It Happened One Christmas airwaves on an annual basis, the remake slipped into obscurity. The reviews were mixed. After its initial airing a "New York Times" follow-up article revealed that Frank Capra, the director of the 1946 film "It's A Wonderful Life", had denounced the remake as "plagiaristic." The ratings, however, were good enough that it was rebroadcast on ABC twice, in 1978 and 1979. But by that time the original "It's A Wonderful Life" had begun its resurgence on television and eventually eclipsed the remake. "It Happened One Christmas" is rarely shown today, and has not, as of 2017, been issued on DVD.
After It Happened Happened" went into production in San Francisco in October 1988, the script originally ended with Kelly shooting Mike to death. This script was leaked to AIDS activist groups, who were outraged. They contended that the script as written increased the likelihood of vigilante violence against LGBT people and people with AIDS. Series executive producer Bob Singer disagreed, saying, "The hero says that the murder is absolutely the wrong solution. No one watching it could think we were condoning this by any stretch of the imagination." Three groups took the lead in organizing the protests: the San Francisco AIDS Foundation; ACT