4/5
Ding Doh! Merrily On High
45 Mins. Starring: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria & Harry Shearer, with special guest stars, Derren Brown, Patti LaBelle & Pentatonix. Directors: Debbie Bruce Mahan & Matthew Faughnan. Created By: Matt Groening. On: Disney +.
'Tis the season to be okily-dokily. Just over two calendars ago, I decided to watch an episode of 'The Simpsons' every day, on the train to work (it takes exactly 24 minutes, animes), from season one onward...knowing that I fell off around about the time J. Cole said Kendrick Lamar did ("O C'mon!"). This Christmas, recently adding Matt Groening's 'Futurama' to my future return journey plans (a 'Disenchantment' of a Netflix series will have to wait), I hit series seventeen, with a long way to go. The yellow family falling through more couches than remote controls recently put up series thirty-six on the chalkboard. And best believe people still are reading and watching this. With even more spin-offs than their sister shows, Lisa, Maggie, Bart, Homer and Marge also have given us some special editions of late for their Star Wars and Marvel, Mickey Mouse share house.
Last week, Disney Plus streamed 'The Simpsons Funday Football' from last week's headlining games between the Bengals and the Cowboys (I guess Homer did buy them after all. And this one, after 'Frasier' Kelsey Grammar's Sideshow Bob gave us 'The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year' at the villainous Halloween, really is the season, as two years after The Simpsons met the Bocellis for 'Feliz Navad', we get 'O C'mon All Ye Faithful' under our bursting tree. Directed by Debbie Bruce Mahan and Matthew Faughnan, 'The Simpsons' bring all the old favourite's back, like animation's Beatles. Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer. Joined in guest star lore by Great British illusionist Derren Brown and soul icon Patti LaBelle, duetting with the powerful a cappellas of the powerful Pentatonix powerhouse for one 'Silent Night' you'll be singing until New Year, as all is bright yellow.
Do you still believe in Santa Claus? C'mon! Forget milk and cookies. It's time to leave a Duff and donuts out for Homer...and Ralph Wiggum can stick the carrot up his nose like a candy cane. You know, episodes of 'The Simpsons' usually play out between the God like clouds. The first ten minutes are a funny set-up of crazy calamity, before the rest of the episode and the real story takes hold. Well, in this double forty-five minute special (the first ever, and maybe a short sign of things to come), the first half has everybody believing Homer is Santa, thanks to Derren Brown's British accent and Homer's Hanks in 'Cast Away' beard (kudos to Ralph's elf with hair thinner than mine and the best fart joke ever). Meanwhile, the second searches for the true meaning of Christmas as Ned Flanders of all people struggles with his faith like that time he lost it (I'm close, Neddy). I guess that's what happens when you SPOILER ALERT lose two wives (wait...what...WHO! I'm not there yet!). But alas, spreading the holiday cheer for all to hear on the 35th anniversary of the first Simpsons Christmas special roasting on an open fire, you'll believe in a miracle on Evergreen Terrace. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Further Faithful: 'The Simpsons: The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year', 'The Simpsons Meet The Bocellis In Feliz Navadad', 'The Simpsons Funday Football'.
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