Cheesiest ‘Moments’ With Santa

Only 12 days after its first telecast, PAX-TV is bringing back “Santa Claus’ Funniest Moments II” for an encore tonight at 7. And who could blame them? It has to be seen to be believed.

If this isn’t the worst Christmas special of all time, it’s certainly the cheesiest. It looks as if it was made on the same budget required by a cable public-access show. The only clue that that wasn’t its genesis? Kirk Cameron is the host.

The program mostly features amateur videos and practical jokes using hidden cameras--most of them quite obviously staged and featuring voice-over commentary that ranges from inane to incomprehensible. The videos look like the kind of faux “spontaneous” gags people create with their camcorders in hopes of getting a moment on TV--a guy shaking a Christmas package, only to have a bowling ball drop out on his conveniently bare foot; a boy in the snow getting a package from Santa, opening it and discovering swimming fins. Hysterical.

There also are interviews about Christmas with a series of children, set to the background music of “Deck the Halls”--even when the kids are singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

And then there is a laugh track that only barely resembles human laughter and is used without regard to whether anything humorous is even supposed to be happening.

If this program constitutes Santa’s funniest moments, you’d better watch out and get ready to pout: He won’t be in a mood to leave anything but a lump of coal in any of our stockings this year.