25 best Christmas TV episodes to watch this holiday season

30 Rock – “Christmas Special”

It’s always nice to try and spread joy to others during the holiday season, but when you’re Liz Lemon, things just never work out that easily. When her parents announce they’re ditching her to go on a couples’ retreat for Christmas, Liz decides to help those in need, but then thinks she’s being scammed.

Liz participates in the “Letters to Santa” charity program, where underprivileged kids write letters to Santa and volunteers get assigned a letter and buy gifts for the kids. Liz proudly boasts that she’s helping kids this Christmas to the entire TGS staff, and she goes above and beyond to give the kids a great Christmas. But when she delivers the presents and finds two adults accepting the gifts, she thinks she’s been tricked and tries to get the charity shut down. She talks to the US Postal Service, and they do nothing. Kenneth is upset too, because he refuses to believe anybody would try and make a scam out of a Christmas charity.

Liz takes matters into her own hands and goes back to the apartment, positive she’s being played for a fool. She brings along Tracy and Kenneth to prove a point, but when she knocks two young boys answer the door, and it was their letter that Liz received. She’s overcome with happiness that she wasn’t scammed and proudly tells the boys that she was the one who got all the presents under the tree. You can imagine where this is going. They start screaming, “What about Santa?! She said there’s no Santa Claus!” and that’s when their dads, the two men Liz originally saw at the apartment, come running out. She tried to be a good person, so that counts for something, right?

While this is all happening, Jack is feuding with his abrasive mother. He accidentally backs into her with his car while in Florida, so she decides to stay with him while she’s bedridden. Jack usually hates spending time with his mother, but he doesn’t want her to find out how long he waited to call 911 after he hit her (yikes). In order to keep him busy and out of the house, he decides to produce a last-minute Christmas special on TGS, and when his mom realizes what’s going on, it blows up even more.

Nothing says Christmas cheer quite like family drama and failed good deeds!