Christmas TV 2011 - An AGCS Guide

“And I’d like it if you made it to mine by Christmas Eve, So you can hold me, and we’ll watch Christmas TV”

So sang Slow Club on their festive hit “Christmas TV”, and while the sentiment is all well and good, the harsh reality is that Christmas TV is almost exclusively shit. I mean, just look at the BBC’s big, expensive promo for the festive season and as Shane Richie mugs his way into your (recurring) nightmares you’ll quickly find yourself losing the (good)will to live. It’s enough to make any reasonable person vomit.

But don’t worry! AGCS are here to help, with some recommendations of good telly from Christmases Past (we DID look at this years listings, and lets just say this: be sure to put LOTS of DVDs on your list). These are the few instances of Christmas TV gone right, where great shows have somehow, against all the odds, managed to make great festive episodes.

Arrested Development - Afternoon Delight

Celebrate the triumphant return (due in 2013) of the best sitcom of the 21st Century by watching one of it’s most tightly plotted episodes. It’s a pretty simple storyline at heart - the Bluth family try to throw a Christmas party for their employees; it doesn’t go to plan. But as with all Arrested Development episodes this unremarkable sitcom conceit is laden down with a ton of throwaway gags and hilarious recurring jokes. Add to that GOB’s expensive suits (“COME ON”) and you have not only a great Christmas episode but one of my all-time favourite Arrested Development episodes. 

Peep Show - Seasonal Beatings

Despite the odd wobble, Peep Show is still remarkably funny given it’s such a long running show. This episode was the highlight of the seventh (and most recent) season, brilliantly managing to combine the show’s usual cynicism with some genuine sentiment; it’s one of a very small number of Peep Show episodes to actually have a happy ending. There are so many highlights here, not least of all meeting Mark’s oft-mentioned parents for the first time, but the below explosion is probably one of my favourite Peep Show scenes of all time. Amazing.

Seinfeld - The Pick

Part of what makes this such a great Christmas episode is just how tangential Christmas is to the story. Sure, the Christmas card that Elaine sends out is a pretty big plot point, but it’s not like the characters are carving Turkeys or going carolling. The main story revolves around a woman Jerry is dating catching him in the act of picking his nose (Jerry is adamant “it was a scratch!”). This eventually leads to an impassioned, public outburst by Jerry which sees him channeling Shakespeare - “If we pick, do we not bleed?”. As is the case with all the best Seinfeld episodes, the mundane quickly becomes absurd and it makes for a great piece of Christmas TV.

South Park - Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson!

The prolonged decline of South Park may be a pretty depressing state of affairs, but lets not forget they still managed a decade of pretty great comedy (Season 11 was the last I found consistently funny). There’s no denying the series was at it’s best in in first two seasons though, and while Mr Hankey, The Christmas Poo is better known, this is to my mind the funnier episode, introducing us to Cartman’s extended family and featuring the insanely annoying “Over the meadow and through the woods…” song. Oh, and Charles Manson holds the boys hostage.

The Office Christmas Specials

Yes, you’ve all seen it before, yes you all already know it’s brilliant, but that’s not going to stop me telling you to watch it again. Especially as the US Office has spent the past few seasons becoming practically unwatchable. Here’s the perfect excuse to watch the excellent source material again and wonder where it all went wrong. Oh, and SPOILER Tim and Dawn get together at the end and it is nice a sentimental ending to the unrelenting bleakness. Lovely.

And that’s what Christmas is really all about. A few moments of happiness punctuating our otherwise desolate existence.

Merry Christmas Folks!

Jed. x