Post-'Peter Pan Live!', NBC Has More Tricks Up Its Holiday Sleeve 12.01.2014 NBC's highly-promoted holiday event, Peter Pan Live!, is set to air Thursday, Dec. 4, but right around the corner comes another special that NBC hopes will turn into a holiday franchise. Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas will air Thursday, Dec. 16 at 8 pm ET/PT. The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons stars as Buddy, the human raised as an elf who suddenly finds himself exiled from his home at the North Pole and lost in New York City. Unlike the 2003 movie, Elf, which starred Will Ferrell and earned $173 million at the domestic box office, Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas is shot in stop-motion animation and is based on the hit Broadway show with original songs. The voice cast also includes Mark Hamill, Ed Asner, Fred Armisen, Jay Leno, Matt Lauer, Gilbert Gottfried, Kate Micucci, Rachael MacFarlane, Max Charles and Steve Higgins. The hourlong special offers nine songs, such as "Happy All the Time," "A Christmas Song" and "Nobody Cares About Santa Claus." Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas is produced by Warner Bros. Animation, directed by Mark Caballero and Seamus Walsh, teleplay by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin and Aaron Horvath & Michael Jelenic. Score by Matthew Sklar and Christopher Guardino. Original songs from Elf: The Musical - music by Matthew Sklar and lyrics by Chad Beguelin. Based on the New Line Cinema theatrical motion picture Elf, written by David Berenbaum, and the Broadway musical Elf, originally produced by Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures in association with Unique Features..