In Chicago yesterday WWME-CA (Me-TV) ran a marathon of Christmas episodes.
So I was thinking to ask you all what are your favourite Christmas episodes of TV series. I don’t mean one time shots but rather regular TV series that have Christmas episodes.
I like the Dick Van Dyke Show episode and I liked the Mary Tyler Moore Show episode where Mary has to work Christmas eve.
I liked the episode of the Golden Girls where the ladies all planned to go home to their families but got stuck in a diner instead.
I found the* All In The Family * episodes to be far too depressing. Did the Bunkers ever have a GOOD Christmas? I mean Archie losing his bonus, the transvestite getting murdered and Edith losing her faith. Mike and Gloria seperating.
What shows did you think had good Christmas episodes? Or bad ones?
It’s a Bundyful Life is my favorite. When it came out “It’s A Wonderful Life” was in the public domain and every station was running it on a continuous loop. Then the Bundys came with the antidote, a show where Al decided to keep living, not because his family needed them, but
TO SPITE THEM, BECAUSE IF HE WAS GOING TO BE MISERABLE, THEY WE’RE GOING DOWN WITH HIM.
The MASH when Winchester’s family Christmas charity tradition is shown is very good.
The Fraiser episode when Fraiser is dating a Jewish woman, and so the Cranes try to hide the fact that they are Christians from her mother is also pretty funny.
The best Christmas episode ever, as far as I’m concerned, is Supernatural’s “A Very Supernatural Christmas.” We get evil Santas kidnapping people, a drunken creepy Santa, a really abominable performance of “Silent Night”, a torture scene, stabbing the villains with Christmas tree branches, and finally, in the touching scene at the end, the heartwarming gift? Porn.
I’m not a fan of the King of the Hill episode where Bill turns his yard into some Christmas playland thing. I don’t normally like Bill episodes anyways, but the only part I remember laughing at was when the cop was explaining that it’s strange having a kid in jail.
I like the episode of The Nanny that’s done in the animation style of the opening credits. I think it’s a cute idea, given the show is over the top to begin with, they took a theme and ran with it. Likewise, Home Improvement’s episode, The Wood, the Bad, and the Ugly, had a vignette within it that shows the characters done in the stop-animation puppetry of those old Christmas specials, which is cute. Even 'tho that episode is pretty sad.
“It’s a Bundyful Christmas” is a true classic. I have to dig through my old VHS tapes and see if I can find it…
There have been really good Christmas episodes on Northern Exposure - one is not Christmas, but Joel goes through A Christmas Carol thing on Yom Kippur. The best is “Seoul Mates” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0662389/#comment Holling sings (and beautifully, with his Broadway background) an acapella hymn for Shelley in an empty church. Maurice gets a previously unknown Korean family. But - The Tlingit Christmas pageant at the end features Marilyn in full regalia as the tale of how the Raven brought back the Sun is told. I think it’s so beautiful, it brings tears to my eyes every single time.
I wish they still had those big-happy-families-gathered-at Christmas variety shows. Andy Williams or Kathy Lee Gifford, all their big shiny happy extended families gathered in some fabulously decorated mansion, all having such a swell time, belting out Christmas carols - the love, it just flows! Fun to watch Our Betters and their big fake celebration while I polish off the last of the high-octane eggnog and eat the last Christmas cookie.
I generally hate those King of the Hill eps where Bill gets all depressed because of his wife and dresses up as Santa or like his wife, or whatever. I know KoftH does dark humor well but it gets a little too depressing sometimes with Bill.
Agree with the Frasier/Jewish woman one. Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz, I think it was called.
This isn’t really Christmassy but I liked the Simpsons’ ep Skinner’s Sense of Snow a lot. Though I think a lot of people hated it.
My favorite would probably have to be the Seinfeld episode where Kramer got a job as a department store Santa and was then fired for spreading Communist propaganda.
My least favorites would probably be the South Park Mr. Hanky episodes. I normally love South Park and have a pretty strong stomach for bathroom humor, but a talking turd is just too much.
I do make an exception though for the episode where Santa gets shot down over Iraq and taken prisoner. I love the part where you see him point a gun at one of his torturers, aims to the side, fires, and then says, “I couldn’t do it.” A split second later they show the guy with a bullet-wound in his head and Santa says “I couldn’t let him live. He shocked Santa’s balls.”
(and I agree with you on King Of The Hill re Bill—The writers never allowed Bill any lasting happiness, which always kept me from fully embracing the show. I know its silly to feel that way about a cartoon, but I couldnt help it)
Basically about one of the anchors not caring about the “little people” who worked at the station (camera people, pages…but the wardrobe lady especially). The ending was sweet when on camera both anchors were naming people off and saying things they liked.