The Seven Essential Holiday Programs

The erstwhile Ziggy Stardust was better known for throwing glitter on himself on trees, but when he walked onto the crooner's 1977 Christmas special — "I'm David Bowie. I live down the road" — it launched four of holiday TV's weirdest, most transcendent moments. Joining on a new arrangement of The Little Drummer Boy — with a counterpoint lyric, "Peace on Earth" — old and new school harmonized seamlessly. Crosby would die a month after the taping, before the show aired, and this moment placed an odd but lovely cap on his career. "Pretty thing, isn't it?" he coolly asked Bowie as they finished. Pretty amazing.

— James Poniewozik