Underrated Holiday Specials on Disney+

By John D’Amico

Full-Court Miracle

Let’s start with a Hanukkah special. And a Disney Channel Original Movie of all things. Full-Court Miracle is based on the true story of a Jewish teenager Alex “Schlotz” Schlotsky. Schlotz is part of his Jewish Private School’s basketball team. They’re not winning too much, partly because their coach is an algebra teacher who doesn’t know a thing about the game.

One day, they meet a man named Lamont Carr. And they believe that he’s the perfect person to take on the job as their new coach. They believe he’s their savior, in the same way that Judah Maccabee was to the Jews in the story of Hanukkah. Richard T. Jones as Carr is one of the main reasons to watch this movie. He brings so much believability and charm to the role that you miss him whenever he’s not on-screen. They start off his character arc by making him a grumpy guy who doesn’t want any involvement with these kids. But instead of going the more clichéd route and having it take almost the entire movie for him to open up, his tough exterior starts to crack pretty quickly. It’s refreshing but you also believe it because the growth of his friendship with the boys is still a gradual process.

Alex D. Linz also does good work as Schlotz, convincingly portraying his conflict with his mother who wants him to give up on basketball and just try to become a doctor like her. I’ve seen a fair amount of Disney Channel Original Movies in my adult life. And this is definitely in my top 5.

Holidays of Future Passed

Everyone knows The Simpsons, right? Yes, but not as many people have watched their later seasons. Here’s a strong Christmas episode from that era. So “Holidays of Future Passed” (S23, E9) takes place thirty years in the future, along the lines of the season 6 episode “Lisa’s Wedding.” These are usually interesting and this one is no exception. In addition to the kids being grown up, this story takes place in a post-apocalyptic future. So you get a lot of cool ideas here that writer J. Stewart Burns takes full advantage of.

This one starts off with a good, Christmas-themed intro with some funny background jokes and a cute couch gag with the family as gingerbread men. The story starts in present day on Thanksgiving night with the family about to take their annual Christmas card photo. After taking it, we get a montage of 30 years of photos showing how they change over the years. At this point, things have gotten tough. Like I said, it’s the apocalypse so none of them are doing particularly well. But Bart is easily the worst off, a divorced, deadbeat dad who has to work to gain his sons’ respect. The way they resolved this plot could’ve been unsatisfying but they found a way to make it work while still making it funny. The humor in general works here too with using the idea of a possible future to comment on society at the time. In the later seasons, The Simpsons definitely seems to go for edgier comedy. There’s some here but it never overdoes it to the point where it takes away from the more touching moments, which are well-done too. Check this one out.

One Magic Christmas

Here’s a theatrical Disney film that, for whatever reason, seems to have gone under the radar for most people. And I can sort of see why. It gets pretty heavy at times considering the G rating. And some could say the tone shifts around a little too much. But despite that, and an iffy ending, this is very well-made. One Magic Christmas stars Mary Steenburgen as a struggling blue-collar working mother/wife desperately trying to keep things together for her two kids and her optimistic husband. Steenburgen’s character Ginnie has a complicated relationship with Christmas to the point where Santa sends a Christmas angel (the late Harry Dean Stanton in a wholesome performance) to help out her and her family. Perhaps the biggest strength of the film is the way it accurately portrays the life of the working poor. The challenges and stresses the family go through here all felt very genuine. The manner it presents the cynicism it can bring out in people was very interesting to watch. But overall, it’s a just a nice movie with good acting and a good story (even if you have to go through some really sad stuff to get to the more upbeat ending).

Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation/A Christmas Peril

Here we have a good double-entry. Both are Christmas episodes from funny, 2010s Disney cartoons created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh. Both series even take place in the same universe.

The first is “Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation” (S2, E21) from, well, Phineas and Ferb, a hilarious kids cartoon about two stepbrothers do crazy stuff each day of their summer vacation. But instead, this episode is a one-off, taking place on their Christmas vacation, even with it’s own Christmas version of the opening credits. Phineas and Ferb‘s humor is all about subversion, whether it’s subverting other cartoon tropes or it’s own formula. And one does that about as hilariously as they possibly could using a Christmas special as a jumping off point.

Then there’s “A Christmas Peril” (S1, E21) from Milo Murphy Law, a series about a positive but unlucky kid named Milo Murphy voiced by Weird Al Yankovic (yes, that Weird Al Yankovic). In the main plot, Milo invites his equally unlucky extended family over for Christmas. And we get a lot of good humor from this setup. There’s also an even funnier subplot from the point-of-view of two time-travelers named Dakota and Vinnie. It doesn’t explain in this episode their connection to the main character but let’s just say that he has a habit of accidentally ruining their plans. But anyway, their subplot is made up of some great comedic set pieces that mostly just uses Christmas as a backdrop. Bottom line, check out both of these funny Christmas episodes and the shows they come from. You won’t regret it.

Santa’s Little Helper /Girl Meets a Christmas Maya

And we end on another double entry. First, there’s “Santa’s Little Helper” (S1, E10) from Boy Meets World, one of the best family sitcoms ever. If you’ve never seen it, well, the title says it all. It’s about a regular boy meeting the world. This episode starts off with a setup we’ve all seen before about a kid who thinks Christmas is all about the getting. But the humor and execution is what makes it work. You see, our protagonist Cory gets some new perspective when he learns that his best friend Shawn’s dad lost his job. He tries to help but at first, it doesn’t go well. We get a well-written story with none of the plot contrivances you saw in a lot of shows like this at the time. The main plot is touching and also mixes in a really funny subplot where Cory’s adorable little sister Morgan thinks she killed Santa when he has a minor heart attack after she sits on his lap. But the episode balance the two stories perfectly, with tonal shifts that never feel off. This is an episode I’ve watched every year since I discovered it a few years ago.

Then over 20 years later we got the sequel series on the Disney Channel, Girl Meets World focusing on Cory’s daughter Riley (premise is the same as the one above but now with a girl). In this episode, “Girl Meets a Christmas Maya,” (S3, E18) Riley’s best friend Maya is hesitant about spending Christmas with her new stepfather because she’s afraid he won’t like her family’s weird traditions. So Riley and her family put on their own version of “A Christmas Carol” to help Maya appreciate her family more. It starts off a little silly but get real touching real fast. Meanwhile, Riley tries and struggles with the annual Secret Santa with her friend group. This plot serves as a vehicle to develop smaller characters on the series. When they have the Secret Santa, the gifts seem bad at first. Where they take the story from here is extremely clever and extremely heartwarming. It’s a funny episode too. While “Santa’s Little Helper” is equally great each time I watch it, “Girl Meets a Christmas Maya” gets better and better for me with each viewing.

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