Christmas was the 12th episode of Season 7 of Married... with Children that aired on FOX on December 13, 1992, also the 143rd overall episode in the series. The episode, directed by Gerry Cohen, was written by Ellen L. Fogle.
Synopsis[]
While at a bar, Al reminisces about his past Christmases with his family. When he is forced to get gifts, he finds himself a series of part-time jobs. But he ends up giving them gifts 'acquired' from Ray's bar.
Storyline[]
In the company of his peers at a bar with other Santas, mall Santa Al recalls Christmases past when he managed to avoid getting gifts to Peggy, Kelly, and Bud by turning them against each other (shown in a pseudo flashback to 1974). But this year the family shows a united front when they give Al his present, the jobs he has to work to get the money he needs to buy presents for Peggy and the kids. One job for Al is playing Santa Claus at the mall where Marcy and Jefferson get another opportunity to taunt and browbeat Al.
Guest stars/Recurring cast[]
- Cast regulars
- Amanda Bearse as Marcy D'Arcy
- Ted McGinley as Jefferson D'Arcy
- Buck as Buck Bundy
- Shane Sweet as Seven
Guest starring[]
- Dennis Cockrum as Ray the Bartender
- Fred Sanders as Ishowitz
- Kevin Thompson as Elf
- Ed Morgan as Charity Santa
- Matt Leavitt as Matt
- Samantha Leavitt as Samantha
- Monty Hoffman as Santa
- Kristen Martin as Freckled girl
- Sara Shearer as Assistant
- Paula Bernard as Denise
- Kristen Semon as Lolly
- Cheri Semon as Polly
- The International Children's Choir as Themselves
- Meghan Markle as Singer in pink and white beanie and scarf (uncredited)
- Kevin Curran as Voice of Buck
Quotes[]
- Al: Ho, ho, ho. What do you want for Christmas little boy?
- Matt: Well, I want an end to pollution. Let's start here!
- Al: Huh?!
- [the boy grabs Al's beard and sprays mouthwash into Al's mouth, before giving him a hug]
- Al: [bitterly] Always remember that Santa hates you.
- Matt: [smugly] Yeah? What's he going to do? Make me a shoe salesman?
- [Al quickly lifts Matt off of his lap and tosses him off the platform]
- [After several kids sat on Santa Al's lap, Marcy stops by to mock him and hops on his lap]
- Marcy: Hi Santa! [sniffs] Did one of your reindeer make a no-no? I'm sorry! That must be the ghost of foot fungus past.
- Al: Ho, ho, ho. You don't have to tell Santa what you want for Christmas. You want a pair of breasts... [Marcy looks away with a hurt look on her face] just like a grown-up woman. But Santa says, be happy with what you've got: the body of a young boy. Oh ho ho ho!
- [Al finishes up telling his story about working as a Mall Santa to the bartender and other Mall Santas at Ray's Bar]
- Al: So I did the 12 jobs in 12 days... the worst was the crummy Santa gig. I had so many knees and elbows in my groin, I though I was in bed with the wife! [signals to the bartender with his beer mug that he wants a refill ] So you better give me one more for the road and then I'm... I'm off to buy presents.
- [A young, attractive woman in a mini black dress and pantyhose eagerly comes up to Al with a big smile on her face, indicating that she is looking for another customer for her sexual services. He begins to look her over.]
- Al: Uh, I'd get you for my son, Bud, but, uh... he wouldn't know what to do with 'ya.
Notes[]
Title[]
- The title of this episode is a reference to the holiday, Christmas, which is celebrated in this episode.
Trivia[]
- Matt and Samantha Leavitt, along with Cheri and Kristen Semon (who played January, April, July and December Hubbard respectively in Season 5's "Kids! Wadaya Gonna Do?") appear in this episode as the kids at the mall.
- Matt and Samantha Leavitt, who play the kids who sit on Santa's lap at the mall, are the children of MWC co-creator Ron Leavitt.
- The large group of kids waiting in line and then singing to Al are played by the International Children's Choir.
- They are credited as "Special Appearance by International Children's Choir" during the ending credits.
- One of the children singing is played by an uncredited Meghan Markle. Her father, Thomas W. Markle, was Director of Photography on MWC. She can be clearly seen in the lower half of the screen wearing a pink and white scarf and beanie when Marcy has just the girls sing.
- The box art on Bud's Hooter Kit he receives for Christmas is the same art used on the "Wags The Perplexed Pup" poster that Kelly puts up in Bud's room in the episode "Magnificent Seven".
- This is the third MWC episode that focuses on Christmas, with the others being Season 2's "You Better Watch Out" and Season 4's "It's a Bundyful Life (Part 1)" and "It's a Bundyful Life (Part 2)"
- Monty Hoffman, who plays the Santa that shoots the radio and then skips out on Aladdin to have fun with the attractive lady, previously appeared on MWC in season 6's "She's Having My Baby (Part 2)" as the bartender at the Paternity Ward Bar that Al and Jefferson visit.
- The blue onesie that the infant Bud wears is the same one he will later wear again in "Kelly Takes a Shot" after being traumatized by Kelly's shot.
- Al is shown to be shrinking in height since 1971.
- The height measurement signs for Bud indicate that he was born in 1974 with specific months listed (July '74, Aug. '74, Xmas '74), while the other Bundys only have a year next to their measurement.
- When Al's proposes his traditional offer of a good gift for only one of the Bundys, they link arms together. Al then gets upsets and says "Ah! A united Bundy front, eh?!". The term was previously used by Al in "The Egg and I" when he tried to convince his family not to turn Steve Rhoades in to the FBI and leads in them a variation of Whoa Bundy!, saying "Whoa united Bundy front against authority!"
- If one looks closely, Al is shown to be working as a mall Santa at the Lakeside Mall instead of New Market Mall, the mall he normally works at. The Lakeside mall is the rival of the New Market Mall and was the focus of the season 2 Christmas episode, "You Better Watch Out".
- The rerun airing on ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks (such as Logo TV and Pluto TV) does not include the opening scene with "Jingle Bells" on the radio. Instead, it immediately starts when Ray the Bartender is already kicking the elf out of the bar.
Cultural References[]
- Toddler Kelly says that she wanted a "Dyn-o-mite! J.J. Jimmy Walker Doll" referring to the character from the 1970s sitcom, Good Times and his catchphrase on the show.
- Bud as both an infant and as an adult is shown wanting Playboy magazines for his Christmas gift.
- Kelly receives a CD from the British band Herman's Hermits titled "I'm Henery VIII, I Am".
- The lead singer of Herman's Hermits at the time, Peter Noone, previously appeared as himself in the episode "Rock of Ages"
- After Al arrives at the bar and greets the fellow mall Santas, he tells them, "I've been peed on, spit on, snooted on, drooled on and thrown up and now its Miller time!". "Its Miller Time" is the slogan used by Miller Brewing Company.
- When the attractive lady at the bar if anyone wants her, the Santa with a gun said that he was going to see Aladdin but then chooses the woman instead and leaves with her. Aladdin is a 1992 Disney animated film which was released in theaters a couple of weeks before this episode was filmed.
- The song that Marcy, Jefferson and the kids at the mall sing, Bundy, The No-Man, is a parody of "Frosty, The Snow Man"
- The song that Peg and the kids sings to Al, 12 Days 'Till Christmas, is a parody of the traditional Christmas carol "The 12 Days of Christmas".
- After realizing that he might have told the family the same "Fat Lady Walks into the Shoe Store" story from 1974, he panics and says "Oh my god! I'm telling the same stories over and over again like,...Shelly Winters on 'The Tonight Show' ".
- Shelly Winters was an American actress whose career spanned almost six decades.
- The Tonight Show is a late night talk show on NBC. At the time the episode was filmed, the show was hosted by Jay Leno.
- Near the line to see the mall Santa, there are posters for the films "Bingo" and "A River Runs Through It" in front of Lakeside Cinema. Both films were released through Columbia / TriStar Pictures, which produced MWC through its television division.
Music[]
- The Christmas song "Jingle Bells" is played twice, first on the radio before it is destroyed and later when an elf sings the song to himself as he makes his way to the bar.
- Peggy and the kids sing "12 Days 'Till Christmas" to Al to encourage to get more money for gifts.
- Marcy, Jefferson and a large group of kids sing "Bundy, The No-Man" to mock Al while he works as a mall Santa.
Locations[]
- Bundy Residence
- Ray's Bar
- Lakeside Mall
Sets[]
- Bundy Living Room / Kitchen
- Ray's Bar
- Santa Claus Photo area
Goofs[]
- In the flashback when Al draws a line above his head, it is straight but in the next shot it is crooked.
- After Al gives Seven his beer steins, he is about to go into the wrong direction and out of the shot so Peg stands in his way and guides him onto the couch.
- Al says he use the same excuse since the 70's to keep from buying Christmas gifts but this causes a series error in past seasons Christmas episodes such as "It's a Bundyful Life (Part 1)", and "You Better Watch Out".
- In Al's dream when he dreams about buying good presents for the family, everyone opens up their gifts and tell what they got except Seven, it's unknown what type of game, kit, or puzzle he got since he doesn't say it.
- When Jefferson walks through the line to find Marcy and accidentally thinks two boys are her, a young Asian girl with glasses and light pink jacket can be see laughing hysterically after Jefferson apologizes for the 2nd time while the other kids appeared to be not paying attention.
- Buck is shown to be a very young puppy during the Christmas 1974 flashback. That would have placed Buck in the present time (1992) as around 18 years old. The typical lifespan of a briard such as Buck is about 10 to 12 years.
- Also, in season 8's "Assault and Batteries", which takes place in 1994, Bud and Kelly find Buck's birth certificate, which states that he was born 10 years earlier, which would have been 1984.
- At the beginning of the episode, the attractive woman at the bar changes spots whenever the camera changes angles.
- When Al arrives and dust off his Santa cap, the woman is standing near a post and adjusting her dress.
- Then as Al starts to approach the Christmas elf, the woman is suddenly on the lap of an older Santa and hugging him. As Al talks with a high pitched voice, she is still briefly seen on the older Santa's lap in the close up shot of Al.
- As Al starts to stagger to the bar and is greeted by the fellow Santas, she is now back standing near a post and chatting with a different Santa.
- After Al leads a cheer for the death of Christmas, as the "Street Corner Charity Santas" are shown with a horrified look, she is standing next to the older Santa that she was sitting on earlier and flirting with him.
- In some of the close up shots of the kids sitting on Santa Al's laps, two of the buildings behind them are Fine Art-O-Rama and Chic Mystique which are the stores that are directly across from Gary's Shoes & Accessories for Today's Woman in the New Market Mall, which would indicate that they repurposed the New Market Mall set for the Lakeside Mall.
- This would be later confirmed in "The Proposition", when the Lakeside Mall directory sign ends up in front of Gary's Shoes.