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 everymember 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.

Top Five Homage Episodes: Community

Community is one of the more ambitious sitcoms I’ve ever seen; it’s constantly moving its characters in unexpected places and trying new things.  One aspect that really makes it stand out is, of course, its penchant for meticulously-detailed homages to other movies, TV shows, and genres.  After a lot of deliberating, these are my top five.  (Note:  it’s not that season 5 doesn’t have any good homages – it’s just that I could only pick five, and you can’t beat the first three seasons!)

 

 

“Modern Warfare” (Season 1, Episode 23)

 

The first paintball episode is easily the best.  At the time, we weren’t used to Greendale descending into anarchy at the drop of a hat, so it’s novel to see the school become a war zone over the course of a paintball game.  The episode is crammed with great war-movie tropes:  heroic sacrifices, double and triple bluffs, Mexican standoffs, and wistful conversations about what they’ll do if they ever make it home.

 

 

“Basic Rocket Science” (Season 2, Episode 4)

 

Using a (terrible) spaceflight simulator to riff on Apollo 13 was a great idea.  I like watching the study group pull together to “pilot” the simulator, and I love Abed as the rueful “It should be me up there” man-on-the-ground talking them through the program.  It’s a fun race against the clock, and I never get tired of the running gag that it’s a KFC-sponsored simulator.

 

 

“Documentary Filmmaking:  Redux” (Season 3, Episode 8)

 

I haven’t even seen Hearts of Darkness, but that doesn’t stop me from adoringthis episode.  Abed’s film documenting the making of the Dean’s commercial for Greendale is just a riot.  As the commercial gets ever grander and more out of control, the Dean slides further and further off the rails, culminating in one of the funniest climaxes the show has ever had.  So much insanity, and how great is it that they send up something like Hearts of Darkness in the first place?

 

 

“Pillows and Blankets” (Season 3, Episode 14)

 

Another documentary homage, this time Ken Burns’s Civil War miniseries.  As in all of these examples, the strongest humor comes from pairing the lofty tropes (somber Civil War documentary) with silly subject matter (heated feud between Troy’s blanket fort supporters and Abed’s pillow fort followers.)  The narration, maps, and photography are perfect, and I love the dramatic readings of text messages – fantastic device.

 

 

“Basic Lupin Urology” (Season 3, Episode 17)

 

This Law & Order parody is stunning in its specificity.  The study group’s mission to discover the culprit who destroyed their biology project is hilarious, and the episode hits every beat of a classic Law & Order story.  And come on, who doesn’t love Abed and Troy’s good cop/bad cop routine (especially when they trade places halfway through?)

Relationship Spotlight: Troy Barnes & Abed Nadir (Community)

 

This friendship is such a no-brainer, it’s taken me this long to get around to it.  Like so many Community fans, I was won over by these two during their Spanish rap in the show’s second episode.  After that scene, they only grow in awesomeness and awwwsomeness (“homing pigeon” still makes me think of them,) earning a well-deserved claim to one of my favorite TV friendships of all time.

 

The basic building blocks of the Troy-Abed friendship is not unlike many memorable sitcom friendships between men; Abed is geeky and neurotic while Troy is much more obviously cool.  This is the same general template from which J.D. and Turk from Scrubs, Cory and Shawn from Boy Meets World, and Chandler and Joey from Friends, among others, are cut.  As with the other examples, Abed is somewhat more prominent a character than Troy, which makes sense.  A lot of TV writers and, let’s face, a large portion of many fandoms, probably identify more with the geeky, neurotic character than the cool one (plus, such characters are easier to write conflict for.)

 

Troy and Abed take a different tack, though.  While all these relationships place the primary focus on the geekier characters, with most of them, there’s a sense that the cooler character is there partially to show him the ropes – to coach him on talking to women, being more masculine, fitting in with the “guys,” etc.  Though it’s obvious that both care deeply about each other, there’s this slight power imbalance, this idea that the geekier character should be grateful to the cooler character for being friends with him.  But with Troy and Abed, Abed is the clear instigator in almost everything they do.  He spearheads a lot of their silly and/or nerdy pursuits, like Kickpuncher marathons or extended sessions in the Dreamatorium.  Troy frequently defers to Abed – when the study group is being wooed by Greendale’s glee club coach in season 3, Troy even tells Abed, “You know I’d do anything you did” – and, after some reluctance in the early episodes, begins to embrace his own geeky side.

 

And so, they have fun.  They enjoy being weird and goofy, building forts, making costumes, and watching Inspector Spacetime.  They’re not without drama, most noticeably in season 3 when Abed stops being his and Troy’s natural leader and starts dictating what they do, but for the most part, they’re a blast.  They’re also entirely in each other’s corner.  Troy looks out for Abed when his aspie-ish tendencies are causing him distress, and to the extent that Abed expresses his feelings, he expresses them for Troy.

 

Something else that I really like about Troy and Abed is that the show usually avoids the bromance jokes that are often so plentiful in guy-guy sitcom friendships.  They’re incredibly, at times almost ludicrously, close, but the show doesn’t frame it from a “ha, ha, they’re acting like a couple!” way.  I’m not a fan of excessive bromance jokes, partially because it suggests that male intimacy is inherently hilarious, and partially because there are already enough romances on television, and there’s no reason to use romance tropes to convey friendship.  So, I really appreciate that Troy and Abed’s relationship is tight and incredibly important to both of them while still being written distinctly as a friendship.