Greatest Christmas Specials

Christmas and youth depicted through the eyes of a man remembering his childhood, A Christmas Story is the greatest Christmas film of all-time and features everything that makes Christmas a wonderful time of year.

Easily the most inspirational film of all time, It's A Wonderful Life is essential holiday viewing if only because the third act alone reminds us the joys of the holidays, family, and life, while the rest of the film reminds of the struggles to get there, thus making it all the more fulfilling by the final singing of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "Auld Lang Syne."

Narrated by Burl Ives, this Christmas classic features great Christmas imagery, wonderful voice performances, great songs, and a profound sense of the Christmas magic.

Clark Griswald's desire to have a fun old-fashioned family Christmas may just drive his family crazy, but it's certainly going to amuse and entertain the audience to a hysterical fit of laughter--and may even touch them with a good feeling of the true spirit of Christmas.

Though not really about Christmas... Holiday Inn nevertheless is about the glorious feelings that the holidays deliver and introduces the world to "White Christmas."

A very simple animated tale starring Charlie Brown that relies on the music, characters, and simple story to get its meaningful message of the spirit of Christmas across.

With Mickey Rooney doing a great vocal performance as the titular Santa Claus, this Rankin/Bass retelling of the origins of Santa may be farfetched, but is nonetheless full of the Christmas spirit we would expect to get out of a Rankin/Bass Christmas production.

Alastair Sim gives perhaps the greatest performances of Ebenezer Scrooge in this 1951 film adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Full of subtlety most versions miss in the tale as well as the payoff of the ending, this is the best version of A Christmas Carol I have seen to date.

A great and touching film about a sweet old man claiming to be the one and only Santa Claus--and about the people he changes in the process.

My favorite episode of M*A*S*H because it demonstrates literally everything that made the show great. In this extremely touching episode, the doctors are determined to keep a soldier from dying on Christmas so his children won't remember the holiday as the day their daddy died. Meanwhile, seemingly Scrooge-ish Winchester attempts to keep up a special Christmas tradition, and learns a valuable lesson in the process. The performances are top notch in this episode and the ending is especially emotional.

Funny and touching, Mr. Bean celebrates the season in his own special way. Full of one clever sight gag after another, this special should be viewed by everyone--even if they haven't seen the show.

Michael Caine is Scrooge and the Muppets pick up the supporting roles in this unique retelling of the Dickens tale. Full of heart and great songs, this is a welcomed entry into both the Muppets' filmography and Christmas Carol adaptations.

A relatively simple episode where we just get a bunch of hilarious holiday songs sung by the characters of South Park. However, the ending is particularly touching as the cast sings "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" while giving tribute to a cast member of the show who had passed away earlier in the season.

The audience really believes that peace is possible to accomplish in this highly underrated film about how three armies call a mutual ceasefire for the celebration of Christmas. Powerful and emotionally thought-provoking, this film is an essential Christmas viewing.

It’s definitely an atypical Christmas special, but it’s also very funny, quite adventurous, and works well at mixing the old with the new.

The heart of a child and a performance by Macaulay Culkin before he became a marketing tool elevates this slapstick comedy to refreshing heights--complete with a wonderful message about being with family for the holidays.

When a mall Santa gets fired on Christmas Eve for being drunk, he finds a magic bag that always gives the correct gift. This touching episode of The Twilight Zone exhibits great writing and a lot of heart, praising those who give their hearts to the Christmas season.

George C. Scott’s performance as Scrooge is arguably one of the greatest portrayals of the character in history and his performance, as well as a great deal of the minor actors’ performances, help make this made-for-TV version of the story among the best, in spite of some mundane directorial efforts.

When the M*A*S*H camp priest, Father Mulcahy, feels his lack of usefulness during during the holiday season, the rest of the camp ultimately show him how much they do need him. It's an uplifting and powerful episode, showing the strength of the show on full display.

Will promises that a hip band will sing at his cousin's christening and determines to see his promise through to the end. The episode is set at Christmas and features some great music, a good message, and one of the best endings to any Fresh Prince episode ever.

The message about the unfortunate during the holidays is a little heavy-handed, but this episode of The Golden Girls has more heart in it than most films and specials do. It's a wonderful episode about what the misfortunate go through during the holiday season.

The rare South Park episode that gives a straight Christmas moral rather than an anti-message. It's all about censoring aspects of Christmas based on religious and personal views instead of enjoying the lovable holiday for what it is--and by the end, they manage to do just that.

Eh. I feel like I saw this too many times as a kid and it doesn't really hold up with multiple viewings. Even so.... its message, performances, imagery, and songs ooze of the holiday season and remind us what it's all about.

Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye star in this Christmas classic as a pair of entertainers who must save the hotel of an old officer of theirs from their army days. There actually aren't a whole lot of events or songs that have to do with Christmas in this film, but the spirit of the holiday is what supports it.

A typically hilarious episode of MST3K. The cast riffs on one of the worst Christmas films ever made, and the result is one heck of a good time. Also, the cast invents some special toys to be sent to The Island Of Misfit Toys.