- The A Christmas Carol rip-off
- The It's a Wonderful Life rip-off
- The Miracle on 34th Street rip-off
- The "Jesus is the reason for the season" lesson
- The "It's better to give than to receive" lesson
- The "There's no place like home for the holidays" lesson
- The "Guitar-playing teen angel helps you and your mom care about the homeless, and rescue your embattled gay friend" episode
December 5, 2006
"With the Christmas specials upon us, what's your favorite "special holiday episode" TV convention?"
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Ah yes but second place goes to "It's A Wonderful Life" Who can dispute such a masterpiece?
let's go with "It's a Wonderful Life" just for HAHAs
Oh, that "My So-Called Life" reference just made my day!
They forgot one of the more common ones, the O. Henry "Gift of the Magi" rip off episode.
(though that could be lumped in with the 'better to give than receive' category)
TWOP pretty reliably will throw in a "My So-Called Life" reference just where it's most needed. And for all the insufferable pretension of that show, I really did like that episode, which is possibly the only one in which Angela's mom appeared human.
Of course my whole perspective on the show is skewed, because I never watched it as a kid/teen. I caught it for the first time a few years ago when it was in heavy rotation on The N. (My guiltiest tv pleasure)
How about the "mistletoe forces two people who should be together but aren't to finally realize they love each other" theme.
Just last night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
I just want to talk about My So-Called Life for a second. The Christmas episode displays heavy-handedness on par with "Crash." But it's so great and moving and Julianna Hatfield plays a hobo!
It was on when I was in eighth grade, so obviously there's nostalgia there, but sometimes I think pretension is okay, especially when it involves monologues from "Our Town" that perfectly parallel one characters' sense of remorse over stealing a boyfriend. Or the inspiring poetry teacher who throws terrible poems out the window, gets fired, and then the students organize to come to his defense. These things just aren't done anymore without a sense of irony. I miss 1994.
The "Guitar-playing teen angel helps you and your mom care about the homeless, and rescue your embattled gay friend" episode
This one was absurd, but pretty moving. I loved that show, even though I was too old to be justifiably interested.
"... season 3 of Buffy--Cordelia wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. We get Evil Vampire Willow! (Who is the hottest.)"
Heh... alt.Willow... so many online fantasies sprung up after that episode. Willow in tight leather... hehe...
I'm so evil and skanky. And I think I'm kinda gay.
--Willow Rosenburg, talking about Vampire-Willow
Buffy, another great one!
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