After getting fed up with political correctness over the holidays, Stan is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past (Lisa Kudrow). However, visiting the past takes a nasty turn when Stan decides to use it to change history, with disastrous results.
Tropes:
- The '70s: The time when Stan and The Ghost of Christmas Past visits and Roger becomes wealthy thanks to the invention of disco music.
- The '80s: 1981, where Stan saves Christmas by shooting Ronald Reagan, thus preventing Russia from taking over the United States and Roger loses his wealth when the disco era ends.
- Artistic License – History: Walter Mondale is shown surrendering to Leonid Brezhnev, identified from his squarish head, Chest of Medals, and bushy eyebrows, shortly after the 1984 presidential election. Brezhnev actually died in 1982.note
- Butterfly of Doom: During his attempt to assassinate Jane Fonda in the past, Stan happens to meet Martin Scorsese and convinces him to quit drugs. This means Taxi Driver is never made, which means John Hinckley Jr. doesn't obsess over Jodie Foster and tries to assassinate Reagan to impress her. Without the assassination attempt, Reagan loses to Walter Mondale, who then surrenders America to the Soviet Union.
- Close-Enough Timeline: Stan shoots Reagan himself to preserve the future. However, he didn't shoot James Brady either, which means the Brady Bill is never enacted and buying guns is now ridiculously easy. Not that trigger-happy, NRA gun fetishist Stan Smith minds.
- Exact Words: When Stan mentions he gave Jane Fonda a massage, he assures a shocked Francine that it was 1970 and thus before he knew her. She goes with this.
- Insane Troll Logic: Stan believes that killing Jane Fonda will save Christmas from liberals.
- Failed a Spot Check: Roger's disco tape from the future contains a time period in the title, which is ultimately what few years it was popular for. He doesn't take this as a warning, and is completely blindsided when disco dies and he's thus ruined.
- Monument of Humiliation and Defeat: The Soviets built a statue depicting the moment in which Mondale surrendered to Brezhnev by kissing his shoes, which also features Brezhnev holding a giant sword in a dramatic pose.
- Newhart Phone Call: After learning that disco is dead and he's lost everything, Roger takes his accountant off speakerphone and tries to find about the rest of his wealth. He asks about his race horses, only to learn they're dead.Roger: I thought you were feeding them!
- Noodle Incident: Michelle used to be a Tooth Fairy before she became Ghost of Christmas Past, and refuses to go back because she burned a lot of bridges when she left.Michelle: Did you know there's DNA in poo? Because I sure didn't.
- Political Overcorrectness: What kicks off the episode is Stan being told to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." He reaches his breaking point when being told that the "Christmas Rapist" has been renamed the "Holiday Rapist."
- Rags to Riches: In the past, Roger is working as a waiter when finds Stan's cassette of disco's greatest hits and uses it to kickstart the disco craze. Then he loses it all when the craze ends in 1981.
- Retgone: Stan believes Jane Fonda is to blame for all of the Political Overcorrectness for Christmas. After traveling back in time, he tries to kill her in order to "save Christmas".
- Riches to Rags: Roger loses his fortune when the Disco craze wears off in 1981.
- Saying Too Much: Ghost of Christmas Past should have left the "Jane Fonda" part alone.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Robert De Niro quits Taxi Driver when he can't stand Stan's direction.
- Stylistic Suck: Stan's version of Taxi Driver is rife with anachronisms, the set collapses, John Wayne looks ridiculous in Travis's iconic mohawk, and a stagehand holds up a "the end" card.
- Take That!:
- To both Political Overcorrectness over the use of the term "Holiday" instead of Christmas, and to the people who react too extremely over it to the point of exclaiming "Christmas is ruined."
- As expected from a Seth MacFarlane show, Ronald Reagan is portrayed as only being re-elected because of sympathy from being shot.
- As not expected from a Seth MacFarlane show, Reagan's 1984 Democrat challenger Walter Mondale is portrayed as a weakling who surrenders the United States to the USSR a mere 47 days in office.
- This Is Gonna Suck: After Michelle explains what happened, Francine refuses to return to the 70s without getting some Purell first.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
- The Ghost of Christmas Past mentioning that Jane Fonda is filming Klute at this time is what inspires Stan to kill the actress.Francine: You lost my husband in the past?
Ghost Of Christmas Past: Look, if a mom takes a kid to the mall and loses the kid, do you blame the mom? No, no, you don't, no. - Stan gets Martin Scorsese to quit drugs, which means the famous movie Taxi Driver never comes to fruition.
- The Ghost of Christmas Past mentioning that Jane Fonda is filming Klute at this time is what inspires Stan to kill the actress.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Francine orders Stan to get out of the house after he starts trashing the Christmas decorations in a rage over the holiday season "being ruined," which seriously upsets Hayley and Steve. When Stan states everyone else is ruining Christmas, Francine retorts Stan's the one wrecking the place.Francine: The only one ruining Christmas around here is you!
- Yet Another Christmas Carol: Subverted. Stan is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past before absolutely everything goes off the rails. It still ends with Stan asking a boy what day it is, before telling him to get the hell off his lawn once he learns it's Christmas.
