I don't know if anybody else noticed it, but did you see that Bing's ears are as big as Clay's are? *G* I think its probably an omen. Bing was huge, and had big ears. Fred Astaire, big ears. HUGE. Clay, big ears. hehehehe... he's gonna be an icon. *VBS*
I very much liked Clay Aiken and his voice when my thirteen year old daughter got me to watch him last year on American Idol, and I was thrilled to see his duet with Uncle Bing last night on the Christmas special. It was fabulous. I would like to add my echo to all those who are now clamoring for a video and CD release of this magnificent effort. I'm sure it will be a huge hit....who knows, maybe even Number 39?
Originally, they wanted to have Clay sing "White Christmas" with Bing, but then asked if Bing ever sang "Little Drummer Boy" besides the version with David Bowie. I told him about the version from the '62 X-mas special-- the ONLY other video available of Bing performing the song-- so they were thrilled. They didn't know about this '62 version, and neither did Bob Deflores. When Clay learned of this, he immediately wanted to do Drummer Boy instead of White Christmas!
Full credit must go to the producer of the show, Gary Tellalian, who initially had the idea and made this (the duet) happen, as well as Bob Deflores and Ron Hall who worked very hard on this under hurried circumstances. Their enthusiasm and belief in this project helped to bring Bing Crosby yet another Christmas classic.For the benefit of some of Clay's fans who may not be aware, Bing presented a Christmas show or "special" every year for 43 consecutive years, starting on radio in 1934, and continuing until the last TV special with David Bowie, taped 5 weeks before his death in 1977. He only performed Little Drummer Boy twice on television. The first time was in 1962 (the clip used with Clay), which was really his first full blown TV Christmas special, and the last time with Bowie in 1977. Since I don't work in the television industry, I'm really not the one to ask about "basic knowledge about the TV industry and how such a request to get this duet on other networks actually works--the politics, etc." as I know very little about it myself. What I do know, is that TV networks typically issue press kits and/or press releases for their shows to the news media, which is what I believe has been provided to ET, Extra, Access Hollywood, etc. If you'd like to see this "event" covered on news programs on other networks like CBS, NBC, & ABC, I would suggest writing to the specific shows via their websites, such as the Today Show on NBC or Good Morning America on ABC or the Early Show on CBS. If you bring it to their attention, it just might generate enough interest to merit them doing a story on it.