The holidays are about love? False. The holidays are about sitcom Christmas specials.

Such has always been my philosophy in regards to the winter season, but this year I took my typical viewing to another level. I asked those around me for their takes on the best holiday specials of all time, added in a few of my own, and spent hours on Google searching for “greatest sitcom Christmas episodes” and “sitcoms with holiday specials” and eventually just “sitcoms I haven’t seen already.” 

I also set a few limits on the shows I chose: live-action only, watchable with no context, and strictly from series that could be conceivably classified as situational comedies (so to the three different people who told me to watch “Supernatural”…no.)

Eventually, I had a list of 25 (well, actually 28) episodes that other people thought were the best, and after watching all of them, I condensed them into categories based on my own opinion, which is objectively more correct. If you dare to disagree, leave a comment letting us know your favorite!

“Regional Holiday Music” – “Community”

Absolutely everything is perfect about this. Other holiday specials seethe with jealousy and plot their revenge. An homage to cheesy musical movies, this episode contrasts the show’s typical dark humor and meta jokes with ridiculous, over-the-top songs.

When the main group finds themselves the target of the Glee group sponsor at their community college, they are each corrupted by holiday spirit that spreads like a virus. (As far as I’m concerned, this is the only accurate depiction of what it feels like when everyone suddenly starts singing Christmas songs.) “Community” as a show has some hits and misses (far more misses), but they must have been saving up creative energy for their Christmas episodes. As someone who has, in some form of self-punishment, watched the entire series multiple times, I really enjoyed seeing some of the more serious characters singing wacky songs with a shameless amount of autotune.

If you only plan on watching one sitcom episode this holiday season—or if you doubt my taste in TV shows and need a safe bet—make it this one.

“Santa” – “New Girl”

This might not be the greatest episode to watch with the family, but it is pretty hilarious. The main cast hops between Christmas parties over the course of one night, while Jess, the show’s protagonist, runs from an ex-boyfriend who desperately wants her back. The format works well to keep the plot moving, as before each new party, the show displays a Christmas card to set the new mood. 

I honestly don’t have much to say about this; I just genuinely love every second. 

Jess reaches her full manic pixie disaster girl potential, Nick and Winston act completely insane, and Schmidt takes his role as the token non-Christian very seriously. There are a lot of different plot lines, conflicts and running jokes, and the show does a good job of balancing all of them. It knows that you aren’t consciously thinking about every single one, and it uses that to its advantage by having them collide in funny and unexpected ways.

“Perspectives On Christmas” – “Frasier”

Yeah, this one surprised me too. I was incredibly reluctant to watch this show, but I got so hooked from the singular episode that lines from it now occasionally bounce around my head. For such an old show, it holds up insanely well, with the humor remaining relevant and funny, and few references to contemporary culture or events, which would ruin this one for me since it was made in 1997. Not only that, but it holds up on rewatches too, with the jokes still landing perfectly even after you know what happens.

Each of four characters tells their story of Christmas, meaning that as the episode progresses, the viewer gets a broader view of the story than any individual character within it. This format has been done to death, then brought back to life and beaten to death again, but hear me out one last time! This one is the best. Not because of some spectacular meta joke or something that “pushes the limits of what storytelling can be,” but because actual thought was so clearly put into each different section. 

Instead of retelling the same exact plot with minor changes, each character goes different places, interacts with different people, and gets into completely different situations while seeing each other for a moment or two only. Additionally, the writers don’t rely on the creativity of their formatting to carry the episode, and instead, each character’s experience is individually funny and interesting. 

Having never seen any episodes of “Frasier” before, I was also surprised at how instantaneously I connected with and learned about the characters. Every single woman in the cast is the most gorgeous person I’ve ever seen, and every single man looks like he just crawled out of a sewer, but despite that, I loved all of them and felt like I knew a lot about their personalities even though I had only just met them.

“Yippie Kayak” – “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”

If you haven’t seen this before, change that. The entire episode is an homage to the greatest Christmas movie of all time (“Die Hard”), so I’m already on board, but the writing and situational humor makes it even better (if that was possible). 

Jake’s obsession with “Die Hard” throughout the show has undoubtedly inspired many a viewer (myself included) to watch the legendary movie, and in this episode, the writers proved that they too were capable of creating a holiday classic police action film while also balancing that plot line with other typical aspects of the show. Jake, Charles and Gina end up trapped in a store when a group of robbers takes over the evening before Christmas. The characters endlessly point out the similarities of their situation to John McClane’s, with Charles even shouting a jumbled version of the famous catchphrase. 

Meanwhile, the other members of the squad abandon their Christmas plans and rush to aid their trapped members. Terry’s fights with “The Vulture” on the outside of the shop lend the situation some lightness. (Don’t think about it too hard, but for the civilians inside the store, these circumstances are definitely not as fun and exciting, even if Jake is having the time of his life.)

“The One With The Holiday Armadillo” – “Friends”

Before this, I had never seen a single episode of “Friends,” (unbelievable, I know) but this one alone might be enough motivation to go back and watch some more.

Though there really wasn’t enough time in the episode for all of the storylines that they tried to squeeze in (Ross trying to make the holidays fun for his son, Chandler and Monica trying to get a reservation, and Phoebe trying to drive Rachel out of Joey’s apartment), they were all enjoyable, and the tight time frame guaranteed that not a single moment felt unneeded or slow.

As the title promises, there is indeed a “Holiday Armadillo,” and it is by far the best part of the episode. The comedic timing of the cut from Ross asking the store clerk what costumes they have left to the moment when he shows up at his house in full armadillo dress needs to be studied. Genius.

“It’s a Very Sunny Christmas” – “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”

Here’s an approximate log of my thoughts as I watched this episode:

8:40 p.m. WAIT THAT GUY LOOKS JUST LIKE PETE WENTZ! (He does; look it up.)

8:45 p.m. Woah, people really aren’t exaggerating when they talk about this show.

8:55 p.m. No. NO. NO NO NO.

9:05 p.m. This is so incredibly disturbing. Why do people like this?

9:06 p.m. All right, I almost respect it at this point.

9:07 p.m. Never mind.

9:14 p.m. That was the most disturbing thing I have ever seen.

Naturally, after I finished, I immediately began watching the entire series from the beginning. 

In terms of plot, Dee and Dennis discover a former colleague of Frank’s who he presumed dead, and decide to recreate the events “A Christmas Carol” with this “ghost” in the hopes that Frank will have a change of heart. I found this pretty typical; nothing was that bad yet. Simultaneously, Mac and Charlie seemed to just want to have a fun Christmas together, but, as they are both either idiots or psychopaths (I genuinely couldn’t tell), everything goes wrong. 

They didn’t hold back on the gore and explicitness here, and I definitely saw some things that I never expected to see in a sitcom. It also ends with a claymation sequence that makes me hope to someday uncover the secret to targeted memory removal. 

If you do watch this, be prepared.

“The Polarizing Express” – “Psych”

The first time I watched this a year or two ago, violently ill and half-asleep, I thought I had imagined it. Nope. Turns out it’s just really weird. 

After conducting an illegal search for a case that we learn little about, Shawn fights with his father and his boss before falling into a series of strange, Christmas-themed dreams, each depicting what might have happened to the people he cares about had he never returned to Santa Barbara. (Apparently this is a common theme for Christmas specials because “The Cooper Extraction” from “The Big Bang Theory” did the exact same thing.) 

From the scattered episodes I had previously seen of “Psych” and the information I know about the series, Shawn’s predictions don’t seem very accurate, but the absurdity ultimately adds to the wacky, enjoyable quality of this show. 

For the second half, it reverts back to a typical “Psych” episode, with the main cast hunting down a criminal and solving their original case in about a third of the time usually reserved for that kind of thing. It definitely feels like two stories mashed together, but it also keeps moving quick enough to justify it. By the end, they seem to just be spouting mushy Christmas nonsense, but at that point you’re so into it that who really cares? It was fun!

“Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” – “Community”

In this episode, “Community” combined two of my greatest childhood fears: “Willy Wonka” (1971) and claymation. Bold choice. But strangely, it works. 

The creativity of the premise sells the episode overall, since it falls fairly average in terms of storytelling and character dynamics. Certainly not every sitcom can boast a plot line in which one of the main characters has a psychotic episode that causes him to see the entire world as a claymation Christmas movie in which most of his friends die in unpleasant yet comedically framed ways. The actual animation is extremely impressive (though it does get a bit tiring for someone who, say, writes multi-paragraph rankings of sitcoms while limiting the list to only live action shows because cartoons are annoying and unsettling).

“Afternoon Delight” – “Arrested Development”

This really does not make much sense without context, nor does it feel very Christmas-y, but as long as you don’t think too much about the larger plot, it can be watched individually.

The plot does technically revolve around Christmas, and includes two Christmas parties, which allow for a somewhat contained story arc. At the first party, GOB fires all of the Bluth Company employees, so Michael works on a second in order to hire them back and win their forgiveness. Meanwhile, Lucille becomes nervous and lonely, and Maeby grows frustrated when everyone in the family ignores her. 

Learning about some of the odd Christmas “traditions” in the “Arrested Development” world also gives the episode some spirit. Apparently it is a local custom for children to vandalize the Bluth’s property, and seeing Michael, the only genuine and grounded member of the family deal with it is so incredibly funny for some reason. Who knew that laughing at another’s sorrows could be so fun? 

Another favorite of the Christmas traditions depicted in the episode is Ann’s holiday celebration. George Michael attends her—very religious—family’s Christmas party, and finds it to be…well, the narrator puts it best: “The word George Michael was looking for was ‘creepy.’”

The repetition of the “afternoon delight” joke is by far the best part, though, with all of the characters taking the phrase to mean different things. Michael and Maeby sing the song “Afternoon Delight” as karaoke at the first Christmas party without realizing what the lyrics are saying…and then later on Lindsay and George Michael make the exact same mistake. There’s also a moment where Michael and Oscar both use the phrase as a euphemism for two entirely different things, leading to a chain of events that results in a spectacular climax. (That’s how you execute a good misunderstanding-based joke. Take some notes, “Modern Family.”)

Aside from all of the elaborate jokes, the absurd nature of the characters creates a constantly humorous tone. They’re just…so incredibly, unbelievably awful. Perfection.

“My Whole Life Is Thunder” – “30 Rock”

Other than a few decorations in the background, “My Whole Life Is Thunder” basically just feels like a regular “30 Rock” episode. That being said, “30 Rock” is pretty awesome. 

Liz and Jenna argue over wedding drama as Liz prepares to receive an award for her work as an “influential woman,” Kenneth falls into a bit of a depression while Tracy tries to cheer him up with woefully unsuccessful television homages, and Jack grapples with harsh sadness after his mother dies (just kidding; he hated her!).

While Liz and Jenna are always entertaining and their dynamic definitely fuels the show, Kenneth and Tracy’s also gets time to shine—and shine it does. Tracy has gone so far off the rails that seeing him try to do something nice for someone as sweet and innocent (if also a bit insane) as Kenneth is endlessly funny.

However all of these fall short of Jack’s plot line. Anyone familiar with “30 Rock”’s Christmas episodes knows that Jack’s evil Irish mother always shows up to ruin any fleeting happiness he might have experienced over the last year. Since this is the last season of the show, the creators finally kill off the despicable old woman. Jack is just as thrilled as I am, and he prepares what I can only describe as the greatest eulogy in television history. My words could not do it justice.

“The Pontiac Bandit Returns” – “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”

Aside from the cold open (one of the show’s best), not much of this episode feels like it necessarily had to take place during the holiday season. 

The main plot, featuring Jake’s reunion with an old friend/enemy, has little to do with Christmas, despite being objectively amazing. The side plots (Amy creates a gift for Captain Holt, and Charles and Gina plan to ruin their parents’ relationship) fall a little short and don’t contribute much to the show or even episode as a whole.

Really, just watch the opening scene.

“Mork’s First Christmas” – “Mork and Mindy”

This is really cute! I definitely didn’t tear up on three separate occasions.

Aesthetically speaking, I have never before seen something so clearly made in the ‘70s, and honestly I love it for that. The concept of this show has intrigued me for a while (an alien comes to Earth to study humanity, and lives with a human roommate who helps him hide his identity), but it seems fairly grounded as a sitcom, with defined, funny storylines and a sense that it could go on for a long time without the larger plot needing to progress.

Mork first perceives “Christmas” to be a plague causing the locals to act strangely, and after Mindy explains the holiday to him, he becomes determined to celebrate it, having all of the spirit and none of the know-how.

The gifts that Mork makes for his friends display a certain…uniqueness: a sculpture made of dried-up chewing gum, a terrible hat, a bracelet of dead flies (a personal favorite), and a singular shallow saucer. Watch out, loved ones! I’m getting ideas.

“Ron and Diane” – “Parks and Recreation”

I love “Parks and Rec,” and I especially love Ron Swanson. Ron Swanson does not love talking about his love life, but I certainly love learning about it, so I relish episodes such as this one. 

Ron’s evil ex-wife Tammy #2 returns (I love her I love her I love her I love her) to cause chaos and create rifts in his new relationship with Diane, but Diane feels that she can handle Tammy, and instead finds herself more threatened by Leslie’s close relationship with Ron. Seeing Leslie protect Ron from Tammy’s violent advances made my day, especially during their fight as the episode neared its end.

The side plot about Jerry’s Christmas party was just as funny and touching. Ben and Chris have such a great dynamic, and they actually get to spend the entirety of this episode together while both in a stable headspace, which is a holiday gift on its own. Meanwhile, Andy, April, and Tom remain trapped outside in the snow, which seems fitting punishment considering that they had mocked Jerry the entire year. 

In the end, it’s a nice lighthearted episode. There are a lot of inside jokes that require context (mentions of Duke Silver, Tammy #2’s past, the whole running joke about Jerry, etc.), but even on its own, I can still imagine this being pretty awesome.

“Dwight Christmas” – “The Office”

Dwight throws a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas party, and for once, Jim and Pam are totally on board with Dwight’s idea. Everyone who has seen this episode remembers the absurdity and hilariousness of Dwight’s costume and celebrations, and while they certainly put the episode in Hall of Fame territory for Christmas specials, the expressions of sheer delight on Jim and Pam’s faces as they saw Dwight prepare fueled a little glowing ball of light in my chest that I’m hoping will stick around and keep me alive through exams.

In a secondary plot, Erin watches “Die Hard” with Pete, who can apparently quote the entirety of the movie from memory, making him my hero. They don’t spend too much time on this, which means that every single moment that we do see of this plot line feels thoughtful and perfect, and it doesn’t overshadow the main focus of Dwight’s antics. 

Underneath the main plot lies the tension of Jim’s imminent departure from the office (he plans to take a new job in Philadelphia), and while I will refrain from spoiling the ending, it is genuinely touching and the reminder that Dwight and Jim really do care for each other means so much, especially at this point in the series.

On a less mushy note, BELSHNICKEL IS HERE. HAVE YOU BEEN IMPISH OR ADMIRABLE? Put yourself firmly on the “admirable” side by adding this to your watchlist this holiday season!

“Citizen Knope” – “Parks and Recreation”

With Leslie suspended and Ben having resigned in disgrace (a phrase he repeats unfortunately often throughout the episode), both have to find distractions during the holiday season. Ben searches for a new job at a comically boring accounting firm, and Leslie forms a series of poorly-named citizen action groups in order to lobby for the changes that she would have otherwise implemented.

I forgot how much I loved Chris as a character until he appeared in this episode, trying to hold together the local government against Leslie’s attacks. His relentless optimism elevates the humor of Leslie’s anger with him from absurd (derogatory) to absurd (complimentary). 

In Leslie’s absence, the department bands together to build a giant gingerbread model of the office as a gift for her. The building is actually pretty cool, and “Marshmallow Ron Swanson” (with his arms crossed because he hates the other marshmallow employees!) is iconic.

“The Santa Simulation” – “The Big Bang Theory”

I don’t think I would choose to watch this again, but it was fun while it lasted. The guys spend the holidays playing an extreme game of Dungeons and Dragons that makes me almost want to try it, while the girls go for a night out together. 

Nothing is too serious, and most of it is genuinely funny, making this one of the better episodes of “The Big Bang Theory” that I’ve seen.

“Classy Christmas” – “The Office”

This is a two-part special, so listing it as one item probably pushes the limits of what I’m doing here, but you can’t watch one part without the other. (That being said, part two is better.)

I’m not really one for relationship drama, so the whole Michael-Holly-AJ love triangle bored me a bit, but Jim and Dwight’s snowball war more than makes up for it. After Jim throws a snowball at Dwight, Dwight takes his revenge a bit too far, and begins terrorizing Jim while everyone else remains clueless of his suffering. Basically all of the humor in the episode stems from this singular concept, but hey, you get to see Jim driven to the brink of insanity. I’m not complaining.

Simultaneously, there’s a cute side plot in which Darryl brings his daughter to the office for Christmas; not much happens with it, but it does make the episode as a whole feel complete.

These episodes were better the first time I watched them since a lot of the comedy comes from the element of surprise, so rewatching was a bit disappointing, but they’re definitely worth checking out at least once.

“Ludachristmas” – “30 Rock”

One of the things I love most about “30 Rock” is its absurdity, lack of continuity, and straight-up impossibility, and unfortunately this episode lacks some of that. It’s still good, but not watch-it-religiously-every-year-as-a-holiday-tradition good.

By far, the best moment is when Kenneth stops the entire office’s holiday party (which he perceives as sinful) and forces everyone to endure presumably hours of discussion about the real meaning of Christmas.

“The Strike” – “Seinfeld”

Yes, the famous “Festivus” episode. 

George reveals that as a child, he and Frank used to celebrate a holiday called Festivus, which scorned the commercialism of Christmas and focused instead on more important aspects of the season, such as telling your loved ones how much they disappoint you, putting up a metal pole, and performing “feats of strength.” Personally, I find commercialism to be the only appealing part of Christmas (how else would we get all of these holiday specials?), so I have some fundamental issues I would like to discuss with Frank Costanza, but I do get the spirit.

In terms of actual plot, there really is not much. Elaine probably carries the only part of the show that is funny both in concept and execution (she spends the entire episode looking for a man she met at a party so that she can get back a card that she gave him and win a free bagel). Also, I’m just going to say it: Kramer is not as funny as he thinks he is.

I think this is better appreciated for its iconic made-up holiday than the content of the episode itself, which is perfectly all right, but probably not worth multiple watches.

“Carol of the Bells” – “Ted Lasso”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I hate the 2020s. Among the many reasons for that sentiment is the fact that every movie and show seems to have this weird, over-saturated, artificial-looking appearance that makes every single piece of media look like it escaped from the same Mod and Sim student’s computer. It’s creepy. That specific pet peeve aside, “Carol of the Bells” was all right.

I didn’t get into “Ted Lasso” back when everyone was watching it when it first aired, and I honestly don’t think I ever will, but I can see why it appealed to some people. It was easy to watch and low-stakes, without much complexity to the plot. They didn’t try to force any drama between the characters, and parts of it were genuinely pretty sweet.

The holiday special made very little sense without context, and I’m fairly certain that there were no jokes? Or at least none that were funny? I had to Google “Is Ted Lasso a sitcom?” at least three times as I watched this in order to even justify including it in my list.

Basically, everyone in the show celebrates Christmas in their own ways: the coach by hosting a party for some of the players, Keeley and Roy by taking care of a child (I’m not sure whose), and Ted over FaceTime with his family. There’s a nice moment where the characters from all the different storylines are ringing doorbells simultaneously (which I’m now realizing was where the episode title came from), and they all overlap as the plots build towards their climax. 

Of the three, I definitely enjoyed the storyline in which the players celebrate Christmas at their coach’s house the most. There isn’t much conflict in any of the plots, so not much happens, but watching these soccer players have a Nerf gun battle with a bunch of children really made the episode.

“The Cooper Extraction” – “The Big Bang Theory”

While Sheldon goes to visit his sister when she has a baby, the entire group jumps at the chance to actually celebrate a normal Christmas without him around. Then for most of the episode they sit in a circle discussing what life would have been like without Sheldon entirely. 

It might have been that by this point I had seen about 20 holiday specials already, but nothing really stood out about this episode. “Psych” did the whole what-would-have-happened-if-this-guy-was-gone bit much better, and I preferred “The Santa Simulation” as an episode of “The Big Bang Theory,” since it felt more fitting with the tone and characters of that show.

Sheldon’s appearances on a FaceTime call are probably a highlight, since he contributed a few good jokes, and his presence made the show feel complete without inhibiting the premise of the episode.

“How Lily Stole Christmas” – “How I Met Your Mother”

I wanted so badly to prove all of the people  wrong who told me that “How I Met Your Mother” wouldn’t be my style, but sadly, they may have been right. 

It had its moments, but I found the characters difficult to cheer for (or against, honestly; I just did not care what happened to them) and the plot lacking. This seems like a great sitcom for someone more inclined towards relationship drama, because even though I really didn’t care about the breakups and betrayals and such, I still found it entertaining and funny in some parts nonetheless.

While decorating for Christmas with Marshall away, Ted and Lily find a message that Ted had previously left on an answering machine calling Lily something not-so-awesome, which Ted filters out as “Grinch.” The censoring is pretty creative, and reminds the audience that Ted is telling this story to his kids, so he does have the power to change what the characters do and say in order to make himself look better if needed. In fact, if you think about it, he could have just made up the entire show. I mean, who remembers his entire post-college experience that clearly?

Meanwhile, Barney has a cold. Yep. That’s the entire secondary plot. It is pretty funny though. 

Once Marshall gets back from apparently delivering every single package the whole crew goes to Staten Island to save Ted from his ultra-religious family, with whom he has decided to spend the holiday. It doesn’t seem super believable that Ted himself wouldn’t have to apologize for anything, but it is possible that he’s manipulating the story a bit as he tells it. Again, publish my “How I Met Your Mother” conspiracy theory!

“The Last Christmas” – Modern Family

I know that some people will see this listed and say, “Oh, you should really watch a different episode if you’re going to do one from ‘Modern Family;’ just give it a fair shot!” or “What about the one where they go stay in that cabin?” or “They have good Christmas episodes, and ‘The Last Christmas’ isn’t the best representation of the show.” 

Well, I really could have chosen any holiday special from “Modern Family” and it still would’ve made the bottom of my list. I’ve seen all of them. Yes, even the one where they go stay in that cabin. And I actually think that “The Last Christmas” is the perfect representation of the show as a whole, because it demonstrates everything wrong with it. My complaints go as follows:

1. Every single plot line is a miscommunication conflict. This show is exactly why I thought I hated miscommunication tropes (until I saw them actually done well). For those unfamiliar, I summed up the plot in one very long sentence: Gloria betrays Phil, Luke betrays Manny, Manny betrays Luke, Mitch thinks that Cam is betraying him because Haley betrayed both of them by trying to stir up drama, and Claire tries to avoid confrontation with Jay because she feels that she has betrayed him. Yikes. That’s a lot of betrayal and not a lot of action.
2. Underutilized potential! By some miracle, the “Modern Family” writers had actually gotten themselves into a place where they had characters who harbor the potential to actually be funny and get themselves into funny situations. By this point in the series, Alex, Haley, Dylan, and Lily were by far the best and funniest characters, but they do basically nothing besides hang around for the entire episode.
3. Lack of comedy. Aside from a few deliberately placed jokes (which, in my opinion, fall flat), this episode does not give you much to laugh at. Even the situations—which the humor in a sitcom should supposedly come from—don’t have any inherent comedy to them. For the most part, they’re just dramatic.

All in all, it just doesn’t work. And if you ask me, neither do most aspects of this show overall. However, “Modern Family” ended up with about 11 seasons (so long that it basically outlived its original premise), so I may be in the minority here. If you feel strongly about it, let me know in the comments.

“12 Hours Of Christmas” – “Mythic Quest”

This is exactly what it sounds like from the series title. I’m never taking my dad’s sitcom recommendations again.

“The Thought That Counts” – “Everybody Loves Raymond”

I, for one, do not love Raymond. At least not in this episode. 

Honestly, it wasn’t even terrible, it’s just probably better suited to an older audience. Most of the conflict revolved around social norms and money issues, and I just didn’t find it that interesting.