'Twas the Night Before Bumpy

From the short-lived twisted animated series Bump in the Night (which aired on ABC, 1995-1996), this Christmas special initially finds the clay-animated Mr. Bumpy (a green, warty, bug-eyed monster) setting a trap for snagging Santa's bag on his home turf (involving mousetraps, bombs, and nitroglycerin), before abandoning the plan and heading directly for the North Pole with his sidekick Squishington (a blob). Once there, the pair square off against drill sergeant-like elves and candy-gun wielding snowmen. Although there's a Scrooge-like conversion for our hero at the end, Mr. Bumpy lacks Scrooge's charisma (or, for that matter, his green cousin's, the Grinch), making him just plain mean and unsavory. Plus, I know the filmmakers think they're really cool for working in lines like one female character's remark that "I like it rough," but there's a fine line between clever and sleazy in a purported children's title and the Bump in the Night series consistently crossed it. Very optional. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)