My Fav Five: Holiday TV Episodes

Everyone loves a good Christmas story, but sometimes we don’t have enough time to sit down and knock out an entire movie in one sitting. Television specials give us all the Holiday cheer we could ask for, and who doesn’t love a good Christmas special?

“A Charlie Brown Christmas”

The Christmas Special of all Christmas Specials. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is one of the most iconic portrayals of the Holiday spirit in all of entertainment.

In this classic, Charlie Brown finds himself fed up with the amount of commercialism surrounding the Christmas season and is determined to find the true meaning of the Holiday.

I’m sure we’ve all had a year where the Christmas spirit just wasn’t finding us as well as we would’ve liked, and this special really exemplifies that feeling. This episode is passionate, comforting, complete with great original songs and exudes Christmas spirit.

“Christmas Who?” - “SpongeBob SquarePants”

This Holiday-themed underwater special follows SpongeBob and Squidward through the classic ordeal of fighting through their differences in personality, but what makes this episode uniquely special is that it comes with a twist.

In this story, Squidward finally faces the consequences of his constant bullying when he finds that he’s really hurt Spongebob this time. In the realization of his actions, Squidward turns the script and chooses to help everybody in Bikini Bottom when they come to him for help.

Squidward delivers in one of his only portrayals of selflessness in the entire show and finds the Holiday spirit.

“The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis” - “The Big Bang Theory”

In this episode, Sheldon Cooper, the most icy and reserved character of the show, finally does the unthinkable and shows his thankfulness for his friends.

When his neighbor Penny gifts him a napkin both used and autographed by one of Sheldon’s idols Leonard Nimoy, Sheldon shows his affection by thanking her with a hug for one of the only times in the show.

The Christmas spirit is ever evident in this episode with one of the few demonstrations of kindness shown by our main character.

“Christmas Party” - “The Office”

As one of the most iconic Christmas episodes in television history, this episode of “The Office” perfectly summarizes how disastrous the workspace can be under Michael Scott.

Michael once again finds a way to make himself the center of attention when he buys a $400 iPod for a casual office secret Santa exchange.

While everyone has planned their presents out fittingly for their assigned person, Michael then changes the game to a white elephant when he is disappointed with his gift. This classic episode is full of iconic moments and great holiday spirit.

“The One Where Rachel Quits” - “Friends”

Sure, when you think of Friends Christmas episodes you might think of “The One with the Holiday Armadillo” but this one has more than enough Holiday Spirit. Ross is given one of his most wholesome storylines in the show when he becomes responsible for selling Christmas cookies as a way to repay a girl scout whom he injured. Joey works selling Christmas trees while Phoebe of course struggles with the concept of Christmas trees and fears for the trees’ fate. Friends always knocked the Holiday episodes out of the park.

Sketch Morton is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email sam7539@psu.edu.