A Charlie Brown Christmas with Alan Siegel • Non-Denominational Holiday Fun Fest IV

Good grief. It’s the 60th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)! To celebrate this classic Christmas special, Adam and Nate decided to unpack it through its Simpsons parody in “Miracle on Evergreen Terrace” (S9E10) with Alan Siegel, author of the new book Stupid TV, Be More Funny.

Also in this episode:

• Alan’s take on how The Simpsons reinvented TV and molded millennial movie taste like an older brother

• Were the Simpsons DVD commentaries podcasts before podcasts?

• The many ways Charles M. Schulz inspired the people behind The Simpsons

• Why does this moody Christmas special endure today?

• Plus, check out our show notes for a complete list of Simpsons references, double feature suggestions, and further reading

(Sorry about the brief mic problems from around the 43 minute mark. If it’s driving you crazy, skip ahead to around 49 minutes.)

After a short holiday break, we’ll be back on January 13th with the daddy-daughter con job movie Paper Moon and its Simpsons parody in “The Great Money Caper” (S12E7).

For more of Alan’s writing on The Simpsons, check out his new book Stupid TV, Be More Funny: How the Golden Era of The Simpsons Changed Television—and America—Foreverand his writing about pop culture on The Ringer.

For more Simpsons movie parody content, check out SpringfieldGoogolplex.com, or follow us at @simpsonsfilmpod on Instagram, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, and Letterboxd. Discover more great podcasts on the That Shelf Podcast Network.