NBC 60th Anniversary airing

*My Thoughts on the NBC Rudolph 60th Anniversary airing:  I will always prefer my 1964 Network air dvd with Rankin/Bass commercials and original ending, but the NBC airing was definitely an upgrade on what CBS was showing for years.  It opened with the vintage NBC peacock, but the effect was lost when a new Universal logo followed the peacock.  On the positive side, NBC did air the entire blu ray version of the Animagic special, including the peppermint mine scene.  In the 75 minute time slot, I was expecting possibly some surprises, such as a rarity (Fame and fortune) or some sort of discussion, but instead it was packed with commercials. Surprisingly,  commercial breaks were in the middle of scenes.  There was one place that a commercial was supposed to go, but did not (when Hermey and Rudolph battle the storm as the Bumble roars (performed by Larry D. Mann, per sound engineer Bill Giles) and peaks over mountains.  I lost track of how many commercials were in the 75 minute slot, but there were many.  I don't know if it is because I am getting older, but I found none of them appealing.  Not even the Christmas ones, such as Coca Cola.  These commercials were as annoying, as the ones that pop up on Facebook or you tube, when you are watching a video. The one big thing that was missing from the broadcast, was the 1964 ending.  The 1965 ending was shown.  I have access to the 1964 ending in color, and I like it better.  Antony Peters did the lettering in the open, and he did the lettering on the packages in the 1964 ending, that an elf throws off Santa's sleigh.  When the 1965 ending was shot, some of the talent's names were mis-spelled.  With all of that said, it was still better than the CBS edit.  I am Thankful it still airs on network television.  I recently located a photograph of the New York NBC Rudolph cast, Animagic figures display case from 1964-1971 and we used it in a 2 page spread, in our new book;  Rankin/Bass' The Year Without A Santa Claus and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas 50th Anniversary Scrapbook (Miser Bros Press). It confirms everything I have been saying about the Rudolph and Santa publicity puppets, located at the Center for Puppetry arts.  I am still learning new things about Rankin/Bass Productions.