Whether you have already finished finals or you are currently suffering during finals week, the holidays are still approaching. If drinking delicious hot cocoa, decorating beautiful Christmas trees, or baking yummy holiday cookies are not cutting it for you, try watching these sitcoms’ memorable and hilarious Christmas specials to get yourself in the holiday spirit.
Photo courtesy of NBC
- “‘Twas the Night Before Christening,” Fresh Prince of Bel Air
Everyone in the Banks family – Uncle Phil, Aunt Vivian, Hilary, Carlton, and Ashley – all buy extravagant gifts for Baby Nicky’s Christmas Eve christening. This leaves Will feeling insecure about his less-than-stellar gift, so in an attempt to make up for it, and to prove he loves Nicky just as much as everyone else, he boldly tells the family that he will get soulful, R&B band Boyz II Men to perform at the christening. The usual crazy, hilarious Will antics ensue as he tries to get the band to perform while butler Geoffrey remains as sassy as ever. Happy bonus: Carlton does his signature dance wearing jingle bells on his suit.
Photo courtesy of ABC
2. “Express Christmas,” Modern Family
When the family finds out they won’t be able to spend Christmas day together due to conflicting Christmas vacation plans, Phil proposes they celebrate Christmas that very day on December 16th, which he inventively calls “Express Christmas.” The family splits up to get various Christmas-related tasks done in four hours: Claire and Haley go Christmas shopping, Mitchell and Alex go Christmas tree shopping, Phil and Manny go Christmas grocery shopping, Gloria and Luke get the Christmas angel, and Jay and Cam gift wrap everything. The close-knit, hilarious family dynamic that made Modern Family famous in the first place especially shines in this episode, in addition to the characters’ individual comedic talents. Phil gets tased, Haley uses her shopping obsession for good to get all the items in record-breaking speed… what’s not to love?
Photo courtesy of ABC
3. “Meet the Cuban Parents,” George Lopez
Before there was Modern Family, there was George Lopez and his unconventional, slightly dysfunctional but completely whole TV family. Created by comedian George Lopez himself, the show is one of the first, successful TV shows with a Latino in a leading role and with an all-Latino cast (with the exception of Masiela Lusha as Carmen Lopez), challenging not only the issue of diversity in Hollywood but challenging racist stereotypes about Latinos prevalent in American society. In this Christmas episode, Angie’s parents (Vic and Emilina) are visiting the family for the holidays but as Angie’s parents buy the children extravagant gifts and shower the family with huge amounts of cash, George gets the feeling that his parents still believe he’s good not enough for Angie. In true, crazy George Lopez style, George battles out Vic’s big spending with his own tricks to prove he can deck out the best Christmas. Don’t worry, as George always says, “I GOT THIS.”
Photo courtesy of Fox
4. “Hal’s Christmas Gift,” Malcolm in the Middle
And before there was Heisenberg, there was Hal. In this sitcom, genius Malcolm and his goofy, dim-witted, lovable family have what Lois proclaims, “a handmade Christmas,” due to the family being extremely strapped for cash. However, after seeing the wonderful, thoughtful, high quality gifts the boys make, Hal panics and reckless shenanigans follow as he tries to come up with the “perfect” Christmas gift. The whole family – Jamie and wife Piama, Dewey, Reese, Malcolm, Lois, and Hal – all feature in this special episode. Lois finally losing her temper and getting into a grocery store parking lot car fight with a woman and Hal freaking out and lying his way through Christmas with an increasingly higher-pitched voice are arguably the funniest bits of the episode.
Photo courtesy of NBC
5. “The One with the Holiday Armadillo,” Friends
Ross attempts to teach his son Ben about Hanukkah and his Jewish heritage, but when he fails to find a Santa Claus suit to get Ben in the holiday spirit, he has to settle for an armadillo suit. He settles for being the “Holiday Armadillo,” also known as Santa’s representative for all southern states and even Mexico. As poor Ross tries to educate Ben, Chandler crashes the party and comes in as jolly, old Saint Nick while Joey crashes the party later as Superman, the superhero that flew all Jews out of Egypt. At the same time, quirky Phoebe tries to drive a wedge between Rachel and Joey by buying Joey ridiculous Christmas gifts (tarantula and drum set) so Rachel would be forced to be roommates with Phoebe again. Ten seasons of unforgettable comedy, this Christmas episode does not disappoint.
Photo courtesy of CBS
6. “False Positive,” How I Met Your Mother
In “False Positive,” future Ted tells his kids the story of what happened to the gang when Lily thought she was pregnant. Both Lily and Marshall started to panic about how unprepared they were to become parents while Barney and Robin tried making drastic but positive changes in their lives. Barney tried being more generous by donating to the church while Robin applied as an associate researcher at a huge news network. Both go back on their promises when they find out the test was a false positive while Lily and Marshall decide to get a dog instead of having kids. This leaves Ted as the voice of reason to knock them all back to their senses and original choices. The classic flashback-and-flash-forward style that made the show so popular is key in this episode in showing each character’s thought process and consequent freakout following Lily’s pregnancy test. Of course, there’s the usual funny moments but it’s nicely juxtaposed with character development, showing just how far the show has gone in six seasons. It’s one of the show’s best, funny, feel-good, emotional episodes.
Photo courtesy of Fox
7. “Santa,” New Girl
Jess, Cece, Schmidt, Nick, and Winston try to attend a list of Christmas parties together. There are the typical, laugh-inducing subplots: Winston gets a cranberry stuck in his ear, Cece and Schmidt try overcome the awkward vibe after she rejected him, Nick tries to adjust to having a girlfriend way more adventurous than he is, while Jess sees old lover Sam again and has to deal with whether to take him back or not. Each character shines on their own comedically but together, they make the show and the episode special. Jess’s usual quirky antics are not lost here and guest star Olivia Munn as Nick’s girlfriend makes the episode even more hilarious as she pushes Nick out of his comfort zone.
Photo courtesy of CBS
8. “The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis,” The Big Bang Theory
Socially awkward genius Sheldon tries to find an appropriate Christmas gift for Penny after finding out she has gotten him a Christmas gift, enlisting the help of friends Howard and Raj to Christmas shop with him. At the same time, Leonard feels disappointed and insecure that Penny is interested in an attractive physicist at the university he works for. As if seeing uptight Sheldon shopping at a bath item and bath soaps store isn’t hilarious enough, seeing him having a huge happy freakout when receiving Penny’s gift of Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy’s autograph makes the episode as popular as it is. The episode shows the first time Sheldon ever hugged anyone by hugging Penny in joy. The episode showed some development in Leonard’s and Penny’s relationship but even more satisfyingly, it showed character growth in Sheldon. Usually a germaphobe, he is able to happily hug Penny after receiving his gift and it’s a beautiful moment in the show’s history.
Photo courtesy of ABC
9. “Escape Claus,” That’s So Raven
Talk about a throwback. In this classic Disney channel Christmas special, Raven has a vision of receiving a necklace for Christmas. As impatient and excited as ever, she opens the gift, wears the gift to school but it ends up falling out of a window and breaking. This leaves Raven and best friends Chelsea and Eddie to go to the mall to buy a replacement necklace so Raven can cover her tracks. At the same time, Cory tries to get his parents to pay him to wear an elf suit. Arguably one of Disney Channel’s best shows, this episode is sure to make you feel nostalgic and pumped for the holidays.
Photo courtesy of ABC
10. “Xtreme Xmas,” Lizzie McGuire
Another Disney channel throwback – you can’t mention That’s So Raven without mentioning Lizzie McGuire and her lovable family and friends Gordo and Miranda. Lizzie and Gordo bring gifts to a Christmas charity drive and Lizzie competes fiercely in the hopes of winning the grand prize in a Christmas parade with her idea for a “Rock and Roll Christmas” float. Lizzie faces the usual outrageous obstacles in her attempts to build her float and faces an emotional crisis right of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol that makes her realize the true meaning of Christmas, even if it costs her her Christmas float. Bonus: A Christmas miracle occurs and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith guest stars as a singing Santa Claus because nothing says Christmas like some rock-n-roll and Aerosmith, right?