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The Simpsons episode
"'Tis The Fifteenth Season"
Episode no.	320
Prod. code	FABF02
Orig. airdate	December 14, 2003
Written by	Michael Price
Directed by	Steven Dean Moore
Couch gag	The family members fly in dressed as popular Japanese TV show characters (Bart as Astro Boy, Homer as Ultraman, Lisa as Sailor Moon, Marge as Princess from Battle of the Planets and Maggie as Pikachu from Pokémon) and land on a bench with "シンプソンズ" on it, Japanese for "Simpsons".
Season 15 November 2, 2003 – May 23, 2004
Treehouse of Horror XIV My Mother the Carjacker The President Wore Pearls The Regina Monologues The Fat and the Furriest Today I Am a Clown 'Tis the Fifteenth Season Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot Diatribe of a Mad Housewife Margical History Tour Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore Smart and Smarter The Ziff Who Came to Dinner Co-Dependent's Day The Wandering Juvie My Big Fat Geek Wedding Catch 'Em if You Can Simple Simpson The Way We Weren't Bart-Mangled Banner Fraudcast News
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"'Tis the Fifteenth Season" is the seventh episode of The Simpsons' fifteenth season, and the seventh Christmas themed episode. 11.28 million people watched this episode on its first run on FOX.^{[citation needed]}

For Christmas, Carl gives Homer a DVD player and the first season of Magnum, P.I. However, Homer forgets he is Lenny's secret Santa and gives him a pack of Certs out of desperation. Instead of giving bonuses, Mr. Burns gives everyone a cafeteria voucher and Homer a Joe DiMaggio rookie baseball card for Bart. To get money for Christmas shopping, Homer gives the card to Comic Book Guy, who gives Homer everything in his cash register. With their small fortune, the Simpsons go shopping at the Springfield Heights Promenade. Homer promises to buy a massive Christmas tree that will cause mudslides and flooding when it is removed. He instead spends the tree money on a Personalized Talking Astrolabe.

Homer gets shunned by his family when they find out. While staying up late at night, Homer watches Mr. McGrew's Christmas Carol. There, he realizes just how selfish he is. Homer decides to reform his ways and become the nicest guy in town. Homer's acts include giving hobos his old clothes, giving Lenny a photo cube, giving Marge the last pork chop (causing her to break down in tears of joy) and building a skating rink in the Simpsons' backyard (to the delight of Comic Book Guy). After Gil Gunderson's comment of "Homer, you're the nicest man in town!", and Nelson Muntz's comment of "Haha! Your position has been usurped!", the actions cause jealousy to stir in Ned Flanders.

Flanders finds himself barely able to control his anger. He decides to buy everyone in town a Christmas present (and gets the money by renting out his house to a fraternity). Homer begins to think of beating Flanders by buying everyone a car. However, Lisa tells him not to and that, as a Buddhist, she believes people would be happier without presents. Homer gets the idea to do the ultimate good deed: steal Christmas. In the morning, an angry mob led by Cookie Kwan and Drederick Tatum confronts Homer. The mob calms down when they see a star which they think is a sign from God; it is actually a flare from Hans Moleman. Homer gives everyone back their presents and the entire town sings a Christmas carol.

As regards the anime-themed Couch Gag: in the Latin American and German dubs, the voice actors for Lisa and Serena are the same (the latter only for the first season of Sailor Moon). Furthermore, the same German voice actress of Lisa also speaks Maggie; before the same voice for Pikachu was used in all international versions, Lisa's/Maggie's voice actress also voiced Pikachu. This episode also marks the first true direct reference towards Lisa being a Buddhist, and also provides the first crucial plotpoint caused by her Buddhism. It seems fair that since Lisa's Buddhism started in a Christmas episode, the first direct reference would happen in one too.

• Mr. Magrew's Christmas Carol is a parody of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.
• Christmas with the California Prunes is a clear takeoff of the California Raisins
• One of the versions of A Christmas Carol that are seen in TV is a parody of Family Matters.
• When Homer takes all of the presents from Springfield, this is a parody of the How the Grinch Stole Christmas! 1966 TV version.
• The talking Astrolabe says that the date was the birthday of comedian Margaret Cho. This would place the date when the Simpsons went to the Springfield Heights Promenade on December 5th, which makes sense since the next morning Bart & Lisa said that it was December 6th.
• Moe's face is featured on Rembrandt's "Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp"
• In "Things Unnecessary", the Astrolabe's Latitude and Longitude position is: Lat. 49 degrees; Long. 079 degrees. That position lands in New England, which may be the position of Springfield.

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