Wednesday Video Spotlight: Recapping Carrie Underwood’s holiday special

Posted by brandy

on December 9, 2009M at 5:54 pm

Oklahoma country music star Carrie Underwood saw her first holiday TV special, “Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special,” air Monday night on Fox. I’ve posted above a few YouTube videos featuring fun moments from the show.

The two-hour special featured a mix of great performances, glitzy costume changes and goofy comedy bits. Checotah’s favorite daughter opened the show clad in black leather and surrounded by male dancers as she belted out her saucy hit “Cowboy Casanova.” She also powered through her past hits “Before He Cheats” and “Jesus, Take the Wheel.”

Much of the guest list was revealed in advance, but Underwood worked in a surprise by inviting brother band Sons of Sylvia to perform with her on “What Can I Say,” their duet from her new album “Play On.”

Although many of Carrie’s all-star pals were divulged in advance, they still managed to put in great performances. Fellow “American Idol” winner David Cook, who has Tulsa ties, made time stop with his emotional “Lie,” though I would have preferred a Carrie and Cookie duet. Dolly Parton stole the spotlight, of course, with her hit “Here You Come Again” and then sat down with Underwood for a wonderful, not at all overdone performance of “I Will Always Love You.”

Country superstar Brad Paisley wasn’t able to be at the show’s Los Angeles taping in person, so he was brought in via satellite from Nashville to sing with the hostess. I initially had my doubts about this high-tech duet, but they faded when he and Carrie launched into a spirited rendition of the Conway Twitty/Loretta Lynn classic “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man.” Paisley also crooned his heart-melter “Then.”

But my favorite moment came when Underwood, fellow Oklahoma native Kristin Chenoweth and Christina Applegate donned pink dresses and beehive updos to dance and sing their way through a lively 1960s medley including “Be My Baby,” “Then He Kissed Me” and “Leader of the Pack.” In this case, anyway, blondes do have more fun.

The show featured plenty of silly interludes, including a running gag about Carrie’s naive attempts to get her sister Stephanie a date, a chance for Carrie’s mom Carole to steal the show and a inside-the-thoughts featurette on Carrie’s dog Ace. Underwood demonstrated a clear willingness to laugh at herself, whether playing the piano with her toes, dressing up in a Dolly wig and padded bra or gleefully stuffing envelopes of cash for “Idol” judges in a faux flashback.

My biggest complaint about the holiday special was that it didn’t have enough holiday to it. Besides a few glitzy Christmas trees on stage and Underwood’s lovely performance of “O Holy Night,” the show could have been running in July or October for all the seasonal relevance it had. It’s a shame because Underwood has done some wonderful renditions of Christmas carols, some of which I’ve posted below.