White Christmas Blues
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"White Christmas Blues" is the eighth episode of the twenty-fifth season of the American animated television series ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'' and the 538th episode of the series. It originally aired on the
Fox network The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations ...
in the United States on December 15, 2013. The episode was the last written by Don Payne and was directed by Steven Dean Moore. It was the first Christmas episode since " Holidays of Future Passed" and the twelfth Christmas episode of the show. In the episode, Springfield becomes a tourist hotspot after an accident involving the nuclear plant and the Springfield
tire fire Tire fires are events that involve the combustion of large quantities of tires, usually waste tires, typically in locations where they are stored, dumped, or processed. They exist in two forms: as fast-burning events, leading to almost immediate ...
causes Springfield to be the only place in the country with
snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...
at Christmas—and when Springfield's stores raise their prices, Marge turns their house into a bed and breakfast for the out-of-towners.


Plot

As Marge scolds
Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
for hanging up the house's Christmas decorations before taking down the ones for Halloween, a bored
Bart Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc. Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Bartho ...
and
Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...
watch a television news broadcast in which
Kent Brockman Kent Brockman is a fictional character in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Harry Shearer and first appeared in the episode " Krusty Gets Busted". He is a grumpy, self-centered local Springfield news anchor. Prof ...
announces that all of America will have no snow at Christmas due to
global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
. Soon, however, snow does begin to fall in Springfield;
Professor Frink Professor John I.Q. Nerdelbaum Frink Jr., is a new recurring character in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Hank Azaria, and first appeared in the 1991 episode "Old Money". Frink is Springfield's nerdy scientist an ...
explains that due to the combination of radioactive steam from the nuclear power plant and airborne particulates from the city's tire fire, it is the only location in America with snow.
Mayor Quimby Mayor Joseph Fitzgerald O'Malley Fitzpatrick O'Donnell The Edge "Joe" Quimby, nicknamed Diamond Joe, is a recurring character from the animated sitcom television series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, and first appeared in ...
declares the town a tourist attraction, and the residents quickly get into the holiday spirit as out-of-town travelers converge on Springfield. Overwhelmed by the sudden crowds at the Kwik-E-Mart, and seeing the money spent by the tourists, Marge begins to feel like a failure since she cannot afford to spend lavishly on her family. As she returns to the house, a family drives past and offers to pay $300 per night to stay there. She hesitantly accepts the offer; Homer is surprised to find this other family in the house, but Marge explains the situation and persuades him to turn the house into a bed-and-breakfast for the duration of the holiday season. They take in more guests as Christmas approaches, but Marge becomes irritated at their constant requests and complaints over shoddy service and activities. On Christmas Day, Marge finds the guests gathered in the living room and thinks they are going to confront her, but instead they surprise her by singing Christmas carols. Meanwhile, Lisa buys gifts for the family that are intended to make her feel good about herself - such as a bag of radish seeds for Homer, and a book for Bart - rather than to be something the recipients can use. She is appalled to find Bart burning the book soon afterward, but their argument leads her to see that her gift-giving effort was misguided. She sells the gift Bart gave her and buys him a tablet pre-loaded with books and apps he can enjoy, and he gives her some money to donate to charity.


Reception

Dennis Perkins of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave the episode a C, saying "While ''The Simpsons'' has always excelled at tossed-off sign gags and the like, this sequence is just a jumble of writers’ room bulletin board material—and not especially inspired material at that." Teresa Lopez of ''TV Fanatic'' gave the episode two and a half stars out of five, saying "''The Simpsons'' Christmas Specials have always been one of my favorites (along with the Treehouse of Horror), but tonight's episode was a disappointing, uneven, and (again!) overly familiar installment." The episode received a 3.5 rating and was watched by a total of 8.48 million people, making it the most watched show on Animation Domination that night.


References


External links

* {{The Simpsons episodes, 25 2013 American television episodes American Christmas television episodes The Simpsons (season 25) episodes