When you mention Christmas specials one would normally think of Charlie Brown, The Smurfs, He-Man/She-Ra or any other franchise that 'saves Christmas'. No one really remembers that the Simpsons began with their very own Christmas special.
Already a hit as an animated short series on the Tracey Ullman show, The Simpsons kicked off their 17-year plus career as a prime-time family with this festive episode.
Excited and filled with yuletide cheer The Simpsons come face to face with disaster when Marge's savings need to be blown on tattoo-removal surgery for Bart. And Mr. Burns cancels bonuses for all his semi-skilled employees. Flanders is already throwing his family the best Christmas ever and to make matters worse Patty and Selma show up and cast their judging eyes upon Homer in a more evil way than usual. He can't let them all down so he humiliates himself with a job as a mall Santa Claus.
The job pays poorly so he gambles it at the track, expecting a miracle to happen. Do you think it will? Since this was way back at the very beginning of The Simpsons the animation looks pretty rough and the voice acting (especially from some of the children) sounds a lot like the Charlie Brown phonetic acting. And since this is an older episode Homer isn't the machine he became in 1998+ seasons. He's still a human being with feelings who tries to be a good dad. Bart is still a kid who gets in trouble and Marge is still a devoted mum. You know what I mean when I say that none of this is really relevant in The Simpsons anymore since every new season just gets worse and worse as the writers get more and more cynical.
This one Christmas Special represents the exact opposite of all that. It was made to make a difference to your Christmas. And if your tired of the awful bore that it's become now then perhaps you should check it out.
Already a hit as an animated short series on the Tracey Ullman show, The Simpsons kicked off their 17-year plus career as a prime-time family with this festive episode.
Excited and filled with yuletide cheer The Simpsons come face to face with disaster when Marge's savings need to be blown on tattoo-removal surgery for Bart. And Mr. Burns cancels bonuses for all his semi-skilled employees. Flanders is already throwing his family the best Christmas ever and to make matters worse Patty and Selma show up and cast their judging eyes upon Homer in a more evil way than usual. He can't let them all down so he humiliates himself with a job as a mall Santa Claus.
The job pays poorly so he gambles it at the track, expecting a miracle to happen. Do you think it will? Since this was way back at the very beginning of The Simpsons the animation looks pretty rough and the voice acting (especially from some of the children) sounds a lot like the Charlie Brown phonetic acting. And since this is an older episode Homer isn't the machine he became in 1998+ seasons. He's still a human being with feelings who tries to be a good dad. Bart is still a kid who gets in trouble and Marge is still a devoted mum. You know what I mean when I say that none of this is really relevant in The Simpsons anymore since every new season just gets worse and worse as the writers get more and more cynical.
This one Christmas Special represents the exact opposite of all that. It was made to make a difference to your Christmas. And if your tired of the awful bore that it's become now then perhaps you should check it out.