The 1967 animated holiday classic “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is coming to NBC starting this year, network chairman Robert Greenblatt announced Thursday at the TCA press tour in Los Angeles.
In a three-year licensing deal with Warner Bros. domestic television distribution, NBC has become the broadcast home of the Dr. Seuss tale for two runs per holiday season.
The classic story involves the schemes of the green and small-hearted Grinch to steal every material vestige of Christmas from the Whos living in the town of Whoville, but the Grinch ultimately discovers he can’t remove the spirit of Christmas from the hearts of the Whos.
The beloved Christmas special combines the genius of Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) and animator Chuck Jones to bring the Seuss’ book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” to television. The special features the voices of Boris Karloff as the Grinch and the narrator, and June Foray as Cindy Lou Who.
Chuck Jones, who directed many popular Warner Bros. animated shorts, is the producer and director of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
The book was also adapted into a live-action film in 2000 starring Jim Carrey as The Grinch and Taylor Momsen as Cindy Lou Who.