Olive the Other Reindeer
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the TV special Olive the Other Reindeer, which originally aired on Fox Dec. 17, 1999. The show, based on a best-selling children’s book published two years earlier by writer Vivian Walsh and illustrator J. Otto Seibold, is one of the more charming additions to holiday lore in recent years.
The story is based on a mondregreen, a misheard word or phrase from a song or poem that takes on a life of its own.
The lead character is Olive, a dog who does not believe she’s a dog. When Blitzen the reindeer becomes injured and cannot fly, Santa says that he hopes to make the Christmas run with “all of the other reindeer.” Olive overhears this and reaches the mistaken conclusion that she’s the other reindeer. The television special features the voices of Drew Barrymore as Olive along with Ed Asner, Dan Castellaneta, Jay Mohr, Tim Meadows and Michael Stipe.
Simpsons creator Matt Groening was the executive producer for the special. He told Entertainment Weekly, “You know that sort of dull, queasy, headachy feeling you get around Christmas time when the house is too warm and kids are crying and dad’s passed out on the couch? This will cheer everyone up.”
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