In 1983, Motown Records celebrated their impending 25th anniversary (which would actually occur in 1984) with Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, a blockbuster special featuring many of the label's biggest stars over the years. Today, it is best remembered as where Michael Jackson introduced the moonwalk, but it also featured Marvin Gaye, even though he had recently left the label for Columbia, Diana Ross, performing with the rest of the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, The Temptations, The Four Tops, and Jackson reuniting with his brothers. The special was a massive hit.
In 1987, when Motown decided to run a Christmas special, audiences were naturally expecting another blockbuster lineup. While the guest list at Motown Merry Christmas! was solid, this one felt more like the B+ guest list compared to 25. There was no Michael Jackson, no Diana Ross, no Lionel Richie. Indeed, the guest list was surprisingly light on actual Motown artists.
The host was Phillip Michael Thomas, of the fast-fading Miami Vice, and his opening "poem" implied an appearance by Wonder, who also did not show up. The Temptations start the musical numbers, singing The Drifters' arrangement of "White Christmas", as the set rotates to reveal seemingly everyone else who is in the special.
The Pointer Sisters, who were not Motown artists, though their sister Bonnie, who was not part of the group, was married to a Motown executive, performed "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Redd Foxx, playing Santa, comes out and raps about the awful state of the world, which is about as cringe-inducing as you would expect.
Moving on quickly from the comedic/serious sketch, Ronnie Spector and Darlene Love (neither of whom recorded for Motown) sang a Christmas song melody, including Love's signature "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)". Thomas pontificates on mistletoe and makes out with a conveniently miked member of the audience (I have no idea if this woman is someone I should know or not), before Desiree Coleman (whose promising career ended up flaming out by the early 90s), Smokey Robinson, and Natalie Cole had solo numbers.
After another performance by The Temptations and another appearance by Santa Foxx, Run DMC appears to perform the then-brand new "Christmas in Hollis". Next, Stephanie Mills performs the Gladys Knight song "When You Love Someone, It's Christmas Every Day", which was apparently written by one Redd Foxx (as Santa Foxx helpfully pointed out). Then Robinson and The Temptations sing "The Christmas Song", despite the fact that Natalie Cole was there (she does not make an appearance during this number).
Marsha Warfield of Night Court, who had appeared in the earlier Redd Foxx-as-Santa skit, shows up as a homeless bag lady pushing a shopping cart before Carrie McDowell (another singer whose career fizzled out shortly after this) leads an all-star chorus of..."Silver Bells"? Indeed, this launches a whole melody of Christmas songs as the special's finale. I'm sure Warfield as a bag lady is a tie-in to earlier, where Santa Foxx read a letter from a homeless kid, but still...I went back to make sure I hadn't missed something. It's such an odd way to start the final segment that I think something must have been cut out to make the program's hour timeslot.
Still, despite some of the oddities of this special, and the lack of classic Motown performers, Motown Merry Christmas! is an entertaining hour of songs. It may not be as remembered as Motown 25, but it does what it does decently well, and that's just fine.
Next time: This is it for 2023! Because Thanksgiving is so late next year, we'll be starting early, with the first write-up for the tenth anniversary edition of A MarkInTexas Made-For-TV Christmas coming on Sunday, November 24. Also, Year 4 of I'm Reviewing All Your Specials (and Movies) Charlie Brown returns on May 26. Until then, thanks for reading and have a Merry Christmas!
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