Hannah Waddingham takes Apple TV+ 'Home for Christmas' in new special

I get that holiday specials are a thing, but as a live audience member how do you get excited for Christmas songs in May?  The recording sessions for these shows must be a very odd experience.

Most (all?) “Christmas” albums are recorded spring/summer.

tdknox said:

Most (all?) “Christmas” albums are recorded spring/summer.

It's one thing to get a handful of industry professionals in a studio/soundstage/set/whatever to record seasonal content.

It's a bit more work to get thousands of audience members to pretend like it's a winter holiday concert. Appropriate attire, behavior, etc. You simply can't have your audience wearing everyday street clothes, a quarter of them mindlessly scrolling through their smartphones.

The film production crew (as well as the talent) are probably encouraged the audience to "enjoy the holiday concert" throughout the shoot; of course such footage was left on the cutting room floor, never intended for the final edit.

Note that nothing prevents the producers from hiring professional actors to portray concert goers for the close up audience reaction shots, carefully choreographed to sing along, hug/kiss, whatever.

mpantone said:

tdknox said:

Most (all?) “Christmas” albums are recorded spring/summer.

Note that nothing prevents the producers from hiring professional actors to portray concert goers for the close up audience reaction shots, carefully choreographed to sing along, hug/kiss, whatever.

There is nothing preventing the producers doing whatever they want when making something other than committing crimes. 

"For 2023, Carey has moved to CBS." Better money? Better exposure? Or maybe just a base of people who are old enough to remember her.