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The Simpsons
(1989– )
On Christmas Eve, Marge admonishes the family not to open presents until 7 a.m. the next morning. Bart finds a way around the directive and opens his gifts at 5 a.m. However, his prized gift - a remote-controlled fire truck - overheats and causes a fire that engulfs the tree and presents. The family investigates and Bart tells them that a burglar has struck. As a result of Kent Brockman's human ...
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So we come to the Christmas episode of season nine and, much like the whole of season nine and beyond, it's an extremely mixed bag. There are a few decent jokes in there -- Marge's negative $52000 turn on Jeopardy and Bart's toilet dream being the best examples -- but the whole thing just falls flat more often than not.
The episode sees Bart accidentally destroy the family's Christmas tree and their presents with it. He proceeds to lie to them about how these things were stolen by a burglar and so all of Springfield raises $15000 to make it up to them. Then the truth comes out and the townspeople demand their money back, which is impossible, so they loot the house stealing everything - pets included - to repay the debt.
The Simpsons are then left with just one rag between them. This is the ending to the episode and it basically reduces all the supporting cast we know and love to nothing more than selfish, unlikeable Grinches (literally, since they steal presents at Christmas). This is one of the most sickening acts on this or any TV show, but it's meant to be a happy ending (??????) because they still have each other. Happy Christmas?!?
I am shocked and appalled by this episode's ending so much so that it's the only episode from the classic years (Seasons 1-10) that I'd advise skipping. The ending is only made worse on repeat viewing by the knowledge that everything you see builds up to it.
Also we get some more development en route to full-on Jerkass Homer in this episode when he chokes Bart because Lisa's not strong enough and when he "shops" at Try-N- Save at the beginning. Truly a sickening episode in all manners of speaking. AVOID!!!