<\/p>\n
For a holiday with eight days and more than 16 different ways to spell it, Hanukkah once featured extremely limited television programming.<\/p>\n
Today everything from Spider-Man to Mickey Mouse, \u201cThe Nanny\u201d to \u201cNew Girl,\u201d and \u201cArthur\u201d to \u201cPhineas and Ferb\u201d have had Chanukah and\/or Hanukkah episodes, but for decades there was not much beyond Ed Asner\u2019s 1973 Hanukkah PBS documentary and David Grover\u2019s sing-along special. While 1996\u2019s \u201cA Rugrats Chanukah\u201d is often pointed to as the half-hour that popularized Hanukkah kids television specials in America, Nickelodeon the year before had its first half-hour surrounding the Feast of Dedication, and it arrived from a special place called Weinerville.<\/p>\n
Yes, there is a \u201cWeinerville Chanukah Special.\u201d<\/p>\n
During Nickelodeon\u2019s experimental early \u201990s, the children\u2019s channel greenlighted a show starring puppet-centric comedian Marc Weiner at the helm. It was the result of an earlier game show pilot titled \u201cThat\u2019s Not Fair\u201d for the Ha! Network (which later merged with the Comedy Channel to become Comedy Central), based on a bit from Weiner\u2019s segment on comedy show \u201cRandom Acts of Variety,\u201d and the test audience skewed younger than the channel\u2019s desired demographic. This timing, however, happened to coincide with Nickelodeon reportedly looking for \u201cthe Soupy Sales of the \u201990s.\u201d <\/p>\n
The pilot was brought to Nickelodeon, which picked it up. \u201cWeinerville\u201d premiered in 1993. Continuing Weiner\u2019s signature look of his human head on different puppet bodies (\u201cWeinerettes\u201d), the show was an episodic story of a city of puppets filmed in front of a live audience, which also featured a chance for audience members to compete in games (after being \u201cWeinerized\u201d) and segments wrapped around classic older cartoons. Nothing about the show was conventional in the world of children\u2019s programming, even the time slot. Whereas most new kids shows would premiere weekday afternoons or Saturday mornings, \u201cWeinerville\u201d was given two hours on Sunday afternoons to air four back-to-back new episodes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWeinerville\u2019s\u201d second season saw the show move to weekday afternoons, but by then the Nickelodeon demographics began skewing older and \u201cWeinerville\u201d was moved to weekday mornings before school. Weiner recalls always wanting to do something for Hanukkah, originally pitching the idea of a Hanukkah PSA. \u201cI went into a meeting with one of the executives, and he gave me a book about a Hanukkah story and it was just bizarre. [He said] \u2018You should do a special, but your spin on this story.\u2019 I asked if I could do one in a \u2018Weinerville\u2019 style and he said \u2018OK.\u2019\u201d From there writer Scott Fellows, who was the voice of Zip on the show, became the driving force behind the special.<\/p>\n
What resulted was one of the most uniquely chaotic half-hours of children\u2019s television in the \u201990s. Instead of being in front of a live crowd, the special was filmed at a cabin in Killington, Vt., in October, roughly two months before it was to air. While the snow may have been mostly fake, \u201cThe Weinerville Chanukah Special\u201d \u2014 featuring space aliens and musical numbers \u2014 stayed grounded on a unique foundation of reality with the inclusion of then-popular hits from the B-52\u2019s, Elastica and Gloria Estefan (which, according to Weiner, was achieved thanks to Nickelodeon parent company Viacom\u2019s agreement with MTV over the networks\u2019 use of licensed music) as well as counterculture celebrities across comedy, music and even wrestling (WWF\u2019s Diesel a.k.a. Kevin Nash).<\/p>\n
The plot follows two potato-pancake-esqe aliens \u2014 named Sektals \u201cLatkes\u201d spelled (mostly) backward, one played by actor Michael Gunst who recalls it being a \u201cfun gig\u201d shot in order over mere days with a crew of about a dozen \u2014 who are escaping their people\u2019s evil overlord, Antidorkus (a riff on Antiochus), who\u2019s been using his Keerg (\u201cGreek\u201d) ray to make their people abandon their traditions and behave exactly like him. So they escape to the ski lodge that the \u201cWeinerville\u201d gang has rented out as they attempt to find enough oil to fly back into space. Though it looks like they may not have enough oil, Hanukkah magic happens, Antidorkus is toppled and the day is saved. It ends with a big Halloween party and a fast punk rock song about all the different ways to make a menorah that channels Ramones\u2019 \u201cI Wanna Be Sedated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along the way we get a song about the actual Hanukkah story performed by proto-punk pioneer David Johansen (credited as Buster Poindexter) who plays wise elder Gonsah K\u2019nocker and sings an inspired original song, \u201cThe Hammer Came Down.\u201d Weiner remembers working with Johansen: \u201cI\u2019m not sure who orchestrated getting him, but he was brilliant in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also appearing were Denny Dillon, making a cameo as her character Toby from HBO\u2019s \u201cDream On.\u201d Looking back at the special, Dillon appreciates its \u201cwonderful silliness,\u201d adding \u201cI think that\u2019s why the program works because you can stick with it, you don\u2019t know where you\u2019re going and there\u2019s a commitment to the silliness.\u201d Also appearing was Laura Kightlinger, who was familiar with how Weiner \u201cwas a comic\u2019s comic and everybody liked him\u201d and remembers filming her scene where she\u2019s holding real applesauce being fun and today appreciates how fast-paced it was, making it \u201cperfect for right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opening the special was Nickelodeon icon and \u201cDouble Dare\u201d host Marc Summers, reading the traditional Hanukkah story and sharing the screen with \u201cWeinerville\u2019s\u201d most famous character, Boney, a skeletal dinosaur who was the angry ornery B-side to the then-famous purple dinosaur Barney. <\/p>\n
\u201cBoney could do absolutely anything and it would crack me up,\u201d Summers recalls. He describes Weiner as \u201ca very religious person, and wants to spread the word about Judaism and its traditions. It was kind of revolutionary when you think about it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Back in the day, Summers says, Hanukkah would pop up every now and then as a brief segment, but nobody would spend much time explaining what it was. But Weiner would do it with a point of view and sense of humor. \u201cPeople tend to stereotype all things Jewish and what they don\u2019t know about certain holidays with what they think they do,\u201d Summers says. \u201cSo, you got it right from the horse\u2019s mouth with the guy who understood what he was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with the music and aesthetic insanity, what makes \u201cThe Weinerville Chanukah Special\u201d stand out among the three decades of Hanukkah specials since is how Hanukkah is celebrated without having to be analogous to another holiday. Christmas isn\u2019t in any way mentioned, everyone knows what latkes are and Hanukkah takes full center stage. In an interesting coincidence, the same week \u201cWeinerville\u2019s\u201d special premiered, Shari Lewis\u2019 \u201cLamb Chop\u2019s Special Chanukah\u201d premiered over on PBS. Two puppet-filled musical Hanukkah specials in the same week after decades of drought is a miracle in itself. Just as surprising is the overwhelming critical praise \u201cWeinerville\u201d received.<\/p>\n
The New York Times raved it was \u201cWacky, no doubt. And absolutely charming.\u201d Reviewing it for The Times, NF Mendoza called it \u201cFun and Vivid.\u201d The Jewish Week, while not quite on the same level of enthusiasm, did give the accurate and inadvertently enticing description \u201cthis pow! bam! sock! pie-in-the-face, \u2018kick butt\u2019 spaceage version of Chanukah is loud. Very loud.\u201d Weiner\u2019s manager Lee Kernis remembers, \u201cNickelodeon were very supportive\u2026 I don\u2019t recall there being any notes\u2026 Marc and people used to joke that the show was put together by superglue and Scotch tape. It was not a high-tech show. I think that was the charm, it filtered back to Nickelodeon what Marc had to do to make that show.\u201d<\/p>\n
While \u201cThe Weinerville Chanukah Special\u201d aired a handful of times in 1995, the next year\u2019s \u201cA Rugrats Chanukah\u201d (airing a month after the final Nickelodeon \u201cWeinerville\u201d production \u201cThe Weinerville Election Special from Washington BC\u201d) became the channel\u2019s go-to holiday tradition for generations to come. While absent from the airwaves, in December 2000 and 2002, \u201cThe Weinerville Chanukah Special\u201d was screened at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York, and thanks to the advent of file sharing and video streaming sites, the special gained a cult following through the 2010s, often the go-to choice for a Hanukkah episode of Christmas podcasts. It\u2019s a favorite of children\u2019s television podcasts as well, the Nickelodeon-themed \u201cSplat Attack Podcast\u2019s\u201d Manny Oramas lovingly reflects \u201cwhen the special came out, I knew nothing about Hanukkah, but this helped in subtle ways. I consider it timeless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weiner has stayed active in the children\u2019s media world, voicing Map and Swiper across several \u201cDora the Explorer\u201d incarnations. He\u2019s also been making tote bags from old sails used on the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater (which he was on for three years in the \u201970s) to promote the Clearwater\u2019s environmental work. His family\u2019s also continued to spread innovative Hanukkah cheer: His eldest daughter, Rebecca, a chef and artist living in Israel with her husband, challah artist Idan Chabasov a.k.a Instagram\u2019s @ChallahPrince, this year have collaborated on an illustrated recipe for making a challah menorah<\/a> \u2014 a full-circle moment as Rebecca is seen in \u201cThe Weinerville Chanukah Special\u2019s\u201d closing montage showing her own environmentally-conscious \u201cRecyclorah.\u201d Weiner is planning to stream the episode in some form this Hanukkah on his YouTube channel WeinervilleTV.<\/a> Revisiting the special 30 years later, it\u2019s still impressive to see a fast-paced, puppet-centric explosively creative take on Hanukkah \u2014 no strings attached.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a holiday with eight days and more than 16 different ways to spell it, Hanukkah once featured extremely limited television programming. Today everything from Spider-Man to Mickey Mouse, \u201cThe Nanny\u201d to \u201cNew Girl,\u201d and \u201cArthur\u201d to \u201cPhineas and Ferb\u201d have had Chanukah and\/or Hanukkah episodes, but for decades there was not much beyond Ed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2199495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2199494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Revisiting-Nickelodeons-wacky-and-groundbreaking-Weinerville-Chanukah-Special-at-30.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2199494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2199496,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199494\/revisions\/2199496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2199495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2199494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2199494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2199494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a holiday with eight days and more than 16 different ways to spell it, Hanukkah once featured extremely limited television programming. Today everything from Spider-Man to Mickey Mouse, \u201cThe Nanny\u201d to \u201cNew Girl,\u201d and \u201cArthur\u201d to \u201cPhineas and Ferb\u201d have had Chanukah and\/or Hanukkah episodes, but for decades there was not much beyond Ed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2199495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2199494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Revisiting-Nickelodeons-wacky-and-groundbreaking-Weinerville-Chanukah-Special-at-30.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2199494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2199496,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199494\/revisions\/2199496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2199495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2199494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2199494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2199494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a holiday with eight days and more than 16 different ways to spell it, Hanukkah once featured extremely limited television programming. Today everything from Spider-Man to Mickey Mouse, \u201cThe Nanny\u201d to \u201cNew Girl,\u201d and \u201cArthur\u201d to \u201cPhineas and Ferb\u201d have had Chanukah and\/or Hanukkah episodes, but for decades there was not much beyond Ed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2199495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2199494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Revisiting-Nickelodeons-wacky-and-groundbreaking-Weinerville-Chanukah-Special-at-30.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2199494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2199496,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199494\/revisions\/2199496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2199495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2199494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2199494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2199494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
For a holiday with eight days and more than 16 different ways to spell it, Hanukkah once featured extremely limited television programming. Today everything from Spider-Man to Mickey Mouse, \u201cThe Nanny\u201d to \u201cNew Girl,\u201d and \u201cArthur\u201d to \u201cPhineas and Ferb\u201d have had Chanukah and\/or Hanukkah episodes, but for decades there was not much beyond Ed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2199495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2199494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Revisiting-Nickelodeons-wacky-and-groundbreaking-Weinerville-Chanukah-Special-at-30.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2199494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2199496,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199494\/revisions\/2199496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2199495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2199494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2199494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2199494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}