to all ages from teenagers to the elderly. Is that not the case where you live? Based on my experience with PBS, I'm not seeing a bias against an older demographic. I know there is a lot of educational programming for children ("Sesame Street," etc.) as well, but I think the adult shows still constitute to majority of the broadcast hours.
Yes. I volunteer weekends and a couple evenings a week at an assisted living facility in my area. On Saturday evenings our local PBS station used to air the Lawrence Welk Show which was always on the TV in the community room every Saturday. There were other occasional shows such as Victor Borge that the tenants enjoyed as well but nothing filled that room like Lawrence Welk. There was so much disappointment when they removed it from the schedule. When I called my local station to inquire about it, I was told it was the local PBS station managers decision to drop it. I was also told off the record, that they were mainly targeting the pledge demos in their programming, which is not the elderly in retirement homes on fixed incomes. Shame on them.
Hi Zubb,
I work for a PBS station, and I can tell you that many decisions about what to air are made at the local station level. My station and many others still air Lawrence Welk because we recognize its value to many of our viewers. I recommend that you encourage as many people as possible to contact your local station asking for Lawrence Welk to be brought back, because letting them know about the demand might change their practices. If you would like to get the exclusive Carpenters items without supporting your local station's programming decisions, you might consider contributing through a different station outside of your area that does air Lawrence Welk. Most stations have websites through which you can check their schedule, make a contribution, choose the pledge gifts you would like to receive, and also submit a comment letting them know that you are contributing to that station as a protest against your local station's programming choices.
Another pathetic decision to release in US only. The rest of the world obviously are not fans of The Carpenters??? No wonder "Illegal Downloads" are rife around the internet!
What about overseas fans??
How will they be able to purchase this dvd??
Yet another one outside the U.S.A GRRRRRRRRRRR.!
Are any PBS stations offering this as a pledge gift yet? I haven't found any......
I actually just pledged with Iowa Public Television. The $72 pledge could be spread out over 12 payments of $6 a month -- not bad !!
I just worry that it mentions on their website that it may take 8-10 weeks to get the DVD.......
Rich, Can you pledge on the Iowa site and get it mailed to another state like NH?
Absolutely; you can always pledge to one state's station and have the item shipped elsewhere in the U.S.!
This is probably as close as I'm going to get to achieving their 2 Christmas specials on DVD... I'll have to see the PBS special and judge if it warrants pledging to obtain it. If all else fails both of their Christmas specials are on Youtube...
A
Just bought my copy of the Carpenters "Christmas Memories" on DVD. I was watching the PBS "Close To You / Remembering the Carpenters", which they show here in the Washington, DC area quite often. Being a HUGE Carpenters fan, I was surprised to see that at the end of the special, they starting showing full versions of some of their songs from the Christmas special and that it was available ONLY through PBS stations. As many of you know, the Christmas special has NEVER been released. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.......Carpenters Christmas songs FINALLY on DVD!!!!!. I called as soon as the 30 minutes of videos finished and was on hold for quite a while (probably from everyone calling for the DVD). Yes, it's $72 dollars and another $6 for shipping but who cares.....FINALLY, some Carpenters Christmas (full versions) videos on DVD. I'm sure they will run out. Carpenters fans......don't miss out on this DVD. We've waited decades for this. THIS is a Christmas Miracle!!! Lucky to have seen the Carpenters in concert twice back in 1975 & 1976 in Columbia, Maryland. The 1975 show was for two nights, both of which had crowds of 15,000 plus. I'll never forget it. Karen is my pick for the BEST female singer of our time. There will NEVER be another Karen Carpenter. Thanks PBS for making this available to us fans!
Steve, When you receive your DVD copy of Christmas Memories I would be interested to know the run time for the DVD, how many and what songs are on it, and who the distributor is. They did not go into any detail about this on the short PBS special which was tagged on the end of Remembering The Carpenters: Close to You. From what I saw it looks like a collection of just songs, not the full specials. The picture quality was excellent on these songs, so I would assume the full Christmas specials are being held by someone , somewhere. I sure would like to see the full Christmas specials in the quality I saw on that PBS special. Hope to hear from you Steve.
Hi Eugene,
I just received the DVD a couple days ago. I can't give you all of the information about it as of yet, as it's being given to me as a Christmas gift....lol. So, sometime on or right after the 25th 🙂 I believe the run time is approximately 50 minutes. NOT the full special but full version highlights from the special. I think the distributor is "My Music".
As far as the television specials, I recall hearing that ABC Television owned them, not Richard. However, it has now been 30 years since it was originally aired and maybe it has passed a legal limit of time or ownership rights and Richard and "My Music" have joined together to release this for now. Hopefully the others will be released as well. The quality and sound do look fantastic. As far as anyone outside of the USA, all you really need is the telephone number for any of the PBS stations throughout the US. They may or may not ship outside of the US though. I'll provide more info once I unwrap it on Christmas morning. BTW, it only took a couple weeks, not the 8 -10 weeks they say. It continues to air like crazy here in the Washington, DC market. Happy Holidays everyone!!!
Is there a way to petition or contact someone to see if there is any possibility to get the dvds of all of their TV specials released? I really don't understand why Richard hasn't had this done.
Hello, I'm from Spain and I have a friend that is able to get the DVD, but we don't know how we have to do It. Can anyone give us some help? Thank you
Just crazy how millions of Carpenter fans who are not getting any younger yet still almost 40 yrs since the specials first aired and still no complete specials...sad. Soon us, the folks that remember them will be gone in a few more yrs and then the big corps will release them to the young folks who when I say 'Carpenters' they look at me with empty stares and say 'who?' n of course then the specials won't sell n idiot corporate will say 'told you they would not sell!'...at 60 I'd be glad to get them anyway I can to view them so corporate. ..keep procrastinating. .your loss