What's your favorite TV Christmas Episode/Special?

Mr. Bean.

The Touched by an Angel episode in which Roma Downey's character reveals her angelic form during a Christmas miracle.

I have two and both are because when my brothers and I were younger we used to make rude comments and laugh our asses off while watching them.

The House Without A Christmas Tree - ugly, poor girl has alcoholic father and enabler grandmother

The Homecoming - forerunner of The Waltons

My favorite bit is when Patricia Neal goes up to John Boy's room and says, "John Boy, are you smoking up here?" "No mama, I'm trying to perfect my masturbation technique using Mary Ellen's Playboy spread."

And then when they go to the missionary lady giving out Christmas presents and Elizabeth gets the doll with the broken face. We laughed our asses off at that.

The Judy Garland Christmas Show of course. So perfect in all it’s awfulness, I watch it every year.

[quote]So perfect in all it’s awfulness

That's because she didn't use me enough.

I always have to watch the opening number from Pee Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special!

Charlie Brown

I get so much nostalgia from watching this.

Andy Williams and the NBC Kids Search for Santa. I love how Mindy Cohn completely disappears after the airport scene in the beginning.

bump

"A Very Brady Christmas," of course.

[quote] I love how Mindy Cohn completely disappears after the airport scene in the beginning.

She got picked up by a black boy in the airport. Which would you prefer? Some hot black dick or filming some cheezy Christmas show in Finland?

I'll never get tired of this. You young'uns should check it out.

"Oh, Magoo! You've done it again!"

I saw this when I was a kid. I liked it and remembered it because of Charles Nelson Reilly providing one of the voices with his distinctive chuckle. The City that Forgot about Christmas.

Confession. I can't watch Charlie Brown Christmas because it makes me cry every single time and I feel like a fool.

Does no one have regard for The Little Drummer Boy starring Miss Greer Garson as Our Story Teller? She told the story of down at heel boy in her best finishing school, Northern seaboard diction.

For R13 -

"Mr McGrew? I love that blind, senile old man!"

"In Excelsis Deo" - the West Wing

"In Excelsis Deo" - The West Wing

Gimme a Break! when Nell and Addy compete for some guy's affection.

The original Waltons.

The X-Men cartoon. Jean Grey is the frauiest of megafrau superheroes anyway, and she bosses the men to get the fuck out of her kitchen while wearing the most DIVINE of fraugarb.

Maybe it's not entirely in the proper spirit, but I enjoy the Mary Tyler Moore episode "Not a Christmas Story."

Lots of them, but Happy Days Guess Who's Coming to Christmas was always a favorite. It was from 1974, when Happy Days hadn't yet become the Fonzie show. Good write-up on it below.

LOLA!

DUSTY!

There was an episode of Alice called "A Semi-Merry Christmas" where Mel drove a big, trucker truck. Vera had a gingerbread house that she was taking to her destination. Something went wrong, they all ended up feeling hungry, and started eating the gingerbread house.

There are also 2 MTM Christmas episodes I like. The first one was in the first season, where Mary had to work on Christmas day. The other one was Season 5, called "Not a Christmas Story." It was actually November (or some time before Christmas). Sue Ann had prepared a full Christmas dinner for her Happy Homemaker show and the office gang was snowed in, unable to drive home. The gang had preexisting gripes and grudges against each other but were forced to eat Sue Ann's "Christmas dinner" together.

Festivus

Three Days - holiday movie with Kristen Davis and Reed Diamond....really good!

The 1998 South Park Christmas special, "Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson!" is tasteless beyond words, but very funny.

"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" A Very Sunny Christmas

“The Littlest Angel” featuring Johnny Whitaker and Fred Gwynne, among others, from1971 on CBS. Rediscovered it on YouTube recently.

Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas

"Count Floyd's Scary Little Christmas" from SCTV.

Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special

Love that one too, R33. I saw it on an old film projector in 1980 in grade school. Makes me cry every time.

Anna Nicole's reality show had a fairly good Christmas episode.

To me, it doesn't get any funnier than the "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz" episode of Frasier

"My So Called Life" Christmas episode.

Will & Grace when Parker Posey guest stars.

I love the Christmas episode from the first season of Mr. Ed where Wilbur braids Ed's tail and puts a red ribbon in it. Ed thinks Wilbur's trying to feminize him and neighs and winnies his displeasure. Sparks fly. Wilbur finally relents and takes out the ribbon. Obviously wouldn't fly today but it was funny to this nine year old.

Did that really happen, r42?

R13, was there ever such a Christmas special? Where there ever such good songs?

Twas the Night Before Christmas (Rankin Bass)

Everybody's happy even though Santa only stops at one house and they get bumpkiss. Also, the only black people are orphans. Love the music though.

R39, I've seen that episode about a dozen times and each time I laugh out loud like I did the first time. It's one of my favorite ones.

An early Supernatural episode that starts in the present day. They suspect a sleazy looking Santa of committing crimes. They end up having to sing a Christmas song for him, but don’t know any, so they fake the words very badly.

Then they flash back to a childhood Christmas. Dad was on the road and never showed up, they were in a crappy motel and Dean was trying to make some sort of Christmas for Sam, so he broke into a random house and gave Sam the still-wrapped presents, telling him they were from Dad. One was a doll. Sam knew Dean was trying to make things nice for him, so he gave Dean the present for his Dad. It was a necklace Dean wore into adulthood.

Flash forward to current day. They have another crappy Christmas in another crappy motel as adults. Sam puts up a tiny tree for Dean along with some tacky Party Store decorations. He gives Dean a heavily spiked eggnog. They exchange gifts of unwrapped porn mags and car oil. They sit down and watch a football game. Somehow, it’s perfect.

The Family Guy Road to the North Pole is fucking hilarious.

Moonlighting - “It’s A Wonderful Job” with Cybill’s Maddie in the Scrooge role.

Bones season 1 Christmas episode.

We rewatched The Office UK Christmas Special last night. It's so cringeworthy but still makes me laugh.

I just thought of the Christmas episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

It has Christmas cookies, a lodged pubic hair, the complications of holiday tipping, Larry's first-ever stare down, and a brawl at a live Nativity scene.

Jesus, Mary & Joseph, but it's as funny as the Frasier episode I mentioned at R39.

Eight is Enough - Yes, Tommy, There is a Santa Claus

Is that the one where Santa steals all the gifts because that little runt Nicholas lets him in the house?

Yes!

"Miracle on Third or Fourth Street" is the best Frasier Christmas ep

And for specials, there's a beautiful cartoon called "The Snowman" that is a wonder to behold

I loved the 1963 Dick Van Dyke Christmas Show.

Saved By The Bell - Homeless for the Holidays

MERRY CHRISTMAS, DRAKE & JOSH.

It’s a TV movie and exceedingly dirty in a very gay line. The innuendo is weird & sexualised, and Josh Peck looks hot. Henry Winkler has a fun cameo in one scene.

The Family Christmas sketch on "The Carol Burnett Show" with guest Alan Alda:

"Night of the Meek" on the Twilight Zone with Art Carney:

Threes Company when Chrissy stops believing in Santa so Mr Roper dresses up to make her believe again

R62, either you're making a joke or may be mistaken. The one and only Christmas episode of TC that I remember had to do with Jack, Janet and Chrissy bored to tears at a lame Christmas party thrown by the Ropers'. No Santa suits were involved.

futurama christmas

More!

The Christmas episode of E.R. where Jeanie Boulet reveals her HIV status to the staff and Mark/Kerry debate about having an HIV positive worker in the E.R. It was surprisingly uplifting.

Matt Smith’s first Christmas special on Doctor Who. A take on the Christmas Carol with Michael Gambon as Scrooge.

Black Mirror - “White Christmas” with John Hamm as a man with an enormous stocking stuffer.

I hate to love the 1996 ‘Christmas’ episode of PARTY OF FIVE, where Grandpa Jake (literal Archie Bunker) turns up from out the assend of nowhere (despite no-showing his own kids’ tragic deaths) to carve turkey with the Salinger kids...and doesn’t tell any of them he’s DYING and it’s his LAST CHRISTMAS. Brutal, saccharine and so ‘90s.

Iirc this is also the episode Bailey (Scott Wolf) tries to get next to his sports coach. Rowr.

The Violin Lesson, from Touched by an Angel. TBAA I dislike, but this was close to home- a young gay man with AIDS. Heartbreaking.

"It's got a flaw.He likes everything perfect, and that violin is not perfect"

Seinfeld, the Festivus episode.

Donnie and marie xmas special where he fukd her pussy under the tree and fondled her sow teats.

Its a tradition in my family to watch the Alex P Keaton Christmas Carol episode every year, as well as the Golden Girls- the *good* Christmas episode, not the one at the homeless shelter...

This cartoon

The 8 is Enough Christmas where Elizabeth runs away to become a hooker to finance her dance career. Tom and Abby track her down in the seedy part of LA and while homeless people mill about, Betty Buckley sings The Little Drummer Boy and Elizabeth stabs her pimp and gets home in time for Christmas pheasant.

Doctor Who, A Christmas Carol

Must have missed that one, R72.

The Growing Pains one where Ben brings home a homeless girl on Christmas Eve, played by Blanche's slutty niece.

“So-Called Angels” - though I know a lot of MSCL fans hate this episode.

That's a show that was cancelled too soon^

The show where they re-do the plot of A Christmas Carol but the show's protagonist is Scrooge.

I also like the show where they re-do the plot of It's a Wonderful Life but the show's protagonist is George Bailey.

R13 r44 - totally agree - great group of songs -- would love to see a live version, minus the Magoo stuff - particularly like " I'm all alone in the world", "we'll have a joyous Christmas" and the thieves song.....

The Spongebob Squarepants Christmas Special

R45 love that one, too!

Also, the first thirtysomething Christmas episode is lovely.

The H.R. Pufnstuf Christmas special owns this thread. Any special that involves chasing a magical flute named “Freddie” and the winner gets to blow him WINS.

Bumping this thread because I was about to start one on this same topic (but searched and found this).

Carry on...

South Park's Woodland Critter Christmas.

Sisters - everyone gets food poisoning from Mama Bea's eggnog.