***
I’d alluded to Doug’s Christmas a few times but I’ll put a little more detail. It’s only fair.
Renee in Ally McBeal said something in one episode about how Christmas isn’t always a happy time of year, dropping a quick reference to “It’s a Wonderful Life” to support her statement.
True… as much as this season is about joy and peace, it can be super depressing too. The reason why some people are so ornery in December is because they have no one to spend it with and sadness gives way to anger. Admittedly, I sometimes consider what I’d feel like several Christmases from now when I have no one left to celebrate with and it depresses the hell outta me.
There’s a Friends episode where Phoebe turns off “It’s a Wonderful Life” right before George Bailey gets “saved” when his guardian angel Clarence jumps off the bridge.
And of course there’s the fate of Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol's Christmas Future… Mickey’s version and the Muppets version make me such an emotional wreck, I haven’t seen them in years.
Doug was the one Christmas special on Nickelodeon that reaches that level of “so sad, makes me not want to watch.”
In summary, the Doug episode revolves around his dog Porkchop being sentenced to death because he “attacked” Beebe.
We figure out later on that he grabbed her leg to drag her away from thin ice on Lucky Duck Lake. But because her family owns the town, the story is GREATLY exaggerated. They even have a dramatic reenactment where the Beebe actress is full on mauled by a pit bull. Doug goes to see him at the pound (Skeeter provides a great distraction but it only lasts for so long) and finds him way in the back with the “very VERY bad dogs”. Wow!!
He goes around to do a petition but only gets a handful of signatures. Except for Mr. Dink, everyone we see him talk to flat out refuses. The worst is the “it tastes like cement!” lady from an episode I covered in a previous post.
Her comment: “this is supposed to be a happy time. This isn’t happy. Save it for after the holiday.”
“But by then, it’ll be too late.”
“You should’ve thought of this before!”
[facepalm]
The really sad part is only for maybe 30 seconds but, man, it kills me…
Doug reminisces about previous Christmases when he got Porkchop and when Porkchop gave him the journal.
“But this Christmas…” (imagines standing by his tombstone in the rain… back in present day, he's crying in front of Porkchop’s roped off igloo dog house).
Best part might be the hilarity of Doug’s various alter egos interacting in the situation room, trying to figure out a plan.
Quailman says they could fly in and he’ll use his Quail-eye to hypnotize the guards to let Porkchop go. Doug then says he can’t fly and Quailman essentially sits back down and says “ok never mind”.
Then at a future meeting, all of them get into an altercation and Doug has to yell above them “Quiet! …I’ll just have to handle this myself.”
At the trial, Beebe is in a wheelchair with her one leg in a cast. While she testifies, Porkchop communicates to Doug he wants to go to the lake to tell his side of the story. He appeals to the judge who just wants to get this over with cuz it’s Christmas Eve and it’s time to spend with family. Of course Doug explains how Porkchop is his family and he’d do so much good for the community… the kinds of things only anthropomorphized animals could do but still…
They go to the lake and the judge is about to call everything off when Beebe actually falls into the lake and Porkchop breaks free to save her.
So, to quote Ralphie from A Christmas Story- “all was right with the world.”
***
Rugrats did several holiday specials over the years and I credit it with educating me about Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
Technically, I first heard about Kwanzaa from Blue's Clues. Not much from that special penetrated my skull because I was stuck on the fact I never heard anything about this in school. I just remembered the household celebrating it belonged to purple kangaroo, his “Steve” was black and there were different colored candles in the "menorah" sitting in the window. (The correct term is "kinara")
I think the first time I heard about Hanukkah was 1st grade when we had potato pancakes in class. We NEVER talked about Kwanzaa during my entire education… but in all of my classes grade K-12, a very small percentage of my classmates were black. So that might have had something to do with it…
Rugrats took Kwanzaa and spent an entire half hour special on it. It revolved around the Carmichael family, but Tommy and the other babies were there.
Oddly enough, Angelica wasn’t, but something tells me that would’ve been difficult to write without falling into the pitfall of her saying something offensive and disrespectful.
Susie’s grandma comes over and gives her and her siblings various gifts that correspond to the holiday. She also says that current date of the celebration was about embracing what makes each individual special. Susie is saddened by this because she looks at all of the awards her siblings have won and realizes she doesn’t done anything. And she thinks this will leave her out of the celebration.
I think the first time I heard about Hanukkah was 1st grade when we had potato pancakes in class. We NEVER talked about Kwanzaa during my entire education… but in all of my classes grade K-12, a very small percentage of my classmates were black. So that might have had something to do with it…
Rugrats took Kwanzaa and spent an entire half hour special on it. It revolved around the Carmichael family, but Tommy and the other babies were there.
Oddly enough, Angelica wasn’t, but something tells me that would’ve been difficult to write without falling into the pitfall of her saying something offensive and disrespectful.
Susie’s grandma comes over and gives her and her siblings various gifts that correspond to the holiday. She also says that current date of the celebration was about embracing what makes each individual special. Susie is saddened by this because she looks at all of the awards her siblings have won and realizes she doesn’t done anything. And she thinks this will leave her out of the celebration.
Later she is reassured that there’s plenty of time for her to find that quality in herself. Her grandma also tells a story where she meets Martin Luther King when he experiences car trouble while on his way to make the “I have a dream” speech. It’s historical fiction at best, but it was still a cool moment when they more or less reveal it was him.
And if the “All Growed Up” spin is canon, Susie does find her special thing… she’s an amazing singer.
Hanukkah
The Rugrats are off to see Grandpa Boris take part in a community play about the origin of Hanukkah. He’s angry because his old rival Schlomo was cast as the king instead of him and groans that he doesn’t understand the true meaning of Hanukkah.
The babies overhear this and think he’s “the meanie” of Hanukkah and are on a quest to stop him. Angelica meanwhile is on her own quest- to watch the Cynthia Christmas Extravaganza Special. Her description of Hanukkah is “that time between Christmas and Thanksgiving when all of the best specials are on TV."
…well, sometimes Hanukkah is after Christmas or at the same time, but she’s not entirely wrong…
At the play, the babies storm the stage to put the meanie down for a nap. But are quickly stopped and put in the on-site daycare. Angelica winds up there later on because she throws a latke on the ground and someone trips over it.
She admires how she’d never be allowed to have pancakes for dinner, but spits it out after she takes a bite.
“Ta-pay-dohs? What kind of bo-bo head makes pancakes out of ta-pay-dohs?!”
(I’m sorry, that mispronunciation makes me laugh)
When she learns about the babies’ plan, she convinces them that they should get him to watch TV cuz that alway puts Grandpa Lou to sleep. She’s really just using them so they can get access to a TV to watch her special.
The play winds up going off the rails because the two men can’t get along. Boris says Schlomo always brags about his business. He then finds out how Schlomo resented him for bragging about his family because he and his wife were unable to have one.
…I actually didn’t pick up on that until I saw the special again a couple years ago.
Another ongoing plot point- Stu created this massive menorah for the play that had lots of moving parts and pyrotechnics. All because he wanted to be sure Tommy was proud of his heritage. (His heart's in the right place, but c'mon, he's a baby. He's not gonna notice the difference). So he and Grandpa have to come later since they need to work out some kinks. Then on their way over, Stu groans about traffic, not realizing they pulled into the middle of a parade route.
The actual story behind the holiday really isn’t talked about much. At least not to the length Passover was. Boris talks about how the Jews were being ruled by a king that only wanted his faith to be followed and forbade all others.
Cut back to reality- Angelica is about to get away with the TV when she bumps into Schlomo and it breaks. She’s upset and he’s at a loss on how to help. Luckily, Boris shows up and
helps calm things down.
So they finish the story with how they only have enough oil to light the giant menorah for one night and by miracle, it lasted 8.
Stu’s menorah gets on stage, interrupting the Shakespearean actor’s impassioned monologue ("to be or Macabee, that is the question"). The thing malfunctions again, bringing down the curtain. It reveals to the audience the storytime session in progress and everyone goes aww…
Boris and Schlomo then break into song and the babies marvel that it’s a “mira-bull”.
Also, a quick shout out to that womens' choir who sing during the interludes of the play. Watching the special a few years ago after having not seen it for ages, that brought me back in time a bit.
The original Rugrats Christmas special- “The Santa Experience”- that’s one that definitely takes me back. Back to when I was a kid and what Christmas meant growing up. At least a small part of that.
It all starts with a familiar scenario across various kids' shows and movies. Angelica discovers the mall Santa Claus was a fake and makes a scene. She gets suspicious after she runs through a massive list of toys she wants for Christmas and before he can explain to her that’s too much, she asks how he didn’t already know this stuff already.
At the same time, Chuckie believes Santa Claus is as scary as the guy on the Oatmeal box and Tommy keeps trying to convince him Santa is nice. His dad is also afraid Christmas will be disappointing for Chuckie like it was for him as a kid.
The adults come up with all kinds of ideas to make Christmas extra special for all the kids. They decide to rent a chalet in the mountains and cut down their own tree.
The latter kinda goes array and after pressure from Didi, they get an artificial one… but it’s a really nice cabin.
After the ruckus she caused at the mall, Angelica got a whole bag of free stuff and is quick to express her disappointment with all of its contents. She unloads two things on Phil and Lil when they’re not sure what to get each other for Christmas. But she plays a trick where she trades them for the item that would go with the gift. This leads to a pretty scary nightmare when she opens up presents on Christmas morning and finds nothing but coal.
And Santa mocks her, saying how he saw everything and how the twins got new copies of what she took.
She makes several attempts to give everything back but the adults get in the way each time. She even calls a hotline to try to contact him… she annoys the call taker so much with her brattiness that when she asks if she’s on the good or bad list this year, she gets exactly what you’d expect.
Chas decides he’ll dress as Santa and come down the chimney to surprise Chuckie while Drew wants to hire a professional to restore Angelica’s belief in Santa.
The big night comes and Chas goes down the chimney. The one place where Tommy and Chuckie didn’t set a Santa trap (“nobody in their right mind would try and come down a chimb-lee”). It gives everyone a quick scare but it turns out ok. The gifts are all given out and Angelica finally gets to make things right.
Then Santa shows up to give the gifts out. He goes to Chuckie and asks “still think I’m so scary?,” putting his fears to rest at last. Angelica also gets exactly what she asked for- the Malibu Cynthia beach house. He smiles, saying how trying to be good is as good as being good in the first place. But then she looks in the attached garage and finds what appears to be a tiny lump of coal… they leave the rest to the imagination.
One thing that gives me chills every time- after everything happens, Drew gets a call from the guy he hired and he said he couldn’t make it that night. Which makes Chas and Drew do a double take.
“Drew… who was that?”
Like, whoa…
***
Hey Arnold! ChristmasYep, this is the final hurrah for my favorite Nick show and it’s going out with one of the best Christmas episodes of any show- live action or animated.
While they’re all out shopping, we learn all of the kids have a different philosophy when it comes to gift giving on Christmas. For Gerald, it’s easy; just give everybody a tie. And I mean everyone.
For Helga, it’s about getting something big and flashy. And getting yours before the other kid gets his.
For Arnold, his philosophy is pretty much the same as it is in every aspect of his life.
The boarding house has its annual Secret Santa. After getting past the false start of everyone drawing slips with Oskar’s name on them, Arnold draws Mr. Hyunh.
Not sure about where to start, he pays him a visit to hopefully get ideas. And he gets a BIG one after he learns about how Mr. Hyunh came to be in America.
Anyone who’d seen this episode or this scene in particular would say it’s really well done but also heart breaking. He grew up in Vietnam and had a young daughter, Mai. The war came to the country and they were among thousands trying to get out. At the American helicopter, they only had room for one more. So he gave Mai to the soldier, who told him the city he’d be bringing her to.
It took him several years to get out himself, but he was never able to find her.
Not sure about where to start, he pays him a visit to hopefully get ideas. And he gets a BIG one after he learns about how Mr. Hyunh came to be in America.
Anyone who’d seen this episode or this scene in particular would say it’s really well done but also heart breaking. He grew up in Vietnam and had a young daughter, Mai. The war came to the country and they were among thousands trying to get out. At the American helicopter, they only had room for one more. So he gave Mai to the soldier, who told him the city he’d be bringing her to.
It took him several years to get out himself, but he was never able to find her.
So, come Christmas Eve, Arnold is on a mission to track her down. Gerald thinks he’s crazy but agrees to go along for the ride. After making several phone calls, he found the office that would be able to help. Mr. Bailey declines at first because it’s too huge of a job to do with such short notice. But after overhearing him on the phone with his wife, Arnold offers to do his Christmas shopping in exchange for helping him. It’s crazy but he accepts the deal, so long as they get EVERYTHING on the list.
Therein lies the problem:
The final item is a pair of Nancy Spumoni snow boots. They happen to be the one thing on Helga’s Christmas list (she brings this up near the start of the episode). But what they don’t learn until too late is that the stores had been sold out for months and every salesman laughs him and Gerald out the door.
So Mr. Bailey says their deal is no good and they have no other choice but to leave. On the stoop of the building, Arnold sums up the series of events- within earshot of Helga, because of course she’s never too far behind- and thanks Gerald for joining him. He tries to make him feel better by saying he did more than most people would’ve done and the fact he tried his hardest is what Christmas is all about.
Helga gets home, a little sad about Arnold’s dilemma but also (most likely) about the fact she couldn’t find the perfect thing to get him for Christmas. Earlier she’d considered a train set and a super expensive computer game but changed her mind about both.
Her mom gives her one of her presents to open and it’s the snow boots. And she went on about how they’re likely the last pair left in the whole city.
Yeah, you know where this is going…
Mr. Bailey just locked up and is ready to go home when she shows up, insisting they have a missing person to find. He brushes her off because it’s Christmas Eve. Then she gives a poignant speech about how “that little football headed kid will never believe in miracles again” if they don’t do this thing.
Christmas morning arrives. It hilariously appears that Oskar got a bag of coal as a gift. And everyone’s kinda at loss about why there’s nothing under the tree for Mr. Hyunh. Just as Arnold is about to explain, the door bell rings…
Dang, even recollecting this scene gives me chills and I’m a mess. But it’s all happy stuff.
Arnold tries to figure out how and Gerald advises him not to. “A miracle is a miracle and that’s all there is to it. Maybe you have a guardian angel out there or something.”
“Guardian angel? Yeah… maybe.”
Cue Helga, standing in the snow in front of the boarding house- “Merry Christmas, Arnold.”
Aww…
***
Before the final show, a couple honorable mentions-
Fairly Oddparents- where Timmy wishes it was Christmas every day…
a familiar scenario in a lot of media geared toward kids because who hasn’t wished for that?
But this is the only instance- at least that I’m aware of- where EVERYONE is aware of this going on, not just the protagonist. And there are real consequences. Not just people getting sick of Christmas but because Santa literally is magic.
Apparently Christmas is the one day of the year when all of the fairy godparents send their magic to Santa Claus and this enables him to deliver all of the presents in one night.
At the end, everything is set right but this whole fiasco led to the rule book getting a new amendment. All kids henceforth are forbidden to wish for Christmas every day. I think Cosmo even says you have to really screw up for them to add a new rule to the book.
The one thing I remember clearly and still laugh about to this day- in the opening musical number, his parents sing “we love you, noggie…” there’s a pause before Timmy’s dad runs off with the carton of eggnog, “mine!”
Yeah, his obsession with eggnog was hilarious. I love the stuff but maybe that NOT much.
Danny Phantom also had an interesting twist on the holiday. Danny is the only person in his family and circle of friends that hates Christmas. That’s saying a lot, considering his friend Sam is into the goth thing; she fully embraces the spreading joy and good will part of it.
Before the final show, a couple honorable mentions-
Fairly Oddparents- where Timmy wishes it was Christmas every day…
a familiar scenario in a lot of media geared toward kids because who hasn’t wished for that?
But this is the only instance- at least that I’m aware of- where EVERYONE is aware of this going on, not just the protagonist. And there are real consequences. Not just people getting sick of Christmas but because Santa literally is magic.
Apparently Christmas is the one day of the year when all of the fairy godparents send their magic to Santa Claus and this enables him to deliver all of the presents in one night.
At the end, everything is set right but this whole fiasco led to the rule book getting a new amendment. All kids henceforth are forbidden to wish for Christmas every day. I think Cosmo even says you have to really screw up for them to add a new rule to the book.
The one thing I remember clearly and still laugh about to this day- in the opening musical number, his parents sing “we love you, noggie…” there’s a pause before Timmy’s dad runs off with the carton of eggnog, “mine!”
Yeah, his obsession with eggnog was hilarious. I love the stuff but maybe that NOT much.
Danny Phantom also had an interesting twist on the holiday. Danny is the only person in his family and circle of friends that hates Christmas. That’s saying a lot, considering his friend Sam is into the goth thing; she fully embraces the spreading joy and good will part of it.
Danny’s gripe has more to do with his parents. Every year they have a heated argument about whether or not Santa Claus is real and things end up getting ruined.
There’s a ghost voiced by Brendan Fraser who narrates the episode in rhyme and Danny is the only one able to hear him. And he’s told repeatedly that the story won’t end until his lesson is learned. The dramatic “everything looks hopeless” midpoint comes about when presents are getting stolen and turned into a giant monster by the ghostwriter. But after Danny Phantom attacks and emerges victorious, it appears to everyone around him that he stole the presents and destroyed them. He winds up seeking the help of other ghosts he’d previously defeated to help him and Christmas happens to be the day of a truce between ghosts and mortals.
Of course the ghostwriter screws this up with his rewrites. Then Danny defeats him in the most hilarious way possible… he throws out “orange” when the ghostwriter is narrating. He quickly remembers “wait, nothing rhymes with orange!” and he’s rendered powerless.
We see him in jail just before the end credits roll. One of the guards hands him a gift basket. “Orange?”
He screams and cringes- “get those away from me!” (Tried to find the screenshot of this, but to no avail...)
Last but not least-
Rocko’s Modern Life (also, the next Nick show on my list)
This is a cute little special with all of the things you’d expect to see during Christmas time. The hunt for the perfect Christmas tree, crowded malls, Christmas cheer and elves… lots of elves.
Rocko is spending his first Christmas in America, away from his family in Australia, and he has all of the optimism in the world that it's gonna be a great holiday. Even when the odds are stacked against him.
The opening credit sequence is super cute. It gets its own holiday theme, Rocko is driving a sled being pulled by Spunky and they’re delivering presents to all of the main characters. Then of course it ends with something falling on them- this time, a giant pine tree.
Rocko is currently sending out invitations to a Christmas party he’s hosting when he learns he has new neighbors. And it’s a whole bunch of elves.
He goes to the mall for shopping and also to get a tree. Heffer and Filburt are running a stand but there’s only one tree left. (The other two items for sale are a small cactus and a pot with some random dude’s body sticking out of it). It’s also kinda sad that the tree has a face and is panting and smiling like a dog and Heffer literally kills it with a chainsaw when he cuts it down. But it’s funny that it falls on him as he’s singing “O Christmas Tree”.
Inside the mall, it’s solid bodies marching in place as the PA system plays a cute rendition of Jingle Bells. It’s a bunch of “la la’s” set to the melody but anytime I hear it, I get all warm and fuzzy.
While he’s there, he finds one of the elves being bullied and comes to his rescue. Rocko takes him home and sees nothing but Christmas cheer all over the house. While talking to the lead elf (and we’re introduced to several other elves with names based on their crafting specialties), he also learns about the greatest elf of all… Mitch. He had three legs and was the last elf that was able to make it snow. Ironically, he was lost in a blizzard.
Naturally Rocko invites the elves to his party… something that does not sit well with Mr. Bighead. He’s also the only one who hadn’t received an invitation and he’s still upset about that.
Filbert happens to be strolling by when he tells him elves will be at the party and they carry disease. Because he’s a big germaphobe and hypochondriac, this puts him in such a panic. Filbert calls Dr. Hutchison to say he can’t go. This leads to a massive phone chain of random characters and all decide not to go. Even the elves themselves- by the time the phone reaches them, the rumor changes to some other race of critters that carry disease.
The worst part of all this- nobody thought to tell Rocko himself so the poor guy had everything set for the party and nobody showed up. Time passes and he decides it’s all ok as long as he and Spunky have each other. Then the little elf he saved from the mall comes and they hang out for a bit. Rocko expresses his disappointment about it not snowing so the elf goes outside to talk to the cloud that’s been hanging out above the house. It’s a silent conversation but he gets it to snow.
Everyone wakes up the next morning and finds out that Rocko’s house (and ONLY Rocko’s house) got a coating of snow. They collectively apologize for not coming and the party resumes as planned.
Mr. Bighead sees this and isn’t pleased. Then his doorbell rings and the little elf hands him his invitation. Apparently it’d been lost in the mail this whole time. Really lost- cuz it had all kinds of postmarks from foreign countries.
And a nice little thing at the end- aside from finding out Mitch was ok and had been on vacation this whole time…
Rocko gets a phone call from his parents wishing him merry Christmas and the snow spreads everywhere else.
Then it’s the next day and everyone simultaneously throws their Christmas trees out onto the curb.
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