The Town That Santa Forgot is an Emmy-nominated Christmas Special that started off as a poem written by Charmaine Severson, titled Jeremy Creek. The Animated Adaptation was produced by Hanna-Barbera and originally aired December 3, 1993, on NBC. Narrated by Dick Van Dyke, it has since been made available on VHS and been shown annually in Cartoon Network (before its Network Decay) and Boomerang's Christmas marathons.
The main character (and titular character of the original poem) is a Spoiled Brat by the name of Jeremy Creek, who always wants every toy he sees and is prone to throwing tantrums if he doesn't get it. Eventually, his parents get sick of it and tell him they're not buying him any more toys. Jeremy then writes a mile-length letter to Santa Claus, in which he lists every toy he can think of, and mails it in the middle of June. When Christmas Eve arrives, he goes up on his family's roof to watch for Santa, but to his dismay, the big guy passes him by without leaving anything.
What Jeremy doesn't realize, though, is that when Santa received his letter, he assumed that, since no one kid could possibly want so much stuff, that Jeremy Creek was in fact the name of a place. And it was - to be more exact, it was the name of a swamp town that Santa had never before visited (hence the title). Thus, he had in fact brought the toys Jeremy wanted to the kids who live in the swamp town. When Jeremy finds out about this through a TV report on Christmas Day, he is at first outraged by this. But upon hearing how much the kids of the swamp town are willing to thank whoever wrote to Santa about them, it makes him feel better than any gift ever could. Following this, the now-nicer Jeremy shares his toys with the rest of the kids in his neighborhood and even joins Santa on his annual gift-giving journey every year (until he eventually outgrows his seat in the sleigh).
Tropes present:
- Ambiguously Brown: The little girl the reporter talks to appears to be half African-American, half Caucasian.
- Balloonacy: One of the toys Jeremy asks for is "a balloon with a chair that can rise in the air".
- Batman Gambit: Santa reveals to Jeremy that he knew all along that he was the one that sent the letter and that he went to that city on purpose to teach him a lesson.
- Belated Child Discipline: A zigzagged case. Jeremy would demand every toy he saw and threw a fit when he didn't get it. Ultimately, his parents finally put their foot down and refuse...which doesn't entirely work, since Jeremy is still a massive Spoiled Brat even though his parents aren't enabling him anymore. He instead decides to get his toys from Santa directly, asking for every toy made. This backfires, as the confused elves and Santa are so convinced that no kid could possibly be that spoiled and selfish, that it must be an order for toys to a location instead, leading them to discovering the off-the-path town of Jeremy Creek. What actually sets off Jeremy's Character Development is when he finds out that the toys have been delivered to the place instead of him, which initially enrages him...until the kids on the camera indirectly thank him for his kindness and generosity. The feeling of Good Feels Good gives him a sense of joy and happiness that he never got from his numerous toys, leading to him finally understanding and becoming a better person. It would be more accurate to say that the Belated Child Discipline helped set the stage, but wasn't enough by itself.
- Big "NO!": Jeremy screams "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" after his mother informs him that Santa skipped their house.
- Bittersweet Ending: Jeremy can no longer help Santa deliver presents as he gets older, but his attitude has improved since he was a kid, and now as an old man he teaches his grandchildren the importance of giving back and being generous, while Santa chooses a new assistant to help deliver presents every year and haven been given Jeremy’s binoculars as a Christmas/parting gift he never forgets him.
- Black Bead Eyes: The two grandchildren are the only characters designed with these eyes.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Jeremy at first is a loud, violent child who throws tantrums if he doesn't get anything he sees. He does get much better towards the end.
- Christmas Elves: The elves in this special are as jolly as Santa himself.
- Defrosting Ice King: Jeremy, after realizing his greedy wish ended up helping a rundown town. He learns his lesson, cries tears of joy, and becomes generous after this. The spoiled version of himself became history for good.
- Dish Dash: Jeremy's mother has to catch her falling dishes as much as her hands and feet can handle when one of Jeremy's tantrums causes an earthquake.
- Doting Parent: Jeremy's parents always cave in to his demands, until one night, they've had enough.
- Dramatic Irony: Everyone except Santa is completely unaware of Jeremy's selfish intentions and think that some good samaritan wrote to Santa about the town full of needy kids.
- Free-Range Children: No adults are shown in the town of Jeremy Creek besides the news crew.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Santa assumes the name Jeremy Creek must refer to a place because certainly no kid could be that greedy. Subverted in that Santa knew all along.
- Greed: Jeremy's character flaw, naturally. The kid practically had a store's worth of toys, and he still wasn't satisfied.
- Grew a Spine: After Jeremy screamed and whined and pounded so many times to the point that earthquakes were happening and the neighbors were complaining from all the noise especially at night, his parents finally had enough and told him that will be "no noise or new toys".
- Humble Hero: Jeremy keeps quiet about being the one who brought toys to the town. Aside from humility, there's also the fact he did it by accident anyway.
- How the Character Stole Christmas: It's not his initial plan of simply mailing a huge list of gifts to Santa, but by the time Christmas rolls around Jeremy has camped out his chimney in a bid to swipe Santa's entire bag of toys. Fortunately, it fails since Santa never stops at his roof. After Jeremy sees the joy he inadvertently gave the village of Jeremy Creek, he learns the true meaning of the holidays and generosity.
- Like Father, Like Son: The two children in the opening are revealed to be Jeremy Creek's grandchildren. The fact they were previously thinking about new toys for Christmas reflects their own grandfather's personality from his youth. Thankfully, after hearing his story about his experiences with Santa Claus, they too adopt their grandfather's viewpoint on Christmas.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Santa has this reaction when it's revealed that the town Jeremy Creek was not on his usual route, so he's been missing it every Christmas.
- Narrator All Along: An older Jeremy is the narrator of the story.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: Jeremy makes a greedy wish to Santa when his parents refuse to cave into his demands anymore. Instead, Santa ends up bringing all the toys from Jeremy's list to a village called Jeremy Creek, a place Santa has never heard of before and has been facing significant hardships.
- NO INDOOR VOICE: Jeremy's screaming can cause earthquakes and at one point woke up the entire neighborhood.
- Pushover Parents: Jeremy's parents at first. They'd always cave in to his screaming and whining for toys, and basically, seemed to let him walk all over them in general. Eventually they stand up for themselves in the beginning and stop catering to him.
- Rhymes on a Dime: The entire dialogue from beginning to end is spoken in rhyme.
- Signs of Disrepair: Jeremy's bedroom door is adorned with a sign reading JEREMY'S ROOM. After Jeremy is sent there, he slams the door with so much force that some letters fall off, turning it into MY ROOM.
- Street Urchin: The town of Jeremy Creek, whom Santa delivers the list of presents to instead of the boy. Their houses are run down, the children are under no apparent supervision or care, and they usually just play in the mud.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Jeremy goes from one of the most spoiled kids in all of media, to sharing all the toys with everyone.
- A Twinkle in the Sky: This happens when Santa and his reindeer zip out of Jeremy Creek's neighborhood after not stopping at his house, accompanied by an Animesque shining sound.
- Wham Shot: As the special comes to an end, what looked like Santa flies overhead causing the snow on the mailbox to fall. This caused to reveal that the grandfather and narrator was none than a grown up Jeremy Creek.
- What You Are in the Dark: Santa offers Jeremy any present he wants to make up for all the presents on his list being given away to the children in the town, but Jeremy says he can't think of anything he would want, as he now feels that giving is better than receiving. So Santa offers him the gift of assisting him in his deliveries, which he accepts.
- Whole Episode Flashback: The animated version of the story is shown as a story that an old man is telling his grandkids. It's revealed at the end that the grandfather is, in fact, Jeremy Creek himself.