Thanksgiving has come and gone which means it is officially the holiday season! That’s right folks, even though Christmas decorations have been out since the beginning of October, now it is officially Christmas time! It’s time to start listening to the music, watching the movies, wearing the matching pajamas. The most wonderful time of the year? Debatable, but still, we look forward to it every year. Some movies I always look forward to watching each year are the Tim Allen “Santa Clause” Movies. They’re phenomenal and you all know it. I even tend to group them together in a slot on my top 5 Christmas movies list. But this year, they decided to bring Tim Allen back to town as Santa for a short series (get it a little play on the song Santa Clause is coming to town lol.) And I am not so sure how I feel about it…
Basically, the quick break down of the show is after almost 30 years as Santa Clause, Scott Calvin (Tim Allen’s character) is looking to move on. That’s right, Kris Kringle is skipping out on Christmas! (Not really) He’s looking for a replacement, and he gets to choose who. He wants to raise his kids with other humans and relax for the rest of his years. Don’t blame the man, checking a list twice every year seems like a really tough task (sarcasm.) But alas we are getting a new Santa. This show is on Disney+ so it’s 6 episodes like all of their other shows so far. I watched the first 3 over the weekend, and the fourth comes out tomorrow. I do have some gripes so far, so let’s go over the halfway point (SPOLIERS AHEAD), just as the reindeer go over our heads on Christmas Eve.
EPISODE 1
My first gripe immediately off the bat is they refer to their son as “Cal” when in the third Santa Clause movie they named him “Buddy” after his grandfather. We do not find out until episode 3 that his name is Buddy but he goes by Cal. This pissed me off as the entire time I’m wondering is Buddy older and not in the picture right now, but no, he’s there the entire time. DUMB!
Anyway, Santa’s starting to have trouble with his magic and he’s losing weight, a big no no for the big man in red. Christmas spirit also seems to be at an all-time low, and Santa is having a tough time adjusting to the new world. He’s getting examined by Dr’s, he’s not as cheerful, he’s clearly in trouble. Carol is back as Mrs. Clause and she seems to have an identity crisis. All is most definitely not good in the North Pole. We leave off with Santa being presented the option of retirement…
EPISODE 2
After issues on two (2) consecutive Christmas Eve’s with his magic, and his kids wanting a life in the real world, Santa decides to move forward with his retirement. He throws in the towel. This kind of gives me the feeling of Luke just running and hiding in the new Star Wars trilogy. I don’t think Scott would throw in the towel on something he loves, but I guess that’s the story they are running with. Now begins the search for the New Santa. It starts with a familiar face…
That’s right, Scott’s first option is his son Charlie who is now all grown up. And of course, Charlie says no because he’s taking orders from his woman (she’s Spanish so he just does what she says, prob better off.) So, the search continues for Scott as Carol lets her hair down for the first time in almost 30 years. Reminded me of when Elsa did it in Frozen accept, I think Elsa looked hotter (ayo a cartoon????)
EPISODE 3
This was probably my least favorite episode. Scott’s daughter doesn’t want to leave, and we find out she can talk to animals. She goes to see a “Christmas Witch” about this which I really didn’t understand. Unless she has more to do in the future episodes her part is literally useless. It was funny to see Peyton Manning I will give them that, even though athletes cannot act. Anytime they make an appearance you can always tell they suck. (Look up any Entourage episode with an athlete appearance and you’ll see what I mean.) And probably the toughest part I am facing with this show, Kumar is going to be the next Santa Clause!
I’m sorry, I know Harold and Kumar did a Christmas movie but I am just having a tough time seeing him as Santa Clause, and it is not because of the gif, watch yourselves. (The actor who plays Kumar, Kal Penn also had a small part in the Christmas movie Deck the Halls, bet you all didn’t know that!) They made his name in the show Simon Choksi, another play like the original Scott Calvin for Santa Clause. Not really original. Simon’s character is a struggling entrepreneur who runs a toy company. He’s a single parent trying to make it for his daughter, very respectable. But, the next Santa? I don’t see it. Scott originally hates him, but then learns his story and makes him Santa. Feels a little rushed if you ask me, but hey retirement is calling.
PREDICITIONS
We leave off episode three with Santa heading to Chicago with his family, and his beard gone. Before he left the Santa coat put up a fight before going to Simon. This leads me to believe Scott will have a shorter retirement than Tom Brady before he’s called back to fix some issues. I’m sure his kids will have a tough time adjusting and want to go back to the North Pole too. The witch will play some part in something, it will probably be pointless. I think Simon will be our next Santa even though I’m not crazy about it. It would be hilarious if he needed to stop for White Castle on his Christmas Eve runs.
Either way I hope the next three episodes are better than the first three or this show will leave a bad taste for when I get ready to watch the actual Santa Clause movies in the next few weeks. SIDE NOTE: What the hell was this:
I don’t mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist but with everything going on in the media these days this does seem a little sus. Even if it’s meant to be a joke… was it meant to be a joke?!?!? Little weird Disney, little weird. We’ll check back in 3 weeks when the show is over for a final review.