'Tis the Fifteenth Season

"'Tis The Fifteenth Season"
The Simpsons episode
Promotional Artwork featuring Homer in a parody of How The Grinch Stole Christmas!
Episode no.	320
Prod. code	FABF02
Orig. airdate	December 14, 2003
Show runner(s)	Al Jean
Written by	Michael Price
Directed by	Steven Dean Moore
Couch gag	The family members fly in dressed as popular Japanese TV show characters (Bart as Astro Boy, Homer as Ultraman, Lisa as Sailor Moon, Marge as Jun from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman and Maggie as Pikachu from Pokémon).
Season 15 November 2, 2003 – May 23, 2004 "Treehouse of Horror XIV" "My Mother the Carjacker" "The President Wore Pearls" "The Regina Monologues" "The Fat and the Furriest" "Today I Am a Clown" "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays" "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot" "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife" "Margical History Tour" "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore" "Smart and Smarter" "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner" "Co-Dependent's Day" "The Wandering Juvie" "My Big Fat Geek Wedding" "Catch 'Em If You Can" "Simple Simpson" "The Way We Weren't" "Bart-Mangled Banner" "Fraudcast News" List of all The Simpsons episodes
Seasons 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23

'Tis the Fifteenth Season is the seventh episode of The Simpsons' fifteenth season. This episode is notable as being the first to make reference to Lisa's Buddhism, to which she converted in an earlier Christmas episode, "She of Little Faith".

Plot

For Christmas, Carl gives Homer a DVD player and the first season of Magnum, P.I. However, Homer forgets he is Lenny's secret Santa and gives him a pack of Certs out of desperation. Instead of giving bonuses, Mr. Burns gives everyone a cafeteria voucher and Homer a Joe DiMaggio rookie baseball card for Bart. To get money for Christmas shopping, Homer gives the card to Comic Book Guy, who gives Homer everything in his cash register. With their small fortune, the Simpsons go shopping at the Springfield Heights Promenade. Homer promises to buy a massive Christmas tree that will cause mudslides and flooding when it is removed, but he instead spends the tree money on a Personalized Talking Astrolabe.

Homer gets shunned by his family when they find out, and becomes even more depressed when he finds out that the Astrolabe cannot be exchanged, thus meaning that Homer can't undo his mistake. While staying up late at night, Homer watches Mr. McGrew's Christmas Carol. There, he realizes just how selfish he is. Homer decides to reform his ways and become the nicest guy in town. Homer's acts include giving hobos his old clothes, giving Lenny a photo cube, giving Marge the last pork chop (causing her to break down in tears of joy) and building a skating rink in the Simpsons' backyard (to the delight of Comic Book Guy). After Gil Gunderson's comment of "Homer, you're the nicest man in town!", and Nelson Muntz's comment of "Haha! Your position has been usurped!", the actions cause jealousy to stir in Ned Flanders.

Flanders finds himself barely able to control his anger. He decides to buy everyone in town a Christmas present (and gets the money by renting out his house to a fraternity). Homer begins to think of beating Flanders by buying everyone a car. However, Lisa tells him not to and that, as a Buddhist, she believes people would be happier without presents. Homer gets the idea to do the ultimate good deed: steal Christmas. In the morning, an angry mob confronts Homer. The mob calms down when they see a star which they think is a sign from God; it is actually a flare from Hans Moleman. Homer gives everyone back their presents and the entire town sings a Christmas carol.

Cultural references

• Mr. Mcgrew's Christmas Carol is a parody of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.
• Christmas with the California Prunes is a clear takeoff of the California Raisins.
• The versions of A Christmas Carol that are seen in TV are parodies of Family Matters and Star Trek: The Original Series.
• When Homer takes all of the presents from Springfield, this is a parody of the How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
• Moe's face is featured on Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp.
• The store shown as Abercrombie & Rich is a parody of the popular American brand Abercrombie & Fitch.
• Homer mentions "Tuesdays with Morrie", a book and later a television film starring Hank Azaria, who voices many of the supporting characters in The Simpsons.
• Marge shops at a store named "Victor's Secret," which is a reference to "Victoria's Secret," the popular lingerie store.
• Homer believes Jesus sang "Stairway to Heaven", instead of Led Zeppelin.

Reception

On November 2, 2004, the episode was released in the United States on a DVD collection titled The Simpsons Christmas 2, along with the season twelve episodes "Homer vs. Dignity" and "Skinner's Sense of Snow" and the season fourteen episode "Dude, Where's My Ranch?".^[1] While reviewing the DVD, Brian James of PopMatters wrote that "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" is "hardly a masterpiece, but it does feature a talking astrolabe and the phrase 'double-bacon genius-burger,' two elements that deserve a spot in Simpson Valhalla. It’s a shame that such entries don’t come as fast and furious as they did a decade ago, but that The Simpsons does offer a few belly laughs now and then, rather than being a complete embarrassment this late in the game is a bigger accomplishment than anyone gives it credit for. It’s still just a cartoon, and still a pretty good one."^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} James, Brian (2004-12-28). "The Simpsons Christmas 2". PopMatters. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/simpsons-christmas-2-dvd. Retrieved 2011-10-07. 

External links

• 'Tis the Fifteenth Season at the Internet Movie Database

The Simpsons portal