The Prestige TV Podcast - 'Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special'

Episode Date: December 7, 2020

Charles Holmes and Grace Spelman help you decide if you should get into the Christmas spirit with 'Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special' on Apple TV. Hosts: Charles Holmes and Grace Spelman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Order now at order. Sweetgreen.com. My name is Charles Holmes, and I'm here with my co-host from the Ringer Music Show. Grace Bellman. Grace Bellman. And we are here to talk about Mariah Carey's magical Christmas special. This holiday extravaganza premiered on Apple TV Plus on December 4th, and it features Mariah Carey doing what she does best, bringing in the Christmas cheer. She has a cadre of hosts.

We're talking about Tiffany Haddish, Billy Eichner, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, and Snoop Dog, all trying to tell us what the meaning of Christmas is. For people who haven't watched it, Grace, can you quickly run through the plot or lack thereof of this special? Yes, I was going to say, all right, so it's, so it starts with Mariah and her, are those her actual kids? I think two of them. I think she only has two kids. I thought the other kid was supposed to be like her from the past. Because that's what I think too. She was like Little Mimi, which I thought she was referring to her daughter.

But then the daughter was like, we don't have a Christmas tree at my house. And so I was like, where's your house? So I think that was that was supposed to be Mariah from the past. But the other two kids are her actual kids with Nick Cannon in real life. Well, she did not do a good job at establishing it. So it seems like the daughter is gloomy, this little girl and this little boy are gloomy, because it's 20-20 and no one's in the Christmas spirit. And even Billy Eichner at the Who Plays an elf at the North Pole is noticing the lack of spirit

amongst the North Polians. And so he says to his worker friends, there's only one person I can call and that's Mariah. So I'm pretty sure that makes the episode Mariah's the hero's journey is she's bringing back cheer through song. Is that what you got out of it? that's what I got out of it but it was weird because Mariah is the protagonist who's there to bring back Christmas cheer but there's not like a villain like the villain is like holiday apathy which isn't doesn't make for like entertaining watch like what is she she's trying to save Christmas but there's not really anybody who's threatening to take it away besides us just kind of be like there's a pandemic out here none of us are in the Christmas view yeah it's sort of an abstract enemy which as the audience, I don't, you know, I don't feel the urgency. So this is a 45-minute special, and what I found was really funny about it, is like,

the plot is only there to, like, string together what we really want to watch, which is Mariah Carey just singing. And that's what I think was the biggest tension for me, where I was just like, oh, man, I have to get through like five or ten minutes of this exposition to get to Mariah Carey singing. And she's not a good actress, like, no shots in her. She's just not. I said the same thing to my mom. I was like, this would have been so much better for me if like the little sketch interludes

had been either not existent or just very, very brief because they didn't do a good job at making it, they didn't, the little skits didn't do a good job at making it comprehensive. And also, Mariah's not funny to watch. No, not at all.

And I think the tension between all of this was honestly where we watched it. So this is coming from Apple TV. And I, like, watching it, I automatically thought I think this would have been way more charming on like, like as an ABC or NBC special where there's like commercial breaks because it had very big. The in-laws are over for the holiday season. We can't agree on anything to watch.

Let's just throw on this Mariah Carey special. But because it's on Apple TV, it's this corporate synergy where Apple TV just bought the peanuts special. So like the peanuts are in it. And Mariah Carey's like, I'm Mariah Carey and I've had this many hits. And I just have a new. memoir out and we're on Apple TV and you're just kind of like, ugh. I don't know.

You're totally right. And I will say I watched it with my mom. And the minute Woodstock appeared, she went over the, she was over the moon. She loves the peanuts. I agree with you. I think it was totally the peanuts who I do love them.

The insert of them felt like, remember, we exclusively have the peanuts. And then also, you're right. Like, I feel like every year, Mariah Carey does this like marketing campaign. and this just felt like another one to me. So I agree with you with that corporate feel.

So let's walk through maybe our pros and cons. What did you feel worked about this special? I think the highlight for me was Ariana and Jennifer Hudson. There was so much joy in that. They're all very talented, but sort of at the end, they were just having so much fun with each other. And they were doing, you know, they were all moving. It was, you could see that they were having like singing inside jokes with each other,

the way that they would like move up their hands and like kind of flutter their hands to how they were singing. So that was definitely a pro for me. I wish that sort of musical joy existed throughout. And I will say the gospel choirs though had some of that joy that I was missing. I would say Ariana, J. Hud and the gospel choirs were my favorite part musically. Another pro is that Marias and I've learned this later in life seems to be huge in Christmas. I guess her Christmas album is played. Like did you grow up listening to Mariah's Christmas album at all? Yes. It would go on the,

the sweep of what, like, my mom or my uncle or whoever was hosting Christmas would play. So I've grown up with this. So, but it's only, I feel like, been in recent years where there has been like the small gig economy of, like, reporters being like, this is how big Mariah Carey's Christmas album is this year.

And we, like, every year we're just like, oh, it's number one now. Oh, it's going to sell this much. And this just felt like, like you said, the latest kind of, of blitz in this marketing campaign. But I do think one thing watching it, I found Joy like when Snoop Dog would show up and he's in like Santa's uniform or when Ariana Grande and Mariah Carey has kind of become a meme now

where they're both like hitting that super high note as a singer. Like what would you classify that note as? Because it's very characteristic to both of them. It's called, they're called whistle tones. So it's a special kind of register that not many singers can sing. I don't know what notes they were because they were so high. it's like a sort of vocal phenomenon that only like a really good kind of singer or really trained kind of singer can do.

And watching it, the other type of like second tension once you get away from maybe the corporate aspect of it was you could tell that this special was filmed during the pandemic times because watching it, everything is in a green screen. Like not a very good green screen. It's like you could tell Mariah is there. And then sometimes when she was dancing, I was like, I don't think. the dancers are in the same room as her. So a lot of times it's just her alone.

There's no studio on, there's nothing. So when you get someone like an Ariana, like who you can tell is singing with her, it brings you a certain joy. And then once again, they leave. And you're left with just Mariah Carey singing

in front of like a bad, bad CGI. And everybody next to her is six feet apart. So it's this weird in the bag. You're like, I know there's a pandemic going on. I know there are reasons. it's being filmed this way, but my mind still isn't processing that.

Did you kind of see those scenes? No, and you're totally right. And I think that's why I loved the Ariana and Jennifer Hudson part is because I could tell they were actually right there. And I don't know if this is because I love Broadway, but I sort of what you were saying about how you wish there was commercials and things. Are you familiar at all with, you know, NBC doing like the live productions of hairspray and grease?

Yes, yes, yes. That's the other thing is that Mariah. had tried to do a Christmas special a few years ago. And I mean, she's a season veteran. She's sung a lot. And her voice isn't what it used to be, which is totally normal. I think a special like this really would have benefited from something live.

But I understand, A, it was COVID. And B, she's not a great live singer anymore. So it felt vocally, it felt very, and just sonically, it felt very produced and a little bit overdone to me. Honestly, going off of that, I do agree with you that, listening to it

because it wasn't live and I think it being live gives us the audience kind of like like anything can happen because there was that big moment where Mariah Carey sang in front of a live audience

during Christmas and she, it was so bad. I remember she was like a trending topic forever. People were roasting her but part of the joy of that is like,

oh, there's stakes to this and there were not those stakes in this Christmas special because everything like sometimes I was like, oh man, this is just a recording.

This is not actually Mariah singing right now. So I'm like there's nothing. All right, cool. Like, I could have just loaded up Spotify and listened to this, you know? Right. Right. All right. So, Grace, could you briefly walk me through some of the characters that show up or, like, the lack thereof? Because there's, there is a weird phenomenon where people just pop out of nowhere and they're not established at all. Like, can you please set this up with the audience? There were, honestly, if I look back and the only real characters to me were, I forgot the kids existed.

Mariah's kids, Mariah, Billy Eichner, and Tiffany Hadd it. who was doing the narrating throughout. But other than that, like, there wasn't even a Santa. Like, come on, that's the guy. But something I had noticed during the numbers, and I kind of want everyone who's listening to go back and watch because it's so funny. There was a scene at the end when things are, like, kind of getting big,

and there are all these kids running around, and the gospel choir kids are running around. And then there's this guy on the side with, like, a corncob hat in, like, a jaunty scarf looking around watching the kids. kids like pretending to be like, go on, kids, go. And I was like, who is, who is that man? Is he the mayor of this town? And then there was another old woman who was like,

look at what we're enjoying. But they weren't in a chorus or anything. They were just by themselves. And so I was just like, who are the characters in the story? Who the fuck is that guy? Like, he made me very upset. Did you, did you notice him? I felt the same way.

Like, I didn't even notice him. So I'm going to go back and watch that. I was more obsessed with like the elves because there was no like hierarchy like Billy Eichner was an elf, but he was a grown man. And then out of nowhere like these kids like kids elves like pop out and they start doing like hip hop moves. I'm like, who are these kids? Like are they supposed to be the short elves? Like are their kid elves and like adult elves?

Like it was there was so much about the special that they glossed over, especially the Santa part. And I feel like I would not put it past Mariah Gary to be like, no, Santa will take away from me. I'm, I'm the leader of Christmas now. Fuck Santa. And that's such another good point is that, and another thing I noticed about the costumes is that it was, and I think this is so, it was not uncharacteristic of Mariah. It was such a diva. I mean, it was, what a fun opportunity to be in like the most beautiful dresses I've ever seen, the craziest eye makeup. And something I noticed in the beginning, I was sort of wondering, how are they going to make this Mariah-y and Christmas-y and something, thing I noticed.

And it seemed like they kind of gave up on it was her emergency phone, because Billy Eichner calls her. on the emergency red phone. And her red phone is covered in glitter. And I was like, oh, good, this is Mariah. Like, we're getting Mariah. But then it kind of just, like, there was no more Mariah bling. There's no more, like, touch of Mariah. Do you know what I'm saying?

Oh, no, I absolutely know what you're saying. I was also a little bit, like, thrown off because it's Mariah, you get that diva energy. You get this sexiness. All of her costumes, it was kind of like, she wanted to do like sexy Christmas, which I thought was like very funny. Like, it was just like, where I still wanted to look fabulous. even when she's like singing like these sad Christmas songs. And I'm just like, even like her skin sometimes, I'm like, is,

is Mariah wearing body clitter right now? Is what is going on? It was so much. It was so much. And then to have a scene where I was like, wow, her boobs look great. And then all of a sudden there's Woodstock from the peanuts. I was like, all right, I, you know, like, who is the target audience for this? Every, every single outfit, like, made sure to, like, accentuate, like, Mariah's boobs.

and I'm like, is it this supposed to be like, that's fine, but I was a little like, what am I supposed to feel? Am I supposed to feel like sexy and turned on? Am I supposed to feel like wistful and sad? I don't know what's going on, Mariah, but like that's, I feel like Mariah. That's what she wants us to feel. She's like, I still want you to know I'm bad and the most fabulous woman on earth. And I did end up feeling that.

Yes, yes. Anything else for the audience that they should like check out or you notice throughout this whole Mariah Journey. I have discussed this on our musical show, the music show, ringer music show. My favorite piece of music of all time is the Nutcracker. And Misty Copeland, who is one of a phenomenal, one of the most famous ballet dancers did a little dance to the Nutcracker. And they did dance of the sugar flum fairies. And there's usually like a very high, it's an instrument called the Celeste. It's very high. It sounds like an old timey, trimy piano thing. And I don't know if you notice, but they, Mariah was doing like,

was that her? I was like, who is in the back singing really high? Because I also was just like, part of me felt like, I was just like, Mariah, why don't you let this beautiful ballerina do the dance? But like, the only thing I could concentrate, it was on like the high singing in the back. That's, I literally, I should have asked my mom. But because I was like, right? I was like thinking of no story as I was watching this.

And after the Nutcracker dance was over, I was like, going to turn to my mom and be like, were you totally distracted by that or was that just me? So I'm glad to know I wasn't alone. Oh, no, I was just like, why can't Mariah ever let anybody else have to say? She cannot. She cannot. So I think it's safe to say that we didn't hate the special, but we had issues. But I'm more interested in what did your mom think?

What was her take away from watching this? It's undeniable that Mariah is a good singer. Even if you don't, you just know when you're watching her that you're watching something that no one else can do at this time. Maybe Ariana. So my mom liked it because of that. you know, every time Mariah would come on stage, she would be like, oh, look at that dress. Oh, did you notice that's a different dress than it was before?

Oh, how, you know, she's like, no, this one was wider at the bottom and now it goes wide at the middle. That's a different dress. So your mom was really loved the dresses. I'm picking that up. So she liked that. She liked the peanuts. She doesn't react to it the same. It didn't have that family rewatchability.

I don't see me and my mom, you know, how families have their Christmas staples that they sometimes return to every year. whether it be a live production or a taped this or a TV show of that. It just didn't have that. I couldn't see myself sitting down with my mom again rewatching it. So she liked it, but I don't think she liked it. I think she just liked it for his aesthetics. I don't think she liked it for its, you know, the complete project. Who'd you watch it with?

I didn't watch it with anyone. I watched it alone after watching Mank, which was like a double, like a double feature that I don't think anybody should watch. And my big takeaway was I was just like in Mankin, honestly this, the connective tissue is like, I feel like everybody, you could tell on screen was like, yo, this streaming service dropped the bag. Like Snoop Dogg was like dancing in the middle of it. And I was like, dog, he walked away with a nice signature check for five minutes of work. And that's what I think like that is the, uh, the Christmas spirit. If you can get a streaming service to pay you large amounts of money to tell people to go buy stuff to keep the capitalist engine running during the holiday.

season? Why not? You know? Why not? Isn't that what life is all about? It is what life is all about. Is that I think that's a good, that's a good place to end? What do you think, Grace? I think that's a great place to end. Well, guys, thank you so much. This has been Charles and Grace from the Ringar Music Show. Hoping on for a nice feature on TV concierge.