Reviewing every Swedish Christmas tv calendar from the 00s
Because even people BORN in the 00s seem to only really fondly talk about the 90s Christmas calendars. But the 00s ones had some gems too! 🥲
2000: Ronny & Julia. Boring af. The plot is two neighbours who bicker with each other while their ~6 year old kids Ronny and Julia love to play. Of course this is a play on Romeo and Juliet. The same authors also made a much more fun series called Eva & Adam (which is about middle school kids, also a play on Adam and Eve ofc), and it just made me wish we got a Christmas tv calendar about Eva & Adam instead. They HAVE a book focusing on Christmas they could have used…
Rating: 1/10
2001: Kaspar i Nudådalen. Have not seen enough to give a good review. Thus I only rate based on vibes. It takes place in a small village barely visible on the map. It reminds me a bit about the Norwegian Christmas TV calendar ”Jul i Svingen” (which is a BANGER tv calendar) so it gets a plus for that. Rating: 4/10
2002: Dieselråttor & Sjömansmöss. So I never saw it UNTIL NOW… I’m currently watching all the episodes. It’s a banger! The concept of there being anthropomorphic rats called ”Diesel Rats” living in the pipes of a cruise ship is just a vibe. That one of the rats is named Lucky Closette is so fun to me, what an iconic name. And her grace she says before eating is also iconic, I know for a fact kids in school definitely repeated that at lunch after seeing it on tv. Though we’ll see if it holds all episodes, I’m on episode 15 as of writing this. But for now! Rating: 7/10
2003: Håkan Bråkan. I respect this because it’s purposely wanting to cause so many controversies and offend as many people as possible. And it worked! Angry parents reported this SO MUCH 😂 Some are valid, like calling it sexist and misogynistic, but there was also complaints like ”the dad said he was a feminist” and ”they said Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus but Jesus wasn’t actually born in December”. Also someone complaining about a neighbour drinking alcohol, but like… I can get that, but kids are gonna be exposed to alcohol. Many kids have relatives and neighbours who drink, and who especially drink around Christmas. We shouldn’t shy away from that happening. Anyway - SVT wants to forget this ever happened but I really need to see it fully sometime. Rating: 5/10
2004: Allrams Höjdarpaket. PUPPETS AND ONLY PUPPETS ALL DECEMBER!! I was too young to have a relationship with Allram Eest so this is really my first introduction of him. And his assistant Chet I only associate with the intro for children’s documentaries where he yells ”BARNDOKUMENTÄREN!! 🗣️”. Anyway yeah. Höjdarna are the highlight here. I still to this day quote the ”guess what I have in my fridge!” segment. It is SO trippy.
The songs are bangers. It’s entertaining. ”But it lacks a Christmas feel” WHO CARES IT’S A VIBE. Rating: 8/10.
2005: En decemberdröm. THIS IS THE REASON I GOT TRAUMATIZED BY A KIDS SHOW THE VERY FIRST TIME! ONCE THAT KID GOT THE FOOTBALL IN HIS FACE AND HIS FACE BECAME A FOOTBALL THEN I HAD GOTTEN NIGHTMARES FOR A WEEK. TRIPPY CALENDAR BUT NOT IN A GOOD WAY. Rating: 3/10
2006: LasseMajas detektivbyrå. I never liked LasseMaja. Ever. I don’t get the appeal. There’s so many books too and they don’t appeal to me either. So yeah I never liked this one. I did like the PC games though. Rating: 2/10
2007: En riktig jul. UNDERRATED BANGER. This was the first Christmas TV calendar I remember being really interested in. It’s about a girl who wishes she has a ”real” Christmas, which to her is celebrating ONLY with her mom (who this year wants to celebrate with her new boyfriend which the girl does not like). So she writes this on her wishlist and by the time it reaches the North Pole, the elves are like ????? we better send an elf out and help her personally. So they send out the most lazy and incompetent elf they can - Elfrid! And she’s iconic! This Christmas calendar also introduced me to what Saint Nicolas was (they celebrated it even if it’s not a typically Swedish celebration) and also this was the first time I ever heard the Christmas song ”Feliz Navidad”. I was also intrigued about the time-and-space powder which Santa uses to deliver all the gifts in time. So in the mix of this they also had time travel and accidentally creating alternate universes from time traveling. I wish more people spoke about this because it’s a DELIGHT!! Rating: 9/10
2008: Skägget i brevlådan. Why is there a cult with chicken suits and cracked egg hats… rating: 1/10
2009: Superhjältejul. UNDERRATED GEM. Many people complained that there were too many musical numbers but THAT’S WHY I LOVE IT?! I still listen to that soundtrack. Try to get ”Lilla Nova” out of your head. The plot twist at the end of episode 22 made little me GASP. Mystery, action, comedy made for EXACTLY the target audience I was in, and musical acts? Sign me up! Rating: 7/10.
