From 1972 to 2023, the special aired on CBS, which unveiled a high-definition, digitally remastered version of the program in 2005, re-scanned frame-by-frame from the original 35 mm film elements.

The 50th anniversary of the television special was marked in 2014,[4] and a series of postage stamps featuring Rudolph was issued by the United States Postal Service on November 6, 2014.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was initially met with a positive reception among critics, who praised the voice acting, soundtrack, animation style, characters, and sets.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is often regarded as one of the best Christmas films ever made, being featured on numerous "top ten" lists.

It has become widely popular among both young children and adults familiar with the Christmas season, and has garnered a large cult following since its initial debut.

The following spring, Rudolph goes out for the reindeer games, where the new fawns learn to fly and are scouted by Santa for future sleigh duty.

While he celebrates with the other bucks, Rudolph's fake nose pops off, causing the other reindeer to mock him and Coach Comet to expel him.

Rudolph meets and joins Hermey, a misfit elf who left Santa's workshop to follow his dream to become a dentist, and Yukon Cornelius, a prospector who has spent his life searching for silver and gold.

Yukon returns with a tamed Abominable, now trained to trim a Christmas tree, explaining that the monster's bouncing ability saved both of their lives.

Muller told an interviewer shortly before his death that he would have preferred to base the teleplay on May's original book, but could not find a copy.

Most of the characters were portrayed by Canadian actors recorded at RCA Studios at 225 Mutual Street in Toronto under the supervision of Bernard Cowan.

[12] Second, Rankin and Bass were taking loans from friends to bankroll and chose Toronto's Crawley Films to financially stretch out 130 short episodes of Tales of the Wizard of Oz, which made the Canadian labor costs cheaper.

[14] This was Rankin/Bass's marketing strategy to employ a bigger celebrity, which would later happen in other specials, such as Jimmy Durante in Frosty the Snowman and Fred Astaire in Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.

[14] The company's trademark stop motion animation process, known as "Animagic", was filmed at MOM Productions in Tokyo with supervision by Tadahito Mochinaga and associate direction by Kizo Nagashima.

[10] Besides Rudolph, Mochinaga and the rest of the Japanese puppet animation staff are also known for their partnership with Rankin/Bass on their other Animagic productions almost throughout the 1960s, from The New Adventures of Pinocchio, to Willy McBean and his Magic Machine, to The Daydreamer and Mad Monster Party?

[12] To promote the special, a set of puppets was shipped from Japan to the United States and displayed at NBC Studios in Manhattan, New York City during the Christmas season.

[14] Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer premiered on December 6, 1964, as part of The General Electric Fantasy Hour on NBC, at 5:30pm (EST).

[22] In May 2019, it was announced that Freeform would air the special as part of their annual 25 Days of Christmas lineup for the first time, alongside Frosty the Snowman.

[23][24] The agreement was later revealed to be an exclusive rights agreement, as CBS continued to broadcast the special over-the-air each November and December until 2023,[25] but not on Paramount+ nor, in an unusual case of blackout, virtual multichannel video program distributors such as YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV, which have traditionally carried all network programming in the same fashion as cable and satellite providers; CBS parent company Paramount claimed, copyright ambiguity notwithstanding, that it did not have streaming rights to the special.

[28] Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was first released on VHS and LaserDisc by Family Home Entertainment and Broadway Video from 1989 to 1996 under the Christmas Classics Series label.

A television review of The New York Times called the special "a charming and tuneful hour of fantasy", stating that the animation "radiated a gentle spirit of make-believe" and praising the songs as "an ideal complement to the story of Robert L.

"[30] A review on San Antonio Light's TV Week praised the special as a "delightful hour for children", describing it as "cleverly conceived".

[31] Cynthia Lowry of The New York Times stated that the story was "full of delightful adult wit and a bit of satire.

The site's critical consensus reads: "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a yule-tide gem that bursts with eye-popping iconography, a spirited soundtrack, and a heart-warming celebration of difference.

[34] In December 2018, a Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult poll which surveyed 2,200 adults from Nov. 15–18, 2018, named Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer the most beloved holiday film, with 83% of respondents having a generally favorable response to the title.

[citation needed] According to The Making of the Rankin/Bass Holiday Classic: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, nothing in the script gave any indication on why Dolly for Sue is a misfit toy.

[14] In 2005, a nephew of Adams found the figures of Rudolph and Santa and brought them to be appraised on Antiques Roadshow;[14][46] the episode aired in 2006 on PBS.

The adaptation was published by Red Wagon Games for the Wii and Nintendo DS, and was developed by High Voltage Software and Glyphic Entertainment respectively.