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Best Christmas/Hannukah/December holiday ep of a TV show.

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by DanOregon, Dec 24, 2019.

  1. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I think my favorite is probably the multi-animation effort SyFys Eureka did earlier this decade - it went through at least five or six different animation styles during the plot.

    But as far as a single segment of a Christmas episode - nothing tops this. (It's the Toby homeless funeral-Little Drummer Boy montage from The West Wing).

     
  2. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    That is a great episode. I’m rewatching the series right now and I am constantly struck by the great little moments sprinkled throughout the seasons written by Sorkin. That episode was one of the first times we got character development for Mrs. Landingham, including the monologue in which she tells Charlie about her sons. It had been mentioned that they died, but it really comes to life with her telling the story.
     
  3. Pilot

    Pilot Well-Known Member

    Me: “Oh, AWESOME thread. I can’t wait to recommend Season 1 Christmas episode of West Wing!!”

    *opens thread*

    Damn it!

    Here’s a real suggestion:

    Community, streaming on Hulu.

    Last night we watched the season 1-3 Christmas episodes. 1 is good but standard.

    2 is Community at its best, a claymation episode that really tests the definition of what a TV episode can be. Really amazing.

    Season 3 is a Glee knockoff and we were laughing our asses off.

    Tonight we will watch that ep of West Wing, Elf, and hopefully my fav Christmas movie, Family Man, with Nic Cage.
     
  4. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    ER’s first season Christmas episode, “Blizzard,” where a huge multi-car crash in the highway leaves them with a ton of patients.
     
  5. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    The first full length Simpsons, called their "Christmas Special," remains the best for me. "Now son, remember the family tradition. Not until after the eighth race."
     
    Batman likes this.
  6. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Another of their Christmas episodes from one of the early seasons, where Bart gets busted for shoplifting, was great as well.
     
    Baron Scicluna likes this.
  7. cyclingwriter2

    cyclingwriter2 Well-Known Member

    Does the Seinfeld Festivus episode count?
     
    Tweener and qtlaw like this.
  8. franticscribe

    franticscribe Well-Known Member

    The Muppets "Emmet Otter's Jug-band Christmas" should be both the beginning and end of this conversation.
     
    Baron Scicluna likes this.
  9. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    This doesn't count in this thread, but my daughter and I are watching A Christmas Story right now and it's the perfect Christmas video product. Nothing comes close.
     
    qtlaw and HanSenSE like this.
  10. SoloFlyer

    SoloFlyer Well-Known Member

    West Wing Christmas episodes are a cut above the rest.

    Season 1, In Excelsis Deo, as you noted.

    Season 2, Noel, where Leo gives Josh the "man in the hole" speech as Josh deals with PTSD.

    Season 4, Holy Night, where Toby's father - once attached to Murder, Inc. - appears out of nowhere to reconnect. Oh, and Danny comes back after being away from the show for a bit.

    No real Christmas episode in Season 3 and the only post-Sorkin one in Season 5 - Abu El Banat - is just OK.

    But the three Sorkin ones are three of the best episodes in one of the best TV shows of the last 30 years.
     
    HanSenSE and Fred siegle like this.
  11. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    Has become a tradition here, too.
     
  12. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    I was thinking of Noel, too. I love Leo's monologue and the call-back to it during Season 3.
     
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