The one with the Christmas crackers: TV’s best silly season episodes
By Nell Geraets
’Tis the season to watch Christmas movies, but for those short on time but still wanting to get into the holiday spirit, Christmas episodes of your favourite TV series are a gift.
From The Office to The Bear, there are plenty of TV holiday specials that will get you in the spirit this Christmas.Credit: Compiled by Aresna Villaneuva.
Whether you’re craving laugh-out-loud one-liners or tender moments, the small screen has you covered this silly season. Here’s a selection of our party favourites to get you started.
Friends, “The One With the Holiday Armadillo” (season 7, episode 10)
Friends is the master of holiday specials, having covered Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween. But season 7’s Christmas episode is the real standout.
It’s got the lot: Hanukkah lessons, a giant armadillo, Superman and, of course, Santa Claus. You also learn that Monica (Courteney Cox) has a thing for Santa, which is something not many of us had on our Christmas bingo card.
Seinfeld, “The Strike” (season 9, episode 10)
We can thank Seinfeld for Festivus, a celebration in which you gather the family around the table and let them know how they’ve disappointed you throughout the year. The idea resonated with the Scrooges and Grinches of the world so much that many now officially celebrate Festivus on December 23. So, gather the tribe, tune into “The Strike”, and start complaining.
The O.C.,“The Best Chrismukkah Ever” (season 1, episode 13)
Like Friends, The O.C. introduces a Christmas-cum-Hanukkah holiday, though this one has arguably become even more of a phenomenon (at least among Adam Brody-obsessed millennials). In the “Christmukkah” episode, Brody, who plays the lovably goofy Seth, finds himself juggling two women at his family’s party. You can guess how that goes down.
Community, “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” (season 2, episode 11)
Stop-motion Christmas movies have been a cornerstone of the holiday season since the 1960s.Community decided to riff on the genre by transforming the entire cast into disturbingly adorable stop-motion figures and sending them on a mission to discover the true meaning of Christmas.
The Office, “Christmas Party” (US season 2, episode 10)
Yankee Swap (aka White Elephant or Dirty Santa) is a divisive Christmas tradition in which people are given deliberately rubbish gifts. It was therefore perfect for The Office’s Michael Scott, a boss who will never understand social boundaries. After opening a “boring” handmade oven mitt from one of his employees, Scott forces the entire office to transform their Secret Santa gift exchange into a competitive Hunger Games-style exchange. Most people leave disappointed, except for the one person who claims the highly sought-after iPod.
Gilmore Girls, “The Bracebridge Dinner” (season 2, episode 10)
This isn’t technically a Christmas episode, but it contains just about everything you’d want from one: a massive festive (and, randomly, Elizabethan) dinner, horse-drawn sleighs, snowman-making competitions, and plenty of drama. This episode also prominently features Jess (Milo Ventimiglia), one of Rory’s love interests, and let’s face it, he’s the best of all her beaus.
The Simpsons, “Miracle on Evergreen Terrace” (season 9, episode 10)
The Simpsons has been doing Christmas episodes since 1989, but it wasn’t until the ninth season that it really found its Yuletide momentum. Playing on festive classics including Miracle on 34th Street and It’s a Wonderful Life, the episode begins with Bart accidentally burning down the family Christmas tree (as well as all the gifts), and ends with a $15,000 donation, Marge appearing on the game-show Jeopardy, and a ransacked house.
The Bear, “Fishes” (season 2, episode 6)
Had your fill of Christmas laughs and schmaltz? Try cleansing the palate with a brilliantly dark episode of the Emmy-winning kitchen comedy-drama. Fishes immediately established itself as one of the most memorable holiday episodes thanks to an A-list guest cast (including Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Paulson and Bob Odenkirk) and sheer Christmas dinner chaos.
Parks and Recreation, “Citizen Knope” (season 4, episode 10)
Any episode of this sitcom is likely to give you the warm and fuzzies, but “Citizen Knope” will truly melt your heart. Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) is suspended from her job in the parks department, so she decides to busy herself by creating a citizen action group. Meanwhile, the staff struggle to think of the perfect gift for their former boss (spoiler: they eventually make an adorable replica of the department out of gingerbread). It’s Christmas generosity at its finest.
Bob’s Burgers, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins” (season 3, episode 9)
Bob inherits a storage unit shortly before Christmas, only to find out a man (voiced by Zach Galifianakis) – who claims to have previously been a mannequin – has been squatting in it. The family invites him to stay for Christmas, and together they create some seriously impressive Christmas window displays for the restaurant. It has the classic kookiness of any Bob’s Burgers episode, but is sprinkled with plenty of cheer.
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