Sure, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is a heartwarming classic. And who doesn’t get a little misty-eyed every time "It’s A Wonderful Life" comes on the small screen?
But let’s face it: By this point in the holiday season, you’re probably a bit tired of the all the usual Christmas suspects. What you really need is to sit back with some egg nog and relive memories of… a Pac-Man Christmas!
Or how about watching Dolly Parton flirt with Bob Hope in a holiday setting? A teenage Michael Jackson trading holiday greetings with Oscar the Grouch?
They’re all here in TV MoJoe’s first annual roundup of the Craziest, Coolest and Cheesiest Christmas Moments.
We’ve scoured the interweb to put together a collection of full-length episodes, clips and even a few commercials guaranteed to make you smile. Or cringe. Quite possibly, some of these videos are so horrid, you may never visit this blog again.
There are a few genuinely classic moments here, too — such as the "I Love Lucy" gang serenading viewers with Christmas songs, a great episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and Alec Baldwin showing off his Schweddy balls.
Not included: The "Star Wars Christmas Special." That’s so 2003.
Happy Holidays!
And now, in no particular order, 20 Yuletide moments from the vaults:
1. A CBS holiday greeting from the mid-1960s. Yes, a broadcast network really aired something this classy.
2. The Smurfs Christmas. In honor of the upcoming big screen massacre, er, homage to the original cartoon classic.
3. Ain’t we lucky we got Bookman doing some Christmas boogie-ing via "Good Times."
4. Commercial break: The Coke polar bears.
5. This has held up quite well: Baldwin’s holiday balls.
6. We love Urkel (yes, I did say that). Here’s a scene from one of the many timeless holiday episodes of "Family Matters."
7. Get out your hankies: This may be the most melancholy musical number ever from an animated Christmas special. It’s "All Alone in the World" from "Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol."
8. Yes, we love the 70s. Here’s a Sony-produced minisode of a Christmas edition of "What’s Happening?"
9. And yes, we love the 80, too. A minisode of "Silver Spoons" featuring a really pint-sized Joey Lawrence. Whoa, whoa, whoa– merry Christmas!
10. Commercial break: The Norelco Santa.
11. We didn’t forget the 50s: Here’s Lucy and the gang dressed as Santas, singing their hearts out.
12. Nothing cheesy about this fine episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Mare has to work Christmas Eve. (We feel her pain).
13. Really, it wouldn’t be Christmas without some Cher. You can have heart-felt….
14. …or rock and roll/upbeat.
15. Commercial break: McDonald’s knows how to do holiday campaigns. This one features one of the Corys, before it all went south.
16. As if the Smurfs special weren’t bad enough, they actually gave Pac-Man a full-length holiday special.
17. "Alf" got a full hour! First a preview…
18. Christmas is all about random celebrities coming together in song. Like Dolly Parton and Bob Hope….
19. …or Michael Jackson and Oscar the Grouch. (Bonus: Ethel Merman murdering "Tomorrow." MJ is about 3 minutes in).
20. Finally: The Muppets! With John Denver!
