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Donald Duck may have struggled under Mickey Mouse's shadow, but in Sweden millions of people have tuned in to watch the hot-headed Disney character's Christmas special every year since 1959.
Between 3.5 million and 3.8 million people are expected to watch the one-hour special "Donald Duck and his friends wish you all a Merry Christmas" this year, said spokeswoman Ulrika Lundgren Borg of SVT public television that airs the program.
"Swedish television started to show Donald Duck on the afternoon of Christmas Eve in 1959. It was very popular since it was one of the first animated shows on TV," she said.
But the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper reported that viewership for the irascible duck's show has dropped by one million since 1997, the height of the Christmas special's popularity.
Still, SVT programming director Thomas Nilsson said the future of the sailor suit-wearing hero, known as Kalle Ankas in the Nordic country, was safe in Sweden.
"Kalle has been the number one or number two (programme) for years. We are very far from a critical point," Nilsson was quoted as saying by Svenska Dagbladet.
Donald Duck made his debut in 1934, in a Disney Silly Symphony cartoon, "The Wise Little Hen."
His often unintelligible dialogue, made famous by voice actor Clarence Nash, included memorable lines such as "Oh, yeah?" and "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!"
