From the beginning of December, if not earlier, we are deluged with endless amounts of Christmas themed programming, filled with holiday music, bright-eyed children, and endless amounts of color and 'the true meaning of Christmas'. While several of these shows can be entertaining and enjoyable, sometimes--- for me at least--- the mind cries out for antidote to all of this goodwill towards men, something that reminds that the holidays aren't always happy for everyone. Here are five holiday set or themed or hours that have a requisite amount of darkness. Some of them are difficult to find, but they're definitely worth watching
St.Elsewhere: 'Santa is Dead'. Few shows managed to mix the macabre with wit as well as this program where the good folk at St. Eligius find themselves trying to plan Christmas with the Santa collapsing from a heart attack and finally dying despite the best efforts of beleaguered medical student Elliot Axelrod. Also not feeling the spirit is Dr. Mark Craig (William Daniels). For the most of the episode he tries to put up a front for his colleagues and his baby granddaughter, but when he finally breaks down in front of his wife Ellen, saying that he can't forgive God for killing their son, it is powerful. The show produced many indelible moments, but few are as poignant as the final sequence as Craig walking through unable to celebrate the Christmas in church to the melancholy tones of 'Silent Night'
ChicagoHope: 'The Quarantine'. Rarely did this hospital set drama demonstrate that it might have been ER's equal then during this episode where the central characters became involved in a possible quarantine for the Ebola virus. As the character become more closely involved as they involved with how they came in contact with the virus, the relationships between the characters particularly separated neurosurgeon Aaron Shutt (Adam Arkin) and his estranged wife, Camille (Roxanne Hart) .Garments are rent, souls are bared, and one vital character has a heart attack, and emergency surgery is required. This is David E. Kelley at his finest. It's a shame that this show isn't on DVD because it's never to be forgotten.
Homicide 'All is Bright'. Murder doesn't take the holidays off, and in this Season 6 classic, new detective Ballard and Gharty find themselves investigating the death of a swinging-single who was HIV-positive. The murderer, a woman in the end stages of AIDS makes no secret of killing him out of vengeance, but Ballard (Callie Thorne, in one of her first great performances) doesn't want to arrest her. A darkly comic subplot of one of Munch's first ex-mother-in-law belays him, and a simmering plotline involving the murder of a drug dealer gets one step closer to boiling over. Still, it's the dark clangs of 'Blood Makes Noise' over the final sequences that so truly show how brilliant this show could be.
The West Wing: Noel. In the first episode of this show's second season, Josh Lyman (the brilliant Bradley Whitford) was the victim of an assassination attempt. The healing took one episode in TV time, but the psychological scars have been becoming more apparent with each episode. Josh meets with a therapist (Adam Arkin again) who starts by asking him a simple question: "How'd you cut your hand?" It rakes him the entire episode for Josh to realize just how much pain he is in. Watching him disintegrate and make the first steps towards recovering explored levels the show had not been capable of, and, like all of the Christmas-themed episodes, reaffirmed his link to his mentor, Leo, and his secretary, Donna. An unforgettable hour.
Six Feet Under: Pilot. Set on Christmas Eve, this episode introduced to the Fisher family starting with the patriarch getting flattened in the family hearse. Watching them deal with their loss in out-of-proportion ways (Ruth admits she'd been having an affair for years; Claire's high on crystal meth, Nate is busy screwing his seat mate from the flight in) was one of the most daring and darkly comic introductions we've ever had on a series. Six Feet Under started so well, and ended so well, it's a shame that so much of the middle was such a mess. Suffice Christmas will never be the same when you've spent it with this family.
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