28 of TV's best Christmas episodes
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When the weather outside is frightful, watching TV is so delightful! In celebration of this festive season, we've rounded up the best Christmas episodes, from the holly jolly on Friends to the downright heartbreaking on Lost.
Check out our yuletide picks ahead!
Friends, "The One With the Holiday Armadillo" (Season 7, Episode 10)
Friends celebrated more than just Thanksgiving! If you can make it through the Hanukkah lesson from the Holiday Armadillo (a.k.a. David Schwimmer's Ross) all the way to the arrival of Superman (Matt LeBlanc's Joey) without once dissolving into a pile of Christmas giggles, you're stronger than we are.
Ted Lasso, "Carol of the Bells" (Season 2, Episode 4)
Ted Lasso boldly dropped its season 2 Christmas episode in the middle of the summer, but the polarizing installment is packed with enough wholesome holiday sweetness (including a handful of 2003's Love Actually references) to convince anyone it's cold outside.
Where to watch Ted Lasso: Apple TV+
How I Met Your Mother, "How Lily Stole Christmas" (Season 2, Episode 11)
Second only to "eating a sandwich" among narrator Ted's (Josh Radnor) various sanitized revisions of his younger days is his tale of the time he called Alyson Hannigan's Lily a "grinch" (decide for yourself what word he really used) at Christmastime.
Where to watch How I Met Your Mother: Hulu
Doctor Who, "A Christmas Carol" (2010)
The classic novella has gotten plenty of small-screen adaptations, but none more singular than Doctor Who's version — which was somehow very clearly Dickensian but also distinctly, unquestionably, entirely Doctor Who.
Where to watch Doctor Who: Max
Will & Grace, "Jingle Balls" (Season 4, Episode 12)
The spirit and the glamour of Christmas are on full display in this Will & Grace episode, wherein Grace (Debra Messing) selflessly plays Santa Claus for Jack (Sean Hayes) by designing a gorgeous holiday window display at Barneys.
Where to watch Will & Grace: Hulu
Black-ish, "Black Santa/White Christmas" (Season 1, Episode 10)
Black-ish took on the "Black people can't be racist" argument in its first season's Christmas episode, in which Dre (Anthony Anderson) insists that his office Christmas party needs a Black Santa (specifically him).
Where to watch Black-ish: Hulu
30 Rock, "Christmas Special" (Season 3, Episode 6)
What better subject for a Christmas TV show than the making of a Christmas TV show? And what better way to spend Christmas than with family? And what better family than Jack's (Alec Baldwin) mom (Elaine Stritch)?!
The Bear, “Fishes” (Season 2, Episode 6)
Chuck Hodes/FX
At a Berzatto Christmas, the only things getting unwrapped are layers of family trauma. Set five years prior to the show’s main timeline, this yuletide episode of The Bear finds Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) attending a family dinner based on the Feast of the Seven Fishes, where forks are weaponized. Prepare yourself for a star-studded festivity, featuring guest appearances from Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Paulson, John Mulaney, Bob Odenkirk, and Gillian Jacobs. —J.M.
