Tim Allen’s The Santa Clauses has brought a bit of early festive cheer to Disney+. However, the series has gained some backlash due to a joke delivered by Allen’s Father Christmas, concerning the use of the term "Merry Christmas." In one scene of the new series, Allen’s character Scott Calvin makes a joke that saying “Merry Christmas to all” has become “problematic.” While the line was relatively lowkey and could easily have gone unnoticed, social media users were quick to air their opinions – something that creator Jack Burditt recently admitted he expected.
The Santa Clauses picks up years after the events of The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, which didn’t fare too well on its release and seemed to bring the franchise to a mediocre close. Jump forward in time, and the advent of Disney+ has breathed life into many long-dormant franchises. Rather than a belated sequel, like the recent Hocus Pocus 2, The Santa Clauses comes in the form of a series that dropped its first two episodes last week.
Speaking to Deadline, series creator Jack Burditt commented on the line, and explained that while there were other jokes originally in the show; they debated whether to keep that one in. He said:
“Yeah, we did. This is something that I just think is silly but then I’m like, I don’t know… I mean, look, we also had a joke at one point where Santa is on his rounds, they’re going in for a landing and somebody’s shooting something up at him. And Noel the elf, says something like, “A war on Christmas!” I’m like yeah, I don’t what to go that far.”
How Did Audiences React to the Christmas Joke?
As always, many people were not bothered about the line either way and others who were. Twitter mostly seemed to pick up on the line when filmmaker and former critic Scott Weinberg quoted it, commenting that he found it a “weird line to put in a kid’s series.”
On the back of his post, many shared their own feelings about the line, mostly attacking Tim Allen himself, although there were others who were a bit more diplomatic in their comments.
One user said,” Tim Allen is really out of touch but has anyone actually ever been annoyed from someone wishing them a merry Christmas instead of a happy holiday.”
Another added,” Tim Allen has never been funny Home Improvement was nothing but him grunting like a caveman and bumbling his head on the ceiling for 8 seasons.”
Someone else commented, “What kills me with people being so up in arms about the phrase “Happy Holidays” is that a song with that title came out in 1942 and has been popular ever since. So it was fine until about 50/60 years later when Fox decides it is part of the 'War on Christmas.'”
All in all, the line will come and go, and whether it is Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. But the only thing that Disney and the show’s creators will really be interested in is how many viewers are still ho-ho-hoing along with the series by the end of its run.
The Santa Clauses is out now on Disney+, with new episodes arriving weekly.