Day five of my Christmas reviews. Tonight, The Simpsons Christmas Special, otherwise known by the name "Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire", which first aired on December 17, 1989, twenty-five years ago this week.
Homer and Marge show up late to the Springfield Elementary Christmas pageant, featuring Bart in the fourth grade choir singing "Jingle Bells" ("Batman smells/Robin laid an egg…) and Lisa as the torch-juggling Tawanga, the Santa Claus of the South Seas.
Back at home, the kids begin making out their Christmas lists: a pony for Lisa and a tattoo for Bart. Homer, meanwhile, finds out he won't be getting his Christmas bonus. Marge takes the kids Christmas shopping with her jar full of Christmas money, but is forced to use it to get laser removal for the tattoo Bart tries to get behind her back. This leaves the family without funds for Christmas, though Homer has kept the truth about his bonus from Marge.
Depressed, Homer nurses a beer at Moe's Tavern when Barney comes in wearing a Santa suit. He gets Homer a secret part-time job as a mall Santa, but Bart discovers the truth when he jumps in Homer's lap and yanks his false beard. Left with only thirteen dollars after deductions for his efforts, Homer is talked into trying his luck at the dog track with Barney. He dismisses Barney's hot tip after hearing about a dog named Santa's Little Helper, taking it as a sign. Barney's dog wins while Santa's Little Helper takes a distant last place.
Homer and Bart try searching the parking lot for a discarded winning ticket, but get nowhere. As they start for home, they come across Santa's Little Helper, tossed out by his owner for losing too many races. Homer and Bart take him home, seeing a kindred spirit in a born loser. Homer comes in and starts to confess to the family about his bonus, but Bart brings in Santa's Little Helper to the surprise and delight of the family. In the end, Homer saves Christmas for the family after all.
…
This is one of my favorite Christmas specials ever; it might be the one I like the most.
Having turned thirty this year, I'm old enough to remember those earliest days of The Simpsons, when parents believed that Bart Simpson was a bad influence. Maybe he was at the time, but looking back on those oldest episodes, Bart's antics can sometimes seem almost quaint in comparison to what happens on television now. Times change, I guess.
By the time of this special, the Simpsons characters had already been on television for two years, as brief shorts on The Tracy Ullman Show, which debuted on Fox in the spring of 1987. This episode depicts a time so early in the actors' performances that Homer still had traces of his original voice, which slowly evolved over time. At this point, actor Dan Castellaneta was still doing, as he put it, a bad Walter Matthau impression. At this point, Homer hasn't quite taken on that higher-sounding slow-headed pitch his voice would have.
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