Yule Love 'Em

Image credit: The Simpson: © 20th Century Fox

BOWLFUL OF JOLLY A corpulent Santa Homer knows where the hearth is

Given the current mania for putting hit television shows on tape, it was inevitable that we'd see The Simpsons' Christmas Special. Here's the first of what will probably be a never-ending merchandising bonanza, and while it's hardly the best or even most representative episode, there's enough of the endearingly cynical, vaguely leftist humor that makes the series an oasis of sanity in the prime-time desert. I won't give the plot away; let's just note that it does to various Christmas clichés exactly what deserves to be done to them. Or as Marge says of Homer's last-minute gift of a family dog: ''It's perfect — something that can share our love and frighten prowlers.'' Very nice stereo sound, by the way.