The Goldbergs: "A Christmas Story"

Premiered December 9, 2015

"My mom got the Hanukkah she always wanted:Christmas!"
-Adam Goldberg

It's Christmas vacation 1980-something and the Goldbergs' matriarch Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey) is frustrated by her family's lack of interest in celebrating Hanukkah.

Her husband Murray (Jeff Garlin) and their kids Erica (Haley Orrantia), Barry (Troy Gentile) and Adam (Sean Giambrone) are disappointed Hanukkah presents become increasingly less interesting on each of the eight nights.

Erica gets school supplies for Hanukkah.

This in contrast to the "Christmas Wonderland" at the Kremp house across the street.  Virginia Kremp (Jennifer Irwin) and her kids are smiling and excited about Christmas.

This makes Beverly feel like she is "not good at family."  So she invents a new holiday which she calls "Super Hanukkah."  Instead of eight nights of gifts, they will save up presents, put them under a "Hanukkah Bush" and open all of them on one night...or one morning.

Since school is out, Adam and his older brother Barry pass time playing games and watching their favorite holiday film, A Christmas Story.  Adam gets upset when Barry would rather spend time with his girlfriend Lainey (AJ Michalka).

In order to get Barry to stay, Adam "double-dog dares" Barry to put his tongue on their freezing-cold tether ball pole.  When Barry stalls, Adam ups the ante and issues a triple-dog dare.  They both wind up frozen to the pole.

Murray finds himself getting (inadvertently) wrapped up in the spirit of the season.  The Kremps had hired a "Santa" to stop by their house and drop off gifts.  When that falls through, they ask Murray to play Santa.  He finds that strangers treat him nicer and give him free stuff when he wears the Santa suit.

Beverly's father Al (George Segal) is disgusted by the idea of Super Hanukkah and is also unhappy to see Murray in the Santa suit. He thinks his daughter's made-up holiday is an insult to their ancestors who made great sacrifices in order to carry on their Judaic traditions.  Al decides to dress up a character he calls "Hanu-Claus" in order to make Beverly and the others feel guilty.  This leads to an ugly argument between Beverly and Al.

The jar stores all the traditions Beverly has passed down to her children (it's empty).

Will Al ruin Beverly's new holiday?  Will Barry and Adam be recused from the frozen pole?

J.A. Morris says:

There isn't a lot of holiday programming that focuses on Hanukkah, so this episode of The Goldbergs is a welcome addition.

It's understandable that Beverly would feel envious of her neighbor's holiday celebration.  I also sympathized with Al when he felt like their family traditions were being disrespected.

It's not an accident that the title of this episode is "A Christmas Story."  We see the Goldberg boys watching the movie of the same name several times and of course the "tether ball pole" scene is a reenactment of Flick's encounter with a flagpole.  There are other references to A Christmas Story, but I won't spoil them.

George Segal sings a Hanukkah-themed version of "The Twelve Days Of Christmas" and accompanies himself on banjo.  It's worth noting that Segal is an accomplished banjo player and has released several albums.

"A Christmas Story" is a very funny episode that parodies a classic Christmas movie while featuring a great story about holidays and family traditions.

J.A. Morris's rating:

4 dreidels!

RigbyMel says:

As J.A. Morris points out above,  there is a distinct lack of Hanukkah TV programming, so it's nice to have this episode attempt to include both Hanukkah and Christmas.

I rather suspect that Beverly's feeling of "not being good at family" is universal whether one is Jewish, Christian or nothing in particular, especially during the holiday season when familial expectations seem to run especially high.  I also quite like that "A Christmas Story" does a good job of demonstrating that this is a feeling that can be pretty common.

I can see both sides of the Beverly vs. Al Haunkkah argument -- Christmas and Hanukkah are both holidays rooted in religious tradition, but the cultural permeation of Christmas into pretty much every aspect of life in the U.S. in December means it's also a secular holiday.   This leads to tensions from a strictly religious point of view and balancing that tension can be tricky.  I have known of other Jewish families who choose to fold secular Christmas into their festive season as well as Christians who choose to include menorahs in their holiday decorating, but I recognize that these choices might not work for all. 

I appreciated the references to the film A Christmas Story as well as to the 1980s SNL "Hanukkah Harry" sketches that were folded into the episode.   Nostalgia is an important part of the mid-winter festive season as it is practiced today regardless of religion -- and as The Goldbergs trades on 1980-something nostalgia year round, it feels natural in context.

Just like in A Christmas Story, the Kremps and Goldbers celebrate the holidays with "Chinese Turkey."

"A Christmas Story" is a fun and funny festive addition to your holiday viewing  -- especially if one grew up in the 1980s -- and is recommended.

RigbyMel's rating:

.5



3 and a half dreidels.

The Great American Fourth Of July And Other Disasters

Here's a holiday special featuring Jean Shepherd as narrator, Ralphie Parker, the Old Man and Flick, but it's not A Christmas Story as you might have come to expect. Instead, it's:






The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters is a 1982 tv special that first aired on PBS as part of the "American Playhouse" series.



The special features a teenaged Ralphie Parker (as played by a young Matt Dillon) and tells of adventures had on a long ago 4th of July full of "gut-thumping explosions", marching bands, parades, picnics, maniacal drum majors, sack races, blind dates, wash rags, and of course, fireworks!



Our story begins with a framing device, Jean Shepherd is driving a Rolls Royce down present-day (for 1982) I-95 which leads him to South of the Border the venerably tacky roadside attraction in South Carolina which features a vast array of fireworks of varying lethality for purchase. As he fills a shopping cart full of recreational explosives ("just like the A&P"), he thinks about how much "the Old Man" would have loved a place like South of the Border and how "the Old Man's" 4th of July fireworks displays were reknowned which leads us down memory lane to teenaged Ralphie and friends in Holman, Indiana.

We learn that Ralphie plays sousaphone in the local marching band which is getting ready for the big 4th of July parade under the direction of Wilbur Duckworth, a drum major with "the soul of a true storm trooper". The band, frankly, isn't all that great and are further stymied by swirling midwestern dust and colliding sousaphone bell, but Wilbur insists on rehearsing them to the brink of exhaustion in preparation for the big parade.



Meanwhile, we are introduced to Ralphie's family - his long suffering mother, his brother Randy "whose art form was the whine" and the Old Man himself (as played by James Broderick - Matthew Broderick's old man in real life) who is looking forward to 4th of July festivities while being puzzled as to an amusing subplot involving mom and wash rags. We also encounter Ralphie's friends Schwartz (Jeff Yonis) and Flick (William Lampley) - Flick seems to have turned into a not-very-nice teenager (maybe getting his tongue stuck to that flag pole embittered him?).

Schwartz's mom has set Ralphie up on a blind date, which Ralphie is not looking forward to at all. But as tends to happen in Jean Shepherd's stories, the date doesn't quite pan out the way Ralphie anticipates.

We are also introduced to Lud Kissel (Babe Sargent) , the town drunk - you can tell he will be important later because of the "Jaws Theme" that plays in the background whenever he appears on screen.

The 4th of July dawns bright and hot and the day's festivities get underway. The parade has interesting consequences when Wilbur Duckworth's double baton act goes terribly wrong, but folks recover from that shock and go on to enjoy the town picnic. Ralphie and Schwartz have trained for the sack race in anticipation of winning a pair of shiny transistor radios but that also winds up not going according to plan due to Flick's machinations.



Lud emerges from a darkened bar (due to parade consequences) to join in the fun. He produces a massive, black and menacing firecracker that wrecks havoc on the unsuspecting citizens of Hammond and on Mrs. Kissel's front porch, thereby ensuring his place in town folklore.

The evening ends with the Old Man's much anticipated fireworks extravaganza and a good time is generally had by all. Ralphie and the Old Man share a nice moment together at the very end of the evening, talking about what a great day it has been.

We then return to present (1982) day Jean Shepherd, back in his Rolls on I-95 to wrap things up with some lovely philosophizing about how holidays are "like mileposts in the picket fence of the years that stretch on and on through our lives."

This is great, funny special in the best Jean Shepherd storytelling tradition. The effects are low-budget, but that makes it all the more charming. It is a pity that The Great American Fourth Of July And Other Disasters isn't commercially available at this time, but if you can get your hands on a copy, it is well worth your time.

Rigby Mel says - my rating:

4 waving flags

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J.A.Morris says:

I agree with Rigbymel on this one,'The Great American 4th Of July' should be on tv every July. I watched this when it was brand new, I didn't realize until years later that it featured the same characters from 'A Christmas Story'. I'm guessing that licensing difficulties regarding some of the background music(like the aforementioned 'Jaws' theme) are preventing an official dvd release. Dillon and Broderick are especially great in their roles.
My rating:
4 flags!


Since it's never been released commercially, here's a link to Part 1 of the special on Youtube: