Elvis Presley ’68 Comeback Special to Begin Streaming on FOX Nation This January

Elvis Presley’s iconic ’68 Comeback Special will soon be available to stream, as Fox Nation has picked up the concert film and it will debut this January. The hit special is set to begin streaming on Fox Nation — Fox News Channel’s on-demand subscription-based streaming service — on Monday, Jan. 25. While Fox Nation will be the only place to stream Elvis’ big return to the stage, the service currently offers a limited-time free trial option so that fans can check out the show.

The story behind Elvis’ comeback special is quite fascinating. The singer had not been making music much after his retirement from the army, as his manager, Col. Tom Parker, had guided him more towards musical-based films. However, Elvis never could get a serious role, even though his melodic movies with big money-makers. The opportunity for Elvis to make his big live-performance comeback came when NBC tasked music and television producer Steve Binder with putting together a special for the King. The two men sat down for a meeting to discuss the special when Elvis tossed Binder a bit of a curveball.

“What do you think of my career?” Elvis asked Binder, per the AP via Fox News. Recalling the story, Binder joked that he “was young and brash in those days,” so he replied, “I think it’s in the toilet.” While you would think this would cause Elvis to be offended, his reaction was quite the opposite. “Well, finally, somebody’s talking straight to me,” Binder remembers Elvis saying.

Once the men had agreed with doing the show, then came the next challenge: what kind of special would it. Parker had an idea of what he wanted, but Binder wasn’t excited about it. “The colonel handed me a box with 20 Christmas songs in a quarter-inch tape that disc jockeys all over America were playing on their radio stations as Elvis’ Christmas gift to America. here was no Elvis in it, other than him singing these Christmas songs.” Binder made it clear that he had no intention of making an Elvis Christmas special, to which Parker eventually conceded, with the agreement that Elvis would still perform “Blue Christmas.”

The big special was an unprecedented success. Elvis took the stage in a black leather outfit and wowed both the audience in front of him and home. It was the top-rated show of the entire year and has since gone on to become an iconic music history piece.