Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Star Wars Holiday Special aired on CBS on the 17th of November, 1978, from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. It pre-empted regular episodes of Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk. It has never been rebroadcast in the United States.
Steve Binder directed the Star Wars Holiday Special. The original director, David Acomba, a classmate of George Lucas from USC film school, departed after completing only a few scenes due to clashes with the production team over the multi-camera television setup.
The Star Wars Holiday Special contains the first appearance of Boba Fett, in an animated segment titled The Faithful Wookiee produced by Toronto-based Nelvana Ltd. Fett was voiced by Don Francks. The animated design was based on footage of the unpainted costume from The Empire Strikes Back, and suggestions from the Nelvana team to make the costume look worn influenced Fett's eventual live-action appearance.
The Star Wars Holiday Special was universally panned by critics, audiences, and fans after its single broadcast in 1978. Lucasfilm never authorized a home video release. The animated cartoon segment, The Story of the Faithful Wookiee, is the only portion to receive an official release, becoming available on Disney+ in April 2021.
Lucas was reportedly unhappy with the special. In a May 2005 interview, he described it as something largely produced by variety television professionals and said allowing them to use the Star Wars characters "probably wasn't the smartest thing to do." Lucas did not have significant credited involvement in the production, though it was his idea to center the narrative on Chewbacca's family.
Lucasfilm maintained the special as part of Star Wars continuity from 1978 to 2014, placing it at a secondary tier of canon. After Disney acquired Lucasfilm, director J. J. Abrams confirmed in a 2015 interview that the special was still "definitely canon." Life Day, introduced in the special, was referenced in the first episode of The Mandalorian in 2019.