Christmas time TV viewing is a very traditional thing. The same movies get run year after year: It's a Wonderful Life, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman. Jim Henson's 1983 Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas got lost somewhere in the shuffle. Luckily it's turned up on DVD in time for this year's holiday season.

The DVD doesn't contain much more than the 50 minute main feature, but for kids that should be plenty. Kermit the Frog kicks off the proceedings with a short intro in which he rides a bicycle (the packaging lists him as the narrator, but it's not true). After that the story of Emmet Otter and Ma (based on Russell and Lillian Hoban's book) unfolds at a gentle, engaging pace. Emmet and Ma are too poor to afford much of anything. They work doing laundry and odd jobs around the folksy down-home river village of Frogtown Hollow. They also sing together. The songs, composed by vertically challenged Paul Williams, combine mountain music with gospel and a touch of folk. For a kids video the quality of these classic sounding compositions is really high.

In between singing and rowing, Emmet and Ma lament the fact that they don't have enough dough to buy each other the gifts they know they really want. They spend a good deal of time discussing Emmet's departed dad, but in a respectful, realistic way that doesn't condescend to kids (Ma talks about how he was an unsuccessful snake oil salesman and left the family nothing in the way of luxury and Emmet quotes his dad: "No one oils their snakes anymore!") The story is simplified for young viewers - Emmet and Ma separately sacrifice important possessions in order to enter a talent show so that the prize money can help to buy Christmas gifts for each other - but the twists are neither obvious nor patronizing. There is, of course, a happy ending, but it is more personal, realistic, and honest than one would expect from a children's program.

But that was the Henson charm. His programs never treated kids like they couldn't understand grown-up humor. Sesame Street had none of the sickly-sweet sugar coat of other educational programs and The Muppet Show reached practically Monty Python's Flying Circus levels of insanity. Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas may be subtler than the typical Muppet productions, but it is no less effective.

VIDEO:
The packaging claims that Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas has been digitally mastered but there is no mistaking that early 80's video quality. It doesn't have the textured look of film and the transfer has somehow made the video look a little more garish than broadcast quality versions. Still, it is acceptable, just flawed.

AUDIO:
The soundtrack is available in Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround. The 5.1 mix is pretty dynamic, showing off the musical sequences with energy.

EXTRAS:
Only trailers for other children's releases, including feature films like The Muppets Take Manhattan and Buddy and TV productions like Bear in the Big Blue House.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
It's obvious that Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas was made with care and love for the subject matter and the viewing audience. Without getting into any religious subjects but still touching on a spiritual sense of family, it deserves a place alongside the more ubiquitous holiday programs.