The Year Without a Santa Claus When: 9 p.m. Monday on NBC. Starring: John Goodman, Delta Burke, Chris Kattan.

In Phyllis McGinley's 1956 book, "The Year Without a Santa Claus," the big guy was weary of his winter workload.

Speaking in rhyme, Santa says, "Crick in my back, cold in my nose, aches in my fingers and all 10 toes, and a sort of a kind of a kink inside, whenever I think of that Christmas ride." He decides to take what we now call a mental health day, although in his case it's his first vacation in 1,000 years.

When word spreads that Santa is taking a year off, 6-year-old Ignatius Thistlewhite springs into action and saves the holiday. The story, essentially a long poem in a children's picture book, was made into a 1974 TV special by Rankin/Bass, the brilliant team behind "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

Now, McGinley's book and the 32-year-old special have been reborn, and this time they've been turned into a live-action movie with John Goodman and Delta Burke as Mr. and Mrs. Claus, Ethan Suplee and Eddie Griffin as elves Jingle and Jangle, and Chris Kattan as Sparky, an ambitious elf with a sack full of ideas, all bad.

Santa not only feels out of touch with today's gifts, but he thinks children are never satisfied. "No matter what you give these kids, it's never enough. ? I defy anybody to find me one child that really cares about the true spirit of Christmas."

Santa decides to cancel Christmas, which sends Jingle and Jangle to South Town to search for a boy with real spirit. That's where Iggy Thistlewhite (Dylan Minnette) is reviving a Christmas festival.

"Year" is much like the holiday itself. In its quieter, old-fashioned moments, it's fine, but once it trots out the cameos (Carson Kressley, Laura Schlessinger, Jack LaLanne) and Mother Nature's feuding sons (Harvey Fierstein as Heatmiser and Michael McKean as Snowmiser), it turns as noisy and distracting as a last-minute shopping trip to the mall.

Although the '74 keepers of the climate were popular enough to spawn their own Christmas ornaments, here they prove grating, especially Fierstein. The bratty brothers fling icicles and heat balls and come with backup female dancers. Ugh.

Modernizing the story robs it of some of its timeless charm. A reference to a place called Mythopolis, a retirement community designed for the "mature myth," calls to mind the supporting characters in "The Santa Clause" sequels. Not funny there, not funny here.

"Year Without a Santa Claus," filmed in Shreveport and Natchitoches, La., addresses the question of believing in Santa. When Iggy suggests his parents put the presents under the tree, his mother replies, "There are lots of gifts we receive in this world that don't show up under a tree. Who knows where they come from?"

Not a bad answer, but Iggy's initial statement could have been massaged a bit to be more friendly to the little ones.

Goodman certainly has the necessary physical attributes to play Santa, but he makes the big guy a bit too grouchy in the early going, while Burke invests Mrs. Claus with the right measure of patience and charm. Suplee (Randy on "My Name Is Earl") and Griffin complement each other as the traveling elves, all of whom come with properly shaped ears.

NBC went classy two years ago with a musical version of "A Christmas Carol" starring Kelsey Grammer. Last year, it offered a new computer-animated special, "The Happy Elf," and this year it remakes an old standard. If you have no backlog of tapes or DVDs, it will do in a pinch. But it's no "Rudolph," despite its reference to a cousin who is a dentist on the Island of Misfit Toys.