Christmas Special (Uncle Grandpa)

"Christmas Special"
Uncle Grandpa episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 41 & 42
Directed by
Written by
  • Myke Chilian
  • Ryan Kramer
Story by See § Production and broadcast
Produced by Rossitza Likomanova
Editing by Tom Browngardt
Original air date December 4, 2014
Running time 22 minutes

"Christmas Special" (also known as "Christmas with Uncle Santa") is the forty-one and forty-two episode of the first season of the American animated television series Uncle Grandpa. The episode was written and storyboarded by Myke Chilian and Ryan Kramer. A Christmas television special, the episode aired on December 4, 2014 on Cartoon Network. A browser game based on the game titled Sneakin' Santa was released prior to its broadcast. The episode was positively received by The Malaysian Insider and The Star, while being given an apathetic review in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Plot

Part one

After he gets into a fit of rage over Christmas, Uncle Grandpa (Peter Browngardt) and the rest land into the workshop of Santa Claus (Bob Joles), who is unable to deliver presents after breaking his leg. He and Uncle Grandpa brawl and reveal that they are brothers, currently in a spat over a hip-hop performance in the past gone awry. When the elves panic over who will deliver the presents to the children, Pizza Steve (Adam DeVine) suggests that they volunteer to deliver presents, to which Uncle Grandpa reluctantly agrees. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts at doing so, they reach the third house, the residence of a "naughty" Sally Smith (Grey DeLisle), who locks Uncle Grandpa up in a cage with the rest of the holiday characters.

Because Uncle Grandpa vows not to listen to his brother, Santa raps out the instructions in order to escape from the cell. Uncle Grandpa follows through, but not before being caught by Sally, who recognizes who he really is. When she asks how he escaped, he credits the "influential power of hip hop", which causes her to have a change of heart, and so she frees the rest of the holiday characters. While it takes Santa until spring to deliver the rest of the presents, he and Uncle Grandpa finally reconcile.

Part two

After ruining Christmas Eve dinner for everybody, Uncle Grandpa feels unwanted and wishes to propel himself into outer space. A galactic guardian named Lawrence manifests itself into the form of a lobster and shows Uncle Grandpa a parallel universe where he does not exist: Frankenstein (Mark Hamill) is captured by an angry mob; Giant Realistic Flying Tiger has a job as a mascot; Belly Bag (Eric Bauza) is in the dresser of a teenage girl; Pizza Steve is a waiter at a seafood restaurant; and Mr. Gus (Kevin Michael Richardson) works as a janitor at a museum. Uncle Grandpa realizes that he must stay and apologizes to his friends, who accept his apology and have already placed an order for chicken wings.

Production and broadcast

"Christmas Special" was written and storyboarded by Myke Chilian and Ryan Kramer and directed by Robert Alvarez and Randy Myers. The story was written by Kelsy Abbott, Tom Kauffman, Browngardt, Audie Harrison, and Casey Alexander.[lower-alpha 1] Billed as a Christmas television special,[1] it is the third holiday-themed special (after the Halloween specials "Afraid of the Dark" and "Haunted RV"), as well as the first half-hour/two-part episode/special.

Sneakin' Santa features Uncle Grandpa with the same outfit as he appears in the episode (pictured rightmost).

In the United States, "Christmas Special" premiered on December 4, 2014 on Cartoon Network.[2] The episode was rerun on Christmas Eve (December 24) as part of their generic Christmas television block.[3] In Southeast Asia, it was aired on December 20,[1] where it was advertised with the title "Christmas with Uncle Santa".[4] A browser game titled Sneakin' Santa was released prior to its broadcast on December 1 of the same year. In it, the player controls Uncle Grandpa, who, after Santa has broken his leg, must stealthily dance his way through people's houses to deliver presents.[5]

Reception

The episode was viewed by 1.5 million in the United States, receiving a Nielsen rating of 0.3 for adults in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic. In the same demographic, it was the ninety-fifth most viewed of the top 100 cable programs.[6] For The Malaysian Insider, a staff writer called it a "don't miss" episode which made for "non-stop laughter" and the powers of Uncle Grandpa for "joy and wonder".[1] Kenneth Chaw and Chiang Kah Yee of The Star also wrote that it was a "don't miss",[7] including it in a rundown of "the most entertaining shows to watch" of the holiday season.[8] Ruth Ritchie of The Sydney Morning Herald, meanwhile, wrote it off as the special that "kids will probably gravitate to if left to their own devices".[9]

Notes

  1. ↑ Story and writer information is taken from the closing credits.

References

Work cited

External links