Our final reference in the episode title for this incredible second season of Fargo is not for a literary work, but a literary term. It is a word, phrase, number or series of characters that is spelled out exactly the same forward and backward.
The holidays took a dark turn in “Silent Night.” It has become clear during several episodes this season that the way the group was living their post-apocalyptic lives was unsustainable, as they faced shortages related to food and gas. Reality truly sets in during “Silent Night” about how ill-prepared they are to handle any sort of crisis.
“The Alan Brady Show Presents” was the only Christmas episode produced by The Dick Van Dyke Show, and is considered by many fans to be a classic of both the variety show and Christmas special genres. Ironically, this episode is less notable for being a Christmas special than it is for its portrayal of, well, The Alan Brady Show. This fictitious show-within-a-show was always talked about but rarely seen on The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Alan Brady himself was only filmed from behind or heard off-camera for years. In the third-season “The Alan Brady Show Presents,” we get an entire episode of The Alan Brady Show, plus our first full look at the character of Alan Brady, even though he is impossible to see thanks to his Santa Claus costume. It would be almost a year before audiences would finally see Alan Brady unobscured and undisguised.
Dick Van Dyke stars as Robert Petrie, head writer of The Alan Brady Show. As “The Alan Brady Show Presents” opens, Rob, along with co-writers Sally Rogers (Rose Marie) and Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam), are planning to head out for Christmas vacation, having just submitted their Christmas script to Alan. They’re stymied by Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon), Alan’s assistant, who stops them to say that the episode they wrote was terrific, but it’s not what Alan wants. Worried that his personality doesn’t exude the necessary warmth to keep his public interested, Alan has decided to showcase the staff and their families in a variety show for Christmas, and recruits the writers, along with Rob’s wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) and son Ritchie (Larry Matthews), for the special.
Nothing about this premise makes one bit of sense, of course, which may not be unusual for sitcoms, but is somewhat unusual for The Dick Van Dyke Show. It’s implausible that the writing staff would turn in a script for a Christmas episode just a couple of days before Christmas, and audiences would have known immediately that there were several recurring characters, such as Buddy’s wife Pickles, who would logically have been involved in the variety show, too, but are never mentioned.
It’s clear even to the casual viewer that “The Alan Brady Show Presents” was not up to The Dick Van Dyke Show‘s usual production standards. Beyond the lazy script, there are problems with the cast stumbling on their lines, and Rob is out of character for the entire episode. Most notably, the episode was filmed without a live audience, a necessity because of costume and set changes, but the canned laughter sounds a bit off, not least because a couple of the people laughing sound just like Reiner and Rose Marie.
Still, there’s a lot to enjoy in this episode. After Rob explains the backstory to the Alan Brady Show audience, we’re on to the real meat of the show. First, Rob conducts a classic Christmas choir consisting of Buddy, Laura, Sally and Mel. In keeping with Alan Brady’s impressive, unchecked egotism, they sing an ode to Alan Brady, a glorious and heavenly song whose only lyrics are the words “Alan” and “Brady.” One by one, the singers are overcome with existential crises and, like Rene Descartes before them, discover that if they are to fully exist, they must declare their existence to the world.
Well, it’s not so highbrow as all that: in a fit of pique, each singer belts out their own name instead of Alan’s, and each is summarily dismissed until no choir is left.
In the second act, Rose Marie sings “Santa, Bring Me a Fella,” in that classy early 1960s way, featuring a lovely gown, sharp set decoration and a surprisingly good voice; Rose Marie had been entertaining since she was three years old, and it shows. This act segues into a wacky musical competition between Sally and Buddy, and after commercial break, we see Rob and Laura play two street-corner Santas who fall in love.
The next bit featuring little Ritchie singing “The Little Drummer Boy” was meant to be a serious and moving moment, but is marred by the fact that poor Larry Matthews cannot sing at all. Very little has been written about this particular episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, but what has never fails to mention Matthews; he is just that bad.
The final act features everyone dressed as toy soldiers singing “I Am a Fine Musician,” a song that the show had used before in the second season, when the gang found themselves entertaining in the Catskills. The re-use of this song, along with a few other self-referential jokes and the cast singing the theme to The Dick Van Dyke Show, essentially serve to break the fourth wall, acknowledging that what the audience is watching is a fake show within another fake show within an implausible context. It’s a nice touch and goes a long way toward excusing many of the episode’s flaws, and making “The Alan Brady Show Presents” one of the better example of a variety show from television’s classic era.
It’s Christmas Eve at the 99, and Jake is stuck without a present for Amy. He recruits Gina – and then eventually Charles - to help him find a last-minute gift at a department store, only to find himself part of a robbery and hostage crisis. Living out his favorite film, Die Hard, in the flesh ends up leaving a lot to be desired when he and then Gina end up becoming the case and thus part of the crisis, leaving Charles to rescue them.
With Fisher now part of the team, Ash and the kids take a trip into the deep woods, and Lem’s militia compound. There, they discover that his group has just endured an attack from him, and they’re keeping him locked up in the catacombs of their compound for safety’s sake.
If there’s one thing that happened in TV this year that I’m so glad for, it was the shift in public opinion on the Netflix animated series BoJack Horseman. When it debuted, the opinion on the show was mixed to negative. It was seen as an Adult Swim type animated version of Entourage with anthropomorphized talking animals.
Gloria’s plan for a perfect family getaway on a snowy mountainside to celebrate her first Christmas as a legal American citizen is repeatedly complicated by the weather (which is dry, warm, and snow-free), and an unexpected guest, a strange woman who apparently spent every single Christmas with her family, who promptly abandoned her and went off to vacation on Hawaii.
Jake and Rosa compete for bragging rights with a pair of Swedish cops when they’re assigned to an international case after arresting a petty thief who turns out to have stolen a priceless royal Stockholm jewel. While trying to prove their closeness, their more competent Swedish counterparts trace the jewels back to the ring of thieves who originally swiped it, while Rosa and Jake manage to track down nothing but fresh fish.
The Countess mourns the disappearance of Natascha and Valentino, and declares her total independence – which she knows she must reach through Will’s death, though March and Miss Evers try to stop the big day from happening - Liz as well – but Will goes through with the ceremony and soon finds himself meeting Elizabeth’s horrifying monster child, her very dead first husband and her very hungry ex-lover.
With all of the kids on winter break, enjoying the delights and incredible wonders of “A Christmas Story”, Beverly starts to feel the pinch from the overwhelming, all-looming delights of Christmas, especially as represented by their super-Christian neighbors, the Kemps.