The CW announces Legends Of Tomorrow Christmas special and animated Scooby-Doo reunion
Today, The CW decided to go deep on fan-service and announce three one-off specials that will be very exciting to very specific people but will—at best—rank as a “What? Who cares?” to all but the most dedicated TV viewers (and a “What? Get out of my house.” to everyone else). They’re all the sort of thing that no traditional TV network should throw money at, but they’re all exactly the sort of thing that The CW loves to throw money at. It’s weird and embarrassing in a way that’s cool and exciting, which is sort of The CW’s whole vibe.
So, in order of “best idea” to “most inexplicable idea,” let’s get to it: The best one is a one-hour animated special called Beebo Saves Christmas, which fans of DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow will recognize as an in-universe tie-in about the show’s Tickle Me Elmo knock-off. Beebo first appeared in the show’s season three episode “Beebo The God Of War,” which involved the show’s team of wacky time-traveling superheroes going to 1,000 AD and discovering that a group of Vikings had started worshipping a talking Beebo toy as their new god. It’s one of the show’s best episodes, and it turned Beebo into a running joke of sorts with absolutely zero effort made to explain what Beebo is in this universe beyond “a knock-off of a famous toy.”
But now, finally, we’re going to see Beebo save Christmas! The CW’s press release hilariously does not acknowledge Legends Of Tomorrow at all, and even suggests that Beebo is “once again” going on an adventure (though, again, this is the first time we’ve seen any kind of Beebo story). Regular Beebo voice actor Ben Diskin will reprise the role, and he’ll be joined by Kimiko Glenn, Yvette Nicole Brown, Keith Ferguson, and Chris Kattan, all of whom will be playing previously unmentioned characters in the Beebo universe. Ernie Hudson will also be on hand playing Santa, and former Legends Of Tomorrow cast member Victor Garber will be playing the special’s narrator (which, for Legends fans, might be the sweetest part of this).
Next is The Scooby-Doo Reunion Special, which sounds like a parody of those big pop culture reunions that became so hot during the pandemic. The press release says it’s about the Scooby-Doo gang getting back together on the Warner Bros.’ lot “after 52 years of solving mysteries” to reminisce about their old cases. Of course, this being a Scooby-Doo thing, there may also be a monster running loose—and definitely not a greedy land owner looking to bulldoze the Warner lot and turn it into condos or whatever. It makes sense on a conceptual level, though it does have powerful “Who is this for?” energy.
Speaking of, let’s get to the most bizarre of these reunion specials: The Waltons’ Homecoming, a 50-years-later remake of The Homecoming: A Christmas Story. Don’t know what any of that means? Congratulations on being a young person. The original Homecoming served as the pilot episode for The Waltons, a long-running drama series from the ‘70s about a family living in Virginia during the Great Depression. The remake will feature original John Boy actor Richard Thomas serving as the special’s narrator, with Bellamy Young and Logan Shroyer starring in the TV movie.
Of course, it’s not fair of us to say “Beebo is awesome and a Waltons remake is really weird,” because there are probably people out there who love The Waltons and don’t know what the heck a Beebo is. Those people are wrong, though, because Beebo is the best. None of these specials seem to have official premiere dates, but they’ll all be happening near the end of this year.