Miracle on Evergreen Terrace (The Simpsons)

Miracle on Evergreen Terrace is the tenth episode of Season 9 of The Simpsons. It aired in the United States on December 21, 1997, and is one of the three episodes that is rated TV-G, along with All Singing, All Dancing and Bart the Mother.

Plot
When Bart accidentally destroys the family's Christmas trees and presents, his lies about a burglar stealing them spiral out of control, leaving the Simpsons heavily indebted to the generous townsfolk.

Why It's NOT a Miracle

 * 1) Misleading title: Despite the episode being called "Miracle On Evergreen Terrace" (which is an obvious parody title to Miracle on 34th Street), which it makes seem like this is an episode where the Simpsons family have a Christmas miracle, the episode is nothing like that at all.
 * 2) *As a matter of fact, it almost has nothing to do with the title of the episode, as the episode doesn't even parody the movie that the episode's title is parodying.
 * 3) **Though to be fair, not every episode with a title that parodies an existing from of media has always parody whatever the episode's title is parodying.
 * 4) The main problem with the episode is that it relies way too much on being a dark Christmas story, to the point where it tries way too hard and fails miserably with it. While it is not a bad concept and the show can make one work as we can see with "Marge Not Be Proud", they went way too far with this one.
 * 5) Bart is extremely careless in the beginning of the episode, as he accidentally burns down the tree, hides it, and completely lies to his family by claiming that a burglar stole the presents and the tree.
 * 6) *This episode is one of the few examples where Bart's carelessness and incompetence is really at it's worst.
 * 7) The episode is nothing but a giant torture episode for the Simpsons family, as they often get treated like butt-monkeys and punching bags throughout the entirety of the episode thanks to Bart to lying about what happened to the tree and the presents.
 * 8) The townsfolk become unlikable, greedy and out of character after they find out what happened to the tree and presents as they claim that the Simpsons "scammed" them and they force the family to give them back their money.
 * 9) In one scene, Bart tells his family the truth about what happened to the tree in an honest and truthful way. Despite this, both Homer and Lisa get mad at him anyways and proceed to strangle him.
 * 10) *If Bart wasn't honest with his apology and showed little care for what he did, then it would of been completely understandable for Homer and Lisa to attempt to strangle him, but since he was honest about his apology and showed regret for what he did, it makes Homer and Lisa look like jerks who can't accept apologies.
 * 11) The scene where the Simpson family go on Jeopardy! serves no purpose other than filler and a pointless r eference to that game show in particular. And on top of that, Alex Trebek's cameo wasn't really needed.
 * 12) Terrible ending: The people of Springfield refuse to forgive the Simpsons and proceed to loot their house as revenge for "scamming" them, leaving their house completely empty, and the only thing they have left is just a washcloth.
 * 13) *The scene was also supposed to be "heartwarming" at the same time, but realistically, this isn't heartwarming at all because the Simpsons family have literally nothing left in their house and the washcloth is the only thing they have left.
 * 14) *And yes, this is really how they ended this Christmas episode, nothing says heartwarming like being robbed on the night before Christmas and having everyone in your town hate you for being falsely accused of "scamming them"…
 * 15) **It doesn't help by the fact that the next episode never follows up with the events of this one, and the fact the episode didn't have a way of maintaining the status quo like most episodes of the show do makes this episode feel pointless and it makes it seem as if it's non-canon, despite the creators never confirming as if it's non-canon.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The beginning scene where Homer steals presents from other people in the store is pretty funny.
 * 2) Even though Lisa and Homer got mad at Bart for being honest, the part where Lisa tried to strangle him before Homer stops her and says his line "Lisa, no! Your hands are too weak!" before strangling Bart himself was funny.
 * 3) The Gracie Films variant at the end of the episode, which uses a Christmas themed version of the logo's jingle was a nice touch.
 * 4) Whilst the other Simpsons family members don't deserve what happened to them, Bart was the only one that came close to deserving it. After all, he lied to the entire town and didn't tell his family about their Christmas tree and presents being burned down.

Reception
Despite receiving positive reviews from critics, this episode's reception from fans of The Simpsons went from being mixed to being bombarded with an unfavorable reception, most of the complaints go to the fact that the Simpsons family are treated like punching bags throughout the entire episode as well as the bad ending where the town of Springfield loot the Simpsons' house. Along with "The Principal and the Pauper" and "Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble"", it's mostly considered by fans to be one of the worst episodes of the "Golden Age" (Seasons 1-10), and some fans even go as far to say that it is one of the worst episodes of the entire series.

Videos
 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tjZ5w3lo0ms  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LipyBDHlJKE