Best Christmas Episodes?

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CosmicMonkey
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Best Christmas Episodes?

Post by CosmicMonkey »

Which TV shows have the best Christmas episodes?

I'm big fan of Community's stop-motion and musical episodes.

What are some other great ones?

iconogassed
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Re: Best Christmas Episodes?

Post by iconogassed »

"...To Save Us All From Satan’s Power" - The Sopranos (2001) Notable for being the first episode to feature new Soprano soldier and Tony's eventual right-hand man, Big Mouth Billy Bass.

"Marge Be Not Proud" - The Simpsons (1995) The most deeply-felt "Bart learns a lesson" ep IMO and yet like "Marge on the Lam", often overlooked is the sheer amount of top-tier gags.

"The Strike" - Seinfeld (1997) In which future Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts tells Elaine the horse she bet on had to be shot.

"Woodland Critter Christmas" - South Park (2004) I still crack the biggest, dumbest smile when this pops into my head, which is too often. Or maybe not often enough?

"Night of the Meek" - The Twilight Zone (1959) I always kind of forget how hideous this looks, as it was one of the unlucky few to be shot on video as a cost-saving measure, but then the hideousness ends up selling the Bowery-grime feel of it in a strange way, and making the the O. Henryesque sap more palatable. I also know that kind of critical fallacy, or projection, is nowadays widely abused. But c'mon. It's Christmas.

"How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" - The X-Files (1998) Lays on Scully's skepticism a little too thick, but when the spoooooooky starts it's a blast, and speaking in terms of the primetime teevee landscape, really something only the X-Files would have done: a pitch-black Christmas comedy about Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin as suicide-pacting lover-ghosts who try and convince the show's protagonists to murder each other.

Happy holidaze, everybody!

paulofilmo
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Re: Best Christmas Episodes?

Post by paulofilmo »

dunno if a charlie brown christmas counts, but i listen to the music from that most years. and i like its gentle, self-assured religiosity iirc

+1 to simpsons. i'm thinnking of the ep where santa's little helper goes missing, homer works as a santa (if that's the same episode).

sweet buttery jesus, that's all i can muster at this juncture

iconogassed
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Re: Best Christmas Episodes?

Post by iconogassed »

King of the Hill had a few great ones in a row. Bill's suicide attempts. Y2K. Bill's abusive surrogate son. Jimmy Carter.

coffee
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Re: Best Christmas Episodes?

Post by coffee »

Two episodes of Frasier are very good actually.

Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz
It's a simple yet funny episode. A classic type of comedy.

Perspectives on Christmas
This one is even more fun which includes another classic storytelling method.

If you're not complaining as like "Who watches Frasier in 2021?!", I recommend these two.

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