The entire thing is a(n unintentional) dark and uncomfortable commentary on life around the holidays, save the brief moment of actual plot when the Imperial Soldiers search the house.
Leia appeared drunk (because Carrie Fisher was, or stoned, or both). A lot of people drink heavily over the holidays to stave off the stress and high emotions.
Also Leia's entire planet was murdered by the Empire a few months earlier and at about the same time she was tortured. Even if Luke avenged her suffering and losses at Yavin, it's not hard to imagine that the Princess may have resorted to the bottle or the powder to deal with all the horrors she's been through recently.
Han and Chewie took forever to get there as anyone caught in holiday traffic would.
Lots of people watch cooking shows to help prepare meals. Some of these shows are legitimately as annoying and unhelpful as the sketch.
Variety shows themselves can be pretty common during that time of year because they're cheap and quick to make.
The special is incredibly dull and so is a lot of the last few days leading up to a big holiday for the average family.
I could go on, but I think the connections are probably coming to anyone reading this as well.
The WMG labeled "Imagine the special had come out before VHS tapes or other home recording happened..."
It makes perfect sense that the band would play the song without lyrics when Ackmena's not around.
For a long time, I thought absolutely nothing was accomplished by this special in terms of progressing the story. Then I thought about Boba Fett's role in it. He is working directly with Darth Vader and pretends to be allies with Luke for a while. When he hears Luke's name and then reports it to Darth Vader later, the latter would then realize that this individual (the one who destroyed the Death Star) was his long-lost son! Since that event had to take place before the rest of the special, Vader's mission on Kashyyyk is to draw out Luke. And that sets into motion all of The Empire Strikes Back!
While an imperial officer is going through Saun Dann's store, Saun Dann has a wallscreen conversation with Malla. Saun explains that the shaggy carpet Malla ordered was made by a woman living four planets away, and that she made it all by herself. She made it by hand, solo. Why would Saun Dann make such an inane pun in the first place? Is he aware he's making a pun? Is it for the audience's benefit? Or does he just happen to say something that refers to a notorious smuggler? Notice his voice. He's not making light of this. It's not funny to him. He is dead serious, but what he says informs Malla of something. "Han Solo is coming, and he will help get you out of this situation, but I can't talk right now because there is an Imperial officer right behind me." The looming threat of imperial occupation runs deeply throughout the story, as it does in Ackmena's scene — no one is having fun here.
Confirmed by the script, which specifically underlines certain words spoken by Saun in this scene to emphasize it's a secret message.
"Shaggy carpet" refers to Chewbacca.
One might wonder why the ending has Chewbacca flashing back to scenes from A New Hope instead of remembering times he spent with his family. But then you realize that those were the things he had to deal with while he was away from his family, and what he had to go through to get back to them. And then the next scene right before the credits shows that he's finally sitting down and enjoying Life Day with his family after all he went through.
Though most of the Empire's antics are small scale acts of bullying, they're somewhat menacing in their reach and totalitarianism, showing just how tight of a stranglehold they have on the common peoples of the galaxy. Viewers watching the original trilogy after the prequels came out have the benefit of context for the Empire's dubious inception, but there wasn't any in the originals' first run. In the original movies, the atrocities the Empire commits are in retaliation to the rebellion that's already in full swing, but their aggression toward civilians here in the Holiday Special is a good demonstration as to why there's a rebellion happening in the first place.
May we raise a glass of whatever alcohol is handy for the poor bastards at BioWare, who likely had to sit through this thing (hopefully with a mute button handy) in order to get the details on Kashyyyk's appearance correct for Knights of the Old Republic, and then had to do a second viewing several years later to put Life Day robes in Star Wars: The Old Republic?
Chewy's kid walks along a railing outside, which is very high up. He could have easily fallen.
Or have possibly broken the railing, as one Stormtrooper demonstrates.
Say what you will about the Special itself, but it does portray the Empire in a very dark light. Family home viewscreens have a dedicated channel to receive Imperial announcements, Imperial Officers can harass and steal from private citizens, Martial Law can and is declared, entire populations are put under curfew, and troops can perform unreasonable search and seizure of private property.
, which specifically underlines certain words spoken by Saun in this scene to emphasize it's a secret message.