Well, given that his mother was Polish, we can assume that she’s at least culturally Christian and given that he grew up in the US, he was certainly exposed to Christmas. And perhaps he and his father are more culturally Palestinian/Arabic/Muslim than religious.
But Annie should be required to sing in every episode. I thought she had the best voice.
Abed has never even indicated that being Muslim is an important part of who he is or that he was raised to be particularly religious. Now, Annie and Shirley argued over holiday decorations last year and Annie seemed upset that Shirley didn’t understand that Annie was Jewish…so now all of a sudden saying that yeah, she used to have Christmas all the time seems very weird.
Of course the Christmas stuff was treacly. That’s what Christmas time is for.
They could have at least showed some Annie cleavage - it is one of the reasons I keep tuning in…
I had fun with it. I always loved all the old stop-motion classics.
They never show Annie cleavage, just talk about it over and over.
bastards.
Yeah, watching it again, it was a perfect way to end the episode, a great moment I thought. That your reaction was to think about it being a pain in the ass to shoot means you’re going to be eaten alive by humbugs.
In the background when they’re on the gum drop road, you can see the Chang snowman following them around.
I was creeped out by the whole thing. I couldn’t get away from the fact that it was an abandoned, disturbed young man’s psychotic break.
Were you also bothered when they had a crazy campus-wide paintball fight, and a secret government death squad almost killed everyone on the campus to contain a form of super secret rabies? I mean, it’s somewhat surreal. But it still fits the character - understanding a Christmas heartbreak through his own stop-motion Christmas special is entirely consistent with the abed character.
I don’t know. I was raise in a similar type of household (my Mom is a convert my Dad was born Jewish). Now that I am an adult I think of myself as Jewish and don’t decorate my house for Christmas or anything like that. I can see myself having had the sort of argument that Annie and Shirley had when I was in college. Particularly with some of my more religious Christian friends. But I have many fond Christmas memories from growing up because my Mom really liked the secular aspects of the holiday and her whole side of the family still celebrated.
Being raised Jewish in mainstream America is just sort of like that.
It’s not that it was surreal, but that it was so sad. Abed’s miserable and can’t process his feelings, so he becomes delusional.
I thought Shirley’s voice blew everyone else out of the water.
Are you sure he was delusional? After all, they were stop-motion animated. He was just the only one who could see it.
IIRC the actress, Yvette Nicole Brown, has starred as Effie in Dreamgirls in regional productions. Not surprising given that voice; to quote Eddie Murphy/Jimmy Early to Effie in the movie version, “Shit I knew you’d have it!”
I thought Danny Pudi’s voice was okay, but I’ll admit I have an unlikely crush on the actor (I say unlikely because Troy and Jeff are obviously the resident hunks but I’d take Pudi- perfect comic timing and obvious intelligence). Also has a nicer body than you’d expect as was revealed in the underwear ep, though obviously Jeff and Troy are worlds better.
The reflection in the TV set could easily be done in a few minutes just using publicity pics or stills from episodes.
Pierce’s character was actually far more “one of the guys” as a teddy bear than as a human.
In the episode where Abed saw the world as Terminator they foretold this episode as well as the blanket fort, Abed’s clocking of the menstrual cycle of the ladies. I’m wondering what else they ‘predicted’.
Yes. His father is Indian, and his mother is Polish. In case anyone was wondering, in the letter to Abed where she says “wash your dupa”, “dupa” is the Polish word for “ass/butt.”
I liked the dial on the train engine… it went from Aloof to <something> to <something> to Björk.
I liked it better the second time I watched it.
Just watched it–loved it! Definitely one of the most clever Christmas episodes of an ongoing series I’ve ever seen.
I especially liked Teddy Pierce and Ballerannie. John Oliver is always funny. I do wish there had been more Snowman Chang.
Does Abed have an “awww” moment in every episode? I’ve noticed it’s become a thing:
Abed: “It’s the most Christmassy planet in the universe. Its atmosphere is 7% cinnamon.”
The women, in unison: “Awwww!”
52nd Street in Islington? I think London doesn’t have numbered streets.
if i remember correctly, there was a snowman chang lurking in the background when they first got to the christmas planet. very creepy and very funny.
I still just don’t get why this show isn’t more recognized. I mean - not by the general public, they wouldn’t know funny if it dropped a digit on their anus. But when you have smart shows like this, they’re usually well respected by the critics (everyone raved about arrested development for example, and all the episodes are like 9.4 rating on imdb/tv.com), whereas I rarely see critic mention of this show, and the ratings on those sites are in the 6s and 7s. WTF? Even most mediocre shows do better than that.
I’m not saying this show is as good as AD… but… probably the best since then. And certainly the most ambitious. (Edit: Except for maybe Always Sunny)