The Simpsons: Christmas 2 (2000)

TV. Not the best Simpsons theme disc or Christmas four-episode collection possible, but it's 80% as funny as the usual Simpsons fare. Most episodes have a tenuous connection to Christmas: (1) As Mr. Burns's paid "prank monkey," Homer Simpson (playing Santa in the town Christmas parade because he's endomorphically fit for the job) is commanded to fling fish offal on the happy crowd—but finds a stand-in. (2) In "Skinner's Sense of Snow," Principal Skinner and the children of Springfield Elementary are snowed in by a blizzard with only an inept Homer Simpson to save them. (3) Homer is tired of the Christmas songs that are in the public domain so he writes the implausible hit "Everybody Hates Ned Flanders" (which even Ned and his kids cheerfully sing and William Shatner covers), so to escape this latest song he has gotten sick of, the family spends most of the episode at a dude ranch. (4) In the cleverest (most truly Simpsonian) episode of the bunch with plenty of bits to please or peeve everyone (including parodies of Jimmy Stewart, Mr. Magoo and A Christmas Carol), Homer grinchily steals the whole town's Christmas presents after his Buddhist daughter Lisa tells him people should find the joy and meaning of the holiday without the commercial trappings. 4 stars.