Friday, December 07, 2018
Fri-Yay: The Disappearing Art of the Holiday Episode; The Simpsons Turns 30 Years Old with Specials on Fox and FXX
by Vincent
As sitcoms move more towards cable and streaming, one "art" that I fear is becoming a bit lost is holiday episodes. Truthfully, one of the more exciting aspects of a sitcom used to be how you could spend the entire year with your favorite characters. They would be with you as you celebrated Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and even through each season. This, of course, is when each sitcom would run for the whole year. Now that sitcoms are becoming more and more like the rest of TV, moving towards shorter, more contained seasons, the holiday episode has gone to the wayside in some respects.
Granted, some sitcoms - especially network sitcoms - still do holiday episodes each year, and do them well. Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Halloween episodes are a staple. Superstore depicts the retail craziness of the holiday season brilliantly. However, there are so many great shows that we'll never really see a holiday episode of, or at least, not on an annual basis like we once did. It's just one of the many ways that sitcoms have changed as television itself has changed as a medium. Granted, many of these changes are for the positive, and in general I think it benefits TV to move towards this direction. However, I'll miss the traditions like holiday specials. Some shows have gotten around this - for example, BoJack Horseman dropped a surprise Christmas episode in the December after its first season. It'd be cool if more shows were able to do that - if not, then I guess it's just another TV tradition that will one day be of the past.
FXX and Fox have joined forces to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Simpsons with two special events this month. On Sunday, December 16, FXX will air a 15-hour marathon featuring episodes specifically curated for this special programming event by executive producer Al Jean. The 30-episode marathon begins at 9 a.m. ET/PT and ends at midnight on FXX, cable's exclusive home for The Simpsons. One week later, Fox will air a special encore of The Simpsons first-ever full-length episode, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire," on Sunday, December 23 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. In this encore of the 1989 Christmas special, Homer (Dan Castellaneta) tries to earn extra money to buy Christmas presents for the family, and everything he does goes wrong. Fortunately, he is rescued by Santa's Little Helper. All-new episodes from the 30th season of The Simpsons air Sundays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight
Friday, March 5
none scheduled
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 1)
Friday, March 5
- Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster/Sabrina, the Teenage Witch) - Watch Soleil on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows) - Harvey is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Arsenio Hall (Arsenio) - Arsenio appears on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Adam DeVine (Workaholics/Modern Family) - Adam is a guest on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
- Kathryn Hahn (Happyish/Transparent/Free Agents) - Kathryn chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Kate Walsh (Bad Judge/The Drew Carey Show) - Kate is a guest on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
- Eddie Murphy (The PJs) - Eddie talks about Coming 2 America on LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
- Randall Park (Fresh Off the Boat) - Randall appears on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
- Kyle Massey (Cory in the House/That's So Raven) - Kyle is a guest on The Real, so check your local listings.
- Amy Poehler (Duncanville/Parks and Recreation) - Amy will be on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
- Ben Feldman (Superstore/A to Z/Living with Fran) - Ben appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
- Zach Braff (Alex, Inc./Scrubs) and Donald Faison (The Exes/Scrubs/Clueless) - Zach and Donald talk about the Fake Doctors, Real Friends podcast on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Keshia Knight Pulliam (Tyler Perry's House of Payne/The Cosby Show) - Keshia is a guest on Access Daily, so check your local listings.
New on DVD/Blu-ray (October-February)
10/13 - The Jetsons - The Complete Series (Diamond Collection)
10/13 - Our Cartoon President - Season Two
10/23 - Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em - The Complete Collection
10/27 - The Flintstones - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
10/27 - Head of the Class - The Complete Second Season (WBShop.com)
11/10 - Letterkenny - Seasons 5 & 6
11/10 - The Office - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/10 - Schitt's Creek - The Complete Collection
11/17 - Carol's Second Act - The Complete Series
11/17 - Robbie - Season 1
11/24 - Corporate - Season 1
11/26 - Man with a Plan - Season Four
12/01 - The Neighborhood - Season Two
12/15 - Avenue 5 - The Complete First Season
01/22 - Corporate - Season 2
01/22 - Corporate - Season 3
02/02 - Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In - The Complete Series (2021 Retail Release)
02/16 - Fam - The Complete Series
02/23 - Betty White's Pet Set - The Complete Series
03/02 - Blue Mountain State - The Complete Series
03/02 - Happy Together - The Complete Series
03/02 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-4 (DVD) (Blu-ray)
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