LIVING KRINGLE

Living Single
Season 1 (1993)

When my sister was in the 5th grade she started to suffer from insomnia.  My parents tried everything to help her sleep, eventually making the ultimate concession: they let her have a TV in her room.  True, it was my great-uncle’s ancient television and it only got a couple of blurry channels but this was a big deal, as my mom was pretty strict in monitoring how much TV we watched.  Some nights I was allowed to watch with my sister as she tried to get sleepy and I only ever remember watching two things.  One was the shopping channel (sure to help induce sleep).  Endless descriptions of faux jewelry (it was always jewelry) may not sound too exciting but TV in the bedroom was such a novelty that I didn’t care.  The other thing we watched was Living Single.

An ugly Christmas sweater before it was an ironic hipster thing

I liked the show then and I love it now, as it encapsulates 90s nostalgia for me but it also stands on its own merits.  It’s got a great cast and a very catchy theme song but even better it’s got this terrific holiday episode.  In “Living Kringle” sunny Synclaire (Kim Coles) is feeling the Christmas spirit, as evidenced by some truly amazing holiday-themed outfits that she sports throughout the episode.  Her harried friends and roommates, however, are less enthusiastic about celebrating the holidays.  Synclaire throws a tree trimming party but one by one they leave early, to pursue boyfriends and work.  

A depressed Synclaire takes off (leaving behind a detailed note on how to find her).  She ends up at a seedy bar where she bonds with the grubby patrons, including a down and out Santa Claus.  Meanwhile her friends one by one discover the extremely thoughtful Christmas gifts that Synclaire left for them.  Each gift ties into a happy Christmas memory they shared earlier in the episode.  Max gets tickets to a dance recital to remind her of her childhood role as the Rat King in The Nutcracker.  Khadijah gets a starfish for the top of her tree, Regine gets a Barbie Corvette, Kyle a homemade Kwanza gift and Overton a VHS (it was the 90s, remember) tape of his favorite Christmas special, “The Little Elf That Could.” 

The Little Elf That Could and an Overton that can't

The friends all rush to Synclaire’s side and join with her and the bar patrons in singing carols. There’s also a nice play on the “Real Santa Shows Up” trope when the Santa Synclaire has been chatting with disappears. She starts a speech about how maybe he was the real deal when he suddenly reappears, as he was just in the bathroom.  It’s a nice little fake-out that acknowledges the clichés that pop up in episodes of this type.

This episode is just brimming with holiday cheer.  It’s equal parts heartwarming and humorous, as it plays with familiar tropes while remaining original and entertaining.  There are a couple of great song performances (including a memorable version of “Sleigh Ride” lead by Queen Latifah) and references to just about everything Christmas-related that you can imagine.  There's also a great bit in which Regine smashes one of those musical cards that won't stop playing that Synclaire gives her.  It’s a shame that the series as a whole doesn’t get more credit (and isn't fully available on DVD), as this Christmas episode alone proves that is a show worth watching!

Crimson velvet vest-dress and giant jester Santa brooch: She's got the look!

Recurring Themes: Nobody Likes Fruitcake & A Group Sing Finale

Christmas Quotient: 5

See It, Skip It, Own It?
Own this one, as repeat viewings, just like Synclaire’s thoughtful gifts, are guaranteed to get you in the Christmas spirit!

THE BABY-SITTERS SPECIAL CHRISTMAS

The Baby-Sitters Club
Season 1 (1990)

I teased this Christmas episode of The Baby-Sitters Club back in my very first Halloween post and I’ve just been itching to re-watch and write about it.  So let us now delve into this very special (you know it’s special because “special” is in the title) Christmas episode.

We begin with a perfect opening scene, set to the show’s insanely catchy theme song, featuring the members of the Baby-Sitters Club first gazing at  one of those awesome Christmas store windows seen in TV shows and then shopping at said store.  The store reminds of me of a now-defunct retailer from my childhood that was called simply The Store.  It was a sort of all-in-one drug store we used to go to during summer vacations at Lake Tahoe.  It was less than a department store but more than your average CVS or Duane Reade.  It had tchotchkes galore and, like my childhood self, the babysitters are loving it. Even better, the store seen in the show is decked out in a major way for Christmas.  

Not only Green Berets wear green berets

While at The Store Kristy falls in love with an expensive baseball glove, so expensive no one dares utter how much it actually costs throughout the episode.  They just say things like “very expensive” when asked and at one point Kristy whispers the price into her mother’s ear.  Seriously, how fucking expensive is this thing?  It’s like the Voldemort of baseball gloves: The Price That Shall Not Be Named.  Kristy’s mom says if she does chores to pay for some of it she might get the glove, so we see her doing chores throughout the episode.  A lot of chores, because that baseball glove is very expensive.

That’s just the B-plot, though.  The main story involves Stacey, who can’t stop eating holiday sweets despite her diabetes.  Dawn is extremely distressed by this and is all over Stacey every time she freakin’ takes a bite of something.  At one point they get into an argument and Stacey says something about “knowing her own body.”  It’s intense!  But Dawn is ultimately justified by staying on Stacey’s ass because Stacey has zero self control and can’t stop nibbling on cookies and fudge until she starts acting like instead of having high blood sugar she’s wasting away from some subtropical influenza.  Seriously, she acts so sedated she can’t muster the strength to read a Rudolph picture book aloud to one of her babysitting charges. 

Too tired for carols. So. Very. Tired. 

The day before Christmas the friends gather at a diner for their Secret Santa exchange.  This reminded me so much of many similar gift-swap lunches I attended during junior high and high school, at pizza joints and a local sushi restaurant.  Much jewelry from Claires, scented lotions from Bath & Body Works and those candy-cane plastic tubes filled with M&Ms were exchanged over the years.  Anyhoo, the red-headed babysitter, who barely speaks in this episode, is totally shafted at the gift exchange.  One girl gets earrings; another bath stuff.  And the redhead gets a round orange plastic figurine that we earlier saw one of the girls playing with at The Store.  “It squirts water,” says someone amidst the gift-opening flurry.  Someone gave her a squirt toy?!  There’s always at least one dud in every Secret Santa exchange.

Anyhoo, Stacey eats fudge and dies.  No, but she does end up at the hospital on Christmas Day, the same hospital her friends are conveniently at for a children’s ward party.  She gives a surprisingly well-written speech about how it sucks being sick all the time and ends up attending the party in her pajamas.  Kristy ends up giving her new, very expensive baseball glove to Ned, a really gloomy kid in a wheelchair whose parents we are told earlier are too poor to afford gas to drive to the hospital to see him.  Everyone is happy.  And oh yeah, baby Danny Tamberelli, in his pre-Adventures of Pete & Pete days, is in this episode as one of the kids the girls babysit for!

You're never too sick to smile

As if you couldn't tell, I love this episode.  The weird 90s fashions make it worth the watch alone, but it’s also very Christmasy and melodramatic.  There are a ton of Christmas decorations in every scene and I want to live in The Store.  But I do feel bad for the redhead who doesn’t get any lines AND gets stuck with a squirt toy.

Recurring Themes: Our first instance of Giving Up the Gift, in which a character really wants a specific present, receives it, and then gives it away to someone in need.  We also get a Group Sing Finale and a Children's Hospital.

Christmas Quotient: 5

See It, Skip It, Own It?
If only this was available to own and treasure for all time!  For now content yourself with seeing it and give thanks to Netflix for making it happen!