Are your plans feeling particularly lackluster this year? Take heart: These are a reminder that Dec. 31 isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.
At long last, we’ve arrived to the sole silver lining of the 2020 holiday season: a built-in excuse to stay home on Dec. 31 and feel good about it.
Although it was disappointing for many of us to spend Christmas and Hanukkah without all of our loved ones, skipping a public countdown to midnight actually has some merit. Let’s be honest: Even when we’re not in a pandemic, the night can often be the emotional equivalent of a deflated balloon. Plans sometimes go awry, nerves can become jangled amid the chaos, and genuine fun is fleeting. Even those revelers in Times Square must make peace with the no-bathroom situation.
Comedy series have long been aware of this reality: Few predicaments are funnier or more relatable than a disastrous New Year’s Eve. Perhaps this year especially, it’s a vicarious pleasure to watch fed-up characters muddle their way through the night from the quiet comfort of our own personal spaces, and with no regrets. In that spirit, here are eight best-of-the-worst New Year’s Eves in TV history and where to stream them. (Do note that the “The One With the Routine” episode from “Friends” is far too shiny and happy to be included.)
‘The Odd Couple’: ‘A Night to Dismember’
Originally Aired: Feb. 18, 1972. Stream it on CBS All Access and Hulu.
On the anniversary of their split, Oscar (Jack Klugman) and his ex-wife, Blanche (Brett Somers, Klugman’s real-life wife), reminisce about the night their relationship fell apart. Cut to a New Year’s Eve party at their home — but as seen in lively flashbacks, they each have a different interpretation of the drama. In Oscar’s version, the missus was an outrageous, conga-line-leading bon vivant who stole a kiss from a male friend in the kitchen. But Blanche insists that Oscar was in the wrong, caught in the bedroom making out with an audaciously flirty blonde. Finally, their mutual friend Felix (Tony Randall) settles the argument: Neither of them had strayed, but the couple did bicker about their misunderstandings right through the singing of “Auld Lang Syne.”
‘The Golden Girls’: ‘Dateline: Miami’
Originally Aired: Nov. 2, 1991. Stream it on Hulu; buy it on Apple, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.
No, the ladies in Miami didn’t throw a party and invite everyone they knew. While Dorothy (Bea Arthur) is out on a Saturday night date, Rose (Betty White), Blanche (Rue McClanahan) and Sophia (Estelle Getty) recall some of their most memorable evenings in that department. The most hilarious anecdote is about a New Year’s Eve when an extra-randy Blanche — determined to kiss a man at midnight — brought home two brothers from the local bar for her and Rose. One brother (Lenny Wolpe) tells Rose that he is grieving the death of his wife. The other (Fred Willard) confides to Blanche that he has just exited the priesthood. When she brings out a box full of, ahem, accessories, the stories suddenly change.
‘The Wonder Years’: ‘New Year’
Originally Aired: Jan. 6, 1993. Stream it on Hulu.
Although Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) is no longer an awkward adolescent in this final season episode, he’s not immune from some melancholic truths about adulthood. On the cusp of 1973, he envisions a romantic New Year’s Eve with his beloved Winnie (Danica McKellar) at a cozy ski lodge. But at the behest of his older brother, Wayne (Jason Hervey) — now showing signs of maturity thanks to a serious relationship with a single mother — he must endure a night with the family at a Supper Club. Stale dinner? Check. Goofy magician? Of course. So, where is Wayne? Alas, Kevin learns that Wayne’s evening hadn’t gone as planned either, finding him alone at a laundromat, aimlessly tossing socks into a washing machine. The Arnold brothers and Winnie watch the ball drop on TV under the laundromat’s fluorescent lights.
‘Mr. Bean’: ‘Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean’
Originally Aired: Jan. 10, 1994. Stream it on Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Vudu or YouTube; buy it on Apple or Google Play.
One of the great pleasures of this British comedy starring Rowan Atkinson was his character’s ability to find childlike joy in almost any circumstance. His can-do spirit was put to the test at the end of 1993, when only two guests, Rupert and Hupert, show up to his get-together. Unamused by the turnout and the inedible food (Rupert spots a leaf poking out of a stick on his plate), the two wind the clock prematurely to 11:59 p.m. and celebrate with their host before sneaking off to a neighbor’s raucous bash. Mr. Bean doesn’t connect the dots until he’s in bed and hears the “Happy New Year!” shouts hours later, complete with an audible “three cheers for Rupert and Hupert!”
‘3rd Rock from the Sun’: ‘Happy New Dick’
Originally Aired: Dec. 15, 1998. Stream it on IMDbTV via Amazon Prime Video and on Peacock and Vudu; buy it on Apple.
Even a broad physical sitcom can turn introspective when it comes to the turning of the calendar. At the outset, the alien-turned-Earthling Dr. Dick Solomon (John Lithgow) sniffs that he doesn’t see what the “whole hullabaloo is” about New Year’s Eve. He attends a celebration anyway at the home of his fellow professor Mary Albright (Jane Curtin). But when Dick calculates that he has spent the bulk of 1998 sleeping, sitting in traffic, flossing his teeth and watching animals eat each other on the Discovery Channel, he becomes a major killjoy. Dispirited, he spends the year’s waning minutes sulking on a bench in the snow, snapping out of his pity party only after Mary helps him see things in a different light. A midnight dance with her helps, too.
‘Family Guy’: ‘Da Boom’
Originally Aired: Dec. 26, 1999. Stream it on Hulu; buy it on Apple, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.
For a dose of warmhearted nostalgia, think back to the New Year’s Eve when many people were convinced that the world would go kablooey at midnight because of the Y2K computer glitch. In this animated series from Seth MacFarlane, the Griffins are invited to a millennium party, but the patriarch, Peter, insists that the family take shelter in the basement wearing hazmat suits instead. His fears are proven well founded, and the Griffins must deal with the fallout. Seeking nonperishable food at a Twinkie factory, they become covered in nuclear waste. Baby Stewie’s body turns into an octopus, and he lays hundreds of eggs. Peter makes weapons using pipes from the city’s irrigation system. What a nightmare!
‘Frasier’: ‘RDWRER’
Originally Aired: Jan. 6, 2000. Stream it on Hulu, Peacock Premium and CBS All Access; buy it on Apple, Google Play or Vudu.
After learning that their favorite restaurant has shut down, Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) and his brother, Niles (David Hyde Pierce), reluctantly hit the road with their father (John Mahoney) in his bulky Winnebago, bound for an upscale millennium soiree in Sun Valley, Idaho. Laughs ensue during the bumpy journey. First the refined, fish-out-of-Puget-Sound Niles accidentally ambles into the wrong van during a stop at a greasy-spoon restaurant. His father and brother finally find him there, where he muses, “Big Sandy let me watch the register while she cleaned the rat traps.” The Cranes may never reach their destination, but watching the men in tuxedos toasting one another with champagne is a satisfying treat.
‘How I Met Your Mother’: ‘The Limo’
Originally Aired: Dec. 19, 2005. Stream it on Hulu; buy it on Apple, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube.
Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) is all too aware that you-know-what is usually a letdown. That’s why for the end of 2005, he rents a limousine for him and his friends with the plan to hit five parties in three hours. For added pep, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) has compiled a rousing mix CD that opens with a Bon Jovi banger. What could go wrong? For starters, everything — including a flat tire and getting stuck in traffic. During the big countdown, a disheartened Ted slips out of the limo with the grim epiphany that a perfect New Year’s Eve is impossible. “Not every night has a happy ending,” his future self (the narrator, voiced by Bob Saget) tells his children in 2030. But Jan. 1, he adds, was the beginning of a truly wondrous year.
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December 30, 2020 at 08:00PM
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Watch 8 Classic TV Episodes About New Year’s Eves Gone Awry - The New York Times
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