One Of The Best Simpsons Christmas Episodes Comes From The Show’s Worst Season

While some seasons of The Simpsons are shockingly weak, this doesn’t mean that these outings have no good episodes, as evidenced by season 32, episode 10, “A Springfield Summer Christmas For Christmas.” The Simpsons has aired over 800 episodes across 37 seasons, and the series has a theatrical movie spinoff to its name as well as a sequel on the way.

As such, no amount of criticism could hope to make The Simpsons any less of an American TV institution. With this in mind, it is fair to note that the show’s quality hasn’t been entirely consistent over the decades. Since The Simpsons is the longest-running US scripted prime-time TV series, this is hardly a surprise.

The critical consensus is that The Simpsons started strong with its pilot and first few seasons, but didn’t really hit its stride until around seasons 3/4. From then until around seasons 11/12, the Golden Age of The Simpsons provided viewers with some of the best TV comedy in the medium’s history. After that, the “Zombie Simpsons” era begins.

A Springfield Summer Christmas For Christmas Is A Great Simpsons Christmas Episode

Fans argue endlessly online over when exactly the “Zombie Simpsons” era starts, but even the kindest commentator can admit that season 13 was nowhere near as strong as season 6. By its teens, The Simpsons was firmly stuck in a rut, despite some occasional standout episodes.

One of the best Christmas episodes of The Simpsons, season 23, episode 9, “Holidays of Future Passed,” proves that this era isn’t without its standout episodes. However, the quality of the show’s overall output did decline noticeably between seasons 10 and 20, and further between seasons 20 and 30.

Thus, by the time The Simpsons reached season 32, the show was at its artistic nadir. Despite this fact, this season includes one of the show’s best festive outings ever. Season 32, episode 10, “A Springfield Summer Christmas For Christmas,” is a silly, playful, star-studded affair that can go toe-to-toe with anything from the show’s earlier seasons.

As its intentionally clumsy title implies, “A Springfield Summer Christmas For Christmas” is a parody of Hallmark movies. The episode’s plot is a meta take on these schmaltzy TV mainstays as Ellie Kemper’s Mary Tannenbaum, a high-powered Hallmark movie executive, is sent to Springfield to oversee the production of a Christmas movie despite her personal hatred of Christmas.

The Simpsons Season 32 Was One of the Show’s Weakest Seasons Ever

The Simpsons - A Springfield Summer Christmas for Christmas

This synopsis could be ringing alarm bells for many longtime fans of the show, as it features many elements that have ruined earlier episodes of The Simpsons. There’s a big-name guest star, a plot that scarcely includes the show’s titular family, and a new character that is added to the show’s already massive, sprawling cast.

However, like The Simpsons’ Disney+ exclusives, this Christmas special instead turned out to be a quiet triumph. The underlying gag of a Hallmark executive living out her own personal Hallmark movie plot is hilarious, and casting the stern, humorless Principal Skinner as the sardonic small-town love interest who encourages Mary to loosen up is a clever twist.

Meanwhile, Chris Parnell and Richard Kind provide plenty of laughs in their supporting roles, and the Simpson family gets a solid role to play as they house Mary and the rest of the production team in their makeshift Airbnb. Thus, “A Springfield Summer Christmas For Christmas” functions as both a parody of Hallmark movies and a sweet, sentimental festive special in its own right.

Season 32 Episode 10 Predicted The Simpsons’ Huge Post-Season 32 Improvements

A man laying next to a woman in The Simpsons

While The Simpsons has broken plenty of records in its time on the air, “A Springfield Summer Christmas For Christmas” was a subtler indication of the show’s improving fortunes. The episode featured a lot of the same elements that have derailed recent seasons of The Simpsons, but used these to the episode’s advantage.

From season 33 onward, the critical fortunes of The Simpsons improved considerably. Critics at Vulture and YouTube-based cultural commentators like Super Eyepatch Wolf announced that The Simpsons was “good again,” praising the show’s new episodes as a return to form. “A Springfield Summer Christmas For Christmas” provided the blueprint for this improvement.

The latest seasons of The Simpsons don’t ignore the show’s long history and large cast of supporting stars, but instead use these as a springboard to tell new, fresh stories. Looking back on The Simpsons’ Christmas episodes, it is striking to see how many of them rely on new characters, like Tim Robbins’ Jim Hope or Lawrence Tierney’s Don Brodka.

The show was always open to adding new characters to its cast, and its more ambitious episodes sidelined the Simpson family itself as far back as season 4. It was the zanier, less focused writing of post-season 12 episodes that led to their perceived decline in quality, and season 33 addressed this.

By taking its cues from “A Springfield Summer Christmas For Christmas,” season 33 and its follow-ups sharpened the show’s focus and improved the critical standing of The Simpsons as a result. Thus, this festive special wasn’t just a late-season standout, but also a harbinger of improvements yet to come.