The Nightmare Before Christmas light entertainment while marveling at how adept Hollywood has become at these techniques. There are songs, laughs, and a little romance. In short, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" does what it intends to: entertain." Desson Thomson of "The Washington Post" enjoyed stylistic features in common with Oscar Wilde, German Expressionism, the Brothers Grimm and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari". Michael A. Morrison discusses the influence of Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" on the film, writing that Jack parallels the Grinch and Zero parallels Max, the Grinch's dog. Philip Nel writes that the film "challenges the wisdom of adults through
How the 'A' Stole Christmas showrunner I. Marlene King, who also served as a writer alongside with Kyle Bown; the episode serves as King's fourth writing credit on the season, and the first directing. The title of the episode was revealed by King as an answer for a fan on the platform Reddit. The table-read for the episode occurred on July 14, 2014. Filming for the episode commenced on July 16 and wrapped on July 25, 2014. In the United States, "How the 'A' Stole Christmas" was first aired on December 9, 2014, and it achieved a viewership of 2.09 million Americans. The episode garnered