21 TV Episodes to Put You in the Holiday Spirit
21 TV Episodes to Put You in the Holiday Spirit (continued):
5. 30 Rock Season 2 Episode 9, “LudaChristmas”
This episode is ludicrous in all the right ways. While there’s plenty of behind the scenes fun in the TGS offices, the true highlight of this episode is the Battle Royale between the Lemons and the Donaghys, as both families descend upon NYC for the holidays.
Colleen and Jack can’t quite believe how chipper and upbeat the Lemons are: what’s their endgame? They spend the entirety of their shared visit together trying to hack away at the Lemons’ happy, shiny veneer and luckily for us, they are successful, resulting in a hilarious dinner breakdown and huge family reveals. For the Grinches in all of us who wonder how people can muster up so much goshdarn, cheer, it’s an absolute triumph. Lemon Out!
4. Community Season 2 Episode 11, “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas”
Throughout its run, Community played with genre, structure, and style, and there are few better examples of this than its second Christmas offering. Using the stop-motion animation style of the classic Frosty and Rudolph shorts of our youth, the Community gang descend into a winter wonderland. It’s easy to dismiss this episode as just one long gimmick, but it has more emotional depth than even some of the dramas on this list.
The holidays are difficult for many of us — there’s loneliness and trauma and unmet expectations and the bitter cold and forced merriment of the season can make our troubles even harder to face. Community understands that and rather than shy away from that reality, it spotlights it, in this case focusing on Abed’s despair over his family situation and his instincts to separate himself from his community in the midst of so much pain.
His search for the meaning of Christmas is an interesting one. He finally lands on this: “The meaning of Christmas is the idea that Christmas has meaning.” Take that and discuss it. Class dismissed.
3. The West Wing Season 1 Episode 10, “In Excelsis Deo”
This episode is full of special scenes, blending both moments of gravitas and poignancy with the scenes full of giddiness and infatuation. Given its setting, The West Wing never had the option of keeping its holiday episodes light; instead, it uses the emotional weight of the season to call even more attention to important topics — in this case, veterans and their treatment after coming home from war.
A homeless man, later identified to be a Korean War veteran, is found dead on the streets of the Capitol, and Toby, despite not knowing him, makes it his personal mission to ensure he receives a hero’s burial in Arlington Cemetery, calling in every favor he can muster in order to show the man proper respect. The burial, intercut with the sounds of a children’s choir singing “Little Drummer Boy” is full of reverence and solemnity.
It’s not your typical Christmas fare but it’s important to pull back the curtain and remember that coexisting with the magic and innocence of the season is deep loss. There’s an underlying push and pull between the two; we need the former in order to deal with the latter. The latter is bearable because of the former.
While that is heavier material, there are also moments of levity, including one of the first hints that Donna and Josh would develop into something more, as he gives her a book with a special handwritten inscription in it that she rereads multiple times.
2. Friends Season 7 Episode 10, “The One with the Holiday Armadillo”
If this list is any indication, there is a real dearth of non-Christmas-themed fare during the holiday season. Ross Gellar feels the emphasis on Christmas over Hanukkah profoundly and wants his son, Ben (check out baby Cole Sprouse!) to learn and appreciate their Jewish heritage.
Enter The Holiday Armadillo.
While Ross often likes to position himself as the intellectual of the group, he gets himself into some real messes, and few are as funny as his failed attempt to make the holiday come alive despite the fact that costume shop inventory leaves him no choice but to parade as the Holiday Armadillo, Santa’s part-Jewish friend from the Southwest.
Chandler and Joey, clad in a Santa suit and Superman costume respectively, get in on the action as well. I’m not sure how much Ben really understood about Hanukkah after this exercise but it sure makes for a raucous time.
1. Seinfeld Season Episode 10, “The Strike”
Like The O.C., Seinfeld spawned its own holiday, Festivus, aka Festivus for the Rest of Us, celebrated December 23rd and including an Airing of Grievances and Feats of Strength. Its genesis is this classic holiday episode.
While Festivus is not even the main part of this episode, it’s by far the most enduring. While the idea of the holiday is completely steeped in absurdity, there’s a kernel of truth and relatability to be found.
How many of us have cracked in the midst of a stressful holiday and wanted to just call the whole thing off and do something different instead? And how many more of us have bizarre family traditions/celebrations that have taken on greater meaning in our lives while looking crazy to those outside our sphere?
It also goes to show, if Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa don’t work for you, just invent your own holiday!
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There you have it — a plethora of festive TV gems! What are your favorite holiday episodes? Are there any classics that you would add to the list?
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Cristina Iskander
Cristina is a Broadway enthusiast, book lover, and pop-culture fanatic living in New York City. She once won a Fantasy Bachelor contest (yes, like Fantasy Football, but for The Bachelor), and can banter about old school WB (Pacey + Joey FTW) just as well as Stranger Things and Pen15. She's still upset Benson and Stabler never got together and is worried Rollins and Carisi are headed down the same road, wants justice for Shangela, and hopes to one day walk-and-talk down a hallway with Aaron Sorkin.