Grift of The Magi - Production

Production

"Grift of the Magi" was written by Tom Martin and directed by Matthew Nastuk as part of the eleventh season of The Simpsons (1999–2000). It was the first episode that Martin wrote on his own, having previously co-written the season ten episode "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" with George Meyer, Brian Scully, and The Simpsons showrunner Mike Scully. Martin got the inspiration for "Grift of the Magi" after reading a magazine article about how major companies were receiving permission to advertise their products in school students' textbooks. He thought it "seemed like a gigantic conflict that could lead to big problems", and therefore believed an episode based on it would be a good idea. According to DVD Talk reviewer Adam Tyner, the episode is a satire of the commercialization of Christmas. A writer for Newsday has commented that episode skewers "the annual craze for that one 'hot' toy." This has also been pointed out by Mike Scully, who said in 2008 that "Grift of the Magi" was produced around the time when "every year there seemed to be a hot toy. Like the Furbies, or whatever – some toy that kids just had to have that year." In response to Scully's comment, Martin added that every year "the media would create this gigantic rush at the toy store for various things. This was coming on the heels of, yeah, the Furby."

Guest stars in the episode include Tim Robbins as Jim Hope, Gary Coleman as himself, Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony, and Clarence Clemons as a narrator. Scully thought Robbins "did a great job" because the Simpsons staff wanted the character of Jim Hope to be "fun and upbeat and somebody the kids would love." Clemons narrates a few scenes at the end of the episode, telling the viewers how the story ends. When Coleman agrees to spend Christmas with the Simpsons, Clemons says, for example: "And Gary Coleman was as good as his word, and as for old Mr. Burns, he was visited by three ghosts during the night and agreed to fund the school with some money he found in his tuxedo pants." Shortly after Coleman's death in 2010, an article appeared in the newspaper El Comercio that noted that "the nod to the harsh reality of Gary Coleman in is given: in real life a few years ago Gary had to make a living as a shop security guard."