It is potentially very problematic, if it doesn't stop, and if it terrorizes the passive cat into accidents. However, it isn't all that uncommon of a thing to do for a playful stalker to do. My hope would be that if you can keep them together for an entire day, two in a row even (say Saturday and Sunday) then the Christmas morning thing fades, and the aggressor, while still sure to be a PITA, will settle down enough that he doesn't do litter box stalking and their relationship can stabilize. They say that adding more boxes helps, and I've heard that removing the box lids helps too, so the the passive cat can get in and still be watchful.
It is quite possible they will never be friends, differences in activity level and willingness to play rough can be problematic. But given a little time, the situation becomes predictable and improves a bit. Even after 3 or 4 years, mine are not friends, and when the younger one is stir crazy from bad weather or something, he drives the older one a little crazy. There is growling, maybe a little swatting, but its just something they do. They are used to each other and no long term grudges are held. They can, at this point, be very close to each other if the younger is inactive, without the older cat getting upset, but it took a long while. For what felt like years, the older one would growl if the other got too close and leave the room, even if the younger was not feeling frisky. But they never really full out fought, because the older one mostly just wanted to disengage and get away when the younger tried to play. Its not ideal, but the stress fades over time, and they can coexist.
If they are full out fighting, then everything I just said goes out the window. That will not improve on its own.
Another thing is that some cats just like being what we humans refer to as territorial bullies. You mentioned watching some Jackson Galaxy stuff, I remember an episode on a territorial bully that wouldn't let the passive cat go certain places in the house. If that is what you have long term, it can be harder to deal with, but I don't think you've given them enough together time to know yet. Hopefully, its just excitement that there is a cat to play with, never mind whether it wants to or not (i.e. overly playful cats can be jerks to other cats).
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