How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV special) animation divisions of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, where Jones was under contract at the time. CBS, coming off the surprise success of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" a year before, allotted Jones and MGM a $315,000 budget, more than four times what Bill Melendez was offered to produce "A Charlie Brown Christmas". The original broadcast was sponsored by the Foundation for Full Service Banks whose sponsor plugs within the original airing were later edited out for subsequent broadcasts. The entirety of the book's text, with some slight embellishment, was adapted into the special; to pad the special to a full 30-minute time slot,
A Christmas Story (1972 TV special) they finally find Santa. Timmy's letter is delivered, Gumdrop and Goober make it home safely and a boy's special wish magically comes true on Christmas. The songs featured in "A Christmas Story" included: "Which One is the Real Santa Claus?", "Sounds of Christmas Day" and "Hope" were re-used five years later in the 1977 TV special "A Flintstone Christmas". "Hope" was also re-used in "Yogi's First Christmas" (1980). The special was first released on VHS as part of the "Hanna-Barbera Super Stars" video collection by Hanna-Barbera Home Video in 1989, and re-released again in the 1990s by Turner Home Entertainment.