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Sitcoms love Christmas episodes. We love them too. Christmas is a time for friendliness, good will towards men, and all that. It’s all a time for competition. Trust us on that. As such, we have decided to pit some shows known for Christmas episodes against one another to see who emerges as the winner. First up, we have The Office taking on Frasier.
The Office began the Christmas festivities with “Christmas Party,” a simply-named episode from the second season. It featured Yankee Swap and Jim’s gift for Pam. Then, Christmas started to get even darker on the show. “A Benihana Christmas” is an hour long and pretty bleak at times. “Moroccan Christmas” has the office staging an intervention for Meredith. “Classy Christmas” was also an hour long and featured Holly showing up at the Christmas party with her boyfriend AJ, much to Michael’s dismay. Then there’s “Christmas Wishes” and “Dwight Christmas,” but those are post-Michael episodes so who cares? That’s where The Office is in trouble.
There are also eight Christmas episodes of Frasier, although since Frasier’s ex-wife Lilith is Jewish, there’s always some Chanukah in the mix as well. A couple of them, like “Mary Christmas,” are middling. However, there are three notable Christmas episodes. There’s “Perspectives on Christmas” which does a Rashomon-style bit of storytelling. “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz” has its own Wikipedia page, and features Frasier pretending he is Jewish for his girlfriend’s mother. Then, there’s “High Holidays” which is maybe the best episode of Frasier full stop. Martin gets high! Niles things he’s high but isn’t! Oh what fun it is to watch!
If we were going back and forth on these rankings, Frasier scores a blow by having “High Holidays,” which is the best of all these Christmas episodes. However, The Office might have the next three or four on the list. Ultimately, overall quality goes to The Office, even if Frasier has the Christmas peak. They have the best star on top of the tree, so to speak, but The Office has overall better tree décor. This battle goes to Michael Scott and company.
