I suspect the head of wardrobe raided the Joker's closet for a purple suit complete with shiny purple shoes, and Buble didn't appreciate being a comic book villain. The performance suffered. He's kinda always annunciated words deliberately and carefully in his songs, but he was way over the top here, with really stilted, over-pronounced, zero-feeling vocals. The guest singers were generally good and the orchestra was great. The low point came as cringe-inducing Jimmy Fallon joined Buble for some strained "humor" and imitations of a few famous singers by the pair. Guess that was the steep price Buble had to pay for getting an NBC special- a terrible promo for the always unfunny and uninteresting Fallon show, which is apparently still on. Who knew?
Also, some kid actors came on to act cute. And they were. That part was shot with a more normal outfit for Buble, who seemed much more at ease. Coincidence? I don't know.
Overall I really don't think Buble wanted to be there, but he was contractually obligated or something. To give Buble credit, he did a great final number, Silent Night. Stick around for that.
