As all the major networks had flipped to full color schedules by 1966, the special was likewise produced in color, establishing the Grinch's color (white in the two-tone illustrations of the original book) as green, a convention used in later television specials featuring the character as well as the 2000 live-action and 2018 3D animated film adaptations. Broadcast The half-hour (with commercials) short was originally telecast in the United States on CBS on December 18, 1966. CBS repeated it annually during the Christmas season until 1988. It was then seen multiple times per year on Turner-owned properties – first TNT, then TBS, and then Cartoon Network – and The WB returned it to broadcast television by adding its own annual screening in 2001. ABC took over the special after The WB ceased operations in 2006. NBC acquired the rights in 2015; its deal with Warner Bros. allows two broadcasts per season, currently scheduled for the night after Thanksgiving and Christmas night. The Christmas night broadcast has been later followed by the airing of the 2000 film of the same name. In 2022 the second airing of the special was aired on December 23 instead of Christmas Day due to an NFL game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Arizona Cardinals. TBS and TNT both continue to air the special annually many times during the holiday season. Reception The special was released in the midst of a wave of animated holiday specials, joining a number of other 1960s productions (such as 1964's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, 1965's A Charlie Brown Christmas, 1968's The Little Drummer Boy, 1969's Frosty the Snowman, and 1970's Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town) that have come to be regarded as classics; critic Rick Du Brow compared it favorably to those specials at the time, saying it was "probably as good as most of the other holiday cartoons." The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, which gives the special a 100% approval rating, reads: "How the Grinch Stole Christmas brings an impressive array of talent to bear on an adaptation that honors a classic holiday story – and has rightfully become a yuletide tradition of its own." The special continues to be popular in Nielsen Ratings, with its 2010 airing (the last of many times it had aired that year) winning its time slot among persons 18 to 49 and finishing second in overall viewers. TV Guide ranked