Jen Chaney’s Top Holiday Television Episodes
Posted on December 22, 2008 at 7:00 pm
The Washington Post’s always-delightful Jen Chaney wrote about her favorite television series holiday episodes from “Seinfeld” and “South Park” to “Moonlighting” and “The O.C.”
Be sure to take a look as the column includes some great clips.
I remember the great “Dick Van Dyke Show” Christmas episode, with the gang putting on a show.
“Mad About You” had a sweet Christmas flashback as its main characters met in late December and had their first real talk at a Christmas party. “Barney Miller” had its own bittersweet take because no one — cop, victim, or suspect — wanted to be in the police station on Christmas. Especially Santa, who is there because he got mugged. The episode is available on Hulu along with other classic television show Christmas episodes from shows like “Chicago Hope,” “American Dad,” “House,” “Silver Spoons,” “Adam-12,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” and “Welcome Back, Kotter.”
(the original with Humphrey Bogart, not the remake with Sean Penn) is an off-beat Christmas story about three escaped convicts who end up solving the problems of a middle-class French family with the help of a pet viper.
and 
, former Miss America 
, former Fonzie 
, and former Saturday Night Live star 
. I love them all. But here are my very favorites, the ones I try to watch every year.
Who better to play Scrooge than his namesake Scrooge McDuck? And who better for the part of the unquenchable Bob Cratchit than Mickey Mouse? This compilation DVD includes other Christmas goodies “The Small One” and “Pluto’s Christmas Tree.”
has the distinguished actor Michael Caine as Scrooge and the equally distinguished Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit. Special mention of 
as well.
. The voice talent is outstanding, with Broadway star Jack Cassidy (father of teen idols David and Shaun) as Bob Cratchit and of course Jim Backus as Mr. Magoo, in this version an actor playing the part of Scrooge. The tuneful songs were written by Bob Merrill and Jule Styne, who later went on to write “Funny Girl.” (The legend is that their song “People” was originally written for this movie.)
This MGM classic features the top stars of the 1930’s. Watch for future “Lassie” star June Lockhart as one of the Cratchit children — her real-life father Gene Lockhart played Bob. (He also appears in another Christmas classic, as the judge in 
.)
This is the all-time best, with the inimitable Alistair Sim as Scrooge. There has never been a more embittered miser or a more jubilent Christmas morning rebirth. When he orders that turkey for the Cratchits and walks into his nephew’s celebration at the end, everything Dickens hoped for from his story is brought to life.