The Seven Essential Holiday Programs
TIME's James Poniewozik takes a look back at yuletides past, and crafts his list of the seven greatest holiday TV moments
A personal note: I'm half Jewish by family background, but not by holiday-TV habits. The few "alternative" holiday shows — even the well-meaning Rugrats Hanukkah special — have always seemed tacked on to me. Leave it to Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller) to come up with a hilarious secular tradition that really is for "the rest of us": the tree replaced by an aluminum pole ("I find tinsel distracting"), wrestling and — the centerpiece of any family get-together — "the airing of grievances." For anyone suffering gingerbread overload, this antidote is a true Festivus miracle.
— James Poniewozik
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