Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire

"Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire", also known as "The Simpsons Christmas Special" was the first episode of the half-hour length Simpsons series to air, though it was the eighth episode produced in season one. The series was originally planned to premire in the fall of 1989, but due to major problems with the animation of Some Enchanted Evening, it instead began mid-season 1990 with this episode.

The title refers to the line Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire from "The Christmas Song", written by Mel Tormé and Robert Wells, and originally recorded by Nat King Cole in 1945.

The episode deals with the Simpson family's efforts to celebrate Christmas on a constricted budget.

This episode was released on VHS by FOX Home Video in 1991. The VHS release was titled "The Simpsons Christmas Special." It was later released on VHS and DVD in Christmas with the Simpsons in 2001, and then eventually released in 2001 in the Season One boxset.



Synopsis
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Marge, Homer, and Maggie attend Bart and Lisa's Christmas pageant at Springfield Elementary School. At home, Marge asks the children what they want for Christmas and Bart asks for a tattoo. When Marge, Bart, and Lisa go Christmas shopping the next day, Bart sneaks away and starts getting a tattoo reading "Mother". Discovering this, Marge interrupts the process at "Moth" and immediately takes him to a laser removal clinic and spends the family's Christmas money getting Bart's tattoo removed. Meanwhile, at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Homer learns that he will not be getting a Christmas bonus.

When Homer returns home and hears about the loss of the Christmas money, he decides not to tell Marge his own bad news. Instead, he does the shopping himself, buying cheap presents from a variety store which sells nothing over $5. At Moe's Tavern, Homer meets Barney dressed in a Santa Claus outfit. On Barney's advice, he secretly takes a job as a mall Santa. Bart discovers this secret after he rips off Homer's fake beard on a dare by his friend Milhouse, but agrees not to tell the rest of the family.

Homer receives his paycheck and is dismayed to see that it is only for $13. Barney, who has received a check for the same amount, suggests betting it at the dog track. With encouragement from Bart, Homer agrees to gamble the paycheck and takes Bart with him to the track. Although Barney recommended they bet on a dog named Whirlwind, Homer decides to bet on a last-second entrant named Santa's Little Helper, believing it to be a sign. Santa's Little Helper, however, comes in dead last and his owner abandons him. The dog follows Homer and Bart, who eventually decide to keep him. When they return home, Homer plans to tell the family about his misfortune, but they think he brought the dog as a gift and everyone has a merry Christmas.

During the ending credits, the family sings "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", but Bart adds rude lyrics, so Homer strangles him.

Production
Fox was very nervous about the show because they were unsure that they could sustain the audience's attention for the duration of the episode. They proposed that they should do three 7 minute shorts per episode and four specials until the audience adjusted. In the end, they gambled by asking FOX for 13 full-length episodes. The series was originally planned to premiere in the fall of 1989, but due to major problems with the animation of "Some Enchanted Evening", the series instead began on December 17, 1989 with this episode. "Some Enchanted Evening" instead aired as the season finale.

The episode, being the first to air, lacked the now famous opening sequence which was later added in the second episode when Groening thought of the idea of a longer opening sequence resulting in less animation.

The "santas of many lands" portion of the Christmas pageant is based on Matt Groening's experience in the second grade when he did a report on Christmas in Russia. Groening also used that reference in his strip "Life in Hell" when he spoofed himself as a young man, being told that it is too bad his grandmother is from Russia, because Christmas is against the law there. Also, Matt Groening claims that this episode has been incorrectly credited with creating the "alternate version" of Jingle Bells.

David Silverman directed this episode, although Rich Moore storyboarded it and designed Flanders. Several of the scenes were laid out by Eric Stefani, brother of Gwen Stefani. In this episode, Barney had yellow hair which was the same color as his skin, but that was later dropped because of the belief that only the Simpson family should have such hair.

Matt Groening was going to do a 30 minute special based on the Tracey Ullman shorts- that probaly evovled in this episode. This was revealed in the book 'Planet Simpson'.

Reception
The episode was nominated for two Emmy Awards in 1990, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour)|Outstanding Animated Program and "Outstanding Editing for a Miniseries or Special." Because "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" is considered to be a separate special, The Simpsons was nominated twice in the Animated Program category; the episode would lose to fellow The Simpsons episode "Life on the Fast Lane".