The 10 Worst TV Series Christmas Episodes, According To IMDb

If there is one sure-fire way for a franchise to cash in, it’s to put out a Christmas episode. The formula seems to involve following a sub-standard approach to the show as usual, but with added red colors, a few carols, maybe some snow on the floor, and definitely a few seasonal puns.

We’ve used IMDb to rank a few notable Christmas specials based on the average vote they’ve achieved on the site.

10 Scooby-Doo! Haunted Holidays (7.2)

It might have retained a lot of its staple cast for this 2012 straight-to-DVD film, but the current iteration of Scooby-Doo really does struggle to keep up with some of the stuff it was achieving back in its heyday.

This Christmas-themed episode delivers us troves of snow and light-hearted entertainment for kids but misses out on the magical ability to enthrall adults as well like it used to be able to do.

9 A Chipmunk Christmas (7.1)

Long before Alvin And The Chipmunks was a huge franchise that mixed live-action and 3D animated chipmunks, it was a cartoon for kids in the 1980s. The plot is very strangely centered on Dave trying to get Alvin to perform a harmonica solo at Carnegie Hall. It’s not bad by any stretch, but it isn’t incredible.

8 Glee: Previously Unaired Christmas (6.8)

This particular episode of teen singalong show Glee was very divisive at the time. Rather than airing a standard Christmas special, the show managed to work its way around logic and the structure of itself by providing us with an episode set in an alternate reality.

The cash-grab nature of this episode bleeds into its quality, and it has been remembered as one of the worst episodes the show ever made.

7 The Simpsons: The Flight Before Christmas (6.7)

Back in the day, The Simpsons were up there with the kings of Christmas specials. In fact, their first ever episode was technically a Christmas special. That episode itself wasn’t particularly good, as the show was finding its feet, but ‘The Flight Before Christmas’ exists on the other end of the spectrum. This is a show in its dying moments, desperately trying to think of new jokes and storylines that they haven’t already done.

6 Doctor Who: ‘Spyfall’ (6.6)

As soon as Russel T Davies left as showrunner of Doctor Who, things went downhill fast. The first Matt Smith season managed to hang on for a while, but, in 2020, things are looking particularly dire with Jodie Whittaker in the titular role.

The 2020 Christmas special ‘Spyfall’ was a disastrous spy-film parody that reintroduced The Master.

5 Shrek The Halls (6.4)

It’s on TV every single year without fail and, to give it its dues, it can put a smile on anyone’s face. The problem with Shrek The Halls is simply how much it has to live up to. The first two Shrek films are some of the funniest examples of animated comedy of all time, and this cash-grab just doesn’t recreate the magic of the films. They might have brought the whole cast out for it, but they seemed to be a lot less invested in their characters.

4 Christmas Comes To Pac-Land (5.7)

Now we’re getting into the really weird stuff. You, like most people, probably know Pac-Man as an iconic arcade game which has transformed into a cultural icon. For some reason, they were given a Christmas special called Christmas Comes To Pac-Land. Considering how terribly wrong this could have gone, a 5.7 average actually seems surprisingly good.

3 Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer (4.5)

It might be built on a rather grim concept that doesn’t exactly seem Christmassy, but Grandma Got Run Over A Reindeer has become a well-known concept thanks to a multitude, and, apparently, a TV special.

This animated special follows a kid as he tracks down his missing grandma and prove that Santa is actually real at the same time. Trust us, it’s really bizarre.

2 The Star Wars Holiday Special (2.1)

Arguably the most famous holiday special ever made comes from the biggest franchise of all time. After the enormous success of Star Wars, George Lucas decided the absolute best thing he could do was cash in on a Christmas special that featured the entire cast of the film. Very strange. There is an animated segment about Boba Fett, Leia sings over the title theme, and most of the dialogue is spoken by Wookies, who don’t speak English. Enjoy!

1 We Wish You A Turtle Christmas (1.9)

You’d think someone using “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” as the basis of their pun would at least use a word that rhymes with merry to replace it. Nope. Turtle. They could have at least gone for We Wish You A Shelly Christmas, right? This misstep has an incredibly impressive 1.9 average on IMDb, and rightly so.