Winter holiday episodes of fannish shows

[brightknightie]

What are your favorite winter holiday episodes/specials of fannish shows? Any winter holiday is eligible (Christmas, Hannukkah, New Year's, Solstice, Diwali...) and any show you consider fannish. Yet these episodes do have to come out of regular shows; my dear Rankin/Bass holiday specials universe is ineligible, as are feature films.

Bonus points for identifying the season, episode number, and title, to help folks find and enjoy the episode, whether on streaming or DVD. :-D

My own all-time favorite by total rewatches is Blackadder's Christmas Carol, a parody of Dickens' tale, which was a standalone special produced between Seasons 3 and 4 (Wikipedia entry). Runner up is the Pinky & the Brain Christmas episode, which is now found with Season 1, but was originally a prime-time special, in which the mice do what they always do, but at Christmas, with overflowing measure of Pinky's sweet heart (Wikipedia entry).

How about you? Any Buffyverse episodes? PBS/BBC Masterpiece Theater series specials? Very old shows from your childhood, very recent shows from this year...?

Thanks!

Comments

[senmut]

Ahh, but I can't remember which season they aired in. M*A*S*H holiday episodes. Hands down.

Nevermind... Season 9, episode 5, "Death Takes a Holiday" where Charles quietly plays a benevolent Santa while appearing to be a Scrooge.

[brightknightie]

Thank you! It looks like Hulu and Amazon have M*A*S*H right now.

[greerwatson]

Oh, yes! I love that episode.

[malinaldarose]

The Doctor Who Christmas specials are part of my normal holiday fare every year, especially Capaldi's: "The Husbands of River Song," "The Return of Doctor Mysterio," and "Twice Upon A Time," all of which I have watched this year. Actually, I'll watch "Husbands" pretty much any time. Otherwise, it's nice to come across a Christmas episode, but there isn't anything specific I seek out. Mostly I watch movies.

[brightknightie]

Oh, yes, I also adore "The Husbands of River Song" (so much that I don't even think of it as a holiday special anymore). I think I may not yet have seen "Twice Upon a Time;" I will look that up!

[pj1228]

Not episodes from shows, but movies with actors from shows. I always make it a point to watch "Little Lord Fauntleroy" with a very young Patrick Stewart and "A Child's Christmas in Wales" with a very young Nigel Bennett. Both movies are lovely by themselves and the glimpses of familiar faces are a bonus.

[pj1228]

Ah, sorry, I didn't read your instruction correctly. I was not supposed to mention films.

[brightknightie]

:-) Film recommendations are good, too, thank you! :-) I was only planning to let this post run for a few days, and then ask about films in a new post. :-)

[pj1228]

So after more thinking I came up with actual shows. :)
Season 11 of Murdoch Mysteries had a holiday special called Home for the Holidays, which was delightful.
And I always enjoy episode 13 of season 5 of Murdoch Mysteries which is set on New Year's Eve 1899.

[brightknightie]

Oh, excellent! Thank you.

It looks like Murdoch Mysteries is currently available streaming on Hulu and AcornTV in the US, which unfortunately are both paid services, but many people do subscribe to them already.

My local public library has the DVDs! I look forward to getting to visit the library again, when everyone is vaccinated. I miss the library.

[skieswideopen]

I've watched A Child's Christmas in Wales a number of times, albeit not in the last few years, and I never realized that it included Nigel Bennett! I'll have to look for him the next time I watch it.

[pj1228]

He plays the father in the flashback.

[skieswideopen]

Thanks! I'll keep an eye out.

[greerwatson]

The Big Bang Theory had five Christmas episodes, each of which has classic moments. I think my favourite is probably the first of them: "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis" (Season 2, Episode 11), in which Sheldon attempts to buy gifts according to a reciprocity principle that demands each person swap presents of equal value. Second is maybe "The Cooper Extraction" (Season 7, Episode 11), in which Sheldon is back in Texas because his sister is having a baby; and, in his absence, each of the others imagines how their lives would have gone if they'd never met him.

[skieswideopen]

Oh, I love "The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis"! Sheldon's reaction to Penny's gift is wonderful.

[brightknightie]

Thank you! I have not seen that.

It looks like The Big Bang Theory is currently available in the US with subscriptions on HBO Max, Hulu, and YouTube Premium. I have YouTube Premium! :-)

[skieswideopen]

I have the complete Blackadder on DVD, which I purchased on a whim a few years ago because I have fond memories of a friend in high school introducing me to Blackadder Goes Forth, but I've never watched the Christmas special. I've added it to my list for this year.

My personal favourites include Supernatural's "A Very Supernatural Christmas," from the third season and bittersweet in the way that a lot of the third season was, and Timeless's "The Miracle of Christmas," though that doubled as the series finale, so it's a bit of a special case.

[brightknightie]

To each her own, yet... I think that I would recommend any season of Blackadder for a newbie before the fourth season. That is not an entry point that I would have guessed! :-D

Interestingly, it looks like Timeless is available on all the major paid streaming services in the US. That's unusual!

Supernatural is pretty widely available, too, but to my surprise, even the first season is not free for Amazon Prime or YouTube Premium. Hmmm.

[skieswideopen]

You know, I can't recall why we started with the fourth season. There may have been a reason, but I have no idea what it was.

I'm a little astonished that any show is available on multiple platforms. I would have expected the services to demand exclusivity! Very interesting.

I love your icon! Very seasonally appropriate.

[argentum_ls]

Leverage has "The Ho Ho Ho Job," which also happens to be one of my favorite episodes.

[lightbird]

I'm late to this post, but I highly recommend the Hey Arnold! episode "Arnold's Christmas". It's a Nickelodeon cartoon that you may or may not be familiar with. But the episode is really good and worth checking out (unless you're not into animated stuff). It's one of the best and one of my favorite Christmas episodes.