Futurama – “A Tale of Two Santas”
Original airdate 12/23/01
This is actually Futurama’s second Christmas episode, and FOX famously sat on this episode for years. Seems they were uncomfortable with the level of violence in this episode. Roll that one around in your head. FOX had an issue with violence! Did you ever see that episode of 24 where Jack Bauer tears a guy’s throat out with his teeth? Yeah.
In the 31st Century, everybody fears Xmas. Yes, that’s what they call it now. A robot Santa Claus was designed to quickly and efficiently distinguish between naughty and nice. But Santa’s programming was faulty, and he judged everybody to be naughty. Thus, every Xmas Eve, Robot Santa Claus goes out on a kill-spree. People bar the doors and hide in the basements and wait for the slaughter to end.