Season's greetings, reader!
I don't know about you, but I've really been getting into the Holiday spirit lately, between getting my Wham! on and festively decorating my student apartment. If you're looking for something to watch during the most wonderful time of the year, you can't go wrong with these classics - actually, you definitely can go wrong with #5, but that depends on your TV taste. I hope you enjoy!
Here are my honorable mentions: Santa (New Girl, Season 2 Episode 11), The Perfect Christmas (Miranda, Season 2 Episode 6), To Save Us All From Satan's Power (The Sopranos, Season 3 Episode 10), White Christmas (Black Mirror, Season 2 Episode 4), Xmas Story (Futurama, Season 2 Episode 8).
Also, I'd like to give an extra-special mention to the majestic final season of Mr. Robot (2015-2019). Calling any individual episode from it a "Christmas episode" is a bit of a stretch, but the entire season takes place during the Yuletide season, and the occurrences of Christmas decorations and festive music throughout the season are a fantastic touch.
10. White Christmas (Modern Family, Season 7 Episode 9)
What a bunch of fun! In most Modern Family episodes (especially in the later seasons), one or two of the episode's subplots are pretty great, but some others are weaker. This Christmas episode is one of those awesome instances where every storyline is gold. The larger Dunphy-Pritchett-Delgado family rents a cabin in order to celebrate Christmas together, and all sorts of shenanigans ensue.
Manny (Rico Rodriguez) and Luke (Nolan Gould) trying to trick Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) into thinking that the cabin is haunted is hysterical. Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cam (Eric Stonestreet) waiting for the right moment to impress everyone with their well-rehearsed musical number is amusing. Alex (Ariel Winter) bonding with a stranger in the cabin and then realising some of her own flaws throughout their conversation is great character development on her part. Jay (Ed O'Neill) putting her daughter Claire (Julie Bowen) through a psychological test to figure out whether or not she is leadership material is quite the rollercoaster, ending on a heartfelt manner.
The pièce de résistance is Haley (Sarah Hyland) and Andy's (Adam Devine) storyline, but I don't want to give everything away. Watch the episode for yourself and see!
9. The One With The Holiday Armadillo (Friends, Season 7 Episode 10)
This one deals with the universal holiday-time dilemma of wanting to teach your son about Hanukkah while the costume store is out of Santa outfits, and the classic solution of dressing up as an armadillo who has come to teach Jewish tradition to little children - let's face it, we've all been there. Television's ultimate dork Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) is hysterical as the Holiday Armadillo, and things get even funnier when Santa Claus (Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry)) appears, not to mention Superman (Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc)). It's all pretty great.
8. Christmas Party (The Office, Season 2 Episode 10)
Classic Dunder Mifflin shenanigans occur in this eventful yule-tide episode. The employees take part in a Secret Santa -exchange of gifts, which Michael (Steve Carell) hijacks in a hysterically cringey fashion by turning it into a "Yankee Swap" version. Things get delightfully chaotic, but there's also a lot of heart primarily thanks to Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam's (Jenna Fischer) storyline. Jim's tea pot filled with various memorabilia is definitely one of the sweetest Christmas presents from the world of television.
7. Yippie Kayak (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Season 3 Episode 10)
Sitcoms like Brooklyn Nine-Nine traditionally have Christmas episodes as their mid-season finales. The show's main character Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) is obsessed with the film Die Hard (1988). Die Hard takes place on Christmas. So doing a Die Hard -themed holiday episode was quite the no-brainer, and it worked wonders.
Jake and his fellow officers get caught in a hostage situation similar to the premise of Jake's favorite action flick. It's hilarious to see the series paying homage to the classic film, as Jake tries to balance his feelings of being excited about getting to be a real-life John McClane while also being worried about the hostage situation and struggling to save the day. The episode is filled with fun moments, but Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio) ruining his bad-ass moment of heroism by completely botching the famous catchphrase from Die Hard has to take the cake as my favorite. Yippie Kayak, other buckets!
6. Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire (The Simpsons, Season 1 Episode 1)
As true fans of Matt Groening's legendary series will know, this Christmas special is in fact the first Simpsons episode ever made. The whole series started way back in 1989 with this stone-cold classic. While The Simpsons definitely isn't your average feel-good sitcom, there is a delicate amount of heart beneath all the layers of satire and cynicism - and this pilot episode does a perfect job of introducing that balance to the world.
The episode is filled with shenanigans not unlike the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) - basically, the central family wants to have the perfect Christmas, but everything goes wrong. But much like the similar movie from the same year, the episode manages to find its way to a surprisingly heartfelt ending. All in all, a delightfully entertaining and hilarious Christmas episode, and an appropriate beginning to one of the greatest and most influential TV shows of all time.
5. A Very Sunny Christmas (It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Season 6 Episode 13)
It's Always Sunny is the last series you'd expect to see doing a Christmas episode - which is why it's absolutely perfect that they did one. As much as I love Christmas with all its coziness and warmth, there is something inescapably amazing in watching the darkest and crudest comedy series on television making a chaotic Christmas episode that takes all the feel-good elements away from the holiday and turns it into a hysterical nightmare scenario. Filled with ultra-dark twists, horrible morals and dialogue like "Merry Christmas, bitches!" and "Did you fuck my mom, Santa Claus?", this is exactly the Christmas special that It's Always Sunny deserves.
The scene where Mac (Rob McElhenney) and Charlie (Charlie Day) tell each other sweet memories from their childhood Christmases, only for both to realize some grim implications from each others' stories that the person telling the story had never realized, is one of the most hilarious moments in the show's 14-season (and counting) run. Comedy gold.
4. Winter (The Vicar Of Dibley, Season 3 Episode 2)
If the It's Always Sunny Christmas episode is a cynical anti-Holiday satire, then this episode from severely underrated British sitcom The Vicar Of Dibley is the complete opposite: the episode contains more than one moment that nearly moved me to tears with the sheer feel-good beauty of its message. For starters, there's the "Greatest story ever told" scene, which is my favorite moment from the entire series. It starts with absolutely hilarious dialogue, and then takes a turn from hysterical to moving, as Geraldine (Dawn French) gives a deeply touching monologue on what the story of the first Christmas means to her.
Towards the end of the story, the Christmas spirit and heart-warming nature of the episode only escalate, as the village's nativity play is interrupted by - well, I won't give it away here, for all of you die-hard Vicar Of Dibley spoiler-avoiders. If you can find this episode somewhere, go and see for yourself!
3. False Positive (How I Met Your Mother, Season 6 Episode 12)
I absolutely love Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor). Many viewers find him to be a bit of a bland protagonist, but I've always seen him as a relatable figure and the perfect main character for a show like How I Met Your Mother. And his finest hour as a character is without a doubt the season 6 Christmas episode, which defines the ethos of the character perfectly.
Everything in this episode is pretty entertaining - Lily (Alyson Hannigan) and Marshall (Jason Segel) find out that they're pregnant, we follow everyone making changes to their lifestyle following these news, then they find out that it was a false positive, and everyone reverses the changes they started to make.
But what makes this into the perfect Ted Mosby episode (and a damn good Christmas episode) is the scene towards the end, where the gang is in line to see a screening of It's A Wonderful Life (1946), their questionable decisions start to unravel, and Ted pulls everything together by straightening everyone out. Watching him gather his confidence and call everyone on out on their B.S. is extremely satisfying, and the icing on the cake is his short and hilarious phone call with old friend Punchy (Chris Romano) that continues along the same lines. This episode never gets old - be sure to be like Ted and watch it with a Christmas-themed movie snack!
2. The Christmas Invasion (Doctor Who, 2005 Christmas Special)
I'll admit it - while this is on 2nd place on a Christmas-themed list, the Christmas setting isn't the foremost element in why I consider it to be such a masterpiece. The reason for that would be David Tennant. The Christmas Invasion is his first full episode in the iconic role of the Doctor, as the torch was passed to him from ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston in the previous season finale. The wait for the new Doctor had been exciting, and for over half of the episode, he's knocked out cold and hardly the center of attention. This only allows the hype to grow - kind of like the element in Jaws (1975) where we don't see the shark until the very climax.
When Tennant finally appears in full form, it's the hands-down greatest debut of a new character in anything ever. I think it took exactly one ten-minute monologue for him to become my favorite incarnation of the character - a position that he still holds. The sheer excitement, quirkiness and chaotic energy of Tennant's Doctor is immediately magnetizing, and one can't help but fall in love with the character.
While I recognize that this mainly became a positivity-rant on how great David Tennant is as the Doctor, I will say that this also works fantastically as a Christmas episode - the Holiday setting is a great backdrop for the tenth Doctor's introduction, the villainous Sycorax aliens infiltrating various Christmas decorations is quite amusing, and the ending with the Doctor and Rose (Billie Piper) standing in the snow will melt your heart.
1. Regional Holiday Music (Community, Season 3 Episode 10)
It is hard to choose just one Christmas episode from my all-time favorite sitcom as the best - season 1's Comparative Religion is hilarious while also providing important messages against bullying and religious persecution, season 2's Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas is a stop-motion animated concept episode that also has a deep and layered meaning behind all the fun, and season 4's Intro To Knots is a thrilling kidnapping extravaganza. But, in the end, there's no beating season 3's Regional Holiday Music. I've never watched Glee (2009-2015) and chances are I'd like it, but that doesn't stop this episode's constant fun-making of the musical series from being absolutely hilarious.
While the episode tries its best to be a parody of Glee and Christmas-themed musicals in general, the irony of it is that it absolutely succeeds as a Christmas-themed musical in its own right. Of course, there's added satirical value in the horror-esque way that the Glee club is seen as an ultimate evil and the characters try their best to dodge being recruited, but the episode's musical numbers are fantastic all the same. From the pop-culture-reference-filled "Baby Boomer Santa" and Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed's (Danny Pudi) badass Christmas rap to Shirley's (Yvette Nicole Brown) overtly religious music number and Annie's (Alison Brie) overtly sexual seduction song, the musical pieces are well-written and hysterical.
Of course, black comedy also enters the mix, as Mr. Rad's (Taran Killam) admission towards the end is some top-notch dark humor. Then there's the final scene that takes a turn for the emotional, as the bond between the main characters coupled with the rendition of "The First Noel" never fails to move me to tears. And then there's the hilarious end-credit sequence of various side characters performing an absurd rendition of "Carol Of The Bells". What a masterpiece.
Thank you for reading! Next week's Thursday is Christmas Eve, so I'll be posting my list of the top 10 Christmas Movies. If you're looking for something to watch with your family on Christmas, look no further.
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