Fans of the Rankin-Bass animated Christmas classic The Year Without a Santa Claus will remember the characters Heat Miser and Snow Miser. This holiday season, the quarreling siblings are back in ABC Family’s new original animated special A Miser Brothers’ Christmas, which premieres Saturday, Dec. 13 at 8 p.m. (ET/PT). Mickey Rooney returns as the voice of Santa Claus and George S. Irving reprises the role of Heat Miser. The debut is part of the network’s ’25 Days of Christmas’ programming event.
Santa’s new chief mechanic, Tinsel, has created a speedy, new high-tech sleigh for Christmas, but North Wind has sabotaged it in the hope of taking Santa’s place this year. When Santa takes it out for a spin, he gets caught in the cross fire between the feuding Miser Brothers and the sleigh comes crashing down. North Wind frames the Misers for the accident and, with Santa stuck in bed with a bad back, seems poised to be the heroic fill-in. But much to his chagrin, Mother Nature punishes the Miser Brothers by forcing them to put their differences aside and do Santa’s job. In between comedic squabbles, the Brothers rediscover what it means to be family and, along the way, save Christmas for everyone.
Written by Eddie Guzelian (Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch), and directed by Dave Barton Thomas, the special is produced by Warner Bros. Animation in association with Cuppa Coffee Studios and is presented by Warner Bros. Animation and ABC Family. Exec producers are Adam Shaheen, Howard Schwartz and Linda M. Steiner.
