HOLIDAY SPECIALS - Terrible Writing Advice

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the net
Not a commenter was typing, not even to leave a threat;
The subscribers were staring at their screens with care,
In hopes that Terrible Writing Advice would cover Holiday Specials on a dare;
When out a notification icon there arose a such a clatter,
The commenters sprang from their let’s play to see what’s the matter.
When what to their wondering eyes did appear,
But a horrible wreck of a video, oh dear.
But when they heard JP exclaim, ere he dove out of sight–
“Happy Christmas to all suckers, because I made this video out of spite!”

Honest thoughts later, maybe.

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CREDITS
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

[DragonfameDracas]

"Everything changed when Black Friday attacked."
It was horrid, we were hopeless outnumbered and overworked, surrounded on all sides, we'd do our best to stem the tides and reinforce the lines. It seemed a lost cause, as we waded through isles choked with bodies, sometimes finding ourselves surrounded on all sides outnumbered twelve to one by soulless abominations that screamed demands at us. We were not people to these ravenous hordes without empathy or kindness, were we simply objects to give what they desired when they desired it.

Yet eventually that horrid day ended and those green to this war believed that it was over. But those who had seen this horror before, this never ending tide of greed and desire knew better and did not tell these green workers who had sought only easy work and a quick buck. This was but the first day of the Black Tide, it would return tomorrow, perhaps not as fierce as it had today, but it would return, stronger everyday until finally the day of the Savior would arrive and those of us who survived would look around at others reduced to vacant stares and hollow eyes.

I do not believe I will survive this year's Black Tide, I only hope to take some of that endless terrible mass with me as I die.

[jordanloux]

Holy crap, your stock characters are becoming self aware. Is there an episode on meta-humor coming?

[rentropy]

Biggest Christmas Special Cliché: Something happens to Santa and the main protagonists must “save Christmas.”

[mahlismith]

Please can we have a terrible writing advice for spy novels

[bretsheeley]

"I see you have the 'Curmudgeon who wishes to destroy Christmas for no good reason' trope-"
"I worked retail."
"... Touché, this time."

[drakeredwingofficial]

Apparently Hallmark wasn't aware this was a sarcastic video

[johndoe-hrvp]

Holy crap. Ultra thin plot that serves as an excuse for various song and dance numbers, check. Hated by its creator who saw it as something he wrote for his pay cheque, check. Makes an appearance every year anyway, check. Any flaws are ignored because its Christmas, check. Tchaikovsky's *The Nutcracker* was the first Holiday Special.

[Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache]

This year, please remember. Put the "Terrible Writing Advice" back in "Christmas".

[AnythingMachine]

The target audience for holiday specials is drunk and half asleep, which explains much about their plot

[biblicallyaccuratecockroach]

_And what happened then? Well, in YouTube comments they say, _
_That JP's small heart grew three sizes that day._
_Then he seized his chest, his pain flowing readily, _
_And then dropped dead of cardiomegaly._
I shall write this down and pin it on the wall, this is high quality poetry, mate.

[aaronTGP_]

The greatest holiday (Christmas) special was A Charlie Brown Christmas.
1. Actually "gets" Christmas.
2. Calls out the commercialization of Christmas.
3. It feels like this could happen in real life.
4. Snoopy is in there.

[kimifw]

And if anyone refuses to celebrate Christmas for _any reason_ (besides religion), the other characters must treat it like a serious problem and put their energy into changing that person's mind. Even in a show that's all about tolerance and individuality, the one holiday *_absolutely everyone must take part in_* is Christmas, because nothing says "good will to men" like forcing conformity!

[firockfinion]

"Several international treaties prohibit me from singing."

XD

[thenarrator]

Oh! Here's a Christmas cliche I hate! The fact that Santa not being able to deliver presents means that Christmas is cancelled!
You know, because human being are physically incapable of having Christmas on their own and the centuries old celebration of birth of Christ will suddenly just disappear from the calendar and unless a far old guy breaks into their house and gives them a present.

[randomelk]

Holiday specials are the best.
like the star wars holiday special, so good the creator didn't even think we deserved it on the planet, so he wanted all the copies destroyed.

[jewellefay]

A Christmas Carol Story?
…
Check.

A Grinch who can’t accept the constant marketing of the Holidays?
…
Check.

Santa interacting with the cast.
…
Checkity, Check, Check.

Pointless plotting about trying to get a kiss under the mistletoe to fuel the shippers?
…
Knew we forgot something.

[LibertyLocalizer]

Please do a video on crossovers with overly sarcastic productions.



Also, a video on love triangles with overly sarcastic productions and hello future me.

[greenrockgirl]

Also remember that no matter what, the Christmas special can only have one of three plot lines, either it’s the plot of The Grinch with different characters, the plot of A Christmas Carol with different characters, or something happens to Santa and the main characters need to save Christmas

[kaminari]

The 3 possible endings of a holiday special:

1. Generic, formulaic Christmas song that every main character sings along with at the end, disregarding any previous character arcs involving music or singing. The song will be about 1 to 2 minutes long and will probably have a lyric video on the series YouTube channel.

2. The characters all learn the true meaning of Christmas. Never explain how they haven’t learned about what Christmas is about after living an almost full life, because then we wouldn’t have an ending. And always have the meaning be something mushy and generic, like spending time with family and friends and having a grand old time. Make sure to never actually bring up the hyper commercialism of Christmas however, because that would draw attention to the commercialism in our own Christmas special, and if you do, make sure to dumb it down to the extent that even infants will be able to understand it.

3. “We saved Christmas” stock ending. Usually saving Christmas involves rescuing Santa, or even full-on taking his place in his absence. If you want to be really lazy, just say something along the lines of “There’s not enough Christmas spirit!” And obviously Santa will choose our plucky main characters to save Christmas, instead of the literally millions of elves who all work for him, obey his every command, and probably have more Christmas spirit combined than anyone. Oh, and make sure that in our universe, literally everyone believes In Santa Claus, so that he can appear at the end in front of everyone in (insert stock village or city here).

[cosmicredpanda]

How to make a Christmas special!

Step 1: Find a Christmas classic
Step 2: if it isn’t in the public domain, but the rights to said property.
Step 3: Put a new coat of paint on it.

Done.