Top Five Christmas Episodes: Sitcoms

I love holiday episodes of TV shows, and while Christmas stories can be hit-or-miss – too sappy/cheesy, recycled storylines about obsessing over the “perfect gift” – I’ve seen some really fun ones as well.  These five episodes can be enjoyed any time of year, but they’re even better around the yuletide.

“My Own Personal Jesus” (Scrubs – Season 1, Episode 11)

Right off the bat, you have Turk’s childlike Christmas excitement compared to everyone else’s holiday fatigue (I love J.D. and Carla lethargically discussing their least favorite parts of the season, as well as J.D.’s forced cheerfulness about going to mass for “some church crackers!”)  The show doesn’t touch on Turk’s faith a lot, but it always does a nice job when it comes up, and it’s at its best here.  I like the storyline of the particularly ugly Christmas Eve on-call that leaves Turk leaving hopeless and abandoned, and his desire to find a sign that God is looking out for everyone who’s hurting.  Plus, how can you not love Dr. Cox as the Grinch?

“The Bath Gift Item Hypothesis” (The Big Bang Theory – Season 2, Episode 11)

Okay, I know I just griped about “finding the perfect gift” tropes, but it’s amusingly subverted here with Sheldon’s logic-fueled attempts to anticipate the value of Penny’s gift to him and find an exact equivalent.  I love the ending, which offers one of the first “sweet Sheldon” moments of the show.  Leonard’s right – it is “a Saturnalia miracle!”

“Comparative Religion” (Community – Season 1, Episode 12)

Sure, it’s a little convenient that every member of the study group is a different religion (and even more convenient that some of these religions are forgotten 98% of the time,) but it leads to a good storyline with Shirley’s put-the-Christ-in-Christmas party.  And we can’t forget the Dean as Mr. Winter, the over-the-top PC, completely nonspecified holiday figure of his own creation.

“An Eric Forman Christmas” (That ‘70s Show – Season 4, Episode 12)

Of course Eric’s efforts to direct the church Christmas pageant are plagued with mishaps and nearly doomed to failure.  His friends’ outrageous demands for their roles are excellent, I love the visual of Pastor Dave tied up with Christmas lights, and the “circle discussion” about Christmas specials is a classic (I especially like Kelso fiercely defending Rudolph’s sexuality.)

“How Lily Stole Christmas” (How I Met Your Mother – Season 2, Episode 11)

Here’s a Christmas episode with a bit of a bite, since it’s all about a feud between Lily and Ted that starts when she discovers the horrible, unnamed word he called her when she and Marshall were broken up.  Stealing all the Christmas decorations is very Aldrin justice – the visual of all of it hanging up in her tiny apartment is terrific – and the whole plot gives us some great scenes between Lily and Ted.  I also love Marshall’s stint playing Santa’s helper for the U.S. postal service.