Pop Quiz: Holiday Television IMDb Trivia – with Answers!

Name the holiday-themed television series or special based on the trivia pulled from its IMDb page.

1. “Shiny Happy People” by R.E.M. is played in the beginning of the New Year’s Eve party scene. This was the original theme song from the pilot. [Episode title “The One with the Monkey”, 1994]
2. Chuck Jones, a lifelong lover of Rudyard Kipling, was inspired to cast Boris Karloff as the [title character] after hearing a recording of Karloff reading Kipling’s Jungle Book stories. [Special, 1966]
3. The fictional store at which Sheldon buys Penny’s gift is called Le Bain Quotidien (daily bath), a pun on the phrase ‘le pain quotidien’ (daily bread). [Episode title “The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis”, 2008]
4. Fred Willard is credited as “Phil’s Dad” in the end credits and not “Frank Dunphy.” [Episode title “Undeck the Halls”, 2009]
5. Broke many of the rules prevalent for animated holiday specials during the 1960s: it didn’t make use of a laugh track, real children were used for the character voices instead of adult actors imitating children’s voices, and Biblical references were used to illustrate the true meaning of Christmas. [Special, 1965]
6. The holiday of “Festivus” was created in 1966 by Daniel O’Keefe, the father of Dan O’Keefe, one of the show’s writers. He invented many of the traditions later included in the [series title] episode, including the airing of grievances. [Episode title “The Strike”, 1997]
7. Desmond’s condition following the mishap during the helicopter flight to the boat is very similar to that of Billy Pilgrim, the main character of the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, who becomes “unstuck in time” and has multiple experiences in which his consciousness jumps backwards and forwards to different points within his own lifespan. [Episode title “The Constant”, 2008]
8. When Bart is imagining what Christmas would be like in juvenile hall, the Christmas tree in the detention center looks just like the one Charlie Brown brought back to the theater on A Charlie Brown Christmas. [Episode title “Marge Be Not Proud”, 1995]
9. A stuffed penguin is on a table during a scene in which Charlie and Ms. Landingham are discussing why Ms. Landingham is depressed over Christmas. This is the same penguin called “Hugsy” that Joey from Friends gives away to Rachel’s daughter Emma. [Episode title “In Excelsis Deo”, 1999]
10. One of the [radio] callers in this Christmas-themed episode is played by Rosemary Clooney, who starred in the classic holiday film White Christmas. [Episode title “Miracle on Third or Fourth Street”, 1993]
11. The animation was “shot on the 2s”. Instead of shooting one frame of film and then moving the puppet, two frames of film were shot before moving the puppet for the next exposure. This saved time and, therefore, money. The “jerky” motion which resulted became part of the Rankin/Bass style. [Special, 1964]
12. Edward Asner plays Maurice, who tells Scully that he knows people in the ACLU. Asner was involved with the ACLU in his real life as an activist. [Episode title “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas”, 1998]
13. The bar scene where Don and Joan have a drink after test driving the Jaguar bears some resemblance to the famous Edward Hopper painting “Nighthawks”. [Episode title “Christmas Waltz”, 2012]
14. References are explicitly made to Alien (1979), a significant film in the career of John Hurt, who would later go on to play the Time War incarnation of the [title character]. [Episode title “Last Christmas”, 2014]
15. Burgermeister Meisterburger accidentally sits on a toy soldier’s bayonet. In the next scene, he has a pillow strapped to his rear. [Special, 1970]
16. The closest Benihana to Scranton, PA is actually nearly 2 hours away in Plymouth Meeting, PA. [Episode title “A Benihana Christmas”, 2006]
17. The “HI TED” writing on the pavement mirrors the “HI BOSS” from “The Diamond Dogs” in season one. [Episode title “Carol of the Bells”, 2021]
18. Jackie Vernon, who voices [title character], was known for his drab stand-up comedy acts and X-rated jokes. Gene Wilder and Art Carney were also considered for the role. [Special, 1969]
19. Jamie Lee Curtis was a fan of [series title] before joining the cast in season two. She said that as soon as she saw the first episode, where Sugar/Natalie asks Carmy about their mother, she “knew that she would play her.” [Episode title “Fishes”, 2023]
20. Janine (Quinta Brunson) hands a non-holiday-themed cookie to a student who is a Jehovah’s Witness. Quinta was raised as a member of that religious faith. Jehovah’s Witnesses typically don’t celebrate Christmas, which is why the cookie is blank. [Episode title “Holiday Hookah”, 2022]
21. The title is based on a “mondegreen” (a misheard, spoonerized, or comically misinterpreted phrase from a song or poem). The title comes from the lyric “all of the other reindeer” from “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. [Special, 1999]

1. Friends
2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
3. The Big Bang Theory
4. Modern Family
5. A Charlie Brown Christmas
6. Seinfeld
7. Lost
8. The Simpsons
9. The West Wing
10. Frasier
11. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
12. The X-Files
13. Mad Men
14. Doctor Who
15. Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town
16. The Office
17. Ted Lasso
18. Frosty the Snowman
19. The Bear (fun fact: Jamie Lee Curtis won a Primetime Emmy Award for her performance)
20. Abbott Elementary
21. Olive, the Other Reindeer