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{{trope}}
{{quote|NO WITCHES, NOT TODAY! ONLY CHRISTMAS! MAXIMUM CHRISTMAS!|Kyoko|[[Magical Girl Noir Quest]]}}
So you're checking your DVR for all those recorded reruns of this show; maybe there's a somewhat more humorous episode where the villains play poker, but you'd say this show's pretty dark, right? So what do they do when Christmas rolls around with all that holiday cheer? [[Executive Meddling|The Producers]], heck, maybe even the people who typically write the show don't want you to air yet ''another'' dark episode with a [[Downer Ending]], or even a [[Bittersweet Ending]], it's Christmas! And thus this trope happens.
[[Merry Christmas in Gotham]] is when the tone of a [[Darker and Edgier]] series becomes [[Lighter and Softer]], usually due to [[Executive Meddling]] resulting in a holiday episode. This can cause serious [[Mood Whiplash]]. The result is usually a strange Aesop-y episode in a series featuring at least some Gray morality of some sort. Whether or not this Mood Whiplash throws the episode into [[Narm]] territory is [[Your Mileage May Vary|your call]].
Note: This trope does not apply only to Christmas episodes, but holiday episodes of all sorts, but not any episodes that have nothing to do with holidays. That's just plain-jane Lighter and Softer taking effect.
Compare [[Mood Whiplash]] and [[Lighter and Softer]]. Contrast [[An Asskicking Christmas]], [[Soapland Christmas]], and [[
Ending Trope: [[You Have Been Warned|Spoilers Unmarked.]]
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* The hilarious [[Superman]]/[[Batman]] [[Elseworld]] crossover ''Yes Tyrone, There Is a Santa Claus'' [http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=135331\].
* There's a [[Punisher]] story where Frank is about to snipe a druglord, when suddenly there's a little girl pulling on his coat telling him she's lost her dad. Frank stares at her and puts the gun away. When they find her dad, he starts to thank him before recognizing his chest emblem and starting to panic. Frank tells him to calm down, that he should really teach his daughter not to talk to strangers, and then leaves.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130403061857/http://www.leaderslair.com/noexcuses/hulk2-378.html An issue] of ''[[
* ''Batman Black & White'', "A Slaying Song Tonight": A hitman plans to get near his target by taking the place of a [[Mall Santa]] hired to put in an appearance for the target's daughter. Batman figures it out in the nick of time and stops the hitman just before he reaches the
{{quote|
'''"Santa":''' Mine too, Ginny. Or at least -- the best in a long, long time. }}
== [[Live
* In the middle of the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''The Daleks' Master Plan'', the Doctor and companions interrupt their saving [[The Empire|the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire]] from [[Black and Gray Morality|the Daleks]] for a [[Christmas Episode]] (the only missing ''Doctor Who'' episode ''confirmed'' by [[The BBC]] to have no spare copies hidden in private collectors' hands or a foreign TV station).
* ''[[Eureka]]'' has an episode like this.
* ''[[Warehouse
* ''[[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Batman: The Animated Series
* ''[[
* In an episode of ''[[
* ''[[
* Subverted with the Christmas episode of ''[[Batman:
== [[Real Life]] ==
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