An oddly refreshing, offbeat take on the Christmas holiday special. After watching the two dozen or so traditional, sentimental (or even outright sappy and maudlin) classics that glorify the holiday and attempt to infuse even the most secular elements of Christmas with deep meanings, this animated parody is a bit of a refreshing blast of satire for the adults.

While hardly a "classic," it's full of gags, inside jokes, and pop culture references that serve up a few guffaws. All in all, a fun little diversion. Never as vulgar as Family Guy, but probably not worth showing to the kids.

Stinky Cigars is a town north of the North Pole where all the mythical beings and historical figures live. Edison Elf gives Santa a Jack in a Box. It goes horribly wrong and everyone has to pitch in to save Christmas. Only grumpy deli diner owner Murray Weiner refuses to join. It wasn't always that way. Murray had once been quite friendly especially with his girlfriend Libby, the Statue of Liberty.

This is an irreverent take on the holidays done in rhythms. It's oddly appealing for awhile. It is a bit too long as an one hour special. It would probably work better at about half as long. It's a Christmas special with a Jewish flavor.

"How Murray Saved Christmas" was possibly the most famous television Chrstmas special from last year. It scored nominations with the Emmys and Annie Awards. The main character is voiced by Jerry Stiller, father of Ben, and Seinfeld's Jason Alexander should also be known to many. Apart from them, the cast and crew include prolific people from "The Cleveland Show", "Drawn Together", "The Simpsons" and "Futurama", so this should give you a pretty good idea of what the humor in these 42 minutes is going to be like. It's not entirely harmless, sometimes politically incorrect and possibly not worth a watch for the very small ones. But fans of these shows can give it a go. I would not say it was downright funny, but there were some decent moments. I liked the animated Andrew Sisters and my favorite joke was the punchline on being gay during the holiday season, obviously as I love language-related jokes and this meant something entirely different a long time ago. A decent watch all in all and certainly not the worst way to spend an hour when December rings in again.