Capsule Submission for FABF02: 'Tis the Fifteenth Season

� Burns remembers Bart? � Kathrine wears a suit similar to the one Marge wears in � Maggie, Homer and Marge all throw their arms up in joy at least twice in this episode � Maggie wears a new snowsuit (as opposed to her usual star-shaped one)? � Maggie's asleep in Victor's Secret? � Homer remembers Lenny's eye-problem and rounds the edges of the cube accordingly? � Kent Brockman gets out of rehab pretty quickly? � Ruth Powers still lives next door?

Deck the Halls (Christmas carol) - title

Mr. Magoo - Mr. McGrew spoofs this

A Christmas Carol - Homer changes his selfish ways after seeing this�McGrewiffied

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (children's book/movie) - Homer wants to make everyone happy by stealing the presents, like when the Grinch ended up uniting the town by stealing their presents - SLH's single antler and tiptoeing resembles that of Max the dog - Homer's song is a parody of the one from the animated short

The California Raisins -The California Prunes spoofs this

Calvin and Hobbes - the axe in the snowman's head

Previous OFF Christmases
	[7G08] SLH joins the family
	[3F07] Bart's relationship with Marge ends up paying the price for
his shoplifting
	[5F07] Bart makes up a Christmas thief and causes the town to hate
OFF
	[BABF07] A toy company takes over SES and steals the kids ideas
[CABF06] The kids are snowed in at school
[DABF02] Lisa converts to Buddhism

Well, I must say that I loved it. The parody's of Christmas television were all hilarious, and everyone was excellently used. Homer's Grinch song and the Astrolabe's commentary were among the episode's highlights, but practically every other joke was hilarious as well. And Han Moleman gave us some of the funniest stuff we've seen from him in a long time. My only complaint is about some odd Marge characterization in the pork chop scene, but that small flaw is easily forgotten and doesn't keep this episode from a 10/10. (A+)

The title in itself references the fact that the show is in its fifteenth season.

Announcer: How the Homer stole Christmas is the event of the season, about a man who plays Santa for all the wrong reasons! (Homer is seen tiptoeing down the street with a sack slung over his back ala the Grinch. He signals for someone to follow him and SLH appears, wearing an antler. Homer is them seen sliding along the floor next to some presents.) Homer: But this time I'm sober...ish. (He is seen stuffing presents into a sack. He then pops out of a chimney and breaks it, slides down the roof and drinks from a flask of liquor.) Announcer: In his own warped, twisted and confusled way, he's trying to bring all of Springfield together this day! (An angry mob approaches as he listens for singing.) Homer: Um, shouldn't you all be singing carols or something? Announcer: The Simpsons! All-new next week on FOX LOL Sunday! (Homer is hit by a barrage of snowballs and falls to the ground.)

Steve Brown:

I'm pretty sure there really was a Mr. Magoo version of "A Christmas Carol." I've never seen it, though. Nathan [email] http://members.aol.com/jinnicky/ "And the silver chauffeur says it's all in your head, when you're 24 karat dead." --They Might Be Giants

The CBC here in Canada ran it on Monday night, and will rerun it 1pm on Wednesday the 24th.

I watched it Monday, and hadn't seen it in a long time (if I'd even watched it all before). It was a disappointment. It's framed with traditional Magoo-style mistakes and blunders, but for the most part he is on stage performing "A Christmas Carol". And it's basically a straight reading, with none of the usual Magoo mistakes that make him Magoo. I can't see the point of it. Sure, the story has been retold many times, but except for classic actors, the story has been adapted to fit a character or a different scenario. But I can't see the point of Mr. Magoo, who's schtick was that he couldn't see very well and as a result kept mistaking people and getting into trouble, taking up that role when none of his character really makes it into the special.

The "Mr. McGrew" bit on The Simpsons was a better take on Mr. Magoo than his actual special.

Michael