S01EP08 Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire

Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire
Air Date: December 17, 1989
Production Episode: 7G08
Written by: Mimi Pond
Directed by: David Silverman

The first of many Simpsons Christmas episodes, and also the first aired episode, while being production episode number eight. "Some Enchanted Evening" was in fact the first episode, although it aired dead last in the season. The re-ordering of episodes from the production order was evident in the next six episodes, where Santa's Little Helper was nowhere to be found.

The episode involves the Simpson Family preparing for Christmas. When Homer's holiday bonus is cancelled and Marge needs the Christmas fund money to remove a tattoo Bart gets, Homer is forced to get a job as a mall Santa so his family can still have Christmas. When that fails, he and Bart go to the dog track, where they adopt a loveable abandoned greyhound: Santa's Little Helper. A name the writer's wished they hadn't made so long after a quarter century of writing it out in scripts.

We open on a Christmas Pageant. It's notable that the audience and the kids contain no recurring characters, despite Bart's class being introduced in previous episodes. You can almost make out Lewis in the group. Along with a recurring white haired girl with a ponytail.

As confirmed by the commentary, an initial trait of Principal Skinner is seen here, where he mispronounces words randomly. Obviously, this trait was quickly dropped, as I'm sure every one of you is thinking "He used to do what?" Another note during this scene is how many people now attribute the "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" song to The Simpsons, when it was in fact taken from the writer's own childhoods.

Bart's shenanigans end the scene and we move to the Simpsons home. Finally, it looks exactly like it does today. Even in 1990, they tried to stay consistent with layout of the home. Well, the background furniture and layout at least. The couches, as always throughout the series, regularly get moved wherever they're needed for a shot.

We hear Patty and Selma for the first time, aside from Selma's cameo in the crowd scene in previous episode, "The Telltale Head", with them appearing in the house along with Grandpa by the end of the episode. They're pretty much the same as they've always been, "sucking the joy out of every scene" to quote the commentary, along with their hatred of Homer.

This is one of those episodes where Bart is oddly respectful compared to later seasons. When faced with Homer's failure, modern Bart would laugh at him. Season one Bart cheered him up and agreed to keep his secret.

Speaking of characters changing, we see Flanders (aside from the back of his head) for the first time in this episode, as well as Rod and Todd. No indication is given of Flander's deep religious beliefs. At this point, he's simply the overly pleasant, show boating neighbor. It will be interesting to see when his character starts to develop, although this habit of buying extravagant things stays with him throughout the series.

We then see Homer at the Nuclear Plant. As this is production episode number 8, we see Homer in his position as "Safety Inspector", a position he took at the end of "Homer's Odyssey", the third production episode. He isn't sitting at his iconic station, but he is clearly checking off a list while wandering around. Of course, we all know he very quickly loses interest in doing his job well.

While we see Mr. Burns, we do not see any of the other Nuclear Plant personnel. Lenny and Carl do not appear until production episodes 10 and 11. Mr. Smither's voice is heard over a loudspeaker, however.

This scene sets a recurring theme that ran through the first few seasons, before being dropped in favor of more fantastic plots, although it is revisited from time to time. That theme being money issues. Groening and Silverman mention in the commentary that this was to distinguish it from other Sitcoms at the time, which tended to ignore the issue of money and bills.

Homer goes to drown his sorrows at Moe's Tavern. Homer is encouraged to become a mall Santa by Barney, and goes on to a class led by a rather disturbing recurring character. We don't know it yet, but this unnamed fellow will be back in episode 17 of season 3, "Homer at Bat", as the hypnotist Mr. Burns hires for his team. What he's doing teaching mall Santas, nobody knows.

The episode continues through Bart discovering Homer is the mall Santa, Homer only receiving $13 for his work, deciding to bet on greyhounds, meeting Santa's Little Helper, and bringing him home as the best Christmas present Bart and Lisa could ever ask for. On another note, this brought attention to a problem the writers were not actually aware of, and that's abandoned greyhounds at racetracks. So the family not only received a lovable new character, they raised awareness of animal abuse. Not bad for a series premiere.