Our take
The very first full episode, and it is a Christmas one. It is slower and plainer than the show it became, the drawing is stiff and the jokes come at a walk, but the story of a father who cannot afford the holiday still lands. What it gets right is the money worry under the tinsel. Homer's shame at the bonus that never comes, and the losing greyhound who rescues the day, set the pattern for every Simpsons Christmas since.
What happens
It is nearly Christmas and the school pageant is under way, with Lisa dancing and Bart improvising his own words to a carol. At the mall Bart slips off to a tattoo parlour, and the money Marge has saved for presents goes on having the half-finished tattoo removed. At the power plant Mr Burns scraps the Christmas bonus, and Homer, too ashamed to tell the family, takes a second job as a department store Santa. Bart unmasks him with a tug of the beard, and after training and deductions Homer's pay comes to thirteen dollars. On Barney's tip, father and son take the money to the dog track and back a long shot that has just been added to the race, Santa's Little Helper. The greyhound loses. In the car park his owner throws him out, Homer and Bart take him home, and the family's thin Christmas is saved by a new member of the household.
Can the kids watch it?
Fine for most children from about eight: a tattoo, a dog track bet and some name-calling, all mild.