Favorite Christmas Episode or Ones You Watch Every Year (1 Viewer)

[HubbaBubbaKid]

I’ll start the list . i hope to find some episodes from posters that i haven’t seen and that will be on my Santa’s wish list to HTF . It’ll be fun to reminisce all the old christmas shows i’ve seen in the screencaps that everybody will post (hopefully) All Christmas TV Specials are welcome not just episodic TV episodes

 

[ScottRE]

I posted this sometime back in this thread:

Christmas Viewing

Only a few weeks until Christmas drags me out of the house and back and forth visiting family and eating myself stupid, so time's a wasting. Not much more opportunity to watch my favorite holiday themed movies and TV shows. I gravitate to the same things mostly because a) everyone needs a tradition and 2) I have ADD and if I drift off, I ain't missing anything important. So, what are my go-to's? I'm glad you asked. A short list:

The Odd Couple: "Scrooge Wins an Oscar." Oscar Madison kicks Felix out of his apartment on Christmas Eve and then has a pastrami fueled nightmare in the vein of A Christmas Carol. Oscar is Scrooge, of course, with Felix in multiple roles. It's pretty hilarious, especially Murray the Cop as Tiny Tim: "God Bless Us All...Everyone!"

The Six Million Dollar Man: "A Bionic Christmas Carol." After an accident at a NASA contractor, Steve uses his bionic abilities to convince the gruff, penny-pinching head of the company to change his callous ways. Well worth it to see Steve in a toy store with his own action figure in the background, and Lee Majors doing double duty as the store owner. Slow motion fun! Na-na-na-na!

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: "Hail to the King." The crew of the Seaview has their Christmas holiday ruined by a young king who needs protection on his way to assume the throne vacated by his murdered father. Carroll O'Conner plays "Old John," a boat crash survivor found in the vicinity of the Christmas Island.

V: "Reflections in Terror." Alien leader Diana clones the half human star child Elizabeth to get her DNA while the Los Angeles resistance is nearly destroyed by the local government after ferrying orphans to the safety of the open city. It's all pretty unpleasant, but hey, war doesn't stop for the holidays. It's still action packed fun. "Humans take holidays so seriously."

Lost in Space: "Return from Outer Space." Will Robinson uses an alien matter transfer machine to zap back to Earth to a small town in Vermont. Everyone there thinks he's a crazy orphan kid when he tries to explain who he is and that his family is alive in space. Can he get back to the maser beam pick-up point on time? It's a sweet story and a favorite early episode when the series was still kind of serious.

The Untouchables: "The Night They Shot Santa Claus" begins with a neighborhood Santa being machine gunned by the mob in full view of two orphans. The series being the way it is, this one doesn’t end sweetly. At all. Easily one of the darkest and most heartless episodes of the run. And it's their Christmas episode! Way to go, Untouchables.

Finally, Happy Days: "Guess Who's Coming to Christmas?" You know the one; after fixing the Cunningham's car on Christmas and "missing his bus" to visit cousins (cough - bullshit - cough), Fonzie turns down their offers to drive him there. When Richie runs in to give Fonzie his gift, he sees the Fonz alone, eating a pathetic meal of beans heated on a hotplate. Later, Richie and his dad scheme to get Fonzie to spend Christmas Eve with them and in doing so, cement the friendship between the greaser and the Cunningham's. For a series known for it's very broad, unfunny humor and sappy sentimentality, this was a genuinely moving episode. It was so popular, it was rerun for a few years during the original network run.

Of course, this list leaves out "Christmas Specials" like the Charlie Brown Christmas Special, The Year Without a Santa Claus and other favorites. Those are perennials and always a nice revist to my youth. And the subject for another time.

Nothing says Christmas to me like "Special Holiday Episodes" of my favorite TV shows.

 

[TravisR]

The Untouchables: "The Night They Shot Santa Claus" begins with a neighborhood Santa being machine gunned by the mob in full view of two orphans. The series being the way it is, this one doesn’t end sweetly. At all. Easily one of the darkest and most heartless episodes of the run. And it's their Christmas episode! Way to go, Untouchables.

Which is really something when you consider that alot of The Untouchables episodes are violent by today's standards let alone 60 years ago.

 

[KPmusmag]

Looking forward to watching Julie Andrews - The Sound of Christmas (1987).

 

[ScottRE]

Which is really something when you consider that alot of The Untouchables episodes are violent by today's standards let alone 60 years ago.

Well, I think that since it kicks off with kids watching Santa getting greased, the episode taking place around Christmas and the fact that Eliot Ness completely and utterly misjudged his own old friend makes this one a real lead balloon. Nobody walked out of that one happy.

 

[Jack P]

I hated that episode and its one reason among many why "The Untouchables" has never gained traction with me as a show to watch.

The best ones for me that always get watched.

Dragnet, S2-"The Christmas Story"

Have Gun Will Travel, S1-"The Hanging Cross"

Have Gun Will Travel, S6-"Be Not Forgetful Of Strangers"

Wagon Train, S3-"The St. Nicholas Story"

Dr. Kildare, S1-"Season To Be Jolly"

 

[smithbrad]

Dr. Kildare, S1-"Season To Be Jolly"

This one for me.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Twilight Zone’s Night of the Meek for me. I try to get to quite a few more each year and often do, but even if it’s a year I’m not feeling the spirit as much or pressed for time, I always find a way to get that in. That one always gets me, each and every time.

 

[HubbaBubbaKid]

When i think of Christmas , i think of…..Kojak . Yes, somehow since i first saw Kojak’s Christmas episode “How Cruel The Frost , How Bright The Stars “ a couple of years ago , I’ve watched it every year since. I don’t know why i like it so much , its not upbeat or cheery , maybe its the real authentic New York setting and snow . I really think its bc of Jesse Welles , she’s the perfect New York Christmas gal for me . Also has an early appearance from Ed Olmos as a bartender & Veronica Hamill as Kojak’s latest flame (very unconvincing) and last but not least a possible first appearance of John Larroquette as a Navy Sailor (couldn‘t find a pic of him in this episode)

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Most of my "go-tos" are from British shows, especially comedies:

Are You Being Served? "Christmas Crackers" and "The Father Christmas Affair." I often also spin "The Punch and Judy Affair" and "Roots?", both of which were those Christmas specials that weren't Christmas-themed (unless you count the fact they have panto stuff in them, which is a UK tradition of the season).

Blackadder's Christmas Carol. We've watched this so many times, we could just about recite the lines for memory. Also, it's about the only episode of this show that the wife will agree to watch anymore (she's kinda gone off this show, as she also has with Red Dwarf).

The Thin Blue Line "Yuletide Spirit." A bit of Rowan Atkinson can't be bad!

Mr Bean "Merry Christmas, Mr Bean." We always watch the "longer" version as originally shown in the US on HBO rather than the shorter 'original UK broadcast' version. Fortunately, the longer version was on the Australian 10th Anniversary DVD set.

Corner Gas "Merry Gasmas." My lone Canadian entry in this category, but a good one.

Modern Family and Big Bang Theory. (I know a couple of American shows, right?) If I don't catch the seasonal ones on over-the-air reruns, in the last couple years, I've made sure to catch them during the appropriate season.

Father Brown "The Star of Jacob" and "The Tree of Truth." Rare, non-comedy shows on my list. These are fairly recent traditions.

Qi, Would I Lie to You, 8 out of 10 Cats, etc.. We often watch the seasonal editions of these panel shows during the holidays, including any new ones that come about. Qi and [i[WILTY[/i] have become a 'just before bedtime' show for us on a normal night, so next month, the Christmassy ones will be getting a spin during that slot. Both of these are such long-running shows that there are plenty of these editions to keep us going.

Trollied. There are several Christmas editions of this supermarket-set British comedy that we sometimes revisit in December.

The Big Fat Quiz of the Year. We often watch each year's "new" edition (which airs in the UK between Christmas and New Year's Day) within days of it going out in the UK. If you've never seen this, it's basically a panel show done in the format of a pub quiz, with top-name British comics (and, sometimes, a token American) for about 2-hours worth of comedy goodness.

Whew!

There are probably others that I drag out from time to time, but these are the ones that come to mind.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

I don't tend to watch the same Christmas-themed episodes or specials every year, usually alternating my favorites every other year or three, mixing them in with new discoveries. Although I'm not British, I'm with Andy M. above in that many of my favorite Christmas specials or episodes are from U.K. series. The following are ones I'm sure to watch at least every other year or so:

Blackadder's Christmas Carol is certainly a favorite. Love the way it subverts the usual Scrooge character arc as well as that of the previous Blackadder series, in that this incarnaton of Blackadder starts off as a lovely fellow (albeit a bit of a doormat to all manner of rude people taking advantage of him) and ends the episode as a definite snarky, stone-hearted Ebeneezer type. Very funny.

All Creatures Great and Small (original)
"Merry Gentleman"
Almost every episode of this show, about the lives of three vets in 1930s Yorkshire, is a life-affirming slice of joy that would get one into a good mood...but this episode really hits all the Christmas spirit buttons for me, in the series' usual low-key but heartfelt way. There's another Christmas episode at the end of the series' run (titled "Brotherly Love") which is good too, but isn't in the same league as the above.

Poirot - "The Theft of the Royal Ruby"
Based on the short story "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding," this one finds the Belgian master detective (David Suchet) spending a traditional English Christmas with an extended family in a large manor house, while trying to nab a pair of jewel thieves amongst the attendees. Lots of XMas atmos. Much more seasonal and cheery than the two-hour Hercule Poirot's Christmas.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
"The Blue Carbuncle"
The Peter Cushing version from the 1960s is quite good, too, but for my money, the Jeremy Brett Granada take on Doyle's tale is the absolute pinnacle. Fabulous production values and period detail, plus an interesting story loaded with plenty of seasonal trimmings...not to mention Brett as his peak as the Great Detective.

The Vicar of Dibley - "The Christmas Lunchtime Incident"
Screamingly funny hour-long special, especially the quadruple punch of vicar Geraldine (Dawn French) bowing to social pressure and her innate kindly nature toward her oddball parishioners, and being forced to eat four massive Christmas lunches in a row.

The Box of Delights (miniseries)
Caught this delightful and highly atmospheric '80s BBC adaptation of the John Masefield novel on PBS' Wonderworks back in the day, and have had a soft spot for it ever since. The first two episodes especially have such a strong Christmassy vibe, as well as carrying a beguiling sense of mystery and magic.

Some other recent favorites, both from the U.S. and across the Pond:

- The Andy Griffith Show - "The Christmas Story"
- Petticoat Junction - "Cannonball Christmas"
- The Beverly Hillbillies - "Home for Christmas" and especially "The Christmas Present"
- Assorted Ozzie and Harriet Christmas episodes
- The Good Life - "Silly, But It's Fun"
- To the Manor Born - "The First Noel"
- The Darling Buds of May - "Christmas is Coming"
- Are You Being Served - "Christmas Crackers" and "The Father Christmas Affair" (agreed with Andy on these)
- Wanted: Dead or Alive - "Eight Cent Reward"
- Have Gun - Will Travel - "Be Not Forgetful of Strangers"
- Assorted Christmas specials of '60s and '70s variety shows, for example, The Dean Martin Show, The Danny Kaye Show, and The Johnny Cash Show.

I'm sure there's a bunch that I'm forgetting, but that will do for a start.

 

[Rick Thompson]

JAG had a run of good Christmas episodes, most written by show creator/exec producer Don Bellisario.