This time of year, holiday specials are filling up all the space Netflix has to offer. Whether it is one episode or an hour long movie, it all revolves around Christmas. 

The Big Show was one my siblings had me watch with them, and I barely paid attention; however, a few moments did grab my attention enough to try out their Holiday Special episode. 

I was not expecting much. I knew it would be cheesy and that they would try their best to make it be funny and dramatic. In the end, I got exactly what I expected. 

The characters ended up being flat. They had no depth to them at all, and when they tried to be funny, I was cringing. The jokes, though meant for kids, didn’t even make sense. My sister and I were confused, though my brother found all the jokes about butts to be hilarious. 

The Big Show is a show about an ex-wrestler and his family. The Holiday Special, I thought, would change some aspect of the show, but the only difference was the fact it was Christmas time. 

The plot of the episode was overused. In the episode, one of the sisters made a rude comment about another sister, who then overheard, and it turned into a big misunderstanding. They had a fight that lasted maybe two minutes before all conflict was resolved. It also tied in a scavenger hunt, an overused plot in my mind–I wasn’t pleased. 

Though the Christmas touch was sweet, the episode tried too hard to be sappy. The monologues that some characters gave were over-the-top dramatic. The acting itself was childish and seemed as though the actors weren’t trying at all. The actors laughed at random times and looked like it was their first time on film. Though the idea of a show like this is interesting, it’s boring, and not even a holiday special can save it from becoming a disaster.  

There were some mistakes the characters made that made me question just how ridiculous a grown adult with children could be. The mom of the main family played the role of Mrs. Clause in the episode, and she let “the power of the chair” allow her to promise young children exotic gifts that were intangible. I was confused and left questioning the sanity of the mom character. 

The end of the episode angered me the most because The Big Show takes place in Florida. However, it has not snowed in Florida for nearly seventy years, yet the Christmas magic made it snow in the ninety degree weather. It was an overly cliché move that bothered me. They did not need another Christmas stereotype in this already filled episode. 

There were also the overblown decorations that no human being had the time to put up. The main characters portrayed Santa and Mrs. Clause for no other reason than to allow the parents to have unnecessary screen time. The three sisters— Lola, Mandy, and J.J— were annoying, and the plot of them searching for Christmas presents for a whole day was over exaggerated and absolutely pointless. The director, Phill Lewis, could have done a much better job of finding a Christmas related plot that was not so overstated. 

The Big Show’s Holiday special was a joke, and all of this could have been avoided with a different plot, better characters, and better actors.