The Goods send off 2025 with an epic and somewhat discursive look at the history of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, starting with the beloved book by the influential children’s author, through the animated classic by Chuck Jones, through the Ron Howard/Jim Carrey adaptation of our childhood, and through the Illumination retelling from a few years ago. Join as they discuss what makes Seuss so special and distinct, the elegant exuberance of the original animated special, the unhinged and sexually-charged “ugly Christmas sweater” energy of the 2000 film, the baffling “anodyne” choices of the recent film, and everyone’s favorite Christmas character, Fred the fat reindeer.
Lastly, Will shares two Christmas surprises with Dan and Brian to make sure their hearts grow three sizes this winter.
Episode Number
236
Films Reviewed
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) – (Dan’s review)
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
- The Grinch (2018)
Is It Good?
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) – Exceptionally Good (7/8)
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) – Good (5/8)
- The Grinch (2018) – Not Not Good (3/8)
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) – Masterpiece: Tour De Good (8/8)
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) – Good-ish (4/8)
- The Grinch (2018) – Good (5/8)
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) – Masterpiece: Tour De Good (8/8)
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) – Very Good (6/8)
- The Grinch (2018) – Not Not Good (3/8)
Supplemental Media
Brian’s favorite arrangement of Grinch music:
Mentioned Letterboxd reviews:
Grinch tweets:
Carrey’s Grinch angst:
How The Grood Stole A Christmas Carol
By Will Stalcup
Every Good down in Goodsville thought A Christmas Carol rocked…
But the Grood, Who lived just north of Goodsville, rated it one-star on Letterboxd!
The Grood hated Christmas movies! All Christmas flicks!
Now, please don’t ask why. They just make him sick.
It could be he hated the schmaltzy good cheer.
It could be an abnormal hatred of reindeer.
But I think that the cause of his ill impressions,
May be a bad case of seasonal depression.
Whatever the reason, His hates or his mood,
He stood there on Christmas Eve, hating the Goods,
Staring down from his cave with a sour, Groody frown,
At the Christmas-Carol watchers below in their town.
For he knew every Good down in all of Goods nation,
Was busy now, watching their favorite Dickens adaptation.
“And they’re watching the Muppets!” he growled in dismay,
“Tomorrow is Christmas! It’s only one sleep away!”
Then he sneered,
“I MUST find some way to stop these ghosts from coming!”
For that night, he knew, in the dark winter cold,
Three ghosts would come, or possibly four!
And then! Oh, the Christmas Cheer!
That’s one thing he hated! Christmas Cheer!
Cheer! Cheer! Cheer!
Then the Goods, Dan and Brian, would sit down for a Pod.
And they’d rate! And they’d rate! And they’d rate!
RATE! RATE! RATE!
They would rate the old classics, each scrooge with his quirks.
And speculate on the nature of his work!
And THEN They’d do something He liked not one bit!
Every Good down in Goodsville, each with their list,
Would sit close together, and read off the directions.
“And now it is time for our signature section!”
Is it good! Is it good! Is it good!
GOOD! GOOD! GOOD!
And the more the Grood thought of this Goods Christmas pod,
The more the Grood thought, “I must stop this, by God!”
“Why, for 236 episodes I’ve put up with it now!”
“I MUST stop the goods from rating! But HOW?”
Then he got an idea! An awful idea!
THE GROOD GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!
“I know just what to do!” The GROOD laughed in his throat.
And he made a quick Victorian hat and a coat.
And he chuckled, and clucked, “What a great Groody move!”
“With this coat and this hat, I look just like old Scrooge!”
“All I need is a Cratchett…” The Grood looked around.
But, since Cratchetts were scarce, there was none to be found.
Did that stop the old Grood? No! The Grood simply said,
“If I can’t find a Bob Cratchett, I’ll make one instead!”
So he called up an actor. Who came by quite spryly,
Surprise! Bob Cratchett played by John C. Reilly!
THEN He grabbed his old mic and began to speak,
With a ramshackle setup, came a scathing critique.
Then the Grood hit play for the theme song musicians.
And he growled, “Lets see them try to put themselves in position!”
All the airwaves were dark. No noise in the air.
All the Goods were all thinking of old Scrooge’s despair.
When he came to the first adaptation of the night.
“This is version number one,” the old Groody Scrooge hissed,
And he began to ramble about opportunities missed.
Then he badmouthed the writing. A rather dull Script.
What Dickens could do, most were ill-equipped.
He praised it only once, in a backhanded-sort of way.
Then he said “but even that is really just okay.”
When he came to the actors, how Scrooge was portrayed.
“I think,” the Grood Grinned, “The old man never found his way!”
Then he insulted Cratchett, and poor Tiny Tim,
“I hardly felt bad the boy’s fate is so grim!”
Bad Music! Bad Casting! Poor Film Direction!
Terrible Cinematography upon any inspection!
And listed his grievances, the Grood, very raw,
And he prepared his one final coup de grace!
“Really I think that the issue at hand.
Is not with the movie, its so much more grand.
When it comes down to it, despite all of its glory
A Christmas Carol is simply not a good story.”
“And NOW!” thought the Grood, “I will give it a rating!”
And after all that he’d said, there was not much debating,
Extremely not good! Then came a noise of dissent.
He checked the Goods Discord, and saw messages sent!
Little Mitchy-Good dude, a friend of the pod.
Spotted the Grood’s bad-faith words, thought he might be a fraud,
He’d logged the same film, and thought it to be grand.
He messaged and said, “Whats with the harsh review, man?”
“Why are you badmouthing Dickens? WHY?”
But, you know, that old Grood was so smart and so slick,
He thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick!
“Why, my poor little listener,” the fake Scrooge gave a spin,
“You see, this is just my opinion.”
“So I’m writing a review for all to see.”
“It’s not my fault I don’t like it, you can’t blame me.”
And his fib fooled Poor Mitch, who thought that was enough,
And he went back to old episodes, still catching up.
And when he saw that the Discord was clear.
The Grood thought his victory was really quite near!
Then the last thing he said of the poor Victorian writer.
Was that the story could have been a little bit tighter.
Of the tale, he left none of the wonder or mirth.
And the one tiny thing that he found to give praise,
Was a note that it had left him with only mild malaise.
Then He did the same thing To many film versions
With no words of kindness for Scrooge’s conversion!
It was a quarter past dawn… All the Goods, still asleep,
All the Goods, still asnooze. When he finished his work,
All in all, he thought he sounded quite the jerk!
And then with a flourish of old Groodish glee!
He put his mock podcast on podbean to play!
He waited to see what the listeners would say!
“PoohPooh to the Goods!” he was Groodishly mumbling.
“They’re finding out now that no good rating is coming!”
“They’re just tuning in! I know just what they’ll hear”
“Their comments will have no Christmas Cheer,
Then the Goods down in Goodsville will cry “boohoo!”
“That’s a comment,” grinned the Grood, “That I simply MUST hear!”
So he scrolled. And the Grood went to the comment section.
And he did see a bit of the audience’s reflection.
It started quite small. Then it got more frequent
But the comments weren’t mad! Why, they actually seemed decent!
It couldn’t be so! That had to be nonsense!
He stared down at Goodsville! The Grood popped his eyes!
Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise!
Every Good down in Goodsville, the tall and the small,
Was watching A Christmas Carol! With no care for the flaws!
He HADN’T stopped Scrooge from Changing! The old man had!
In adaptations, both the good and the bad!
It came with a turkey! It came with new kindness!
It came with holiday cheer in the finest!
And the Grood, with his Grood-mouth frowning so steep,
Stood wondering why, “Is the story actually so deep?”
“Does it say something about us, about you and me?”
“About a different way we should all be?!”
And he wondered three hours, till he could wonder no more.
Then the Grood thought of something he hadn’t before!
“Maybe A Christmas Carol,” he thought, “isn’t about the review.”
“Maybe, in A Christmas Carol… we can learn something new!”
And what happened then? Well…in Goodsville they say,
That the Grood’s is-it-good Rating rose three points that day!
And the minute he realized the err of his ways,
He came to the discord, he just wanted to say,
That perhaps he was missing out on all of the fun!
And he, HE HIMSELF! The Grood said, “God Bless us, Everyone!”
Brian Terrill is a filmmaker and horror host.
Dan Stalcup writes reviews for The Goods and is a member of OFCS. Follow Dan on Letterboxd.