Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Simpsons Season 36 special, “O C'Mon All Ye Faithful.”
While The Simpsons Season 36's holiday special features a completely original plot, the double-sized Christmas episode also took the opportunity to parody a trio of classic Christmas specials. The Simpsons Season 36's changes to the show's formula led to the series receiving praise. Despite having aired more than 770 episodes throughout its 36 years on air, The Simpsons proved that it still has a lot of creativity with episodes that play with its format, rewrite its canon and disregard conventions in favor of invention. As Vulture observed in 2023, The Simpsons It's officially good again.
While the show hasn't returned to the cynical, grounded tone of The Simpsons'At the start of the holiday episodes, Season 36 managed to tone down the craziness of recent seasons in favor of more character-driven writing. The Simpsons Season 36’s Christmas special, the double-sized “O C’Mon All Ye Faithful,” is a stellar example of this approach. For the most part, this outing is a sweet story of Ned Flanders losing and regaining his faith in Christmas. However, The Simpsons found space in this emotionally resonant storyline to parody a trio of iconic Christmas TV specials.
The Simpsons turns Mr. Burns into the Grinch
The Simpsons spoofed the Grinch with Burns' change of heart
Just a few weeks later The Simpsons The second Treehouse of Horror special of season 36 parodied the work of Ray Bradbury, the series took on another iconic 20th century author with a parody of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Written by Dr. Seuss in 1957, this holiday classic was adapted in 1966 by legendary animator Chuck Jones. “O C'Mon All Ye Faithful” parodies this adaptation with a moment in which Homer, convinced he is Santa Claus, presents Smithers with a thimble. Mr. Burns sees the gift and assumes it was made for him, and the joy that ensues has catastrophic consequences.
Like the Grinch, Mr. Burns' heart grows three times as he takes on the familiar appearance of the Seuss character. Of course, since this is The Simpsonsthe resulting medical complications mean that Mr. Burns is rushed into emergency surgery to fix his rapidly swelling heart. This hilariously literal and horrifying interpretation of the metaphorical original line doesn't stop Burns from smiling and spreading Christmas cheer as he's wheeled into the emergency room. However, this is far from the only parody of an iconic Christmas TV special included in “O C’Mon All Ye Faithful.”
Bart's gang recreates the Peanuts Christmas special
The Simpsons Imitated Charlie Brown's Iconic Christmas Dance
Later, in “O C'Mon All Ye Faithful”, Bart admits to Lisa that he wasn't feeling the Christmas spirit when he danced at school. The special then cuts to a sequence that recreates an iconic scene from 1965. A Charlie Brown Christmaswith Bart, Lisa, Milhouse, Sherri, Terri, Janey and Lewis dancing, while Richard plays piano, Wendell plays bass and Santa's Little Helper plays guitar. While one Simpsons The Treehouse of Horror episode offered a silly parody of “It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown,” the season 36 homage played surprisingly straight.
Bart finally got his Christmas spirit back when he and Milhouse played a prank on the Flanders family.
Bart's inability to access the Christmas spirit defined his character's arc throughout the special, and it was met with the same sympathy as Charlie Brown's plight in A Charlie Brown Christmas. Fortunately, Bart finally got his Christmas spirit back when he and Milhouse played a prank on the Flanders family to convince them that the Christmas spirit was invading their home. In a sweet nod to a previous Simpsons Christmas Special, Marge questioned how scary Bart's chosen prank was, but thanked him for trying to spread Christmas joy in his unique way.
Homer's Impact on Springfield Mirrors a Holiday Classic
Springfield takes Santa Claus and it's going too far for the city's history
Finally, The Simpsons Season 36's holiday special was also reminiscent of the 1970 Rankin/Bass stop-motion special Santa Claus is coming to town. Homer's influence on Springfield as Santa Claus was similar to Santa Claus's role in Santa Claus is coming to townbut Springfield inevitably took things too far and guest star Derren Brown ended up being forced to reveal to Homer that he wasn't really Santa Claus after all. Homer's failed attempts to get the role back further parodied the Christmas classic.
Although Ralph broke him out of prison, Homer accepted that he would be better off playing Santa Claus to his own family.
Homer continued his attempts to play Santa Claus in “O C'Mon All Ye Faithful”, filling a sleigh with toys and trying to deliver them with Ralph as his helper. The Simpsons Season 36's Ralph/Homer team-up was cut short when Homer was immediately arrested by the police while Ralph escaped. Although Ralph broke him out of prison, Homer accepted that he would be better off playing Santa Claus to his own family. That's why, The Simpsons Season 36's Christmas special ended with an ending that wasn't as sweet as the ending of Santa Claus is coming to townbut still perfect for the series.
Source: Vulture