Advent Calendar House

“Most folks call ’em green onions, but they’re really scallions.”

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.
Hosted by The Retro Network.

VeggieTales - The Toy That Saved Christmas

Mike Westfall — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 Fresh from 1996 comes a Christmas tale that’ll make you cry, but only because it’s being told by an onion.

🎙️ Anthony Strand hops along for the ride as we buzz back to the VeggieTales’ first Christmas special, in which the only children’s toy that comes with a working circular saw embarks on a quest to find the true reason for the season.

📺 You can watch the official version of “The Toy That Saved Christmas” for free on YouTube, or the original 1996 version on the Internet Archive.
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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Differences between the original and the reanimated version from 1997.

“Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus.”

This Mr. Nezzer is not the previously seen Nebby K. Nezzer, but his brother, Wally P. Nezzer, who’s not as cleverly named.

The original vs. the new, improved Bunny Song.

The shelves of Buzzsaw Louies predate the shelves of Buzz Lightyears in “Toy Story 2.”

Ken Cavanagh (Buzzsaw Louie) may have authored this Medium post from 2020: “Leave Jesus Out of It. Viruses don’t care what you believe.”

“The Dead Sea Squirrels,” by Mike Nawrocki.

Today’s TV Trope: Blatant Burglar.

Doctors in the hallway in “Muppets From Space.”

What do you call a group of penguins?

Two More Eggs: CGI Palz.

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📼 Commercials:

VeggieTales: “The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree” album (2005)

The Incredible, Edible Egg: Wisecracks (1991)

Mouse Trap (1990)

Not Just Theo: Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s Surprising Career.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.
Hosted by The Retro Network.

Andy Williams and the NBC Kids Search for Santa

Mike Westfall — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 What if Mr. Christmas was on the naughty list this entire time, thanks to a curse on his family for generations?

🎙️ Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas and Guy Hutchinson from Pointless Nostalgia join us on a Christmas quest back to 1985 as Andy Williams leads a dozen “true believers” on a trip to Finland to find Santa and answer for his totally-not-made-up ancestor.

📺 You can watch “Andy Williams and the NBC Kids Search for Santa” on the Internet Archive.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

The NBC Kids are: Soleil Moon Frye, Cherie Johnson, Ami Foster, and Casey Ellison from “Punky Brewster”; Lisa Bonet, Tempestt Bledsoe, Keshia Knight Pulliam, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner from “The Cosby Show”; Alfonso Ribeiro from “Silver Spoons”; and Joey and Matthew Lawrence from “Gimme a Break!” But not Mindy Cohn from “The Facts of Life,” who shows up, sings half a line, and that’s it.

Guy visits New York City’s Christmas cinematic landmarks, including locations from “Mr. T and Emmanuel Lewis in A Christmas Dream.”

Alfonso Ribeiro’s Pepsi Commercial with Michael Jackson (1984)

The painting supposedly featuring Lars Sven Olaf Williams, from 1863.

The Sàmi.

“Sea for Catwoman!”

Porvoo Cathedral (pronounced like “Borga”).

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📼 Commercials:

NBC “Let’s All Be There” ID with Santa (1985)

Polaroid: “Christmas – Santa Claus” (1985)

Tinsel Tunes - The Christmas Music Podcast.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.
Hosted by The Retro Network.

Hanukah Under the Umbrella Tree

Mike Westfall — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 03:25:00 -0500

🕎 Celebrate Hanukkah with a community talent show we don’t even get to watch.

We’ve miraculously found another Hanukkah special — with yet another spelling of it — so join us as we instantly reappear back in 1991 with a bunch of Canadian animal puppets to discover the magic of the holiday Under the Umbrella Tree.

🎙️ April Ryley is our lovely assistant as we meet a humble shopkeeper and former magician once known as “The Great Goldberg,” played by the equally great Harvey Atkin.

📺 As of this recording, you can watch “Hanukah Under the Umbrella Tree” on YouTube.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Holly Larocque in “The Big Band Broadcast” (2008)

Stephen Brathwaite’s (Jacob) artwork portfolio.

Bob Stutt (Iggy) as Wander McMooch on “Fraggle Rock.”

David Copperfield makes the Statue of Liberty disappear.

“Peoples is peoples.”

Today’s TV Trope: Magicians Are Wizards.

A Star is Borscht: The Harvey Atkin Young Jewish Performer Competition (2022)

“Under the Umbrella Tree: The Mask Special” (2020)

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📼 Commercials:

Happy Holidays from “Under the Umbrella Tree” (CBC)

Hallmark “Old Friends” Hanukkah Card Commercial (1993)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.
Hosted by The Retro Network.

A Christmas Carol: The Musical

Mike Westfall — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It is once again Scrooge Sunday, and the time has come to awkwardly smoosh our spirits through the walls of our bedchamber and float back to 2004 for a special TV movie based on Alan Menken’s musical adaptation of “A Christmas Carol,” starring Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge, Jason Alexander as Marley’s Ghost, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Belle, and Jane Krakowski as the Ghost of Christmas Past.

🎙️ Michael May and Rob Graham from After Lunch join the celebration of abundance, charity, and good will toward men as we forge this podcast link by link and dumb joke by dumb joke.

📺 You can watch “A Christmas Carol: The Musical” for free on YouTube.

Plus: After this episode, listen to the 3 of us on After Lunch review “A Christmas Carol” on “Shower of Stars” from 1954.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Julian Ovenden (Fred) in “Downton Abbey.”

Today’s TV Trope: And You Were There.

Jacob Collier (Tiny Tim) on YouTube, including his Grammy-winning arrangement of “The Flintstones” theme.

Brian Bedford (Fezziwig) on “Frasier” and as Disney’s Robin Hood.

Ebenezer Scrooges Ranked by How Redeemed They Are (FilmHounds, 2024)

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📼 Commercials:

KFC “Christmas with Jason Alexander” (2001)

Geraldo opens Al Capone’s vault.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.
Hosted by The Retro Network.

Perfect Strangers - The Gift of the Mypiot

Mike Westfall — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 Your podcast feed or burst! Join us as we dance joyfully back to 1988 for a very special episode of “Perfect Strangers,” in which Balki invites his grouchy boss to a Christmas Eve party, whether Cousin Larry and their co-workers like it or not.

🎙️ Shawn Robare and William Bruce West join the party which, despite IMDb’s summary, is not a “Christmas Carol parody.” If anything, Mr. Gorpley’s the Grinch. And hey, a pre-“Family Matters” Harriette Winslow is here! But why isn’t she with her own children?

📺 As of this recording, “The Gift of the Mypiot” (Season 4, Episode 9) is available for free on Pluto TV.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

“The Gift of the Mypiot” on Perfect Strangers Reviewed, and the gift of assswing.gif.

This is just 3 episodes before we’d meet Carl Winslow. I guess he was busy this Christmas at Nakatomi Plaza.

Kate Finlayson (Allyson) “Dancing the Enneagram.”

The mystery of Nora Trueblood Adams.

Our personal stories of getting the same gift twice and having to play it cool.

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📼 Commercials:

“Perfect Strangers” Cast Christmas Greeting (1988)

Circuit City Christmas Sale (1988)

WIZARDS The Podcast Guide to Comics.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.
Hosted by The Retro Network.

The Cabbage Patch Kids’ First Christmas

Mike Westfall — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 Put on your cute little helmet and join us on a journey back to 1984 for a Christmas special based on the toy craze that turned holiday shopping from a winter wonderland to a warzone.

🎙️ Julia (Tis the Podcast) and Steven (The Bigfoot Club) join the adventure from the hidden home of the Cabbage Patch Kids to the unnamed but totally identifiable big city in search of the Christmas spirit, while we evade 2 nearly identical but probably not related trios trying to kidnap us. It’ll all make sense.

Actually, no. It will not.

📺 “The Cabbage Patch Kids’ First Christmas” is well preserved on YouTube. Here’s an upscaled version.

Watch Steven’s film, “The Bigfoot Club,” on Prime Video.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

The totally official, extremely bonkers Legend of the Cabbage Patch Kids.

Babyland General Hospital.

‘Custody’ fight over Cabbage Patch dolls (Christian Science Monitor, 1983)

Josh Rodine (Dawson Glenn) in “Sparky’s Magic Piano” (1987)

Sparky Marcus (Xavier) as Banjo the Woodpile Cat (1979)

“Kudzu: The Invasive Vine that Ate the South.”

Piedmont Park.

What idiot took the gay out of “Don we now our gay apparel”?

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📼 Commercials:

Cabbage Patch Kids Talking Phone (1984)

Cabbage Patch Kids Hide and Seek Game (1984)

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.
Hosted by The Retro Network.

The Muppets - Single All the Way

Mike Westfall — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s been 10 years since the Muppets’ 2015 TV series gave us the gift of a Christmas episode, so it’s time to stay Up Late with Miss Piggy and find out if we can take it seriously, or if it left us because we couldn’t stop making jokes about it.

🎙️ Becca Petunia and J.D. Hansel of ToughPigs.com join the chaos including, but not limited to: a rigged Secret Santa! Gross and unhelpful mistletoe strategy! And, of course, Echosmith!

📺 You can find “Single All the Way” on Disney+.

Becca’s also on A Prairie Dawn Companion and Here Comes Tomorrow.

J.D. is also on The Great Muppet Fandom Panel and Stick to Shorts.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

ToughPigs’ review of “Single All the Way” (2015)

The Muppets at Midseason: The Good, the Bad, and the Deadly (ToughPigs.com, 2016)

70 Years, 70 Muppets: Yolanda the Rat and Chip.

The Muppets’ a cappella cover of “Cool Kids” by Echosmith.

“Bright” by Echosmith.

Sam the Eagle’s paintball-themed minigame in “Muppets Party Cruise.”

The Swedish Chef is married because one time Steve Whitmire forgot to take off his wedding ring and they just decided it’s canon now.

Chip has synesthesia.

An extremely rare one-on-one scene with Miss Piggy and Fozzie.

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📼 Commercials:

Pizza Hut “4 for All” Pizza Commercial starring the Muppets (2004)

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.
Hosted by The Retro Network.

Sonic Christmas Blast

Mike Westfall — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 If you thought Christmas was fast approaching, hang onto something as we zip back to 1996 and do our best to keep up with Sonic the Hedgehog on a mission to save Christmas.

🎙️ Mike (Bitter Karella) and Ethan (The Hungry Reader) from A Special Presentation, or ALF Will Not Be Seen Tonight join the quest to rescue Santa from the evil Robotnik Claus, obtain the Secret to Ultimate Velocity, and find a gift for Sonic’s girlfriend from another universe.

📺 You can watch “Sonic Christmas Blast” for free on YouTube.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

How Sonic scored two different animated series at the same time (Polygon, 2020)

This specially was originally called “An X-tremely Sonic Christmas” to promote a Sega Saturn game that ended up getting canceled.

Jay Brazeau (Santa) as the referee in “Air Bud” who says the line.

The robot queen in “The Great Mouse Detective.”

“Let the Heartaches Begin” by Long John Baldry (Robotnik).

The original “Ugly Sonic” movie trailer.

Dr. Robotnik’s in-game design looks like both an Eggman and a walrus.

The other cartoon’s theme song.

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📼 Commercials:

Sonic & Knuckles Christmas Elves Commercial (1994)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.
Hosted by The Retro Network.

The Town Santa Forgot

Mike Westfall — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 Found under a pile of too many toys, enough for 442 boys, is a little-known gem of a Christmas special from 1993.

🎙️ Chad Young from the Horror Movie BBQ, Jeff Loftin from the Lost Christmas Podcast, and Sean Sotka from ChristmasPodcasts.com join us for the story of Jeremy Creek, a kid so greedy, Santa mistook his list for an entire town’s. Featuring the voices of Dick Van Dyke, Hal Smith, and the kid from “Kindergarten Cop” who gave us an anatomy lesson.

📺 You can find “The Town Santa Forgot” on the Internet Archive.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

The original poem: “Jeremy Creek” (Indianapolis Star, 1985)

Jeremy Creek (no relation) from the “Smallville” pilot.

Miko Hughes (Jeremy) in People magazine (2024): “Kindergarten Cop Child Actor Recalls Working with Arnold Schwarzenegger — and the Origin of That Iconic Line.”

Today’s TV Trope: Signs of Disrepair.

One of Hal Smith’s final voice acting roles during his lifetime. (He had a posthumous credit in “Zelda’s Adventure.”)

Larry Walters has a flying lawn chair and a BB gun.

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📼 Commercials:

NBC Commercial Break during the original 1993 airing of this special, including “The Muppet Christmas Carol” on VHS, and Wendy’s Big Bacon Classic.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.
Hosted by The Retro Network.

The Simpsons - ’Tis the Fifteenth Season

Mike Westfall — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 “This just in: Santa Claus is dead… or he might as well be, because there’s an even fatter man who’s holding families at nice-point!”

’Tis the Advent Calendar House’s 15th season, so this December’s dozen begins with a similarly titled episode of “The Simpsons” from 2003.

🎙️ Shane Keating from ToughPigs.com, Erin Evans, and Joey O. join the mission to stop being selfish and start being good.

📺 As of this recording, “’Tis the Fifteenth Season” (Season 15, Episode 7) is available on Disney+.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

This episode premiered the day after Saddam Hussein was caught.

Marge’s couch gag anime costume: Jun the Swan from “Gatchaman.”

“How Low Can DVD Players Go?” (New York Times, 2003)

Kathy from Personnel.

The Joe DiMaggio rookie card is real.

Today’s TV Trope: Art Shift — “Christmas with the California Prunes” and “The Year Santa Got Lost,” animated by the Chiodo Bros.

Animaniacs’ 50 State Capitals.

Of course I looked up the astrolabe’s coordinates.

Convoy, and the cover by Sifl & Olly.

Operation: The Simpsons Edition.

The first on-screen appearance of Nelson’s mom.

The end of “Treehouse of Horror IV.”

Stupid TV, Be More Funny: How the Golden Era of The Simpsons Changed Television — and America — Forever, by Alan Siegel.

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📼 Commercials:

Bart vs. the Space Mutants (1991)

Butterfinger - The Power Cut (1993)

A Bomb for Christmas 2: Past, Present, and Future on the Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.
Hosted by The Retro Network.

Psych - The Polarizing Express

Mike Westfall — Sat, 01 Nov 2025 03:25:00 -0400

🍍 I’ve hidden a pineapple somewhere in this episode, and if you can find it… you get nothing. Sorry.

The Advent Calendar House is back for Christmas Podcast Day. This year, a bunch of your yuletide podcast pals are dropping episodes themed to “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and that gave me a premonition to take a closer look at a very merry episode of “Psych” from 2010.

🎙️ Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas joins this examination of our superego, taking the form of renowned actor Tony Cox as himself… kind of.

Find more “Wonderful” episodes in the Christmas Podcasts directory.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

“Psych’s Take on ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Changed Shawn’s Character” (Collider, 2023)

Maggie Lawson (Jules) on “Boy Meets World.”

Corbin Bernsen (Henry) has a collection of over 8,000 snow globes.

Today’s TV Trope: Good Angel, Bad Angel.

Keshia Knight Pulliam as Gus’s sitcom wife.

Behind-the-scenes photo of dream sequence Jules, Lassie, and Chief Vick.

Skyler Gisondo as Young Shawn.

The Canadian Motion Picture Park Backlot standing in for the least Miami-looking Miami.

Oh, there’s the pineapple.

“This Is Christmas” by Curt Smith.

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📼 Commercials:

Corn Pops: “Pops Locked in the Car” commercial starring Dulé Hill (1994)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries - The Nutcracker Scoob

Mike Westfall — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 We wrap up Christmas in July with an old-fashioned scary ghost story.

🎙️ Adam Pope and Donnie Storms join the trip aboard the Mystery Machine back to 1984 for Scooby-Doo’s very first Christmas special, in which the gang tries to save an orphanage with the power of pageantry, and stop the mysterious Ghost of Christmas Never.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries opening was riding the “Thriller” wave.

Beetlejuice’s Graveyard Revue.

Mr. Wizard and the Talking Head Illusion.

Our experience with Christmas pageants, including some unfortunate elementary school play featuring the song, “Santa Claus, Santa Claus, you are much too fat.”

The elf costumes look like Tingle.

The Mystery Sleigh!

Go-Gurt + Scooby-Doo = Ro-Gurt!

Today’s TV Trope: Read the Fine Print.

The Scooby-Doo Character Reference Guide.

“The PTA has disbanded!”

The Little Rascals (1994) boys crash the ballet.

Mr. Burns collapses on a sundial after being shot.

Scooby Apocalypse.

Adam’s stitched Scooby-Doo portrait.

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📼 Commercials:

The Kodak Disc (1984)

The Christian Cringe podcast on “The Buttercream Gang.”

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Thanksgiving Promise

Mike Westfall — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 03:25:00 -0400

🦃 This Thanksgiving in July, I’ve decided to treat y’all to a feast of a special I’ve had tucked away in my memory for decades, but it’s finally time to cross those Bridges.

🎙️ Chad Young and Tommy Coombs hop onto either side of our tractor for a hayride back to 1986 to watch a very special Disney family movie directed by Beau Bridges and featuring 3 generations of his family, along with teenage Jason Bateman and Courtney Thorne-Smith, and an injured goose named Chester.

📺 “The Thanksgiving Promise” is on YouTube with or without commercials.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

We all hung out!

TV Guide’s Close Up feature from 1986.

“Chester, I Love You,” the original book.

“In the Bag” (bump, bump).

Beau Bridges in “The Wizard.”

Lloyd Bridges as Izzy Mandelbaum on “Seinfeld.”

Courtney Thorne-Smith (Sheryl) and Norm MacDonald on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” (1997).

Jason Bateman’s (Steve) turkey costume.

The “Gleaming the Cube” chicken scene.

Today’s TV Trope: Teetering on the Edge.

This Milk PSA with the most forward-thinking bullies ever (circa 1988).

McDonald’s put Fievel on a Christmas stocking. “An American Tail” opens with him celebrating Hanukkah.

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📼 Commercials:

Pringles Butter N Herbs (1986)

Bingo Bear (1986)

Kingdom Chums (1986)

“Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story” (1986)

McDonald’s: “One-Ups-Man-Ship” (1986)

“Gung Ho” TV series promo (1986)

Juicy Fruit: Skiing (1985)

Nutrasweet ad starring William “Refrigerator” Perry and his daughter (1986)

Cool Kids Club Podcast

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Taz-Mania - No Time for Christmas

Mike Westfall — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 Join us for a short spin back to 1993 as I spend 48 minutes blah blah blah yackety schmacketing about Taz’s attempt to spread Christmas cheer.

🎙️ Sammy Hain and Joey O. join us for Summer in December during Christmas in July in a land that’s way under Down Under.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Tasmania was once home to the world’s tallest decorated Christmas tree.

John Astin (Bull Gator) in “Return of the Killer Tomatoes.”

How the origins of Taz’s creation involve Errol Flynn and the Los Angeles Zoo.

Hot Dr. Pepper.

Bing Crosby’s Minute Maid Orange Juice Commercials.

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📼 Commercials:

Tornado Taz Plush (1997)

The Odd Case of Dennis the Menace.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Santabear’s High Flying Adventure

Mike Westfall — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 This episode is stuffed with surprises, so get your propeller spinning and take off back to 1987 to go barnstorming — or bearnstorming — above the South Pole with Santabear.

🎙️ Ethan “The Hungry Reader” is our co-pilot as we nosedive into a Midwestern Christmas tradition we wish found a place to land elsewhere.

📺 You can find “Santabear’s High Flying Adventure” on the Internet Archive, or a recording with the original commercials on YouTube.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Mike on A Special Presentation, or ALF Will Not Be Seen Tonight, for “Poochie” and “The Hugga Bunch Movie.”

“Santabear’s First Christmas,” the original book and the 1986 special.

IMDb claims Dennis Hopper is in this, but I didn’t hear him.

Antarctica’s Christmas Traditions, including a “Race Around the World.”

Today’s TV Trope: Spot the Imposter.

What is the history behind the Dayton's Santa Bear? (WCCO-TV, 2022).

An official list of every Santa Bear made, 1985–2007 (WDIV-TV, 2023).

The Dayton’s Project’s 2024 Santa Bear.

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📼 Commercials:

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Christmas Commercial and Santabear Sweepstakes (1987)

Oreos for Santa (1986)

Holiday M&M’s (1987)

Wild Puffalumps (1987)

Doublemint Gum (1987)

Cindy Lou Who’s on First?

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss - Mrs. Zabarelli’s Holiday Baton

Mike Westfall — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 Now it’s time for a Muppety holiday fix, so let’s turn the clock back to 1996, to a show I’m excited to reintroduce: it’s “The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss.”

🎙️ The Advent Calendar House welcomes 2 of Muppet Wiki’s finest, Tony Whitaker and Shane Keating, to join our Jingle Day pageant.

📺 You can watch “Mrs. Zabarelli’s Holiday Baton” on the Jim Henson’s Family Hub YouTube channel.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Where in the who-heck is the Grinch?

“The noozle at the end of the hoose,” (surprisingly not a Dr. Seuss reference).

Michael K. Frith on Muppet Wiki.

The Muppets on “Family Feud” (2001).

Kathy Mullen (Morton) interview with ToughPigs.com (2013).

These aren’t Whatnots; they’re Whozits.

“Sesame English,” an English as a second language “Sesame Street” series.

“Good grief! The comedian’s a bear!”

Defunctland Podcast: Working in a Wubbulous World with Stephanie D’Abruzzo and Craig Shemin.

There’s a rolling drum gag, so here’s the “Emmet Otter” outtake reel again.

“You’re the poet laureate of…”

Shane and the ToughPigs staff visit the “Sesame Street” set.

Shane’s supercut of Gordon from “Sesame Street” saying, “Oh, hi!”

****

📼 Commercials:

Hallmark’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” Collection (1998)

Closer to Christmas.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Roseanne - Halloween IV

Mike Westfall — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 03:25:00 -0400

🎃 This year, Halloween in July has fallen on a Scrooge Sunday, so we’re hitting two holiday tropes with one garbage disposal.

🎙️ Gerry Davila and Brandon Medley join us on a journey back to 1992 to watch Roseanne endure a haunting by the Ghosts of Halloween Past, Present, and Future.

📺 At press time, the episode “Halloween IV” is available on Peacock.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

The Story Behind Roseanne’s Iconic Chicken Shirt (Decider, 2018).

The “Psych” pineapple.

October 30th is Mischief Night in New Jersey and, apparently, nowhere else.

Elks Lodges lodges are real.

Our Halloween costumes from around 1992, and the worst things we’ve gotten while trick-or-treating.

Lee Arenberg (Ghost of Halloween Past) in “The Wizard.”

Mario Reccuzo (Ghost of Halloween Present) on “California Dreams.”

Dan and Jackie’s amazing beheaded Marie Antoinette costume.

A background actor is wearing a Pigs in Space costume.

****

📼 Commercials:

Walgreens Halloween Decorations (1992)

How a Count Eats a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (1990)

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Charmings - Yes, Lillian, There Is a Santa Claus

Mike Westfall — Fri, 11 Jul 2025 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 Hey, remember the Christmas episode of that show on ABC where Snow White and Prince Charming are transported by the Evil Queen to a land without magic and have to adjust to modern-day America? No, you don’t, because you’re thinking of “Once Upon a Time,” which didn’t have a Christmas episode, which was rude.

🎙️ Kristi and Bri from Bad Princess Movies join us as we go back an even longer time ago to the enchanted year of 1987 to meet The Charmings, who did have a Christmas episode!

📺 You can watch “Yes, Lillian, There Is a Santa Claus” on YouTube, or this VHS-recorded copy with commercials.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

This episode was advertised during the original broadcast of “A Muppet Family Christmas.”

The first season’s opening credits explains the backstory.

Judy Parfitt (Lillian) as another fairytale queen in “Ever After: A Cinderella Story.”

Carol Huston Signs for ‘The Charmings’ (L.A. Times, 1987).

The Calgary Castle and the even crazier themed vacation homes being built near me.

The Enchanted Forest park in British Columbia.

John Astin as the Devil in another episode of “The Charmings.”

The “He-Man village” was actually the massive Eternia playset.

Tony Steedman (Santa) as Socrates in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.”

Judy Parfitt on the pain of losing her husband (Steedman) to dementia (Daily Mail, 2014).

Dick Van Dyke’s Learn Not to Burn hot door PSA.

Gordon Ramsay should play Santa.

Robert Bork, or: Yes, Virginia, You Can Reject a Supreme Court Nominee.

One originally cut episode finally aired on CTV in 2021.

****

📼 Commercials:

Masters of the Universe: Eternia Playset (1986)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The Christmas Aliens

Mike Westfall — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 Cowabunga! In nearly 40 years of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series, 2004’s “The Christmas Aliens” is somehow their only animated Christmas episode.

🎙️ Anthony Strand, Shawn Robare, and Jaime Hood join the ride as we follow Michelangelo and a kitty named Klunk on a Christmas Eve car chase to save a truckload of stolen Little Orphan Alien dolls meant for a group of little orphan human Earthlings, all while Splinter makes a sewer full of guests wait for Mikey to arrive before they eat.

📺 At press time, “The Christmas Aliens” is available on Paramount+.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Read the original 1985 comic on Mirage Studios’ old, preserved website.

Our episode on “We Wish You a Turtle Christmas.”

The Lost and Unused Theme Songs of the 2003 series.

Bruce Wayne’s long dining room table.

Similar chase scenes in “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Speed.”

Terence Archie (Silver Sentry) as Apollo Creed in “Rocky: The Musical.”

Ice Cream Kitty!

****

📼 Commercials:

Happy Honda Days: Ninja Turtles, featuring the original 1980s voice cast (2018).

WIZARDS The Podcast Guide to Comics.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

Mike Westfall — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 03:25:00 -0400

🐰 It’s Easter in July, and those two things together are the least confusing thing about today’s episode.

🎙️ It’s a race across the calendar with Michael May and Sammy Hain as we follow Peter Cottontail through time on his quest to reclaim the title of Chief Easter Bunny from the evil January Q. Irontail, voiced by Vincent Price, in Rankin/Bass’s first non-Christmas holiday special from 1971.

📺 You can find “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” on Tubi, or this restored version on the YouTube channel “The Rankin Bass Archive.”

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

“The Easter Bunny That Overslept,” the book, and a read-along video.

This special has the same opening as Disney’s “Aladdin.”

Vincent Price hosting “Read, Write, and Draw” on The Disney Channel.

Jim and Dwight are the worst party planning committee on “The Office.”

Patton Oswalt on Easter eggs.

Seymour S. Sassafras is probably a Time Lord.

Today’s TV Trope: Loophole Abuse.

The Halloween segment reuses music from “Mad Monster Party?”

Is the title of Chief Easter Bunny always on the line like a 24/7 wrestling championship?

Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet.

Yosemite Sam attempts to cook hasenpfeffer.

The Easter Bunny in Hell in “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.”

This special got a sequel in 2005.

****

📼 Commercials:

Cadbury Easter Creme Eggs (1978)

FOLCs Forever: A Lois & Clark Rewatch Podcast.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show - Not a Christmas Story

Mike Westfall — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 We’re snowed in a bit earlier than expected, so we’ve hunkered down to have a Christmas feast from around the world with the WJM TV family in a 1974 non-Christmas Christmas episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

🎙️ Joining the party is film critic and author Alonso Duralde, who recommended this episode. A newly Revised and Updated edition of Alonso’s book, “Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas,” is being released in September, but you can pre-order it now.

You can also find Alonso at The Film Verdict; check out his other book, Hollywood Pride; and listen to Linoleum Knife, Maximum Film, Breakfast All Day, and Deck the Hallmark.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Pre-order the Revised and Updated Edition of “Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas.”

IMDb’s photo gallery for this episode has 20 screenshots of Mary in a towel.

Betty White’s amazing Christmas dress.

Harrison Ford recalls what he told George Lucas while shooting the first “Star Wars” movie.

I couldn’t find a recipe for “soufflé tour légende,” but here’s one for “Mr. Grant You Took Half Veal Prince Orloff!”

Today’s TV Trope: Social Semi-Circle.

****

📼 Commercials:

Burger King Gift Certificates Christmas Commercial (1974)

Season’s Eatings.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Futurama - A Tale of Two Santas

Mike Westfall — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 03:25:00 -0400

🌴 In Part 2 of our “Futurama” Xmas double-header, we meet the only thing worse than an evil robot Santa… two evil robot Santas.

🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni, Erin Evans, Joey O., and Donnie Storms return for 2001’s “A Tale of Two Santas.”

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

“Box Car Blues” (1930).

Santa’s Death Fortress sure looks like Elsa’s ice palace.

Coolio’s final acting role before his death was a return as the voice of Kwanzaa-bot.

An ode to Musicmatch Jukebox and our turn-of-the-century mp3 albums we’re still holding onto.

My favorite joke in all of “Futurama.”

“I’m Spartacus!”

****

📼 Commercials:

America Online Keyword: eBay (2001).

A Bomb for Christmas: A made-for-podcast Christmas movie featuring your old pal, me.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Futurama - Xmas Story

Mike Westfall — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 03:25:00 -0400

🌴 The Advent Calendar House has awoken from what feels like a thousand-year slumber and a lame April Fool’s joke. As a peace offering, here’s the first of two back-to-back episodes celebrating Xmas as imagined by “Futurama.”

🎙️ It’s extra crowded in the cryogenic chamber as Michael DiGiovanni, Erin Evans, Joey O., and Donnie Storms drop in for 1999’s “Xmas Story,” in which we’re introduced to the annual tradition of gift-giving and shelter-taking from a killer robot Santa Claus that awaits our descendants in the year 3000.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

“Fresh Hare” (1942).

Orange Cassidy sleeping through his own wrestling match.

“Why Chaucer Said ‘Ax’ Instead of ‘Ask,’ and Why Some Still Do” (NPR, 2013).

“Why is the number 1,729 hidden in Futurama episodes?” (BBC, 2013).

The classic dangling from a clock tower scenes from “Safety Last” and “Back to the Future.”

John Goodman’s other appearances as Santa.

Randy Johnson hits a bird with a fastball.

Corona Extra’s Christmas palm tree commercial.

The lyrics to “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” are sinister enough by themselves.

****

📼 Commercials:

Hess Truck 1999 Space Shuttle Toy.

Stick to Shorts: A Classic Cartoons Podcast.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Friends - The One with the Holiday Armadillo

Mike Westfall — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:00:00 -0500

🕎 It’s the year 2000, and Christmas and Hanukkah have crossed paths at my doorstep in the form of Santa Claus and his part-Jewish friend… a weird turtle man.

🎙 Becca Petunia and April Ryley join us as we revisit some old Friends in honor of Christmas Day and the first night of Hanukkah sharing a day on the calendar this year. Plus: An escaped tarantula, a restaurant we may never be allowed in or out of again, and an unforgettable interfaith holiday mascot fit for a new millennium.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

How often does the first night of Hanukkah fall on Christmas? (Vox, 2016)

What the ‘Friends’ Holiday Armadillo Episode Gets Right About Interfaith Families (Hey Alma, 2021)

The “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas” drum roll outtake reel.

A transcript including deleted scenes reveals Ben wants Santa to bring him an ant farm.

Formication (with an M, y’all), the false sense of feeling like bugs are crawling on you.

Halloween Adventure is real and still open.

Hoppy the Marvel Bunny.

****

📼 Commercials:

AT&T True Savings with David Schwimmer (circa 1996)

Was It Great, or Were You 8?

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Babes in Toyland (1986)

Mike Westfall — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s Christmas Eve 1986, and the only way Drew Barrymore can save her new friends is to believe in the magic of toys… and Cincinnati.

🎙 Molly Patton, Becca Petunia, and Adam Pope join us for a bonkers adaptation of “Babes in Toyland” from director Clive Donner and starring Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves, and Richard Mulligan as a weird, evil guy who lives in a bowling ball.

📺 You can watch “Babes in Toyland” on Tubi, the 3-hour original broadcast with commercials, or the unofficial “Director’s Cut” without ads.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Misfits in Toyland (NSFW), an unrelated horror-comedy webcomic.

Keanu Reeves (Jack) on “Going Great” (1985)

Googy Gress (Georgie) in “Wayne’s World 2.”

Today’s TV Trope: And You Were There.

The Cookie Jar House of South Jersey.

The Undertaker’s entrance at WrestleMania IX, in the middle of the afternoon.

Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (and Tripping Daisy’s cover of theme song).

The Toymaster’s Santa coat looks like Belle’s from “Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas.”

****

📼 Commercials:

McDonald’s: Recital (1986)

Give ’Em All a Little Pat of Butter (1986)

TGI Podcast

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Doctor Who - A Christmas Carol

Mike Westfall — Sun, 22 Dec 2024 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 2010, and I’m hiding in a closet from a flying shark that ate half my screwdriver.

I’ve finally caught up with the timeline of people who have been requesting that I watch the “Doctor Who” Christmas specials.

🎙 Andre Bennett, Jack Ford from the Total Christmas Podcast, and Anthony Strand from ToughPigs.com join me for a twisted take on “A Christmas Carol” starring Michael Gambon in the Scrooge role and the 11th Doctor as at least 2 ghosts of Christmas.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Andre’s review of this episode from 2011.

Anthony ranks all of Steven Moffat’s “Doctor Who” episodes.

Amy and Rory’s outfits may or may not be but probably are a nod to a similar scene in a 2001 “Only Fools and Horses” Christmas special.

Michael Gambon in “Toys,” as the Ultragorgon on Jim Henson’s “Monster Maker,” and as the Ghost of Christmas Present in 2001’s “Christmas Carol: The Movie.”

Abigail is basically Nora Fries from Batman.

Katherine Jenkins on “Dancing with the Stars.”

Danny Horn (Young Adult Kazran) on Bandcamp.

Greenland sharks could live for hundreds of years.

“Abigail’s Song (Silence Is All You Know)”

****

📼 Commercials:

Tesco Christmas Advert: “Mrs. Belcher” (2010)

Tinsel Tunes: The Christmas Music Podcast

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Santa and the Three Bears

Gerry Davila, Mike Westfall, Ethan the Hungry Reader — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1970, and a couple of bear cubs have jumped through my window and are eating all my marshmallows.

🎙️ Gerry Davila and Ethan “The Hungry Reader” join us on a deeper than expected dive into a Christmas special by former Hanna-Barbera animator Tony Benedict that almost wasn’t released till the owner of a now-defunct Florida theme park swooped in and saved it.

🚨 No animals were harmed in the making of this podcast. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about one of the 4 versions of this special.

📺 You can watch 4 different versions of “Santa and the Three Bears”:

“A Yellowstone Christmas” (Tony’s Version), the original cut.
The theatrical version with Hal Smith in the intro and added songs and sequences.
The Pirates World version with scenes from Ocean World Marine Park. This version was screened for Rifftrax.
The Modern Sound Pictures version with the songs but no live-action segments.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

The Unusual History of Santa and the Three Bears. (The Delbert Cartoon Report, 2021)

The soundtrack and some background info.

Hal Smith in “The Incredible, Indelible, Magical, Physical Mystery Trip.”

Bobby Riha (Chinook) in Hanna-Barbera’s “Jack and the Beanstalk.”

Yellowstone National Park’s Zone of Death.

Today’s TV Trope: Human Snowball.

CBS Storybreak’s “Grinny.”

Homer Simpson tries to catch a rabbit.

Iceman in X-Men #1.

****

📼 Commercials:

Hardee’s Gift Checks (1970s)

Totally Rad Christmas

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Justice League - Comfort and Joy

Mike Westfall — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 2003, and nothing puts me in a festive mood quite like a bar fight.

🎙 Joey O. and James Riley join us for Christmas break with the Justice League — well, most of it. Wonder Woman’s off doing something else, and Batman… you know, smells.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Mike talks “Comfort and Joy” on Tis the Podcast.

Paul Dini’s notes on “Comfort and Joy,” including what where Wonder Woman and Batman were.

The Shrine of the Silver Monkey from “Legends of the Hidden Temple.”

The “Calvin and Hobbes” snowman gallery of horrors.

Santa gives Darkseid a lump of coal.

Clark and his parents’ cat, Streaky, are this universe’s Jon Arbuckle and Garfield.

One of the stuffed animals on Kara’s bed looks like Zook, one of Martian Manhunter’s comic book sidekicks.

“Sam, the Guy from Quincy” by the Arrogant Worms (re: Robert Ito as the Japanese toy company CEO).

The end of The Simpsons’ “Treehouse of Horror IV.”

Wild Swamp Thing appeared!

Ultra-Humanite is doing a Party Man.

A tangent about Oreo cookies, Martian Manhunter’s favorite food.

****

📼 Commercial Break:

Burger King: Justice League Kids’ Meal Toys (2003)

Oreos for Santa (1986)

Wizards: The Podcast Guide to Comics

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Mama’s Family - Santa Mama

Mike Westfall — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1986, and Santa looks different after arriving late to the mall due to a flat reindeer.

🎙 Joe Fulton, the Christmas Aficionado, joins us for a semi-festive Christmas episode of “Mama’s Family” that will have you believing in either Santa or ghosts at the end of it.

📺 You can watch “Santa Mama” on the Internet Archive.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

A Mama’s Family reunion on “Vicki!”

Vicki Lawrence sings “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.”

Mama’s house was also seen in “Halloween.”

Ken Berry (Vinton) as Peter-No-Tail.

The cheapest Christmas gifts we got for childhood crushes.

The fragility of one-of-a-kind ornaments.

“You Are My Sunshine” on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”

****

📼 Commercials:

Snuggle Fabric Softener Free Christmas Ornament (1986)

Snow in Southtown

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Count Duckula - A Christmas Quacker

Mike Westfall — Sat, 14 Dec 2024 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1990, and Santa’s lost in my confusing network of chimneys.

🎙 Adam Parker Sibun from Merry Britsmas join us for a more silly than spooky Christmas special that takes us from Castle Duckula to a concussion-induced space adventure and back.

📺 You can find “A Christmas Quacker” on the Internet Archive (it’s mislabeled as another episode).

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

“Count Duckula” on Nick Knacks.

Count Duckula’s first appearance on “Danger Mouse.”

UK Christmas TV, an extensive archive of Christmas TV listings for the UK’s main channels.

Jack May (Igor) was the original English voice of Muzzy.

The Odd Case of Dennis the Menace: 2 separate comic strip characters with the same name debuting on the same day on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

Return to the Turducken Hunger Games.

The daydream scene in “Sidekicks.”

Mike Oldfield’s “In Dulci Jubilo.”

Today’s TV Trope: Blunder-Correcting Impulse.

****

📼 Commercials:

Shreddies Cereal: Count Duckula Adventure Scratch & Win Game (1989)

Muzzy (circa 1989)

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Alien Xmas

Mike Westfall — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 2020, and a gift-wrapped puppy licked my face and made my skin turn blue.

🎙 Michael DiGiovanni and Sammy Hain join us for a charming stop-motion Christmas special from the Chiodo Brothers about how an alien invasion of the North Pole almost ruined Christmas — and the entire planet’s gravity, but also Christmas. Plus: A “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” Easter egg, some cameos from “Elf,” and Santa with nunchucks.

📺 You can find “Alien Xmas” on Netflix.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

A behind-the-scenes interview with the Chiodo Brothers.

“Alien Xmas” on Bloody Disgusting.

A “Killer Klowns” Easter egg hidden in the Klepts’ chamber of stolen stuff.

The magnetic north pole vs. the geographic North Pole.

Michelle Deco (Noelle) writes Nintendo trailers, including this one for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD.

Today’s TV Trope: Tablecloth Yank.

“Here’s your problem: Someone set this thing to ‘evil.’”

****

📼 Commercials:

Coca-Cola “Santa Packs Are Coming” (1994)

Holidays After Dark

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Love Boat - The Christmas Presence

Mike Westfall — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1982, and I’m trapped at sea while Mickey Rooney butts into everyone’s conversation.

🎙 Guy Hutchinson and William Bruce West join us as we embark on a Christmas cruise aboard the Pacific Princess for a very merry episode of “The Love Boat” featuring Maureen McCormick, Donny Osmond, and Mickey Rooney as an angel in disguise as your nosy neighbor.

📺 You can find “The Christmas Presence” on Paramount+, Pluto TV, and Facebook.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Sesame Street’s Love Boat parody and “Song of Ten.”

Guy on the history of the Lacoste Crocodile.

“Brady Bunch” references: Maureen McCormick can’t stop getting hit in the face , and Mrs. Brady gets her voice back.

What’s in Santa Stubing’s bag: Stadium Checkers, a Jeep Honcho model truck, and more.

****

📼 Commercials:

Toys “R” Us featuring the E.T. Atari 2600 Game (1982)

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Blackadder’s Christmas Carol

Mike Westfall — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1988, and the Spirit of Christmas just broke down my bedroom door to say hello.

🎙 Jack Ford from the Total Christmas Podcast joins us for an edition of Scrooge Sunday that turns everyone’s favorite festive tale of redemption on its head and blows it out its enormous, muscular backside as great philanthropist and all-around softy Ebenezer Blackadder learns from watching his ancestors and descendants that it’s good to be bad.

📺 You can watch “Blackadder’s Christmas Carol” on Vimeo.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Tony Robinson’s “Christmas Wrapping” and the Total Christmas Podcast episode on it.

How have I never heard of humbug candies?

“A Merry Messy Kweznuz.”

A deleted scene.

Miriam Margolyes (Queen Victoria) in “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Jim Broadbent (Prince Albert) as Santa in an Aldi Christmas ad.

“The Last of Scrooge,” and Jack’s review of it.

The cast of “Grange Hill” sings “Just Say No.”

Dennis Lill (Beadle) in “Batman” (1989).

Spitting Image and “The Chicken Song.”

Merry Britsmas on “A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong.”

****

📼 Commercials:

BBC1 Intro to “Blackadder’s Christmas Carol” (1988)

Barclaycard: “Surveillance” (1995), starring Rowan Atkinson.

Do the Great Lakes freeze over?

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Barbie in The Nutcracker

Bri Raymond, Mike Westfall, Kristi O. — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 03:25:00 -0500

🎄It’s 2001, and a rock giant is chasing us across the ocean, which has been entirely frozen over by fairies with minty fresh breath.

🎙 Kristi and Bri from Bad Princess Movies join us for Barbie’s first feature-length movie, from the makers of “ReBoot” and Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” music video, complete with motion capture of the New York City Ballet, revolutionary hair animation, and Tim Curry as an extra sassy Mouse King.

📺 You can watch “Barbie and the Nutcracker” on the Internet Archive.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

“Barbie in the Nutcracker” on Bad Princess Movies.

Motion capture footage of the New York City Ballet.

Oops, we went on multiple Zelda tangents about Majora’s Mask and the Song of Storms.

It’s usually not a good sign when you find a doll on the ground in a destroyed village.

Of course there’s a toy of Marzipan the horse (no relation to the Marzipan with the answering machine).

Today’s TV Trope: Literal Cliffhanger.

Mod Hair Ken and his stick-on facial hair.

Barbie eyes new horizons (BBC News, 2001)

****

📼 Commercials:

Barbie in the Nutcracker My Size Sugarplum Princess (2001)

“A Very Zelda Christmas,” by DarkNuck, on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

You Can’t Do That on Television - Christmas

Mike Westfall — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1984, and Santa’s in front of a firing squad because his executioner didn’t appreciate the socks he got last Christmas.

🎙 Shawn Robare and Steven join us as the slime is in an extra festive shade of green for a Christmas episode of the show that defined Nickelodeon’s early years, featuring an all-star cast of the 5 most featured kid actors of “You Can’t Do That on Television.”

📺 You can watch the episode “Christmas” on Facebook.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Shawn’s piece of the Prevert Family’s living room wallpaper.

Nick Knacks on “You Can’t Do That on Television.”

Mike and Steven pitch their ideas for a sequel to “Santa Claus: The Movie” on SequelQuest (2020)

“UFO Kidnapped,” a TV pilot featuring much of the same cast of kids.

Les Lye as Professor Coldheart in “The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings.”

How we’ve fielded the question of Santa’s one-night flight.

Abby Hagyard (Mom) on YouTube.

Ice Cream Dolls, The Visible Man, and the G.I. Joe Motorized Battle Tank.

Calvin and Hobbes makes the same “Santa wants beer” joke.

****

📼 Commercials:

“You Can’t Do That on Television” Green Slime Shampoo (circa 1987)

The Lost Christmas Podcast.

“A Very Zelda Christmas,” by DarkNuck, on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree

Mike Westfall — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 The Advent Calendar House is back in time for a freakin’ country bear jamberoo as a family of Muppet mice risk their lives to bring home the top of the top of the top of the top of a Christmas tree fit for an eccentric future Iron Man.

🎙 Anthony Strand from ToughPigs.com and Tim Babb from the Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast join us for a waltz back to 1995 as Robert Downey Jr. may or may not be holding Kermit the Frog hostage until he gets his perfect Christmas tree. Plus: Shy butler Leslie Nielsen, homesick Swedish maid Stockard Channing, and a pre-Bobo Bobo the Bear!

📺 We watched this 1995 broadcast of “Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree,” with 1995 commercials.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

“Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree” on Muppet Wiki.

The original book.

An odd TV promo featuring Brian Cummings’ Kermit the Frog impression.

Kermit and Miss Piggy’s music video of “She Drives Me Crazy,” featuring Leslie Nielsen.

Movin’ Right Along talks Kermit: Unpigged.

The Sesame Street Muppets on “The West Wing” with Stockard Channing.

Mama and Papa Bear are Beth from “The Muppets Take Manhattan” and the future Bobo from “Muppets Tonight.”

“Jim Henson’s Animal Show” on Owls… and Humans.

Sandra Bullock plays the glass harp in “Miss Congeniality.”

An Oreo commercial where a mall Santa takes off his beard way too quickly.

****

📼 Commercials:

Dizzy Grizzlies and Ritz Air Crisps (1995)

“Santa in His Own Words,” a book by Matt Spaulding.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

It’s a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special

Mike Westfall — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 03:25:00 -0400

🎄It’s 1992, and there’s no such thing as Buster Bunny.

🎙 Adam Pope, William Bruce West, and Chad Young help the Advent Calendar House wrap up Christmas in July with the unofficial series finale of “Tiny Toon Adventures,” when Buster wishes he’d never been on the show, and the horrors within Montana Max’s Biff Tannen Pleasure Palace or whatever.

📺 I found this special hiding in a 4-hour Christmas special compilation on the Internet Archive.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

“Meet the Tiny Toons” in the special edition magazine “Bugs Bunny: He’s 50, Folks” (1990).

“The Chipmunks Go to the Movies.”

Tony Pope (God) as Goofy in “Watch Out for Goofy” (the theme song for Adam’s 2 Goofs Podcast) and as the first voice heard in “Back to the Future.”

John Kassir (who voices Buster in this episode) as the Crypt-Keeper in RD’s Retro Detention Halloween Specials in 2019 and 2023.

Today’s TV Trope: Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal.

Jacoby & Meyers and a 2-minute-long tangent about personal injury lawyer commercials.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s upcoming role as Santa in “The Man with the Bag.”

American Express Commercials with Mel Blanc and Jim Davis.

Bugs Bunny may have been voiced by an uncredited Noel Blanc, Mel’s son, for a single line at the end.

****

📼 Commercials:

Godzilla: The Series Promo (1998)

Toy Story: Holiday TV Spot (1995)

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Quantum Leap - A Little Miracle

Mike Westfall — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 03:25:00 -0400

🎄It’s 1990… or 1962… and a quantum physicist forgot to powder his boss’s underwear.

🎙 Erin Evans and Joey O. join us for a Scrooge Sunday involving time travel of a different sort as we follow Dr. Sam Beckett on a mission to save a mission, and the soul of the man trying to tear it down.

🚨 Warning: This episode briefly discusses the death of actor Charles Rocket and the would-be death of his Scrooge-like character, Michael Blake.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Episode guide on Al’s Place.

A Christmas story from the Quantum Leap comic: “He Knows If You’ve Been Bad or Good.”

Charles Rocket drops an F-bomb on “Saturday Night Live.”

“Bringing in the Sheaves” on “The Simpsons” and “Batman” (1966).

Polish Christmas desserts piernik and makowiec.

Al’s Ghost of Christmas Future costume looks more like Jacob Marley mixed with the Ghost of Christmas Past from “Scrooged.”

Goldie Wilson III from “Back to the Future Part II.”

****

📼 Commercials:

Squarbles (circa 1987)

Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow

Mike Westfall — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 03:25:00 -0400

🦃 It’s 2015, and in my search for a noisy cryptid I accidentally freed 175 roided-up turkeys, but neither of those things is the real monster.

🎙 Sammy Hain, Tony Whitaker, Ethan “The Hungry Reader” join us as we rediscover a long lost Thanksgiving special concept Jim Henson dreamed up in the 1960s and meet the Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow.

📺 You can find “Turkey Hollow” on Disney+.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

ToughPigs.com Behind the Scenes of Turkey Hollow.

Muppet Wiki on this special, Jim Henson’s original concept, and the 2014 graphic novel.

Some prototype musical monsters: An early Grover, Snerf, and the Rock and Roll Monster.

Director Kirk Thatcher in “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.”

On-set interviews with Ludacris, Lisa Henson, and Alice Dinnean.

Hope you like Beets.

Today’s TV Tropes: When You Coming Home, Dad? and Hollywood Law.

Station from “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.”

“Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge.”

Jason Hopley’s (Zorp) IMDb profile picture is from “Goosebumps.”

Lewis, Target’s Halloween Ghoul.

Homer Simpson eating potato chips on the space shuttle.

****

📼 Commercials:

AT&T “Turkey” Commercial (2008)

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Adventures in Wonderland - Christmas in Wonderland

Mike Westfall — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 1992, and my daydreams of snow are melting into a bucket of water getting dumped on my head from an airplane.

🎙 Kit Quinn, Randee Martin, and Tyler Green from Channel KRT join us as we dive down the rabbit hole to the strange world of The Disney Channel’s “Adventures in Wonderland,” where the White Rabbit wears Rollerblades and the halls are decked with fresh produce, the way Christmas was meant to be celebrated.

📺 You can find “Christmas in Wonderland” on Disney+, or this copy with a commercial bumper in front of it.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Channel KRT on the episodes “Pie Noon” and “Wonderland: The Movie.”

“White Rabbits Can’t Jump,” an unaired episode guest starring O.J. Simpson.

One Movie Later: Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Deadline’s obituary for Armelia McQueen (The Red Queen) uses a photo from this special.

Armelia McQueen on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and… “The Fesh Pince of Blair.”

Patrick Richwood (White Rabbit) lied to the casting director about knowing how to rollerblade.

Cast members on The Tiara Talk Show.

The Christmas Pickle.

Harry Waters Jr. (Tweedle Dee) in “Back to the Future,” and Wesley Mann (Caterpillar) in “Part II.”

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📼 Commercials:

Disney Channel Holiday Preview Bumper with Jane Seymour (1992)

Juicy Fruit Skiing Commercial (circa 1989)

Cool Kids Club, a nostalgia-filled trip back to childhood.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

Pillow People Save Christmas

Mike Westfall — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 1988, the monsters under my bed are real, and they’re stealing Christmas.

🎙 Ethan “The Hungry Reader” follows us under the covers through a wormhole to the home of ’80s kids’ bedding sensation the Pillow People in a Christmas special so obscure, it’s not even listed on IMDb. But it’s real, and it’s ironically nightmarish.

📺 You can watch “Pillow People Save Christmas” on YouTube.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Pillow People on the toy collectors’ website Ghost of the Doll.

Toot Sweet Toys, or what’s left of it.

TV listing in New York magazine (November 1988)

Victor DiMattia (Billy) on filming “The Sandlot.”

Window Rattler as seen on “Full House.”

The Who Cares Bears.

Today’s TV Trope: Introdump, example: the worst Rob Liefeld drawing.

Cheryl Chase (Sweet Dreams) mentions working with Cree Summer (Rock-a-Bye Baby) on this special in a 2004 interview about the “Rugrats” spinoff “All Grown Up.”

The Far Side: “…He’s taking it with him!”

Nightmara looks like a cross between Mother Brain in “Captain N: The Game Master” and Madam Hecuba from the 1974 anime adaptation of “Jack and the Beanstalk.”

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📼 Commercials:

Pillow People: Pillow Valley Commercial (1988)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Worst Witch

Mike Westfall — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 03:25:00 -0400

🎃 It’s 1986, and one student at a magical boarding school is struggling to fit in while having to deal with a hard-nosed potions teacher and bullying from a golden child whose father will hear about this, but finds comfort in broom flying and encouragement from the kindly old headmaster.

No, not that one.

🎙️ Becca Petunia and Lindy Kempe join us for “The Worst Witch,” adapted from the original beloved series of books about a quirky boarding school for witches. This Halloween special stars a young Fairuza Balk, featuring Dianna Rigg, Charlotte Rae in a dual role, and Tim Curry in the trippiest ’80s music video.

📺 You can watch “The Worst Witch” on the Internet Archive.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Find “The Worst Witch” book at your local library.

St. Michael’s College is for sale.

Pam Jones (Donna) — formerly Kate Buckley before another actress took that name while she was on hiatus — is now a ceramic artist.

The kitten ceremony background music sounds kind of like Zelda’s Lullaby.

Mildred and Ethel’s rivalry gave us “Owl House” vibes.

Toonces the Driving Cat.

One student is a future Teletubby!

Becca on Movin’ Right Along discussing Tim Curry singing in “Muppet Treasure Island.”

Both Tim Curry and Sebastian from “The Little Mermaid” sing “begin the Beguine.”

Tim Curry in “Red Alert 3.”

Other “Worst Witch” TV adaptations, including a college spinoff and a Netflix series.

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📼 Commercials:

Carvel Halloween Ice Cream Cakes Commercial (1986)

Hyrule Podcasters, an audio “Let’s Play” through The Legend of Zelda.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Annie Christmas Show

Mike Westfall — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 1977, and the cast of Broadway’s hottest new musical is taking drastic measures to convince 4 different unions keep the theater open for a Christmas party because they forgot to book a venue.

🎙️ Guy Hutchinson joins us to watch the original Broadway cast of “Annie” play somethings in between themselves and their characters in a unique TV Christmas special that may very well have been many TV viewers’ first exposure to the musical.

📺 You can watch “The Annie Christmas Show” on the Internet Archive.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

The original Broadway version of “Annie” ends on Christmas; the 1982 movie ends on the 4th of July.

Andrea McArdle in “Christmas at Walt Disney World.” (Full Episode)

Danielle Brisbois (Molly) in “All in the Family,” and she was a founding member of the band New Radicals.

“It’s Christmas” on the Annie 30th Anniversary Production Cast Recording, featuring multiple Annies and Miss Hannigans.

“I Don’t Care” in “In the Good Old Summertime” and “Back to the Future: The Game.”

“There’s a Broken Heart for Every Light on Broadway” in “Bullets Over Broadway.”

Today’s TV Trope: I Have a Family.

Ethel Merman sings “Tomorrow” in “A Special Sesame Street Christmas.” (Full Episode)

How The Twelve Days of Christmas’ days 9 through 12 got reordered.

Members of the cast reunited in 2019 to perform this Christmas special.

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📼 Commercials:

Kinney Shoes (1977)

Fotomat (1977)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Around the World with Dot

Mike Westfall — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 1981, and a jolly swagman who may or may not be Santa Claus is flying me around the world in a sleigh built out of a bench and some rope we had lying around to search the globe for a lost baby kangaroo.

Today’s Christmas in July episode begins where it’s actually winter in July, and only gets stranger and more inappropriate from there.

🎙 Dan MacPherson joins us for “Around the World with Dot,” also known as “Dot and Santa Claus,” starring the title character from an 1899 Australian children’s book, “Dot and the Kangaroo.”

📺 You can find “Around the World with Dot” on YouTube. You may want to watch “Dot and the Kangaroo” first.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Director Yoram Gross endured World War II in Poland; his family was on Schindler’s list. His studio, now Flying Bark Productions, more recently animated “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and Marvel’s “What If…?”

Barbara Frawley (Dot) singing “The Black Cat” on “Play School.”

Today’s TV Trope: Magical Homeless Person.

“Sakura Sakura,” which I recognized from Punch-Out!!

How a White Lie Gave Japan KFC for Christmas. (Gastro Obscura)

“The Real World of the Circus” opens similarly to the movie “Chaplin.”

“Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.”

“Alouette” is about plucking the feathers off a lark.

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📼 Commercials:

Mortein “Louie the Fly” Commercial (1980s)

Myer “Celebrate Christmas” Commercial (1980s)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo

Mike Westfall — Sun, 07 Jul 2024 03:25:00 -0400

🐰 It’s 2004, and a stuffed toy rabbit voluntold me to clean his house.

🎙 Sammy Hain and Matt Spaulding join us to celebrate both Easter in July and Scrooge Sunday with a trip to the Hundred Acre Wood as Rabbit does double duty as both the Easter Bunny and Scrooge, all while Christopher Robin is somewhere else entirely.

📺 You can find “Springtime with Roo” on Disney+.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Ads from the 2004 DVD, plus a video of some dude walking through the menu screen.

Why do Christopher Robin’s toys have American accents?

John Fiedler (Piglet) in “The Golden Girls” and “12 Angry Men.”

“Christmas in the Stars,” the Star Wars Christmas album.

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📼 Commercials:

Sears Video Game Arcade Christmas Sale (1983)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Santa’s Magic Toy Bag

Mike Westfall — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 1983, and my emotional support jack-in-the-box is not providing much help for my Imposter Syndrome.

🎙️ Tommy Coombs, Jayme Kilsby, and Chad Young join us for a deep dive into another pre-ALF puppet special from Paul Fusco starring a very depressed elf in training trying to find where he belongs in Santa’s workshop by first finding everywhere he doesn’t belong.

Plus: Santa’s Swedish Chef-like human hands!
A three-eyed purple teddy bear we never get to see!
Paul Fusco inserting himself into his own Christmas fan fiction!

📺 You can watch “Santa’s Magic Toy Bag” on Tubi.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Sherman looks like A Gnome Named Gnorm.

The hot dog puppet from “Funland.”

The History of the Nickelodeon Hotel (Defunctland)

The keeper of Santa’s Magic Toy Bag reminds me of the presidential designated survivor.

Superman impales some jerk’s truck on a telephone pole in “Man of Steel.”

Cracked: We Ruined Santa With Math.

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📼 Commercials:

Sears Video Game Arcade Christmas Sale (1983)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Jack Frost (1979)

Mike Westfall — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 03:25:00 -0400

🎄It’s 1979, and an evil king is having abandonment issues after his entire kingdom left, so he made an army of robots instead of going to therapy.

The Advent Calendar House has once again emerged from hibernation after declaring 4 more months of winter to pretend it’s still winter.

🎙 Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas, Matt Spaulding from North Pole Radio, and Jeff Loftin from the Lost Christmas Podcast join us as we encounter what might be the least Christmassy Rankin/Bass Christmas special, featuring a friendlier version of Jack Frost, a groundhog dressed like a pro wrestling manager, and the wintry weather neighbors of those angels your grandmother told you were bowling whenever there was a thunderstorm.

📺 You can watch “Jack Frost” on Tubi.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Toei Animation’s “The Little Mermaid” (1975)

Gilbert Gottfried on his favorite death scene: Buddy Hackett as Lou Costello in “Bud and Lou.”

Today’s TV Trope: Inevitable Waterfall.

The Christmas tradition of “dream presents” is like the dinner scene from “Hook.”

February 2 is Candlemas, the 40th day of Christmas.

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📼 Commercials:

Pennsylvania Lottery: Like Holiday Morning, starring Gus, the 2nd most famous groundhog in Pennsylvania (2018)

Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Hedgehog Day (1992)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Frasier - Look Before You Leap

Mike Westfall — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 03:25:00 -0500

Let’s all go to the taco show!

The Advent Calendar House has awoken early from its long winter’s nap to take the Leap Year challenge as prescribed by Dr. Frasier Crane on one unseasonably warm February morning in 1996.

🎙 Erin Evans and Joey O. get dressed up in buttons and boys to look into the “Frasier” cast’s Christmas connections, explore the world of complicated opera solos and bad Western ballads, and call in to a PBS pledge drive to try and talk to Big Bird.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Kelsey Grammer in “Mr. St. Nick” and “The Twelve Days of Christmas Eve.”

Our adventures on the mid-1990s internet, when it was All About the Pentiums.

“Frasier” episodes ranked on Variety, Frasier Online, and Thrillist.

“When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold” from “The Pirates of Penzance,” in which Leap Day becomes a plot point.

Oleg Cassini and the worst title card gag.

KACL is a real radio station, but not in Seattle.

“Rigoletto” and the aria “Ella mi fu rapita / Parmi veder le lagrime.”

Kelsey Grammer sings “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1996 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Philadelphia.

“Buttons and Bows,” as sung by Bob Hope in “The Paleface” and by Leap Day baby Dinah Shore.

Adam “Edge” Copeland talks “Money Plane” on Hey! (EW).

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📼 Commercials:

McDonald’s “Morning Break” Commercial starring Kelsey Grammer (1995)

Twelve Hundred Ghosts - A Christmas Carol in Supercut.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

A Christmas Carol (1984)

Mike Westfall — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 03:25:00 -0500

🎄It’s 1984, and Ebenezer Scrooge is threatening to raise his asking price for a warehouse full of corn.

This Christmas Eve episode not only drops on a Scrooge Sunday, but it’s also the Advent Calendar House’s 150th episode!

🎙 Erin Evans, Joey O., and Anthony Strand join us for a Dickens of a celebration with 1984’s TV movie adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” starring George S. Scott, along with the original “Equalizer” Edward Woodward as a sassy Ghost of Christmas Present, and we even spotted our favorite Alfred Pennyworth, Michael Gough, as a not-so-portly gentleman.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

David Warner in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.”

George S. Scott in “Angus” and “Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.”

“God Bless Us Everyone,” this movie’s theme music by Nick Bicât.

Wikipedia and NO ONE ELSE names one Cratchit child “Michael,” played by Susannah York’s (Mrs. Cratchit) real-life son, Orlando Wells.

Michael Carter (Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) as Bib Fortuna in “Return of the Jedi.”

“It’s Corn,” and My favorite “Futurama” joke.

Scrooge’s grave, allegedly a real, reinscribed headstone, at St. Chad’s Church in Shrewsbury.

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📼 Commercials:

IBM Sponsored Commercial Break from the original airing of “A Christmas Carol.”

George C. Scott “Read More About It” PSA.

The Christmas Podcast Network All-Star Comedy Christmas Show!

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In memory of Jason Gross (1976–2023).

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
“Christmas in Your Heart” (from “A Garfield Christmas Special”) performed by Todd from Vista Blue/Second Saturday.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Yogi’s First Christmas

Mike Westfall — Fri, 22 Dec 2023 03:25:00 -0500

🎄It’s 1980, and my spoiled nephew just got beaten in a ski-jumping contest by a bear who’s never seen winter before.

🎙 Bill Hanstock join us we fail upward through middle to upper hotel management featuring a simultaneously very mature and very immature conversation about cartoon bears discovering mistletoe. What could be the Jellystone Winter Lodge’s final Christmas carnival manages to wake up Yogi Bear, who hibernates directly underneath it but somehow never knew about it before now.

📖 Check out Bill’s book, “We Promised You a Great Main Event: An Unauthorized WWE History.”

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

This special opens with a typo: The sign reads “Yellystone Park.”

Daws Butler’s Snagglepuss voice was a Bert Lahr impression that was so spot on, Lahr threatened to sue when Snagglepuss started endorsing Kellogg’s cereal.

Hanna-Barbera’s Christmas Sing-A-Long album, featuring songs from this special.

Yogi was in “Casper’s First Christmas” in 1979, so this isn’t really Yogi’s First Christmas.

Fruity Pebbles Christmas Commercial episode (2017)

The Wonkamobile.

ClickHole: “Which One of My Garbage Sons Are You?” Clickhole, 2014.

Eddie the Eagle.

Mickey Mouse’s shirtless (and hatless) Steamboat Willie winter look at Disneyland.

“Mean, Sour, Crafty, and Cruel” in “Oliver and the Artful Dodger” and “Smurfs.”

The Zone of Death in the part of Yellowstone National Park that’s in Idaho.

“Christmas Is Here” in “A Flintstone Christmas.”

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📼 Commercials:

Cocoa Krispies Snagglepuss “Heavens to Murgatroyd” Commercial, circa 1963.

So Many Muppets Are Named Fred.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Great Santa Claus Switch

Mike Westfall — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 03:25:00 -0500

🎄It’s 1970, and Santa’s been locked up in an underground cave with 2 giant Muppet monsters.

🎙️ Tori Schmidt and Tony Whitaker join us as we venture through the tunnels under Santa’s workshop to uncover Jim Henson’s first ever TV holiday special, presented by The Ed Sullivan Show and featuring the first Muppet performances by Richard Hunt, Fran Brill, Marilyn Sokol, and John Lovelady, as well as the first appearances of Thog and a familiar-looking Frackle who’d later be reworked into the Great Gonzo.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

“The Great Santa Claus Switch” on Muppet Wiki.

ToughPigs.com’s transcript of the special (2004)

Jim Henson, Thog, and Lothar on “The Dick Cavett Show” (1971)

Taminella Grinderfall in “Tales of the Tinkerdee.”

Jim Henson’s Red Book entries on the special’s casting and debut.

Tony’s art of the Two-Headed Monster as the Miser Brothers.

Daniel Seagren as Spider-Man on “The Electric Company.”

Richard Hunt as Elmo.

Snarl, the Frackle who would become Gonzo.

My Emmet Otter’s Teenage Mutant Jug-Band Christmas T-shirt.

We have dubbed the green Frackle who looks like Thig with a beak and horns “Theg.”

“This Is Halloween” in a Sesame Place parade.

“8 Balls of Fur.”

Stop calling them “Muppeteers.”

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📼 Commercial Break:

FritoLay Holiday Party Display Commercial (1970)

“Noëlco” Razor Santa Commercial (1970)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Mike Westfall — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 03:25:00 -0500

🎄It’s 1983, and the Worst Kids in the World are taking over the church Nativity play, smoking in the ladies’ room, and helping themselves to the sacramental grape juice.

🎙 Scott Leopold from Holly Jolly X’masu and Bob Baker from Festive Foreign Film Fans join us as we meet the Herdmans in a classic Christmas story turned TV movie starring Loretta Swit from “M*A*S*H” and a young Fairuza Balk in her on-screen debut.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Today’s TV Tropes: It’s the Best Whatever, Ever and Title Drop.

Author Barbara Robinson wrote 2 sequels: “The Best School Year Ever” (1994) and “The Best Halloween Ever” (2004).

Fairuza Balk (Beth) in “The Waterboy.”

Loretta Swit (Grace) interview: “Meanest kids in town make the best pageant,” AP via The Free Lance-Star, 1983.

Jason Michas (Leroy) as Johnny Arcade in “The Power Team” animated segment from Season 1 of “Video Power.”

Antony Holland (Reverend Hopkins) as Dr. Light — er, “Wright” — in “Captain N: The Game Master.”

Ocean Hellman (Alice) in “Danger Bay,” which keeps coming up this season.

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📼 Commercial:

Duracell “No Longer Under the Christmas Tree” Commercial (1983)

Progressive Insurance “Barbie” Commercial.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Season’s Greedings

Mike Westfall — Sat, 16 Dec 2023 03:25:00 -0500

🎄It’s 1994, and the Jeffersons are poisoning Metropolis with greed spray from toy atomic space rats.

🎙 Gerry Davila, Paxton Holley, and Jeeg join us on an unpredictable flight through the first Christmas episode of “Lois and Clark,” written by Dean Cain and starring Sherman Hemsley as the Toyman and Isabel Sanford as his reluctant assistant, plus Denise Richards, Dick Van Patten, Doug Llewellyn, and terrible special effects.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

C.T. brings up this episode and Jeeg seals his fate on Nerd Lunch’s “Nerdstradamus 2013 Redux.”

Winslow Schott’s plan to dump his greed toxin into Metropolis’s water supply is similar to Scarecrow’s plan in “Batman Begins.”

Denise Richards (Angela) in “Tammy and the T-Rex.”

Eddie Jones (Jonathan Kent) in “A League of Their Own.”

Christmas at Graceland.

Totally Rad Christmas on “It’s Gary Shandling’s Christmas Show” featuring Dom Irrera (Hecklebaum).

Homer Simpson licking poisonous toads.

Today’s TV Trope: Anticipatory Breath Spray.

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by The Pretenders.

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📼 Commercials:

Burger King Holiday Disney Glasses Commercial (1994)

Children First “Read a Book” PSA featuring Brett Butler (1994)

Totally Rad Christmas.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Santa, Baby!

Mike Westfall — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 03:25:00 -0500

🎄It’s 2001, and a magical partridge is sending me on a coat drive for some kind of Karate Kid-style Santa training.

🎙️ Andre Bennett and Tim Babb join us for a ride in our light blue ’54 convertible as we take a joyride through the very last and most overlooked Rankin/Bass Christmas special, featuring a mostly black cast starring Patti LaBelle, Gregory Hines, and a criminally underused Eartha Kitt as a talking cat.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

This special was co-written by Suzanne Collins, who went on to write “The Hunger Games.”

The other co-writer, Peter Bakalian, also has a book series. It’s called “The F.A.R.T. Diaries.”

Patti LaBelle in Philadelphia’s “Get to Know Us” tourism campaign, 1985.

Patti LaBelle on “Sesame Street” singing “How I Miss My X.”

IMDb’s photo gallery for “Santa, Baby!” is full of high-quality promotional images.

RankinBass.com’s first look at “Santa, Baby!” from December 2001.

Gregory Hines in “The Muppets Take Manhattan” and “Running Scared.”

Rankin/Bass finally includes “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and “Jingle Bells” in a Christmas special.

Natalie Toro (Samson) lists “Santa Baby!” on her bio page.

Andre’s uncle co-wrote K-Ci & JoJo’s “All My Life.”

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📼 Commercials:

McDonald’s “Wake Up” Breakfast Commercial featuring Patti LaBelle (1990)

Can’t Wait for Christmas.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Tales From the Crypt - And All Through the House

Mike Westfall — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 03:25:00 -0500

🎄It’s 1989, and a killer in a Santa suit is making it really hard to hide my dead husband’s body.

🎙 Jamie Ray from Fave Five From Fans joins us to dig up the first filmed episode of “Tales From the Crypt,” a cozy Christmas nightmare directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring his then-wife and talented screamer, Mary Ellen Trainor, and the kid who gets her hoverboard stolen by Marty McFly.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Mike on Fave Five From Fans with my Fave Five Christmas TV Specials (already covered them all here).

Fave Five Christmas Horror Movies.

The Vault of Horror No. 35 (1954)

“And All Through the House” segment of the 1972 “Tales from the Crypt” movie.

HBO Feature Presentation opening (1983)

John Kassir (The Crypt-Keeper) in a commercial for The Legend of Zelda (1987)

Mary Ellen Trainor (Elizabeth) and Lyndsey Whitney Barry (Carrie Ann) in “Back to the Future Part II.”

Today’s TV Trope: Tempting Fate.

Elizabeth calls the operator because 9-1-1 was only available in about half the U.S. by 1989.

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📼 Commercials:

The Crypt-Keeper’s Ghoulish Guide to the Howlidays on Kids’ WB (2001)

UVA’s Athletics website circa 2003.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

An American Christmas Carol

Mike Westfall — Sun, 10 Dec 2023 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1979, by way of 1933 — or the other way around — and the human from Fraggle Rock has broken into my garage with a haunted choir of singing children.

🎙️ Scott Leopold from Holly Jolly X’masu and Tommy Coombs join us as we turn the dial on our haunted time-traveling radio to find Henry Winkler at the height of his fame as the Fonz hiding under multiple layers of makeup as a Scrooge figure in Depression-era New England.

📺 You can watch “An American Christmas Carol” for free on YouTube.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Henry Winkler interview on being asked to play a Scrooge figure.

The Ford Model TT truck.

Dorian Harewood (Matt Reeves/Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) filling in for James Avery as Shredder.

Today’s TV Trope: Recursive Fiction — and “The Identical.”

Robin Williams on “Sesame Street” showing Elmo different ways to play with a stick.

“Sister Kenny,” based on the true story of an Australian nurse.

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📼 Commercials:

McDonald’s Gift Certificates Christmas Commercial (1979)

Holly Jolly X’masu, your podcast destination for Japanese Christmas music.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Full-Court Miracle

Mike Westfall — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 03:25:00 -0500

🕎 It’s 2003, and a team of Hebrew school basketball players think they’ve found the ghost of Judah Maccabee in a random guy living in a van.

🎙️ April Ryley and J.W. Friedman join us for a Disney Channel Original Hanukkah Movie very, very loosely based on the true story of former college basketball star Lamont Carr and a yeshiva’s struggling team looking for a leader.

📺 “Full-Court Miracle” is available on Disney+.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Lamont Carr’s obituary in Virginia Magazine (2017)

Psychocandy, an experimental pop duo of Cassie Steele (Julie) and Jase Blankfort (Stick).

Alex’s prized Dr. J basketball card isn’t even a rookie card and isn’t that valuable.

“Jewball,” a novel featuring the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association basketball team.

Sadly, the only upload I could find of the hip-hop cover of the Dreidel song is a smartphone recording of a TV playing this movie.

This basketball movie’s NBA star cameo is provided by Jerome Williams.

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📼 Commercials:

Microsoft Encarta Commercial (1995)

Returning Student.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

A Mouse, A Mystery, and Me

Mike Westfall — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1987, and someone stole Santa Claus in the middle of his hot dog break.

🎙️ Lindy Kempe and Emily Rowley join us as we follow a renowned novelist who may or may not be a teenager and her animated mouse writing partner on a quest find out who kidnapped a department store Santa, while we solve the mystery of how anyone remembers this Christmas special that only aired once.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Dick Van Patten’s shout-out in “Wayne’s World” and cameo in “Robin Hood: Men In Tights.”

Darcy Marta (Jill) on Totally Rad Christmas.

Gene Kelly and Jerry Mouse dancing in “Anchors Aweigh.”

Jill’s Miami Mice poster — no relation to the “Sesame Street” parody of the same name.

Donald O’Connor (Alex) in “Singin’ in the Rain.”

Helen Hughes (whoever the woman who answers Jill’s door is supposed to be) in “Billy Madison.”

Today’s TV Trope: 555.

Francis Dambeger’s (Jerry) 1991 film “Solitaire,” and its solitaire review on IMDb.

The realistic looking toy gun predates the same federal law that forced Nintendo to recolor its Zapper orange.

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📼 Commercials:

7up Christmas Commercial (1986–1987)

Wild Puffalumps Commercial (1987)

The Magic of the Season.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Soulmates in The Gift of Light

Mike Westfall — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1991, and Santa Claus is fighting with a talking dog over a park bench.

By some Christmas miracle, this obscure special was rediscovered over 30 years later. For years, people on the Internet tried to identify it on a TV in the background of an old family photo, until finally, thanks to the power of positivity, it was identified as “The Soulmates in The Gift of Light.”

🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni and Jeff Somogyi join us as we meet the intergalactic Soulmates in what seems like a pilot that never got off the ground.

📺 You can watch “The Soulmates in The Gift of Light” for free on YouTube, courtesy of the special’s creator, Gabrielle St. George.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

The original Tumblr post: “Can You Figure Out Who This Is?” by Sophie Campbell (2016)

Will Sloan’s tweet of the screenshot, September 2022.

CBC News: Canadian cartoon mystery finally solved after 6 years, thanks to the internet (2022)

“The Littles,” for comparison.

Today’s TV Trope: Mind-Control Eyes.

Soulmates Productions, Inc. defaulted in 2007.

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📼 Commercials:

Canadian Tire: Scrooge / Nintendo Action Set Commercial (1991)

Pop Tarts Commercial starring Dan and Dave (1990)

Dirt Cheap Liquors Chicken Commercial.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Christmastime with Mister Rogers

Mike Westfall — Sat, 02 Dec 2023 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1977, and Happy Gilmore’s grandma is surrounded by dancing chickens.

It’s a beautiful day for a podcast, and this season of the Advent Calendar House begins with a visit to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in a Christmas special that hadn’t been available for more than 40 years until it resurfaced in 2022. It’s surprisingly less festive than some might expect, but it makes up for that with some extremely bizarre adventures.

🎙 Guy Hutchinson from Pointless Nostalgia and Tim Lybarger from The Neighborhood Archive join us for the wacky adventures of a mysterious Music Man and A Very Young Dancer.

📺 You can watch “Christmastime with Mister Rogers” at MisterRogers.org.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

“Christmastime with Mister Rogers” on The Neighborhood Archive.

“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood: A Visual History,” co-written by Tim.

Frances Bay (Mrs. Hamilton) in “The Karate Kid.”

Today’s TV Trope: Hollywood Giftwrap.

Mr. Rogers and François Clemmons sharing a wading pool.

Lesser-known Christmas hymns “The Friendly Beasts,” “Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow,” and “My Sheep Were Grazing.”

Was Music Man Stan from “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” inspired by the Music Man from this special?

“The Littlest Angel” (1969)

Chuck Ozeas (Andrew) is now a director of photography.

“A Very Young Dancer” and The Life That Followed (2011)

Stephanie Selby’s obituary (2022)

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📼 Commercials:

Hershey’s Kisses Christmas Bells Commercial (1989)

Closer to Christmas.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Animaniacs - A Christmas Plotz / Little Drummer Warners

Mike Westfall — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 After spending 3 months locked in a water tower, the Advent Calendar House has escaped in time for Christmas Podcast Day, a fake holiday originally made up for a hashtag back when social media was slightly less stupid.

It’s not Scrooge Sunday, but the theme for this year’s Christmas Podcast Day is “A Christmas Carol,” so I’m playing a long, but also cheating a little by covering both segments of a 1993 Christmas episode of “Animaniacs.”

🎙 Erin Evans and Joey O. join us for a totally insane-y Christmas Podcast Day-ny!

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

The Animanicast.

Animaniacs Wiki entry for this episode.

Sherri Stoner (Slappy Squirrel) was the live action reference model for Disney princesses Ariel and Belle.

“A Christmas Plotz: The Hip-Hop Musical.”

Jess Harnell (Wakko) sang the Taz-Mania theme.

Jess Harnell’s band, Rock Sugar.

Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Today’s TV Tropes: Sensational Staircase Sequence and Scooby Stack.

Baby Jesus is in a thatched-roof cottage.

Kathryn Page’s gag credits.

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📼 Commercials:

Animaniacs McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys (1994)

Is turkey really an aphrodisiac?

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
“Christmas Podcast Day” song by Tim Babb from the Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast. Parody of “Weasel Stomping Day” by “Weird Al” Yankovic.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

A Flintstones Christmas Carol

Mike Westfall — Sun, 23 Jul 2023 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we watched a cavemen take over Santa’s job after he fell off the roof in “A Flintstone Christmas.”

This time, our reunion tour of previously podcasted-about characters makes its final stop of the season in Bedrock, where Fred Flintstone is letting the lead role of “Ebonezer” Scrooge go to his head.

🎙️ “Ant-stony” Strand and “Mi-coal” May join us as we watch Wilma do the workload of I lost count of how many victims of the highly contagious Bedrock Bug. We also make the strongest case yet that this Modern Stone-Age Family does, indeed, know about who made lame beggars walk and blind men see.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

“A Flintstone Family Christmas,” from a year before, was the last appearance of adult Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm.

“The Flintstones & WWE: Stone-Age Smackdown!”

The latest we’ve waited to shop for our spouses.

A grown-up Philo Quartz from “The Flintstone Kids” appears here and then never again.

The Piltdown Man hoax.

How big is the stage, and how are the actors playing ghosts appearing translucent?

They added a “love scene” with Belle, and Maggie Magma is way too excited about it.

Brian Cummings (Ernie/The Ghost of Christmas Present) did a weird Kermit the Frog voice in a promo for “Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree.”

Other Dickens characters have headstones in the graveyard.

IMDb credits Rip Taylor as the voice of a Venus flytrap tuba in the orchestra pit.

(These show notes originally included a link to vote on which version of “A Christmas Carol” we’d cover for Christmas Eve! Here’s what won.)

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📼 Commercials:

Cocoa Pebbles “Christmas Carol” commercial (1998)

“Dinner & a Movie” makes standing rib roast with “Rockshire” pudding (1996)

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

ALF - Turkey in the Straw

Mike Westfall — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 03:25:00 -0400

🦃 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we let the goofy alien puppet with the jokes toy with our emotions in “ALF’s Special Christmas.”

This time, ALF teaches us about Melmac’s version of Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, he’s already eaten the turkey, but there might still be some sweet potato pie in the garage, with the homeless man.

🎙️ Chad Young, Tommy Coombs, and Jayme Kilsby join us around the Fappiano table as we aim a spoonful of squash back to 1988 for a very special, 2-part Thanksgiving episode.

📺 Watch “Turkey in the Straw” Part 1 and Part 2 on ALF’s official YouTube channel.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

ALF ruined Willie’s best belt to make his Thanksgiving pageant headdress.

Oh no, Tom brought up Gerbert.

Melmac’s version of Thanksgiving is named for Bob Fappiano, ALF’s assistant puppeteer.

ALF trying to eat wax fruit reminded me of Rizzo in “The Muppet Christmas Carol.”

I’m sad to report “Das Cornucopia, from Wagner Strauss’s ‘Der Feaster Famine,’” is not real.

What football game were the Alien Task Force agents watching?

Chad still has his ALF doll from Burger King.

ALF co-hosting the 1989 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

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📼 Commercials:

Nobody Beats The Wiz Super Thanksgiving Sale (1985)

Fan Fix-tion.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Little Drummer Boy, Book II

Mike Westfall — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we went on an apocryphal adventure with the story of The Little Drummer Boy.

This time, Rankin/Bass drums up an unnecessary sequel from 1976, its busiest year for holiday specials.

🎙️ Brandon Medley joins us on a side quest to retrieve the stolen silver bells from a troop of greedy Roman soldiers in the “Rogue One” of Christmas stories.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Allen Swift (Melchior) as Twinkie the Kid.

Simeon the bellmaker is very loosely based on the Biblical Simeon, but his Song of Simeon is left out.

Ray Owens (Simeon) as the voice of Superbook, and Jesus in “The Flying House.”

Zero Mostel (Brutus) on “The Muppet Show.”

“Money Money Money” (not the song from “Mamma Mia!”)

How bad is Brutus compared to the other Rankin/Bass Christmas villains?

“Do You Hear What I Hear?” was written during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Our favorite recordings of “Do You Hear What I Hear?” by Copeland, the Mike Sammes Singers for Disneyland Records, and one by Spiraling that invokes The Who’s “Baba O’Riley.”

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📼 Commercials:

Kodak XL Movie Camera: “One Christmas” (1976)

Holly Jolly X’masu, your podcast destination for Japanese Christmas music.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Elmo Saves Christmas

Mike Westfall — Mon, 17 Jul 2023 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we spent Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Hanukkah on “Shalom Sesame,” and even uncovered the oddity, “A Special Sesame Street Christmas.”

This time, join us as we fly faster than time backwards around the globe to 1996 to watch Elmo save, then ruin, then fix Christmas.

🎙 Becca Petunia and Anthony Strand from ToughPigs.com drop in to watch Elmo’s wish for Christmas Every Day cause economic and environmental disaster in a star-studded special narrated by Maya Angelou and featuring Harvey Fierstein as the Easter Bunny and “Doc Hopper,” himself, Charles Durning, as Santa.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

“Brats of the Lost Nebula.”

Early “proto-Elmo” appearances.

Miss Piggy’s cookbook has a recipe by Maya Angelou.

Baby Bear is Jewish.

14 Karat Soul sings “Down Below the Street.”

Cookie Monster disguised as Ernie.

A petition to remake “White Christmas” with Elmo and Rosita’s military veteran dads.

This special’s unique News Flash logo.

The soundtrack that’s not actually a soundtrack.

Big Bird sings “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” but not THAT one.

Elmo as the ring bearer at Luis and Maria’s wedding.

Ranking all the jokes in “Elmo Says BOO!”

Bert and Ernie meet their “It’s a Wonderful Life” counterparts.

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📼 Commercials:

“Elmo Saves BOO!” (1997)

Returning Student, a 40-year-old’s journey to finish the college degree he never got.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

It’s Punky Brewster - Christmas in July

Mike Westfall — Sat, 15 Jul 2023 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we saved Punky Brewster’s Christmas spirit in “Yes, Punky, There Is a Santa Claus.”

This time, join Punky in 1985 on an animated adventure in which Punky and pals visit Santa’s workshop and accidentally start Christmas too early.

🎙 Adam Pope and Steven join us on an instantaneous trip to the North Pole courtesy of Glomer, her new magical leprechaun-gopher Ewok lookin’ friend. The ’80s were weird.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Comparing the original sitcom’s theme song to the cartoon’s theme.

Galoob made a plush Glomer.

Adam’s VHS cover has a very off-model Glomer.

The Master Christmas Switch’s effect on time reminded me of the “Futurama” episode “Time Keeps on Slippin’.”

Punky taught Adam how to wink.

Santa drops off the kids on the roof again, just in like in “Frosty the Snowman.”

****

📼 Commercials:

The Story of Phroomf commercial featuring baseball star Bob Boone (1986)

WIZARDS The Podcast Guide to Comics.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Claymation Comedy of Horrors

Mike Westfall — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 03:25:00 -0400

🎃 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we flew a sleigh made out of a dumpster into space with the California Raisins in “Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration.”

This time, we’re reanimating a creepier creation of his from 1991 — a Halloween special that premiered in May for some reason.

🎙 Sammy Hain and Chad Young join us for “Claymation Comedy of Horrors,” starring the scheming Wilshire Pig on a quest to uncover the secret lab of Dr. Frankenswine.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

IMDb’s photo gallery from this special.

“The Adventures of Mark Twain.”

Todd Tolces’ website and YouTube résumé.

Michele Mariana (Wilshire) on “Sesame Street” as Cecile, the singing ball of clay.

Herb from Burger King.

Will Vinton wanted to build a theme park called Claymation Station with Wilshire Pig as its Mickey Mouse.

Raphael opened the floodgates for characters made for children saying curse words.

Sheldon the Snail bears a passing resemblance to The Noid.

A closer examination of the bathroom graffiti.

Today’s TV Trope: Removable Shell.

Does Famine’s business card say he’s from Limbo, Illinois?

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📼 Commercials:

McDonald’s Coke Float Commercial, 1991, aired during this special.

Another Zelda Podcast.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - Alpha’s Magical Christmas

Mike Westfall — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we were Dreaming of a White Ranger with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

This time, they’re away helping Santa, so Zordon surprises Alpha by teleporting in a bunch of children for a Christmas party.

🎙️ Andre Bennett and C.J. Belanger joins us for a very bonkers Power Rangers home video, plus a mini tribute to the late Jason David Frank, who’s seen as both the Green and White Ranger here because nobody cares about continuity during Christmas, I guess.

📺 You can watch “Alpha’s Magical Christmas” on YouTube, preserved by Dinosaur Dracula.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

“Chosen Sentai Jetman.”

“Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once and Always.”

Morphed: Cheryl Saban’s Journey from Beach Bunny to Philanthropist.

The real-life Command Center: The House of the Book at the American Jewish University.

Baby Groot and the bomb that will kill everyone.

Andre proves “Die Hard” is a Christmas movie.

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📼 Commercials:

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Karate Club Video (1994)

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Fan Club (1994)

The Magic of the Season.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Alvin and the Chipmunks - Merry Christmas, Mr. Carroll

Mike Westfall — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, our hearts and golden harmonicas went out to “A Chipmunk Christmas.”

This time, it’s Scrooge Sunday, so get set to have some fun in this Dickens of an episode of “Alvin and the Chipmunks.”

🎙️ Tommy Coombs and Sean Sotka joins us in Hollywood — or at least a nearby cartoon suburb where Alvin turns his greed up to 11 and blames it on his lonely old neighbor who doesn’t know how to plant a garden.

📺 You can watch “Merry Christmas, Mr. Carroll” on Internet Archive.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

“Merry Christmas, Mr. Carroll” on Munkapedia.

Pee-wee Herman’s breakfast machine.

“Paperboy,” the video game.

“Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.”

Dads with trash bags on Christmas morning.

“A Chipmunk Reunion.”

A Seville family portrait featuring Dave’s abnormally large head.

Mickey Mouse’s 1980s Epcot spacesuit.

Today’s TV Trope: Sounding It Out.

Southern California’s Blizzard of 2023.

“Here Comes Christmas,” the TV version, and the album version.

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📼 Commercials:

The Chipmunks are Coming to Target (1990)

Cool Kids Club.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

A Rugrats Passover

Mike Westfall — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 03:25:00 -0400

🫓 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we helped our favorite talking babies stop a true meanie in “A Rugrats Chanukah.”

This time, we’re ignoring the rules of another long-standing tradition as “Rugrats” reimagines the story of Passover.

🎙️ Sarah Shay and Zach Gozlan join us as we witness grown men throwing temper tantrums and ending up locked in the attic.

📺 I found this special hiding in a 4-hour VHS recording of Nick on CBS from 2003.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Pilot House on “I Dream of Jeannie,” which would not be seen the night this premiered.

Fact-Checking “Fact-Checking A Rugrats Passover.”

As of this recording, the Sultan of Brunei in 1995 is still sultan.

“Noozles,” which co-starred Cheryl Chase (Angelica) and was not “The Adventures of the Little Koala.”

The 4 categories of Jewish holidays.

Melanie Chartoff (Didi, Minka) as the principal in “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose.”

The controversy over Boris and Minka’s design.

“The Song That Doesn’t End” from “Lamb Chop’s Play Along.”

The Maxwell House Haggadah.

A Haggadah of Our Own.

“Bible Adventures.”

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📼 Commercials:

Country Crock Spreadable Sticks (1994), featuring Jack Riley (Stu).

Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards (2003)

New and improved Joker products!

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

’Tis the Season to be Smurfy

Mike Westfall — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we witnessed goodness make the badness go away in “The Smurfs’ Christmas Special.”

This time, we’re taking a one giant puppy open sleigh ride back to 1987 to spend another Christmas with the Smurfs.

🎙️ Lindy Kempe and Donnie Storms join us to help the Smurfs save Christmas for a poor human toymaker and his gravely ill wife, while Brainy and Hefty get lost in medieval Crime Alley.

📺 You can watch “’Tis the Season to be Smurfy” for free on YouTube, or an upscaled version including the opening credits.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

“Look at the adjective…”

The crazy backstories of the Smurfs’ Puppy and Sassette.

The Great Cookie Thief.

Painter Smurf paints like “Duck Amuck.”

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📼 Commercials:

Smurf-Berry Crunch Cereal (1983)

The bottom brick scene in ”Bloodsport.”

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Berenstain Bears’ Comic Valentine

Mike Westfall — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 03:25:00 -0400

💝 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we visited the Easter Bunny’s underground nightmare factory in “The Berenstain Bears’ Easter Surprise.”

This time, it’s 1982, and love and hockey are in the air we get all warm and fuzzy with the Bear Family’s Valentine’s Day capers.

🎙️ Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas joins us as Brother Bear gets stalked by a secret admirer, and his Papa’s public displays of affection send him into orbit.

📺 You can watch “The Berenstain Bears’ Comic Valentine” for free on YouTube.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

The Broad Street Bullies.

Totally Rad Christmas on Chuck E. Cheese.

Homer Simpson’s rabbit trap.

A set of clips from this special set to “Let’s Hear It for The Boy” by Deniece Williams.

****

📼 Commercial:

McDonald’s Berenstain Bears Happy Meal Toys (1986)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The New Batman Adventures - Holiday Knights

Mike Westfall — Sat, 01 Jul 2023 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s the Advent Calendar House’s 10th season, and to celebrate, every episode is revisiting familiar faces and places already covered on the podcast.

Previously, we spent Christmas with the Joker in “Batman: The Animated Series.” This time, we’re returning to the 1997 premiere of the redesigned, rebranded “New Batman Adventures.”

🎙️ Andre Bennett and Joey O. join us on a festive tour of Gotham City through the Joker’s hideously redrawn eyes.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

The Batman Adventures Holiday Special original comic.

“Welcome to Our OOL.”

Dark Night: A True Batman Story, by Paul Dini.

Arleen Sorkin on “America’s Funniest People,” a her appearance as a jester on “Days of Our Lives” that inspired her casting as Harley Quinn.

Kevin Conroy on being recognized while volunteering after 9/11.

“Finding Batman,” by Kevin Conroy, from DC’s Pride 2022.

Paul Dini’s original cel from Harley and Poison Ivy’s shopping spree.

Tim Drake’s animated debut, and a shocking Muppet tangent.

****

📼 Commercials:

Batman and Alfred Diet Coke Commercial (1989)

A scheduling conflict robbed this movie of actual Steve Irwin.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie

Erik Johnson, Lindy Kempe, Adam Jurotich, Mike Westfall — Sat, 24 Dec 2022 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 2002, and we’re trapped in a horrifying world where Kermit the Frog doesn’t exist.

🎙 Lindy Kempe, Adam Jurotich, and Erik Johnson join us for a spectacular, spectacular Christmas Eve extravaganza starring Kermit in the George Bailey role of the Muppets’ perfectly silly take on “It’s a Wonderful Life,” also featuring Joan Cusack, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, the cast of “Scrubs,” and Whoopi Goldberg as God, Herself.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Muppet Wiki’s list of similarities between this special and 2011’s “The Muppets.”

Joe Snow.

Hoggle from “Labyrinth” at the Unclaimed Baggage Center.

Director Kirk Thatcher as the punk on the bus in “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” and ”Picard.”

Jonathan Bruce, who’d later appear in “Elf.”

Deleted scenes include more of Carson Daly, Santa, and a lost cut scene with Snoop Dogg.

The giant Bossmen Muppets.

Fozzie as “that green guy who stole Christmas.”

Today’s TV Tropes: Celestial Bureaucracy, Laser Hallway, and Lampshade Wearing.

The Yoda Muppet has his own Muppet Wiki entry.

So does Amy, the Dancing Brick!

The World Trade Center in alternate timeline Piggy’s apartment window, and that’s not the worst part of that scene.

****

📼 Commercials:

Mastercard Priceless Getaway Sweepstakes Commercial starring The Muppets (2002)

Acid Washed Memories, a retro pop-culture celebration podcast starting January 9, 2023.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Snowman and The Snowdog

Mike Westfall — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 2012, and I found a 60-year-old tangerine under a floorboard in my bedroom that’s the perfect size for a snowman’s nose… or is it?

🎙 Adam Parker Sibun from Merry Britsmas joins us for another walk in the air back to 2012 for the charming sequel to the British Christmas classic, “The Snowman,” by the now-late Raymond Briggs.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

I finally got a copy of the original Raymond Briggs book!

UK Christmas’s “The Snowman” TV listing history.

Raymond Briggs hails Christmas sequel to his Snowman classic (The Guardian, 2012)

Billy has a picture of Fungus the Bogeyman in his room.

The Snowman finds a 1960s toy Batmobile in the shed. Maybe it lost a wheel.

A newer version of Andy Burrows’s “Light the Night.”

An older version of Andy Burrows’s “Hometown.”

“Funny Looking Angels,” a 2011 Christmas Album by Smith & Burrows.

‘Walking In The Air’ composer told to send a demo tape for The Snowman sequel (NME, 2012)

London landmarks seen in the special.

Let’s start building more creative snowmen with orange slices for ears and asparagus spear mustaches.

The Snowdog Art Trails around the UK, including Snowdog sculptures displayed in Brighton.

****

📼 Commercial:

IRN-BRU Snowman Advert, 2011.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Nanny - The Hanukkah Story

Mike Westfall — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 03:25:00 -0500

🕎 It’s 1998, and we’re praying for a miracle after getting stuck in a snow bank on the side of a dark highway with only an eighth of a tank of gas.

🎙 April Ryley joins us on an enlightening revisit to the Flashy Girl from Flushing on her first Hanukkah as a married woman. Also, Ray Charles is here!

📺 You can watch “The Hanukkah Story” for free on Facebook.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

April visits the Sheffield residence, and so can you.

Fran Drescher in “UHF.”

Fran Drescher says she had to fight to let ‘The Nanny’ be Jewish (L.A. Times, 2020)

Benjamin Salisbury (Brighton) on “Teen Celebrity Jeopardy” in 1997.

Daniel Davis (Niles) on “The Fran Drescher Tawk Show” in 2010.

Max’s childhood memory of his dad at Christmas reminded me of Bruce Wayne’s long dining room table.

What to do if you’re stranded in a car during a winter storm.

Kenny Rogers Roasters still exists, but only in Asia.

****

📼 Commercials:

3 Musketeers Commercial starring Fran Drescher (1998)

Hyrule Podcasters, an audio “Let’s Play” through The Legend of Zelda.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - A Hearth’s Warming Tail

Mike Westfall — Sun, 18 Dec 2022 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 2016, and a Scrooge-like unicorn is brewing a potion to eliminate Hearth’s Warming Eve from the calendar. That’s how potions work, right?

🎙 Jon and Bin from Bin’s Toy Bin and Santa by the Minute join us for a Scrooge Sunday canter through a “Christmas Carol” adaptation set in Equestria, the world of “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.”

📺 You can watch “A Hearth’s Warming Tail” for free on YouTube.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Mike on Santa by the Minute.

The first My Little Pony special, from 1984: “Rescue at Midnight Castle.”

Patton Oswalt on My Little Pony.

Patton Oswalt literally on My Little Pony.

“It’s a Pony Kind of Christmas,” featuring characters who don’t celebrate Christmas singing Christmas songs, so the show’s composer had to clarify it wasn’t canon.

The mysterious “Derpy,” a.k.a. Muffins.

A short tangent about “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” air fresheners.

Today’s TV Trope: And You Were There.

A scene was cut featuring Discord in the Jacob Marley role.

He’s not in this episode, but there’s a character named Cheese Sandwich who is literally “Weird Al” Yankovic as a pony.

Bin takes roll call at the Hearth’s Warming Eve party.

****

📼 Commercials:

My Little Pony Dream Castle Commercial (1983)

The Hub Network: 12 Days of Ponies Promo (2014)

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

A Very Merry Cricket

Mike Westfall — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1973, and a musical cricket is about to save the Christmas spirit during New York City’s quietest power failure.

🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni join us for a one-cat open sleigh ride into Chuck Jones’s beautifully animated sequel to “The Cricket in Times Square.”

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

A very insightful Letterboxd review.

Name That Christmas Special’s screenshot gallery for this special.

Today’s TV Trope: Bully Bulldog.

Mel Blanc’s voice for the Alley Cat sounds his voice for Clarence the Cat in “Birds Anonymous.”

DiGio introduces me to Yorkshire pudding.

“Down by the Old Mill Stream.”

The similar “Joy to the World” segment from “Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration.”

The final Classic Film Jerks movie, “Babes in Toyland (March of the Wooden Soldiers).”

****

📼 Commercials:

Mel Blanc American Express Card Commercial (1971)

Rediscover the 80s podcasts, including The 80s Weekly and Memory Jogger.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Wonder Years - A Very Cutlip Christmas

Mike Westfall — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1970 by way of 1990, and I just noticed the Santa Claus at the mall is actually my gym teacher.

🎙 Andy Gattis joins us on a revealing trip back to The Wonder Years as we salute Robert Picardo’s standout performance as Coach Cutlip… and Santa.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Joe Cocker’s version of “With a Little Help from My Friends” over the opening credits was replaced for streaming with a soundalike, only they don’t sound alike.

Almost all the original music is replaced, including a surf rock cover of “Sleigh Ride” by The Ventures.

Fred Savage in “Dinosaurs! A Fun-Filled Trip Back in Time,” featuring Rex and Herb from “Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration.”

Coach Cutlip’s drawing of the female reproductive system.

Oops, Wikipedia linked to the wrong Jay Lambert (Tommy). Here’s the right guy.

Brandon Crane’s (Doug Porter) new podcast, “The Errorist.”

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📼 Commercials:

Pepsi “Love Letter” Commercial with Fred Savage (1990)

Coming Soon previews from the original VHS.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas

Mike Westfall — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1997, and Tim Curry as an evil pipe organ is literally bringing down the house.

🎙 Kristi and Bri from Bad Princess Movies join us as we journey into the depths of Disney’s direct-to-video library for an unnecessary but charming midquel that explains why the Beast hates Christmas and raises even more questions about the curse on his castle.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Bad Princess Movies on Disney’s original “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Enchanted Christmas.”

Kathie Lee Gifford sang the soundtrack for “Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin.”

Behind “Prince Adam,” the Beast’s real name Disney never made official but keeps occasionally using.

Tim Curry as Darkness in “Legend” and as Hexxus in “FernGully: The Last Rainforest.”

How tall is the Beast’s castle compared to the real world’s tallest castle?

Disney can’t keep the Feather Duster’s name straight, either.

The West Wing at Be Our Guest Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom.

The terrifying air conditioner in “The Brave Little Toaster.”

The loudest organ ever built.

Belle wears her dress from this special during Christmastime at Disney parks.

Lisa Temming on designing Belle’s Christmas dress.

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📼 Commerciasls:

Disney Home Video Collection (1997)

Tiger Electronics Beauty and the Beast handheld game (1994)

Vox’s Emily St. James ranks all the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
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The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow

Mike Westfall — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1975, and a shepherd boy just lost his sight after staring directly at a lightning bolt.

🎙️ Mike Troxell joins us as we return to enchanted world of Rankin/Bass Christmas specials for an overlooked, underrated, and redundantly titled hidden gem about neither the first Christmas, nor the first Christmas snow.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

A very brief history of the Christmas card.

Was There Really Any Winter’s Snow at the Time of the Nativity in Bethlehem?

Flash blindness is real.

Arthur Rankin Jr. recalling how Irving Berlin really, REALLY didn’t want “White Christmas” in the special.

This exact sound of a wolf howling (or, actually, a coyote) is heard over and over again.

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📼 Commercials:

Toys “R” Us Time of Year Christmas Commercial (1976)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
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TaleSpin - Jolly Molly Christmas

Mike Westfall — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1990, and a little girl’s Christmas wish is about to get shot out of the sky.

🎙 Joey O. join us for the podcast’s first voyage into the Disney Afternoon as Baloo the cargo pilot bear attempts to save his boss’s daughter’s belief in Santa.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Joey’s Christmas TV lineup that he wrote on a piece of paper around 1991 and found again 30 years later.

The TaleSpin/Quantum Leap joke.

Disney’s “The Jungle Book,” the animated one, is somehow Germany’s biggest box office draw ever.

“Tales of the Gold Monkey,” a single-season TV show that inspired “TaleSpin.”

“What a Dummy,” an even shorter single-season TV show featuring Janna Michaels (Molly) and a living ventriloquist’s dummy.

Joey’s Interview with Pat Fraley (Wildcat), again!

Today’s TV Trope: String-on-Finger Reminder.

Cape Suzette and Louie’s Place on the Disney Wiki.

Flunkey, the Einstein-haired monkey from “The Jungle Book” whose “TaleSpin” counterpart appears to be Santa Louie’s “elf,” Waldo.

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📼 Commercials:

McDonald’s TaleSpin Happy Meal Toys (1990)

Dinah Shore’s giant belt buckle.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Pat Boone and Family Christmas Special

Mike Westfall — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1979, and no one wants to go to Pat Boone’s lame Christmas party, but everyone’s here to dunk on him.

🎙 Guy Hutchinson extends an invitation to discover this bizarre but wholesome special featuring the Hudson Brothers, the stars of “The Ropers” as themselves but also still as the Ropers, and a criminally brief appearance by Yogi Bear and his Hanna-Barbera friends.

📺 You can watch the “Pat Boone and Family Christmas Special” on Tubi.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Pat Boone’s album of heavy metal covers from 1997.

TV Guide’s ad for the special, prominently featuring Yogi Bear and friends.

“The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show,” as seen in a “Family Guy” cutaway gag.

“The Seventh Python,” Brett Hudson’s 2008 documentary about frequent Monty Python collaborator Neil Innes.

“Largo al Factotum,” the “Figaro” song from “The Barber of Seville.”

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📼 Commercials:

Master Charge Christmas Commercial (1979)

Season’s Eatings.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

A Christmas Carol (1971)

Mike Westfall — Sun, 04 Dec 2022 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1971, and Alastair Sim is delivering an even more animated performance as Scrooge.

🎙️ Michael May and Rob Graham join us as we invade your personal space for salute an animated adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” that bent the rules and became the last TV special to win an Oscar, directed by Richard Williams and executive produced by Chuck Jones.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Michael May’s Christmas Carol Project entries on 1971’s “A Christmas Carol.”

CED Magic’s “Christmas Carol” screen adaptation directory.

John Leech’s original illustrations for the Dickens story.

AfterLUNCH on Christmas Ghosts (And One Carol in Particular).

The rarely seen Phantom Hearse.

Visions of Young Scrooge’s favorite stories dancing in his head.

Alex Williams’s website and blog post about his memory of voicing Tiny Tim at age 4.

One notable businessman from the future and his gross nose.

The Making of Richard Williams’s “A Christmas Carol.”

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📼 Commercials:

NyQuil Scrooge Commercial, circa 1968.

Bell Telephone Christmas Commercial (1978)

“The Christmas Book: The Ultimate Guide to Your Favorite Holiday,” by Ed Daly.

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“A Christmas Carol” (1971) © Richard Williams Productions.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Prep & Landing Trilogy

Mike Westfall — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s the Advent Calendar House’s 5th anniversary, so instead of celebrating one Christmas special, we watched three!

🎙️ Jeff Somogyi and Paxton Holley help us clear the runway as we salute Disney’s trilogy of 2009’s “Prep & Landing,” 2010’s “Operation: Secret Santa,” and 2011’s “Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice.”

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Disney’s Prep & Landing Website from 2009 is still up with character and gadget profiles.

“Tiny’s Big Adventure,” a minute-long short starring Magee’s assistant.

Super Golden Crisp Cereal’s Sugar Bear musical Christmas ornament.

Prep & Landing Easter eggs.

Santa’s castle looks familiar.

Noel’s early cameo in “Operation: Secret Santa.”

A hat tip to the Classic Film Jerks.

Captain Avalanche and Snowball’s poster looks like a Batman and Robin Detective Comics cover.

“Naughty, Naughty Children” by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.

“Nuttin’ for Christmas” by the Plain White T’s.

“The Ballad of Nessie,” who makes 2 cameos.

Ralphie from “A Christmas Story” appears.

“Mansion: Impossible,” featuring Wayne and Lanny prepping the Avengers Mansion.

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📼 Commercials:

Coca-Cola: Santa Packs are Coming (1994)

Campbell’s Soup: Snowman (1995)

Can’t Wait for Christmas’s reminder to play “Underneath the Tree” by Kelly Clarkson more.

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“Prep & Landing,” “Operation: Secret Santa,” and “Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice” © Disney.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1948)

Mike Westfall, Matt Spaulding, Gerry Davila — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 November 1st is Christmas Podcast Day! I don’t make the rules; I just use the hashtag.

🎙 Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas and Matt Spaulding from North Pole Radio join us as on a very important mission to dig up the original animated adventures of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in a 1948 short film that predates the song.

📺 You can watch “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” courtesy of the Library of Congress.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’s First Starring Film Role (Library of Congress, 2014)

The 1951 re-release, featuring the new “Rudolph” song.

The Advent Calendar House episode on Rankin/Bass’s “Rudolph.”

Disney’s Very Merry Christmas Sing-Along Songs.

Water Polo, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & Chevrolet: The Life of Jam Handy (Collegiate Water Polo Association, 2019)

Matt’s Little Golden Book of Rudolph, illustrated by Richard Scarry.

Paul Wing’s Rudolph record from 1947.

“Rudolph’s 2nd Christmas.”

George Klensinger, who arranged the original Silent Night intro, also composed “Tubby the Tuba.”

“The Biggest, Most Beautiful Christmas Tree.”

James Bond and Blofeld fight on a bobsled in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.”

Ear trumpets, and Daisy Duck’s mother using one in “Donald’s Diary.”

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📼 Commercials:

Closer to Christmas.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Weird Al Show - The Obligatory Holiday Episode

Mike Westfall — Sat, 23 Jul 2022 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 1997, and we couldn’t decide which holiday to end the season with, so we’re celebrating them all.

🎙 Joey O. joins us on a journey 20 miles below the surface of the Earth to the very “Pee-wee’s Playhouse”-like split-level cave of “Weird Al” Yankovic as he learns to listen to his friends and family.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Weirdle, the “Weird Al”-themed offshoot of Heardle, the music-themed offshoot of Wordle.

“The Weird Accordion to Al,” by Nathan Rabin.

Joey interviews Ben Kweller about his appearance with Radish on “The Weird Al Show.”

Al’s got a thing for the number 27, which makes its way into this episode.

Stan Freberg’s “Christmas Dragnet,” which I know from a compilation CD from Philadelphia radio station WOGL.

Ed Marques (Varna) as the Surf Guru on ZDTV’s “Internet Tonight.”

I had no idea “I Lost on Jeopardy!” was a full parody of an actual song.

“Weird Al,” Paul Reubens, and Danny Elfman sing “Kidnap the Sandy Claws.”

National Hamster Day exists. It’s May 10.

Funny or Die’s original fake trailer for “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.”

“Weird Al” Yankovic: There’s No Going Home, part of The Disney Channel’s Going Home concert/documentary series.

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📼 Commercials:

1990 Encyclopedia Britannica commercial starring Donavan Freberg (Baby Boolie).

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Q*bert - Thanksgiving for the Memories

Mike Westfall — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 03:25:00 -0400

🦃 It’s 1983, and we’re spending Thanksgiving in July at the Saturday Supercade.

🎙️ Chad Young, Tommy Coombs, and Jayme Kilsby join us as we take a cue from Q*bert and pals and try to stay on topic as they learn how to build a Q home in a Q land in a retelling of the first Thanksgiving as square as the wheels on the Q*horse and buggy Pilgrim Q*bert wants to win.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

We all tried to remember who brought up the Q*bert special last year while talking about “A Thanksgiving Tale,” and we were all wrong.

Even “Kangaroo” got a “Saturday Supercade” segment eventually.

Peter Cullen was the first voice of Mario in the “Donkey Kong” segment.

“The Kingdom Chums: Little David’s Adventure,” an animated retelling of David and Goliath featuring Billy Bowles (Q*bert) as a stuffed lion come to life.

Pauline and her return in “Super Mario Odyssey.”

We accidentally introduce Chad to “Spookley, the Square Pumpkin.”

They gave the snakes arms!

Viper has a Mae West voice, which leads into a tangent about “Quasi at the Quackadero.”

Chief Q*Eagle reminded me of Randall Cunningham’s name in Tecmo Super Bowl.

Saturday Supercade’s extensive use of the Hanna-Barbera Sound Effects Library.

Home Movies: “Don’t Put Marbles in Your Nose.”

Mike guests on TPIF: Thank Pod It’s Funny to discuss the Perfect Strangers Thanksgiving episode, “Wild Turkey.”

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📼 Commercials:

John Wanamaker’s 1988 Thanksgiving Sale.

Tis the Podcast.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
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Beverly Hills 90210 - It’s a Totally Happening Life

Mike Westfall, Ed Daly — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 1992, and a group of 30-year-old teenagers are on a bus trip to their doom unless an angel in training can convince her supervisor they’re worth saving.

🎙 Ed Daly, author of “The Christmas Book: The Ultimate Guide to Your Favorite Holiday,” joins us for a very strange and very special visit to America’s most famous ZIP code in our first adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life, even though this episode seems to have forgotten to actually adapt it.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Bonnie Urseth (Miriam) in “We’ve Got It Made.”

Brian Austin Green (David) as Metallo on “Smallville.”

Luke Perry (Dylan) in “The Sandlot: Heading Home.”

Of course Donna’s birthday is on Christmas Day.

Brandon’s amazing, generic FOOTBALL/SPORTS poster above his bed.

The West Beverly High Madrigal Singers (no relation) sing the original, drinking song lyrics to “Deck the Hall.”

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📼 Commercials:

7up Cool Spot Christmas Commercial (1992)

Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Jetsons - A Jetson Christmas Carol

Mike Westfall — Sun, 17 Jul 2022 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 1985, but we’re rocketing into the future, when apparently urgent veterinary care no longer exists.

🎙 Jack Ford from the Total Christmas Podcast joins us for a glimpse into the space-age year of 2062 to find out if 3 robotic ghosts of Christmas can convince Mr. Spacely to change his stingy ways, while the clock is ticking for the Jetsons’ dog, Astro, on his deathbed.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

George Jetson apparently was/will be born at the end of July 2022.

George O’Hanlon (George Jetson) as Joe McDoakes in a series of instructional parody short films from the 1940s and ’50s.

The Jetsons’ “laser tree.”

“Bongo Feet and Zip,” the classic Hanna-Barbara running sound effect, is heard 9 times in this episode.

This episode marks the last appearance speaking appearance of the Jetsons’ pet alien, Orbitty.

Astro’s supposed fever is normal for dogs.

How the Flintstones movie teenage Spacely and his future wife watch changes the theory that both shows take place in the same time period.

The robotic Ghost of Christmas Past, Present (literally a talking wrapped Christmas present), and “Yet to Be.”

I had to look up whether Spacely even had a pet to warrant having a personal veterinarian. Meet Zero.

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📼 Commercials:

George Jetson’s Air Pollution PSA, National Clean Air Coalition (1990)

Cool Kids Club, a nostalgia-fueled trip back to the ’80s and ’90s.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - I’m Dreaming of a White Ranger

Mike Westfall — Fri, 15 Jul 2022 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 1995, and a couple of giant space monsters with swords are about to bring swords to a snowball fight and still lose.

🎙 Andre Bennett and Lindy Kempe join us as we follow the powerless Power Rangers to the North Pole, where they can’t Morph due to a cross-current of holiday magic. And also magnets.

📺 You can watch “I’m Dreaming of a White Ranger” for free on YouTube.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

“I’m Dreaming of a White Ranger” on Ranger Wiki.

“Dynaman,” an English-dubbed parody of Super Sentai on the USA Network’s “Night Flight,” circa 1988.

Rubber Suit Rumble! and Cult Cinema Cloister Facebook groups, maintained by Andre.

Differences between the aired TV episode and the VHS cut, which was released 2 months earlier.

“The Order,” a proposed, Expendables-style film starring former Power Rangers.

Amy Jo Johnson (Kimberly) directed a Season 2 episode of “Superman & Lois.”

The Ranger “in jail” we alluded to isn’t even in this episode.

Affirmative Clothing Company, co-founded by David Yost (Billy).

Paul Schrier (Bulk) finally got to play a legit Ranger in 2017 in the web series “Power Rangers Hyperforce.”

Robert von Fliss has 4 credits on IMDb, and they’re all as Santa Claus.

The real-life Command Center: The House of the Book at the American Jewish University.

Rito Revolto, a giant skeleton warrior, learning about holiday spirit is just the Skeletor scene all over again.

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📼 Commercials:

Pizza Hut: “Right Field” (1990), from the VHS release of the first “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie.

Diet Coke: “Choose Wisely” (1990) from the VHS release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

OnStar: “Batcave” (2000), featuring Batman and Michael Gough as Alfred, except I was probably thinking of the Diet Coke ad before Batman ’89.

Saban’s 4½ minutes of commercials in front of the VHS release of I’m Dreaming of a White Ranger, including an ad for THE VIDEO YOU’RE ALREADY WATCHING.

Behind the Bells.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Wickedest Witch

Mike Westfall — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 03:25:00 -0400

🎃 It’s 1989, and Rue McClanahan is trapped in an underground castle inhabited by a bunch of Gremlin-looking puppets called Greevils — and for some reason, she wants to leave.

🎙️ Matt from Dinosaur Dracula drops in for a Halloween in July celebration of “The Wickedest Witch,” co-written and produced by ALF creator Paul Fusco, and starring Blanche from The Golden Girls as the evil Avarissa. As far as we know, this Halloween special only ever aired once, but somehow managed to capture our hearts and burrow itself into the cavernous depths of our memories.

📺 There are 3 copies on YouTube — some include commercials, others hit record a second too late. For the closest we can get to a full picture of the special, here are all 3, courtesy of:

1. Dinosaur Dracula,
2. Jared’s VHS Treasures,
3. trivialord.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Dino Drac on The Wickedest Witch.

Rue McClanahan on Entertainment Tonight, October 27, 1989 (Interview starts at 6:57).

Ronn Lucas (Sammy), creator of Scorch and the 1988 Disney Channel special, “Who’s in Charge Here?”

Judge Doom murdering a clown shoe in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Free Stuff for Kids.

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📼 Commercials:

McDonald’s Halloween Gift Certificate Books, 1989 during the airing of The Wickedest Witch.

RiffTrax Christmas Circus with Whizzo the Clown.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Christmas Tree Train

Mike Westfall, Ethan the Hungry Reader — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 1983, and a young bear and fox are lost in the Big City after accidentally riding the rails on the apparently famous Christmas Tree Train in an obscure special that has little to do with Christmas trees or trains.

🎙 Ethan “The Hungry Reader” climbs aboard as we explore the first holiday special starring Buttons and Rusty, known later as the Chucklewood Critters.

📺 You can watch “The Christmas Tree Train” on the Internet Archive.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

The Unofficial Chucklewood Critters Home Page, which looks like it was created in 2003, last updated in 2011, and is a perfect specimen of an early 2000s Internet fan page.

William Boyett (Ranger Jones) in “Last Clear Chance,” a 1959 driving safety film later featured on “Mystery Science Theater 3000.”

Foxes actually hang out around bears in nature (Nature.org, 2021)

A random shout-out to mid-1990s Sonic the Hedgehog wannabe Bubsy the Bobcat.

A very difficult jump in a sewer level in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Nintendo game.

All the human characters in this special look like they’re related to Gargamel from The Smurfs.

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📼 Commercials:

Santa’s Village in Southern California, circa 1983 during an airing of “The Christmas Tree Train.”

North Pole Radio.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Punky Brewster - Yes, Punky, There Is a Santa Claus

Mike Westfall — Sat, 09 Jul 2022 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 1984, and all we want for Christmas is our mom back.

🎙 Adam Pope and Steven join us for a roller coaster of emotions from sad raindrop to beautiful snowflake as we turn around back to 1984 with Punky Brewster during her very special, very crucial first Christmas with her new family.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

I totally missed the 2021 “Punky Brewster” revival series on Peacock.

Ami Foster (Margaux) in “Wrinkles in Need of Cuddles.”

The Punky Brewster Wiki exists and is very helpful.

What do you mean, “Nobody would want A Bomb for Christmas?”

“Santa Claus Lives in Santa Cruz” is a very obscure single that may or may not have been written for this episode.

“I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning” from Annie Get Your Gun.

Today’s TV Trope: Santa’s Existence Clause.

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📼 Commercials:

NBC’s One to Grow On interstitial with Soleil Moon Frye, circa 1984.

Wizards! The Podcast Guide to Comics.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Peter and the Magic Egg

Mike Westfall — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 03:25:00 -0400

🐰 It’s 1983, and despite replacing our entire body with robot parts, we still can’t plow faster than a rapidly growing magic forest baby.

🎙 Chad Young and Sammy Hain join us as we get things rolling with the mascots of Paas Easter egg coloring kits in a secret hit piece on landlords disguised as a wacky Easter story. On the way, we’ll meet the ever-looming shadow of the Easter Bunny and teach animals to talk by giving them clothes.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

The History of Paas.

Patton Oswalt on Paas and its short-lived competitors.

This special was written by Rankin/Bass legend Romeo Muller, with songs composed by Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan of The Turtles.

Charles Woolf (Terrence) in “Elvira: Mistress of the Dark.”

The origin of a farmer’s “South 40” and the Homestead Act of 1862.

Paas replaced their mascot characters. The only original one left is Feathers — if that’s even the same Feathers.

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📼 Commercials:

Paas Easter Egg Coloring Kit (1984)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Hey Dude - Ride, She Said

Mike Westfall — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 1990, and we’re looking a gift horse in the mouth.

🎙 Justin O’Connor joins us on a wild ride to the Bar None Ranch for a Very Special Episode™ of Nickelodeon’s “Hey Dude” disguised as a barely festive Christmas in July special.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

An ode to our childhood friends who lied about having an Uncle Who Worked For Nintendo.

Hey Dude Reviewed’s episode rankings and review of “Ride, She Said.”

Kelly Brown (Brad) in “Danger Zone 4: Mad Girls, Bad Girls” (NSFW).

Kelly Brown’s boutique on Long Island.

Christine Taylor (Melody) in “Showdown.”

Susan Sindelar (Cindy) in the background of a fight scene in “Smokey and the Bandit.”

TROT (Therapeutic Riding of Tucson).

The “Hey Dude” set is still somewhat standing in a secluded area of another, actual ranch.

The Hangin’ Out Gang.

The Huron Carol, believed to be the oldest North American Christmas carol, was written in an indigenous language.

The poster for “Miracle on 34th Street” gives no indication that it’s a Christmas movie.

You know what? I’ll just let y’all search for “star registry” on your own if you want to actually look naming a star after someone.

****

📼 Commercials:

California Games for Nintendo (1987)

The Christmas Alphabet Podcast.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Family Ties - A Keaton Christmas Carol

Mike Westfall — Sun, 03 Jul 2022 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 1983, and Young Republican Alex P. Keaton is sick and tired of hearing “Merry Christmas.” It was a different time.

🎙 Molly Patton and Joey O. join us as we airlift our dirty laundry back to before “Back to the Future” for a Scrooge Sunday edition of “Family Ties,” in which Michael J. Fox is taken 30 years into the future to fix his family.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Michael Gross (Steven) on making the Christmas movie “Noelle.”

Chris Hebert (Young Alex) in “Fuzzbucket.”

Justine Bateman as Mallory as the Ghost of Christmas Future is the Best Dressed Ghost of Christmas Future.

Justine Bateman as Lady Zara, Superman’s long-lost betrothed wife-to-be on “Lois and Clark.”

Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter (Elyse) as Santa and Mrs. Claus in the 2015 Lifetime Original Movie, “Becoming Santa.”

The time I went shopping on Christmas Day in the year 2000 and ended up finding the loneliest Hollywood Video employee.

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📼 Commercials:

Atari Christmas Commercial (1983)

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Bells of Fraggle Rock

Mike Westfall — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 03:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 1984, and it’s time to let the music play down in Fraggle Rock as we ring in Christmas in July on a quest to find the true meaning of the Festival of the Bells.

🎙 Tommy Coombs and Donnie Storms join us on a journey to Outer Space as Doc teaches Sprocket — and us — about the Winter Solstice, Saturnalia, and Christmas around the world.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

A clip from the British airing of “The Bells of Fraggle Rock,” in which Doc is replaced by a lighthouse captain.

Gerald Parkes (Doc) as the Ghost of Christmas Present in “An American Christmas Carol.”

Doc’s tool-themed Christmas tree.

Philadelphia’s John Wanamaker Christmas Light Show and Dickens Village.

The Weebabeast, in pictures.

Gobo’s maze-like map to the Cave of the Great Bell.

St. Nicholas Day.

“Mokey and the Festival of the Bells,” a Christmas-themed Fraggle Rock storybook.

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📼 Commercials:

Fraggle Rock Book Club (1985)

McDonald’s Fraggle Rock Happy Meal Toys (1988)

Hyrule Podcasters, an audio “Let’s Play” through The Legend of Zelda.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town

Mike Westfall — Fri, 24 Dec 2021 03:25:00 -0500

🎅 It’s the 100th episode of the Advent Calendar House, and what better day than Christmas Eve to return to the World of Rankin/Bass?

🎙 Erin Evans, Michael DiGiovanni, Michael May, Brandon Medley, and Joey O. join us as we put one foot in front of the other back to 1970 to revisit a Christmas classic that dares to answer children’s questions about Santa Claus while illegally opening his mail.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Both IMDb and Wikipedia had the premiere date wrong because of a typo in an old book. Rich Goldschmidt’s “The Making of Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town and The Daydreamer” gets it right.

Former pro-wrestler Special Delivery Jones (no relation).

Burgermeister Meisterburger is a dead ringer for Mauser from “Police Academy 2.”

Hey, IMDb, I highly doubt the Greg Thomas voicing young Kris Kringle grew up to play the saxophone in Parliament Funkadelic.

For a while, Topper was renamed Waddles.

Kris’s weird face he makes after being caught by the Winter Warlock’s angry trees.

Save the Earth from Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster.

Weddings on Christmas Day used to be popular.

The first known recording of the song “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” and our favorite versions.

****

📼 Commercials:

Folgers Coffee: Peter Comes Home for Christmas (1982)

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Hey Arnold! - Arnold’s Christmas

Mike Westfall — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1996, and we’re holding our football-shaped heads high on a quest to find our neighbor’s long-lost daughter… but first, a pair of highly sought after Nancy Spumoni snow boots!

🎙 Anthony Caruso from Tis the Podcast and Matt Eurich from TGI Podcast join us for a very special Christmas episode that solidified “Hey Arnold!” as an unforgettable Nicktoon.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

The story behind the iconic Vietnam Episode of ‘Hey Arnold!’ (NBC News, 2021)

Arnold’s Claymation origins: “Arnold Escapes from Church” (1988)

Arnold Uses His Imagination on “Sesame Street.”

Helga in “Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.”

The “Pollyanna,” Philadelphia’s hyper-local Secret Santa.

Mr. Hyunh’s banana wallpaper.

Mr. Hyunh’s flashback includes the iconic helicopter image from the Fall of Saigon.

One-Legged Bob, the Affable Railroad Tramp.

Hey, grown-ups, remember dot matrix printers?

Hiep Thi Le’s life could’ve been a movie; instead the refugee became a star playing someone else (Los Angeles Times, 2018)

****

📼 Commercials:

Talkboy Voice Recorder from “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.”

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Mr. T and Emmanuel Lewis in A Christmas Dream

Mike Westfall — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1984, and the most 1984 pair I can think of, Mr. T and Emmanuel Lewis, are taking us on the most romantic date through New York City on the way to a Christmas party at Radio City Music Hall.

🎙 Guy Hutchinson joins us as we spoil David Copperfield’s magic tricks, leave our emergency contact information with Willie Tyler and Lester, share our favorite Christmas songs with Maureen McGovern, and fall asleep while watching the Rockettes rehearse.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

I Pity the Yule: Remembering A Christmas Dream, Mr. T and Emmanuel Lewis’s Lost Holiday Special (Mental Floss, 2020)

“Be Somebody… or Be Somebody’s Fool.”

New York Mayor Ed Koch in “The Muppets Take Manhattan.”

David Copperfield makes the Statue of Liberty disappear.

Sesame Street’s Don Music.

Willie Tyler and Lester on Letterman.

Vintage Christmas tree color wheels.

The other verses of “Silent Night” you’ve never heard.

****

📼 Commercials:

Soft Scrub Cleaner.

The GE 2800 Dishwasher commercial that reminds me of the last scene of Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress.

Masters of the Universe: The Fright Zone Play Set.

Behind the Bells.

Totally Rad Christmas.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

A Smoky Mountain Christmas

Mike Westfall — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1986, and we’re hiding out in a cabin in the mountains with modern-day Snow White and real-life Christmas angel Dolly Parton.

🎙 April Ryley joins us as we try to wrap our heads around this Henry Winkler-directed TV movie that gets really weird really quickly.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

“Dolly Parton Meets the Kids.”

Muppet doppelgänger Polly Darton.

Dolly Parton saved a girl’s life on the set of “Christmas on the Square.”

Gennie James (Cindy) in “The Hugga Bunch Movie.”

Claude Earl Jones (Bartender) in the Seinfeld episode, “The Race.”

Lee Majors (Mountain Dan) and Jean Speegle Howard (Old Woman Jezebel) in “The Night the Reindeer Died,” the movie-within-a-movie from “Scrooged.”

How South Jersey Keeps Muskrat on the Menu (Gastro Obscura)

****

📼 Commercials:

Dollywood Commercial (1988)

The Uncanny X-Men ToyBiz Action Figures.

Santa by the Minute.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

X-Men - Have Yourself a Morlock Little X-Mas

Mike Westfall — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1995, and a cozy Christmas at X-Mansion has quickly turned into a risky blood transfusion in a sewer.

🎙 I call upon the raging wind and the retired hosts of The Hourchive — Drew Crowley, John Dedeke, Adam Jurotich, and Nick Main — to send us flying into the Marvel Animated Universe as we size up the X-Mansion Christmas tree, praise Storm’s fashion sense, and berate her leadership skills.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

The Hourchive on The X-Men (2013) and ReduX-Men (2019).

“California Dreams.”

“Saturday Morning Cartoons’ Greatest Hits” home video starring Drew Barrymore.

“Have Yourself a Morlock Little X-Mas” on the Marvel Animated Universe Wiki.

Ross Petty (Ape) and his annual holiday pantomime theatre.

“Captive Hearts,” featuring the introduction to the Morlocks, Rogue and Gambit in swimsuits, and the Wolverine Crush meme.

****

📼 Commercials:

Lit for Christmas.

“The Christmas Book: The Ultimate Guide to Your Favorite Holiday” by Ed Daly.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Great Santa Claus Caper

Mike Westfall — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1978, and we’re glued to the TV… whether we like it or not.

🎙 Molly Patton and Adam Pope join us as we catch the next reindeer flight to save Santa’s workshop from being taken over by a palette swapped Wile E. Coyote.

****

“Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure” and The Greedy.

Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog, in example: “A Sheep in the Deep.”

The Gloopstik Corporation’s address on Google Maps.

Santa’s Reindeer species profile by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The Star-On and Star-Off machines from “The Sneetches.”

****

📼 Commercials:

1978 M&M’s Christmas Commercial.

A Cozy Christmas.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

A Special Sesame Street Christmas

Mike Westfall — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1978, and celebrities pretending to be ghosts are gaslighting Oscar the Grouch into participating in Christmas. Also, Michael Jackson shows up.

🎙 Alan Johnson and Donnie Storms join us for another Scrooge Sunday episode to witness the 2nd best “Sesame Street” Christmas special from 1978… out of 2.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Our episode on “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street.”

I thought Tough Pigs made up this special in 2001 to be funny, but nope, it’s real.

Sesame Street lost an Emmy to Sesame Street.

“A Special Sesame Street Christmas” on Muppet Wiki.

“Elmo’s Delicious Christmas.”

“Anne Murray Sings for the Sesame Street Generation,” an American re-release of “There’s a Hippo in My Tub.”

“Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street.”

Michael Jackson inadvertently saved Sesame Street from a lawsuit.

“Just One Person” at Jim Henson’s memorial service.

Mike talks about “Snoopy! The Musical” on A Special Presentation, or ALF Will Not Be Seen Tonight.

****

📼 Commercials:

Sesame Place (1984)

Kringle Talks Kristmas.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

A Snow White Christmas

Mike Westfall — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1980, and we’re having a hiccuping fit that can literally move mountains.

🎙 Kristi and Bri from Bad Princess Movies join us on a trip back to the World of Filmation for a barely Christmassy Snow White sequel starring Snow White’s daughter, also named Snow White, who meets Seven Friendly Giants, each with their own involuntary reflexes.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Bad Princess Movies on Filmation’s “Happily Ever After.”

“Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation.”

Cash-grab home videos including “The Reef,” “Ratatoing,” and Toei Animation’s “The Little Mermaid,” which I discovered in a Toys “R” Us in 1989.

Larry Mann (Yukon Cornelius) as the Magic Mirror vs. Dom DeLuise as the Looking Glass in “Happily Ever After.”

“The Thief and the Cobbler.”

Am I Hot or Not?

The word CLINK appears as a key is dropped onto a table, but this is the only time that effect happens in the whole special.

****

📼 Commercials:

Barbie Dreamhouse (1982)

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Care Bears Nutcracker Suite

Mike Westfall — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1988, and the Care Bears are threatening to take hostages on a quest to save Toyland.

🎙 Lindy Kempe and Karen Flieger join us to stare intensely at the totally nuts series finale of “The Care Bears Family,” the Care Bears’ last TV appearance for 16 years.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

The World’s Smallest Tenderheart Bear.

Karen’s awesome Nutcracker socks.

Abby Hagyard (Ms. Walker, and also the mom on “You Can’t Do That on Television”).

“The Wild Puffalumps.”

Billie Mae Richards, the voice of Rudolph, as Tenderheart Bear in “The Care Bears Movie.”

That time a goose flew into Fabio’s face on a roller coaster.

Today’s TV Tropes: Identity Amnesia, Evil Chancellor, Rail-Car Separation.

“The Sad Story of Henry” from Thomas the Tank Engine.

The train runs on soda, like the time machine in the first draft of “Back to the Future.”

When we recorded this, the special’s Wikipedia entry was oddly specific about setting this story in 1967.

****

📼 Commercials:

Care Bears Drinking Glasses from Pizza Hut (1984)

“The Christmas Book: The Ultimate Guide to Your Favorite Holiday,” by Ed Daly.

8 great little details you never noticed in The Dick Van Dyke Show Christmas episode (MeTV)

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Chanuka at Bubbe’s

Mike Westfall — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 03:25:00 -0500

🕎 It’s 1988, and we’re getting lit at Bubbe’s Boarding House for Hanukkah.

🎙 April Ryley joins us for a spin with a bunch of puppets you’ll never hear from again.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

A Simpsons animator designed the puppets for this weird, wonderful ’80s Hanukkah special (Splinter, 2014)

“Caps for Sale”

Anton and his Easter Island head.

April’s very non-kosher latke recipe.

Mayim Bialik explains the letters on the dreidel and other Hanukkah facts.

Calvin getting trolled by his dad in “Calvin and Hobbes.”

****

📼 Commercials:

1970s/’80s PBS Logo ID.

1985 Teddy Ruxpin “Frankenstein” Commercial, preserved by Dinosaur Dracula. Teddy Ruxpin voice actor Phil Baron co-wrote this special.

Cool Kids Club.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Alan Brady Show Presents

Mike Westfall — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 03:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s 1963, and we’re watching a show about a show within a show putting on a show for Christmas. Don’t ask us to make sense of it. We can’t stop tripping over our own home furniture.

🎙️ Tim Babb from the Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast joins us to watch a show within a show put on a Christmas show, then sing the theme from the show it’s within.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Dick Van Dyke as Tubby the Tuba.

Every Episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Ranked (Vulture)

92-year-old Dick Van Dyke dancing to Step in Time.

Dick Van Dyke in “Mary Poppins Returns.”

“John Brown’s Body.”

Key & Peele’s “Negrotown” sketch and the trope of interrupting someone’s song.

“The Dick Van Dyke Show” cast reunites on “Comic Relief” (1992)

Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book’s history of “I Am a Fine Musician.”

The theme song’s secret lyrics.

****

📼 Commercial:

Learn Not to Burn: Holiday Fire Safety PSA (1977)

Also mentioned, this Fire Safety PSA with Dick Van Dyke pretending to be a door.

****

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Snowman

Mike Westfall — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 03:00:00 -0500

☃️ It’s 1982, and we’re walking in the air.

🎙️ Adam Parker Sibun from the Merry Britsmas Podcast visits the Advent Calendar House as we melt over a British Christmas classic and a personal favorite I wish was more beloved stateside.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

We have a new theme song! Thanks, Bronwen’s Ghost!

Merry Britsmas episode on Raymond Briggs.

The British Film Institute’s Top 100 British TV Programmes of the 20th Century.

The special’s 3 openings, featuring Briggs, David Bowie, and Mel Smith as Father Christmas.

The original picture book wasn’t a Christmas story.

Other Briggs works mentioned: “Father Christmas,” “Fungus the Bogeyman,” “Ethel and Ernest,” and “When the Wind Blows.”

How The Snowman melted David Bowie’s heart (The Guardian, December 2016)

Duncan Jones finds his dad’s scarf.

Video of an owl flying over snow I eerily shared on Facebook the night David Bowie died.

The Maccabees cover “Walking in the Air.”

The Royal Pavilion and Brighton Palace Pier.

Today’s TV Trope: Polar Bears and Penguins.

The Snowman in a commercial for Barbour outerwear.

Irn-Bru soft drink’s parody commercial, and its sequel.

****

📼 Commercials:

1985 Toys “R” Us Snowman Commercial featuring Aled Jones covering “Walking in the Air” (sung in the special by Peter Auty).

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

A Flintstone Christmas

Mike Westfall — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 00:25:00 -0400

🎄 Santa falls off the roof, and a guy who acts like a caveman takes over his job.

🎙 Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas and Sean Sotka from the Christmas Podcasts Podcast join us as we close out another countdown to Christmas in July with a sleigh ride back to the Stone-Age Year of Our Lord 1977.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Our episode on the Fruity Pebbles Christmas Commercial.

I found a Flintstones chronology on, of all places, Flickr.

The Internet Archive’s VHS Vault.

Domino Rally.

I want to know more about Santa’s reindeer turn signals.

“Daze Before Christmas” for Super Nintendo and Mega Drive (Genesis).

Virginia Gregg (Mrs. Claus) was the uncredited voice of Norman Bates’s mother in the first 3 Psycho movies.

Santa’s workshop should have gotten Flintstone Theming.

****

📼 Commercials:

Fruity Pebbles: Rapping Barney (1988)

Voice Command Crusher RC Car (1993)

Behind the Bells.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

A Thanksgiving Tale

Mike Westfall — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 00:25:00 -0400

🦃 We’re talking turkey as we dig up and dig in to a 1983 Thanksgiving special from puppeteer Paul Fusco, the creator of ALF.

🎙️ Chad Young, Tommy Coombs, and Jayme Kilsby join us the follow a turkey’s dream of stardom that ends with dogs and cats living together.

📺 You can watch “A Thanksgiving Tale” on Youtube, with curated retro Thanksgiving commercials.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Imagicom Productions’ Holiday Specials Collection.

Fred Travalena as the Joker in the 1989 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

A November 16, 1983 TV listing in an archived New York Magazine.

Paul Fusco’s “Space Cats.”

David Lander in “Funland.”

Mental Floss’s Oral History of ALF.

Today’s TV Trope: Invited as Dinner.

The “You Bet Your Life” Duck.

The art of making puppets fight: Throw them into the air from behind a fence.

We compare the Thanksgiving play in this special to the one in Addams Family Values.

****

📼 Commercials:

Butterball Turkey Commercial (1985)

Christmas Time in the City.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Dinosaurs - Refrigerator Day

Mike Westfall — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 00:25:00 -0400

🦖 It’s the most wonderful time of 60 million years ago, so come in and buy paint.

🎙️ Lindy Kempe joins us with frying pan ready to celebrate Refrigerator Day with the Jim Henson Company’s “Dinosaurs,” which is somehow the Advent Calendar House’s first TGIF episode.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

“The Simpsons” parodies “Dinosaurs.”

We go from talking about the “Økėÿ Døkęÿ Køøkïñ” segment of “Muppets Now” to Netflix’s “Nailed It!”

Sally Struthers (Charlene) for International Correspondence School.

A brief history of the Christmas bonus, or “thirteenth salary.”

Sam McMurray in the very short-lived “A League of Their Own” sitcom, and my own pitch for a TV adaptation on Nerd Lunch’s Fourth Chair Army Invasion.

Pons Maar (Roy’s body actor) as the original voice of The Noid.

Unisaurs: The Dinosaurs equivalent to the Anything Muppet.

The biggest gifts we ended up returning.

****

📼 Commercials:

Talking Baby Dinosaur and Dinosaurs Figures (1991)

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Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation

Mike Westfall — Sat, 17 Jul 2021 00:25:00 -0400

🎄 I know what we’re going to podcast about today!

🎙 James Riley and Brandon Medley join us for a toboggan ride without even getting out of bed back to 2009 to watch Phineas and Ferb save their very nice town’s Christmas Vacation.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Ferb) in “Love Actually” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

The time James accidentally knocked over Ben Stiller.

The Sears Wish Book catalog.

Today’s TV Trope: Look Both Ways.

“What Does He Want?” was cut for time and restored later. Also, it sounds like the “Monster Mash.”

Doofenshmirtz’s Naughty-inator reminds me of the Riddler’s Brain Box from Batman Forever.

“We Are the World.”

Walt Disney World’s Candlelight Processional and Raglan Road.

“Christmas Is Starting Now” by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

****

📼 Commercials:

Sears Wish Book (1992)

Sludge Central on “Pete & Pete” filming in New Jersey.

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Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Adventures of Pete & Pete - O’ Christmas Pete

Mike Westfall — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 00:25:00 -0400

🎄 Garbageman is here for your Christmas spirit.

🎙️ Tommy Coombs and Chad Young join us as we look happily deranged back to 1996 to follow Pete and Pete’s brother, Pete, on their mission to keep Christmas going for as long as possible, and keep their Christmas tree safe from the evil Garbageman.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Michael C. Maronna (Big Pete) in “Home Alone,” and in a series of Ameritrade commercials circa 1999.

“Snow Day” was originally conceived as a Pete & Pete movie.

The first Pete & Pete short, “What Would You Do for a Dollar?”

The Pete & Pete 20th Anniversary Reunion.

Danny Tamberelli (Little Pete) as Jimmy De Santa in “Grand Theft Auto 5.”

Hardy Rawls (Dad) as the Maytag Repairman circa 2005.

Chad and Michael May talk “Silent Night, Deadly Night.”

David Johansen sings “Garbageman’s Ballad.”

The Max Headroom Pirating Incident.

A mini ode to character actress Marilyn Dobrin as the Wrigleys’ notably loud neighbor.

****

📼 Commercials:

The Adventures of Pete & Pete: “Mom’s Plate” (1991)

Inside the Berenstain Bears’ Tree House.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Halloween Is Grinch Night

Mike Westfall — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 00:25:00 -0400

🎃 It’s a wonderful night for eyebrows and the wildest trip to the euphemism we’ve ever taken.

🎙️ James Riley and Ethan “The Hungry Reader” hitch a ride in our paraphernalia wagon as we wheel it back to 1977 for a Grinch Night we’ll never forget.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

The worst, non-candy Halloween treats.

“Carlton, Your Doorman.”

Longtime Sesame Street composer Joe Raposo composed this special’s music.

Hans Conried (The Grinch) was also the titular character in Dr. Seuss’s The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

I badly describe the plot of “Midnight Madness.”

The Hakken-Kraks in “Oh, the Places You’ll Go.”

The Euphemism, and other words I thought Dr. Seuss made up.

“Dr. Seuss Goes to War,” and other creators of great works doing terrible things.

Bogleech’s gallery of the Grinch’s monsters, and our personal favorites.

The Vug under the Rug, the Jibboo, and the Birthday Bird.

“Danse macabre.”

Is this a prequel, and where does “The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat” fit into it?

****

📼 Commercials:

Franken Berry and Monster Cereals (1986), preserved by Dinosaur Dracula.

Holly Jolly X’masu.

****

Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.

Back to the Future - Dickens of a Christmas

Mike Westfall — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 00:25:00 -0400

🎄 Happy Back to the Future Day! Set your time circuits to 1845 by way of 1991 for a special Christmas in July episode of the “Back to the Future” Saturday morning cartoon featuring hologram clothes, the hoverboard equivalent to texting while driving, and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

🎙 Joey O., along with Joseph Wade from Christmas Creeps and The O/S/T Party, are our partners in time for a “Dickens of a Christmas,” featuring Dan Castellaneta as the voice of the animated Doc, Thomas F. Wilson as Ebiffnezer Tannen, and Christmas movie all-star Mary Steenburger as Clara.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Mary Steenburger playing “Informer” on the accordion in “Last Man on Earth.”

Series art director James S. Baker storyboards his own blog.

The Back to the Future pinball game and its random movie quotes.

Futurepedia on how Doc’s clothing converter camera works.

Weird things we did as kids to show our parents we were responsible.

Some toys in Fedgewick’s shop shouldn’t be there yet in 1845.

Did “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” exist in 1845? Possibly, but not the version we know.

Doc’s wad of cash vs. England’s bank notes circa 1845.

Wilkins’s dog looks like 1980s T-shirt icon Rude Dog.

My Back to the Future-themed Good Friday and Easter Sunday tweets.

The closest thing we could find to a Kaiju Christmas movie is 1962’s “Gorath.”

****

📼 Commercials:

Back to the Future: The Ride at Universal Studios Florida (1996)

Hi-C Ecto Cooler Commercial (1989), starring David Kaufmann, the voice of Marty.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

How Murray Saved Christmas

Mike Westfall — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 00:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s 2014, but this special about a forgotten holiday mascot feels like it’s from the 1990s. Unfortunately, so do some of the jokes.

🎙 Michael DiGiovanni and Donnie Storms join us on a sleigh ride back through “How Murray Saved Christmas,” which follows Murray Weiner (rhymes with diner) from the hidden hometown of every holiday mascot… but mostly the American ones.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Former “Simpsons” showrunner Mike Reiss’s original books, “How Murray Saved Christmas” and “Santa Claustrophobia.”

The trimmed half-hour cut of the special removes some bad jokes, but also Murray’s backstory.

Speaking of super offensive things, Marc Mero as Johnny B. Badd.

Today’s TV Trope: Santa’s Sweatshop.

“Vishnu” takes “The Problem with Apu” to a new low.

Every LBGTQ+ Joke on The Simpsons Ever (as of early 2021).

There’s an actual National Milkmen Day… on June 26, not August 12.

All 27 or so Holidays Represented:
Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Day, Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Year, Mardi Gras, Presidents Day, St. Patrick’s Day, April Fool’s Day, Easter, Arbor Day, Earth Day, Secretary’s Day (maybe), May Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, Graduation Day?, Father’s Day (maybe), (American) Independence Day, Bastille Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving… oh, and Jack Frost is there.

****

📼 Commercials:

McDonald’s McDLT Commercial starring Jason Alexander (1985)

Tinsel Tunes.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Berenstain Bears’ Easter Surprise

Mike Westfall — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 00:25:00 -0400

🐰 Who is Easter Bunny? OMG, Bear is Easter Bunny! How can that be?

🎙 Emily Rowley and Alan Johnson join us as we hop, hop, hop back to 1981 for our first trip to Bear Country, which it turns out was built on top of the Easter Bunny’s industrial nightmare factory.

📺 You can watch “The Berenstain Bears’ Easter Surprise” for free on YouTube.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Yes, we all collectively mispronounced “Berenstain.”

The VHS cover, for reference.

“The Berenstain Bears: The Very First Easter,” being the story of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus, who is also a bear.

The widest tree in the world, for comparison.

Things this special has in common with “Steel Magnolias”: Knowl Johnson and dozens of broken Easter eggs.

An ode to the Bear Family’s tiny, antique, circular porthole TV set.

Today’s TV Trope: Packed Hero.

“Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video,” featuring young Zachary Danziger (Bill Bunny) and a host of way more familiar names.

****

📼 Commercial:

Kellogg’s Raisin Bran: Morgan the Mockingbird Commercial (1981), preserved from the original airing of this special.

Mike on Alan’s Two Bad Neighbors podcast for “Marge Be Not Proud” and “Monty Can’t Buy Me Love.”

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Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Rubik, the Amazing Cube - Rubik’s First Christmas

Mike Westfall — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 00:25:00 -0400

🎄 Tune in as we mysteriously float back to 1983 for an unseasonably warm Christmas adventure through Mexico with our cool grandma and a talking Rubik’s Cube with more powers than Superman.

🎙️ Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas join us for a puzzling revisit to “Rubik, the Amazing Cube,” a Saturday morning cartoon that lasted an even shorter amount of time than the fad it tried to cash in on.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

The History of Rubik’s Cube.

The theme song by pre-Ricky Martin Menudo.

Ángela Moya, the voice of the kids’ mother, played a small but grim part in “Gleaming the Cube.”

An ode to the family station wagon.

An archived, early-Internet Rubik fan site.

Las Posadas.

Date a TV show by adding a CB radio.

Rubik ending up in an eagle’s nest reminded me of “The Polar Express.”

Reynoldo’s speed cubing skills compared to the real-life Rubik’s Cube world records in 1983 and today.

****

📼 Commercials:

Cap’n O.G. Readmore (1985)

Cap’n Crunch Cereal: Crunch vs. Taste (1985)

An Alpha Bits Cereal commercial that’s clearly still trying to ride the Pac-Man wave, but I’m not complaining (1985)

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

A Cosmic Christmas

Mike Westfall — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 00:25:00 -0400

🎄 We’re teaching aliens about Christmas again, but this time, George Lucas is watching.

🎙 Jeff Fox from Name That Christmas Special is our special guest as we go on a domesticated goose chase back to 1977 through “A Cosmic Christmas,” the first fully animated feature by Canadian studio Nelvana.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Jeff’s collection of “A Cosmic Christmas” music and scanned promotional items.

Joanna Wilson’s Christmas TV History.

This special got George Lucas’s attention and led to Nelvana producing the animated segment of the “Star Wars Holiday Special.”

“The Nelvana Story: Thirty Animated Years.”

Today’s TV Trope: Big Ball of Violence.

Jellybean looks like the red-eyed Pac-Man on the side of the arcade cabinet.

Duncan Regehr (Amalthor) as Dracula in “The Monster Squad.”

Marian Waldman, Mrs. Mac from “Black Christmas,” also has a quick line or two.

The Castle Thunder stock sound effect.

****

📼 Commercials:

Burger King Doll Christmas Commercial (1977)

The Smurfs in theme parks.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

A Chipmunk Christmas

Mike Westfall — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 00:25:00 -0400

🎄 It’s time for toys and time for cheer as the Advent Calendar House begins another 12-episode countdown to Christmas in July.

🎙 Sean Sotka and Steven join us as we rewind at twice the normal speed back to 1981 to revisit the Christmas special that helped kick off the revival of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Steven’s story of accidentally erasing his VHS recording of this special, only to find another recording of the same broadcast years later.

The History of the Chipmunks (RIP The Hourchive).

“Witch Doctor.”

R.J. Williams (Tommy), who was 3 years old in this special, later starred in “Wake, Rattle, & Roll.”

Dave’s 3-story Victorian mansion seen only in this special and never again.

Yes, the Chipmunks wear pants.

Vintage Echo harmonicas are real, but good luck finding a gold one.

Selling photos of Santa with dogs dressed as reindeer looks way more fun than selling dollar store junk door-to-door.

Clyde Crashcup invented a popular “Simpsons” joke.

Today’s TV trope: Talking in Your Sleep.

“Paw Patrol” makes no sense.

****

📼 Commercials:

A Chipmunk Christmas Soundtrack Album (1981)

7up Countdown to Christmas Posters (1986)

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Smurfs’ Christmas Special

Mike Westfall — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 00:25:00 -0500

🎄 It’s Christmas Eve in the Advent Calendar House as we walk through a ring of fire back to 1982 to dance with the Smurfs and watch goodness make the badness go away.

🎙 Thom Crowe from Tis the Podcast and Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas join us for a heaping help of Greedy Smurf’s cauldron of pink pudding.

📺 You can watch “The Smurfs’ Christmas Special” for free on YouTube.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

My son thinks the king of Hyrule is Santa.

I just now learned about Watergate salad.

Danny Goldman (Brainy Smurf) in “Young Frankenstein.”

Paul Winchell (Gargamel) invented an artificial heart.

The mysterious Stranger may or may not be the actual Devil.

Teaser for a new Smurfs animated series.

****

📼 Commercial:

The Smurfs at Kings Dominion (1984)

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Olive the Other Reindeer

Mike Westfall — Tue, 22 Dec 2020 04:00:00 -0500

🎄 10 years after “The Simpsons” debuted, Matt Groening presented another Christmas special about another Santa’s little helper.

🎙 Erin Evans and Joey O. joins us on a 2-dimensional flight back to 1999 to revisit “Olive, the Other Reindeer,” a misheard but not forgotten doggie treat.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

The Making of “Olive, the Other Reindeer.”

“PaRappa the Rapper.”

“Mr. Lunch Takes a Plane Ride,” the first book by “Olive” creators Vivian Walsh and J. Otto Seibold.

“The Goonies II.”

Jay Mohr in “Camp Wilder.”

Famous mondegreens and the stupidest lyric I’ve ever misheard.

Dan Castellaneta’s Postman voice sounds like his Robot Devil.

“You’re no Jack Kennedy.”

Bullwinkle tried to kidnap my baby.

R U Talkin’ R.E.M. Re: Me?, formerly U Talkin’ U2 to Me? and currently U Talkin’ Talking Heads 2 My Talking Head?

Michael Stipe on “The Adventures of Pete & Pete.”

The pope gets a Phillies hat.

****

📼 Commercials:

Amazon.com Christmas Countdown Commercial (1999)

Santa by the Minute.

The Christmas Podcasts Podcast.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol

Mike Westfall — Sun, 20 Dec 2020 04:00:00 -0500

🎄 Take a hop, a skip, and a jump scare through the uncanny valley on a trip back to 2009 to rewatch Disney’s feature-length version of “A Christmas Carol.”

🎙 Matt Weiland joins us for Robert Zemeckis’s motion capture nightmare starring 4 Jim Carreys, 3 Gary Oldmans, 2 Robin Wrights, and a Cary Elwes in a pear shape.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Respect to a Disney movie that jumps from a storybook opening to a corpse’s face.

Despite being the 5th highest grossing Christmas movie as of 2020, this is also one of history’s biggest box-office bombs.

Coins on a corpse’s eyes in 19th century England had less to do with paying the ferryman’s toll and more to do with keeping their eyes closed.

Cary Elwes (one of the “portly” solicitors) is a descendant of John Elwes, the real-life inspiration for Scrooge.

Christopher Walker forgetting his lines as Captain Hook in “Peter Pan Live.”

Disney’s Movies website accidentally credited Gary Oldman as both Kermit and Robin the Frog.

Philadelphia’s Dickens Village.

The Ghost of Christmas Present flying Scrooge’s entire room around London is a weird mix of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Soarin’.

Jim Carrey on his various accents.

“Roundhouse” alumna Julene Renee as Want.

****

📼 Commercials:

McDonald’s: Scrooge’s Party (1984), preserved by Dinosaur Dracula.

Yuletide TV.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Doug’s Christmas Story

Mike Westfall — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 04:00:00 -0500

🎄 Doug uses weaponized cupcakes to break Porkchop out of doggie death row.

🎙 Gregiffer Stevens from the Pop Arena and Nick Knacks joins us as we skate on thin ice back to 1993 for a very educational trip to Bluffington that I forgot was a Christmas episode while I was watching it.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Disney’s “Doug” was fine, y’all.

“Doug” creator Jim Jinkins worked on Nickelodeon’s first show, “Pinwheel.”

Early versions of Doug in a bumper for USA Network and a PSA for Florida Grapefruit Juice narrated by Lorenzo Music.

Today’s TV Trope: Danger: Thin Ice.

Alice Playten (Beebe) in “Really Rosie” as Alligator.

Constance Shulman (Patti) in “Weekend at Bernie’s II.”

Every car in Bluffington looks like Homer Simpson designed it.

Greg Lee from “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” voices the now-former mayor White, and boy, am I glad we recorded this after election week.

“The Phred on Your Head Show.”

Mr. Dink’s last name is apparently an acronym for “Double Income, No Kids.”

Don’t wrap pets in boxes!

What is Pork Chop?

The topper on the Funnies’ Christmas tree is Mr. Dink’s face.

****

📼 Commercials:

Nicktoons Pizza Hut Kids’ Pizza Pack Commercial, (1991)

SequelQuest.

Feliz Christmas, Merry Navidad.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Little Drummer Boy

Mike Westfall — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 04:00:00 -0500

🎄 Young Conan the Barbarian meets baby Jesus on this episode of the official holiday podcast for people who hate all humans — which, in 2020, is most of us.

🎙️ Brandon Medley and Michael May join the dance to the beat of our own drum back to 1968 and back into the Rankin/Bass universe for their stop-motion follow-up to “Rudolph.”

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

This was Romeo Muller’s favorite Christmas special he wrote for Rankin/Bass. Also, that link on Rankin/Bass’s website is from 2003 and looks like it hasn’t been touched since 2003.

Paul Frees voices of 8 different characters in this special, if you count animal noises.

The song, originally called “Carol of the Drum,” was written more recently than I’d thought — in 1941 — and first recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family Singers.

Aaron’s origin story is the same as Conan the Barbarian’s.

Here’s an isolated recording of “One Star in the Night,” without the narration.

Burl Ives wouldn’t have felt out of place narrating this special, since he’d go on to narrate one about another caravan.

The special also mixes up its kings, at least as they’re traditionally named.

Our definitive versions of the song.

Young Brandon insists on adding the Little Drummer Boy to a church Nativity pageant.

****

📼 Commercials:

Kentucky Fried Chicken: Christmas Carol (1989)

NetfliXmas.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Jack Benny Program - Jack Goes Christmas Shopping

Mike Westfall — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 04:00:00 -0500

🎄 Wrapping, unwrapping, and rewrapping a bow on a comedy classic.

🎙 Guy Hutchinson joins us as we second-, third-, and fourth-guess ourselves back to 1960 to go Christmas shopping with Jack Benny, the last televised version of a longtime radio favorite.

🚨 Warning: In one scene, a character shoots himself offscreen.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

The Television Academy Foundation on Jack Benny’s Christmas Shopping show, including a video interview with show writer George Balzer.

The earliest “Christmas Shopping” recording I could find, from 1937.

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, the progression of race relations, and his racehorse.

Finally I get to talk about Mel Blanc, the real star of this show.

Adjusting the $1.98 and $40 wallets for inflation.

A 2002 message board post on JackBenny.org answering whether Jack was a practicing Jew.

A tribute to Frank “Yeees?” Nelson.

Dennis Day and the dying practice of actors legally changing their names to their most popular characters’.

Stupid “the customer is always right” stories.

****

📼 Commercials:

Norelco Santa (circa 1961).

Telephone booths still exist at Walt Disney World.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Christmas Raccoons

Mike Westfall — Sat, 12 Dec 2020 04:00:00 -0500

🎄 We may all exist in the dreams of 2 kids and their dog.

🎙 Michael DiGiovanni and Christian Nielsen help us responsibly deforest our way back to 1980 to dig up the first appearance of early Disney Channel imports The Raccoons and the greedy Cyril Sneer.

📺 You can watch “The Christmas Raccoons” on YouTube.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

This special and an accompanying story album were narrated by Rich Little, a “Man of a Thousand Voices,” in his own, regular voice.

Rupert Holmes (Forest Ranger Dan) is the singer/songwriter behind “Escape (The Piña Colada Song).”

Tammy Bourne (Julie) and Hadley Kay (Tommy) were both in 1980 movies as children who fall from great heights.

Today’s TV Trope: Human Snowball.

Where does the dream end and reality begin? Maybe it’s all in the St. Elsewhere Snow Globe Universe of Tommy Westphall (no relation).

****

📼 Commercials:

Canadian Tire’s “Scrooge Approved” Prices (1987)

Christmas Creeps.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Weinerville Chanukah Special

Mike Westfall — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 04:00:00 -0500

🕎 Marc Weiner and his puppets won’t stop screaming in Nickelodeon’s first Hanukkah special.

🎙 April Ryley joins us as we noisily snowmobile back to 1995 to try and figure out what everyone’s yelling about. Unexpectedly, it all started in outer space.

📺 You can watch “The Weinerville Chanukah Special” on YouTube.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Weinerville.com is alive and well in 2020.

Marc Weiner as Swiper the Fox and the Map in “Dora the Explorer.”

Marc Summers on his OCD being “blown out of freakin’ proportion,” and why he dropped his given last name.

Sour cream vs. applesauce for latke dipping.

Michael Gunst (Sinrek) may or may not be this puppeteer and mask maker.

Brian O’Connor (Antidorkus) as Schemer on “Shining Time Station.”

Thanks to Nickelodeon being under the MTV Networks umbrella, this special featured music by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Miami Sound Machine, and the B-52’s.

The bulk of this special was filmed at the Summit Lodge in Killington, Vermont.

Liver as a go-to food kids hate.

Kevin “Diesel” Nash was still WWF Champion during taping, but lost it shortly before the special aired.

The art of making your own menorah out of household items, recyclable objects, or fruit.

****

📼 Commercials:

Kmart Holiday Commercial starring Rosie O’Donnell and Penny Marshall (1995)

Holly Jolly X’masu.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

A Johnny Bravo Christmas

Mike Westfall — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 04:00:00 -0500

🎄 A well-deserved punch in the face that’s a little bit rock ’n’ roll.

🎙 James Riley joins us on a last-minute flight to the North Pole to catch up with 2001’s “A Johnny Bravo Christmas,” a special that first aired less than 3 months after 9/11, on Pearl Harbor Day, and opens with Johnny unnecessarily calling the fire department to tell them he’s “the bomb.”

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

“’Twas the Night,” a 1997 Johnny Bravo segment which this special accounts for in the show’s continuity… sort of.

“Larry & Steve,” Seth MacFarlane’s proto-“Family Guy” short film before from before he worked as a “Johnny Bravo” staff writer.

People on TV who wait till Christmas Eve to start decorating.

Homer Simpson’s sandwich, and the worst things we’ve found in our couches.

The latest you can mail something to guarantee arrival before Christmas, according to the U.S. Postal Service’s Holiday Shipping Deadlines.

Vanessa Marshall (Truck Driver) may or may not have provided the scream of Samus dying in the Metroid Prime games.

Santa’s village looks like the Wicked Witch of the West’s castle and is cloaked like Wakanda.

****

📼 Commercials:

American Online Keyword eBay (2001)

Season’s Eatings.

The Retro Network.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

BraveStarr - Tex’s Terrible Night

Mike Westfall — Sun, 06 Dec 2020 04:00:00 -0500

🎄 Filmation’s space western gets a dickens of a backstory.

🎙 Joey O. and Sammy Hain saddle up for a Scrooge Sunday edition of the Advent Calendar House looking back at a 1987 Christmas episode of “BraveStarr.”

📺 You can watch “Tex’s Terrible Night” on YouTube.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

The Fisher-Price Western Town I used as a backdrop for the much larger Bravestarr action figure.

Joey’s interview with Pat Fraley (Marshal BraveStarr).

This episode uses flashback scenes from the movie “BraveStarr: The Legend,” which explains why the animation quality isn’t consistent.

Young Tex Hex looks like a purple Faker from “He-Man.”

Stampede, the show’s even bigger bad, grants Tex Hex the power of transformation, because Filmation really wanted to teach kids that things that transform are evil.

The “present-day” husband of Tex’s former love, Ursula, looks like Fred Ward.

The time BraveStarr found a kid dead of a drug overdose.

****
📼 Commercial:

Marshal BraveStarr, Tex Hex, and Neutralaser Toy Commercial (1986)

Christmas Time in the City.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Christmas Toy

Mike Westfall — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 04:00:00 -0500

🎄 Join us on a stroll down Jim Henson’s dark hall of nightmares to 1986 to rewatch “The Christmas Toy,” an idea no one has repeated since.

🎙 Beth Cieslik, Adam Jurotich, and Donnie Storms are the newest friends in the playroom who have to learn the horrors of getting caught out of place.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Kermit was cut from the DVD release, but he’s back in the version on Amazon Prime Video.

Rugby crashing his skateboard into a block tower is the 1980s Muppet version of WWE’s Titus O’Neil tripping and sliding underneath the ring.

“Teacup Furby.”

“Mother Goose Rock ’n’ Rhyme” and the song “Gordon (Never Really Learned to Play).”

Apple is closer to a female My Buddy than Kid Sister, the actual female My Buddy.

The inevitable “Toy Story” comparison.

Somehow we worked in a “Christmas Shoes” joke. I’m not linking to that. I just wanted you to know.

“Don't Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

“The Secret Life of Toys,” the short-lived 1994 sequel series.

****

📼 Commercials:

Kraft Holiday Recipes featuring “The Christmas Toy” poster (1986), preserved by Dinosaur Dracula.

Crispy Critters Cereal (1987)

Why some reindeer actually have red noses.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Christmas Comes to Pacland

Mike Westfall — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 04:00:00 -0500

🎄 Santa’s sleigh is grounded in the original video game crash.

The Advent Calendar House kicks off another Christmas countdown by rewinding back to 1982, when Santa found himself stranded in Pac-Man’s neighborhood.

🎙 Lindy and Alicia join us for a stroll through “Christmas Comes to Pacland,” where no one knows about Christmas, but somehow the Ghost Monsters know the words to “Jingle Bells.”

🚨 Warning: Santa spoilers from 11:25 to 13:30.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Santa is flying with 8 reindeer, including Rudolph. Who got the night off?

This might be the first time a Christmas special shows Santa using a computer.

Russi Taylor’s Pac-Baby has the same voice she later used for Robin in “Muppet Babies.”

Absent from this special is the Ghost Monsters’ boss, Mezmaron.

****

📼 Commercials:

Pac-Man Cereal (1984)

Chef Boyardee Pac-Man Pasta (1984)

A Bomb for Christmas, made for podcast Christmas movie by Tim Babb of the Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast, co-starring Mike as “Captain Willis.”

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Garfield’s Thanksgiving

Mike Westfall — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 04:00:05 -0400

🦃 The Gaslighting of Dr. Liz Wilson.

Join us as badly dancing back to 1989 to celebrate the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season.

🎙️ Jeff Somogyi joins us to dig into “Garfield’s Thanksgiving,” the clear bronze medalist of Garfield’s holiday trilogy, thanks to Jon Arbuckle going from goofy pet owner to hopelessly inept creep.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Orson the Pig from “U.S. Acres” makes a cameo in Liz’s waiting room.

The dumbest things we’ve done to get a date pale in comparison to Jon holding his breath until Liz concedes to going out with him. Please don’t do that.

Pat Carroll is back as Grandma in her 2nd greatest vocal performance of November 1989.

Julie Payne (Liz) was also briefly the voice of another cartoon doctor, Janice N!Godatu, from the other animated segment of “The Tracey Ullman Show.”

A brief history of sock garters.

This special confirms Jon can’t hear Garfield speaking, but somehow Garfield’s computerized, fat-shaming scale can.

The best of Calvin’s dad from Calvin and Hobbes.

Grandma Arbuckle’s Sweet Potatoes, as prepared by Dinosaur Dracula.

Cranberry sauce tastes better when it’s shaped like the inside of a can.

Desirée Goyette, the female singing voice in Garfield’s specials and also the voice of Nermal, also sang the title theme from “It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown.”

****

📼 Commercial:

Garfield Alpo Cat Food Commercial (1989)

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

G.I. Joe - Cobra CLAWs Are Coming to Town

Mike Westfall — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 04:00:15 -0400

🎄 S-s-season’s greetings-s-s! You better watch out, because today we’re kindly rewinding back to a 1985 Christmas episode of “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero,”

🎙️ Joey O. parachutes in for “Cobra CLAWs Are Coming to Town,” featuring the incredible shrinking Cobra troops and a giant parrot.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

We don’t even get 4 minutes into this before bringing up the U.S.S. Flagg.

Then we get caught up in the Crossfire.

A brief history of the G.I. Joe toy line, from “America’s Movable Fighting Man” to the Adventure Team, to “A Real American Hero.”

“The Toys That Made Us” on Netflix.

The “opening monologue that explains the show” has nothing on Voltron’s.

Neil Ross (Shipwreck, Dusty, and Buzzer in this episode) has an audio camero in “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “I Can’t Watch This.”

Joey’s interviews with Pat Fraley (Wild Weasel), Gregg Berger (Firefly), Michael Bell (Duke, Blowtorch, Major Bludd), and Rob Paulsen (Tripwire, his earliest known voice credit).

“The Viper is Coming” is both our favorite G.I. Joe episode and my dad’s favorite dad joke.

“King Koopa’s Kool Kartoons,” starring Chris Latta (Cobra Commander).

We try and find Keystone City, which may or may not be somewhere in eastern Pennsylvania.

The titular Cobra CLAW (Covert Light Aerial Weapon), an odd name for a Cobra vehicle, because snakes don’t have claws.

Fenslerfilm’s G.I. Joe PSAs.

****

📼 Commercials:

William “The Refrigerator” Perry G.I. Joe Action Figure (1987)

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Stingiest Man in Town

Mike Westfall — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 04:00:04 -0400

🎄 On another Scrooge Sunday edition of the Advent Calendar House, we fly back in time to 1978 to revisit Rankin/Bass’s turn at “A Christmas Carol.”

🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni and Michael May return to talk “The Stingiest Man in Town,” an animated remake of a made-for-TV musical, featuring the voices of Walter Matthau as Scrooge and Tom Bosley as our narrator, a literal talking Humbug.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

This is specifically an adaptation of a 1956 production on “The Alcoa Hour” starring Basil Rathbone as Scrooge.

The original special on Sleigh Bell Cinema.

Michael May’s Christmas Carol Project.

Sonny Melendrez (Bob Cratchit) in “You and Me, Kid.”

This has my all-time favorite, super creepy version of Marley’s face appearing on Scrooge’s door knocker.

This special gets older Belle completely wrong.

Tiny Tim has skinny robot legs.

Debbie Clinger (Martha Cratchit) of the Clinger Sisters, a.k.a. Superchick from the “Krofft Supershow” host band Kaptain Kool and the Kongs.

Rankin/Bass should have made a south seas-themed special called Christmas Island. (Hi from the future! We ended up exploring this idea on After Lunch.)

Scrooge’s grave morphing into a giant devil face is a reminder in hindsight that this special was animated in Japan by Topcraft, the predecessor to Studio Ghibli.

****

📼 Commercials:

Glad Trash Bags Commercial starring Tom Bosley (1981)

The Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Leprechauns’ Christmas Gold

Mike Westfall — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 04:00:04 -0400

🎄 Sail back to 1981 as we dig up Rankin/Bass’s penultimate and possibly most obscure stop-motion Christmas special.

🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni and Michael May stumble in to imbibe “The Leprechauns’ Christmas Gold,” which may or may not only exist because Rankin/Bass had the rights to use the song “Christmas in Killarney” and needed someplace to put it.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Ken Jennings (the voice of Dinty Doyle, not the Jeopardy! guy) in the short-lived Epcot Center attraction, “The Astuter Computer Revue.”

Mag the Hag’s entrance reminds me of Rita Repulsa in “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.”

This special keeps adding new rules about how both banshees and rainbows work, like they’re Mogwai.

The Leprechauns’ “phantom island of Tralee” shares a name with an actual mainland town in Ireland, but is closer to Dursey Island, population (as of 2016): 4.

The only thing many remember about this special is its Nightmare Face reveal that a beautiful woman Dinty finds washed ashore is the banshee in disguise.

According to the Christmas Specials Wiki, Arthur Rankin said a promotion was planned involving prizes buried in random places around the United States for children to dig up, but was abandoned for safety concerns.

“Jack O’Lantern,” from Rankin/Bass’s Festival of Family Classics TV series, featuring a leprechaun disguised as a pumpkin.

****

📼 Commercials:

Gremlins Gizmo Plush Pet (1984)

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Super Mario Bros. Super Show - Koopa Klaus / Santa Claus is Coming to Flatbush

Mike Westfall — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 04:00:04 -0400

🎄 Hey, paisanos! Join us as we warp back to 1989 for a double dose of Christmas segments from “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.”

🎙 Adam Pope joins us to watch Mario and Luigi save Santa in 2 different dimensions: The live-action “Santa Claus is Coming to Flatbush,” featuring Santa losing his “transportation” in Brooklyn; and the animated “Koopa Klaus,” featuring a plot to… freeze the North Pole.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Nintendo Power’s preview of “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.”

I didn’t realize till recently the music in the “Back to the Future” Nintendo game is just “The Power of Love” sped up.

“King Koopa’s Kool Kartoons,” a live-in-studio spinoff show local to Los Angeles and hosted by King Koopa, performed at one point by Chris Latta, a.k.a. Christopher Collins.

Captain Lou Albano’s Wrestling Hotline 1-900 number.

We map out where Mario and Luigi lived in Brooklyn.

“Stunt Dawgs,” an obscure 1992 cartoon featuring Harvey Atkin playing another character with the same King Koopa voice.

“Teeter-totter” vs. “see-saw.”

How tall is Mario? Captain Lou was 5-foot-10, though other sources range from 5-foot-1 to 3-foot-8.

Preview of Super Nintendo World, coming to Universal theme parks.

Finally, I get to talk at length about The Legend of Zelda!

Adam’s SequelQuest episode on the Super Mario Bros. movie, featuring a parody of the Super Show theme song.

****

📼 Commercials:

Pepsi Nintendo Holiday Game (1989), preserved by Dinosaur Dracula.

Nintendo Power Commercial (1990), preserved by RobertDigitalGames.

****

“The Super Mario Bros. Super Show,” “Koopa Klaus,” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Flatbush” © 1989 DiC Entertainment.
“Super Mario Bros.” © Nintendo Co. Ltd.

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t

Mike Westfall — Mon, 13 Jul 2020 04:00:13 -0400

🎃 It’s the 13th of July, so it’s time for the Advent Calendar House to unearth one of our favorite Halloween haunts.

🎙️ Tommy Coombs flies in to talk 1979’s “The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t,” starring an exceptionally great Judd Hirsch as Count Dracula.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

This was renamed for its VHS release as “The Night Dracula Saved the World,” except no, he doesn’t.

Lyndhurst Mansion.

Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” was never in a Dracula movie.

Wildwood, New Jersey’s Castle Dracula.

Jack Riley (Warren the Werewolf) in commercials for Country Crock spread.

****

📼 Commercials:

McDonald’s Scared Silly (1986) starring Ronald McDonald and the Chicken McNuggets.

The action figure that revealed Dr. Claw’s goofy face.

****

Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.

Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas

Mike Westfall — Sat, 11 Jul 2020 04:00:04 -0400

🎄 Go-go Gadget podcast! It’s time to spring back to 1992 to take “Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas” in for questioning.

🎙 Chad Young accepts our assignment to investigate the time Dr. Claw took over Santa’s workshop for some reason.

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

Nick Knacks, a show-by-show video history of Nickelodeon.

Halloween 1992 was the year of white kids dressing like Steve Urkel.

Inspector Gadget’s run on Nickelodeon got me into “Get Smart” on Nick at Nite.

The time Chad got a crew jacket from the set of the “Inspector Gadget” movie.

The Inspector Gadget Super Nintendo game, featuring the same alternate theme song as this special.

Maurice LaMarche subbing for Don Adams for Gadget’s weird version of “The 12 Days of Christmas” is similar to Jim Cummings finishing “Be Prepared” for Jeremy Irons in “The Lion King.”

Where’s the camera Penny’s Not Apple Watch uses to see Brain?

Jerry “The King” Lawler entering the 1997 Royal Rumble Match in the middle of a sentence, then finishing it after being eliminated in 4 seconds.

“Disney’s Christmas All-Time Favorites.”

****

📼 Commercials:

Cookie Crisp Cereal Christmas Commercial (1992)

Tinsel Tunes.

****

Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Deck the Halls with Wacky Walls

Mike Westfall — Thu, 09 Jul 2020 04:00:01 -0400

🎄 Join us as we slowly slink sideways back to 1983 to celebrate the time someone literally threw an idea at the wall to see if it would stick.

🎙️ Joey O. returns to talk “Deck the Halls with Wacky Walls,” an animated Christmas special about Wacky WallWalkers. But first, we need to talk about the man behind the WallWalkers, Dr. Fad!

****

💬 Topics & Tangents:

“The Dr. Fad Show.”

Eight ’80s Xmas Specials You Might’ve Forgotten (Dinosaur Dracula, 2015)

X-Entertainment’s preserved 2003 tribute to the Wacky WallWalker.

This isn’t the right Apple Jacks commercial, but I can’t not mention young Julia Stiles scoffing that it doesn’t taste like apples.

Writer Mark Evanier’s blog.

The WallWalkers’ home planet looks like an M.C. Escher painting.

Darryl’s friend, Kenzo, is named after one of Dr. Fad’s sons. His other son married comedian Ali Wong.

The most expensive things we’ve asked for from our parents for Christmas, which pale in comparison to a $1,000 toy car — which, of course, we then look up its adjustment for inflation.

Waxing nostalgic about popcorn garland on Christmas trees.

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📼 Commercials:

Corn Pops Cereal with free Wacky WallWalker inside (1984)

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Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Tale of the Bunny Picnic

Mike Westfall — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 04:00:17 -0400

🐰 Hello, sunshine! Join us for a hop back to Easter 1986 to revisit the Jim Henson special, “The Tale of the Bunny Picnic.”

🎙 Emily Rowley hops into the guest chair for this special, which it turns out is about neither Easter, nor a bunny picnic… but it did introduce the world to Bean Bunny, the Muppets’ Nermal.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Jim Henson’s original intro to this special.

“The Jim Henson Hour.”

Bean Bunny in Muppet*Vision 3D at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Bean was also a late-series addition to “Muppet Babies,” and his picture is on the playroom wall in Disney’s new “Muppet Babies.”

“The Muppet Musicians of Bremen” and its grotesque, full-size Muppet bad guys.

Sweetums in “Tales from Muppetland: The Frog Prince.”

Bean trying to tell the other bunnies to quiet down or the dog will hear them is also the plot of the first act of “Trolls.”

Every Easter Bunny costume is terrifying.

Y’all remember Puffalumps? You do now.

The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta is home to several Muppets from this special, including both Bean and his Dragon Bunny form from his dream sequence.

Carlin Trammel’s video tour of the Center for Puppetry Arts’ Jim Henson exhibit.

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📼 Commercials:

McDonald’s Muppet Babies Holiday Huggables (1988)

The Real Ghostbusters Firehouse Playset, Tombstone Tackle, and X-Cop (1986)

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Find us at adventcalendar.house.

The Real Ghostbusters - Xmas Marks the Spot

Mike Westfall — Sun, 05 Jul 2020 04:00:04 -0400

🎄 It’s another Scrooge Sunday in the Advent Calendar House as we’re swept through a rip in the space-time continuum back to 1986 for a Christmas Carol-themed episode of “The Real Ghostbusters.”

🎙 Tommy Coombs and Chad Young join the adventure after our heroes accidentally save Scrooge from the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

Hey, grown-ups! Remember getting lost while driving when we didn’t all have maps of the entire planet in our pockets?

Scrooge pays the Ghostbusters a mint-condition shilling from 1837, so we looked up its actual value.

You can actually buy Christmas Carol View Master reels from the 1950s online.

Rick and Morty talking about Bill Murray and Lorenzo Music comes up and goes… somewhere.

Egon entering the ghost containment unit looks like the warp tunnel on Space Mountain.

The other ghosts in the containment unit are callbacks to previous episodes, including Sandman, who bears a passing resemblance to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

Santa should not laugh like Megatron.

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📼 Commercials:

Tis the Podcast.

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Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July

Mike Westfall — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 04:00:22 -0400

🎄 Mr. Snowman, I don’t feel so good. Rankin/Bass’s Avengers assemble in the studio’s longest holiday special ever.

🎙️ Brandon Medley returns to marvel at “Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July.” Frosty’s a dad! And Rudolph’s a fake uncle whose nose stops shining at the beginning of this story… but what happens to Frosty and his whole family is even worse.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

King Winterbolt’s genie of the ice scepter, allegedly Thurl Ravenscroft, is the stuff of nightmares.

“The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus” may be the most metal Christmas special, but this is a contender.

Rudolph’s entire story gets retconned into a long play to stop Winterbolt’s foggy Christmas Eve from grounding Santa.

Ethel Merman on “The Muppet Show.”

Scratcher is a great evil reindeer, but we’d like it better if he was Fireball.

A couple of songs were cut for time from TV, including “Chicken Today, Feathers Tomorrow” and “I See Rainbows When I Look at You.”

Walt Disney World’s Candlelight Processional.

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📼 Commercials:

Atari Christmas Commercial, aired during a 1981 ABC Movie Special airing, preserved by the Museum of Classic Chicago Television.

The Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast.

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Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Frosty’s Winter Wonderland

Mike Westfall — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 04:00:09 -0400

🎄 Happy birthday! The Advent Calendar House kicks off a countdown to Christmas in July by setting the table for Rankin/Bass’s eventual epic crossover, starting with “Frosty’s Winter Wonderland,” the “Weird Science” of Christmas specials.

🎙️ Brandon Medley belly-whops in to salute this snowy sequel from 1976 starring a strange, tall goblin claiming to be Andy Griffith.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

A brief guide to finding obsure things on Disney+, like “Melody Time,” starring Dennis Day, (Parson Brown) as Johnny Appleseed.

Barbara Jo Ewing voiced one of the kids in her only known credit, but somehow IMDb knows her height.

We do the math to figure out how far the wind carried a newspaper from Frosty’s hometown to the North Pole.

Frosty beat “The Santa Clause 2” to the “gotta get a wife” plot point by more than 20 years.

Frosty’s “specifications” for his ideal woman are the same as Sir Mix-a-Lot’s.

At what point do snow people become self-aware?

Jack Frost’s “winter that almost didn’t end” foreshadowed the real-life Blizzard of 1977.

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📼 Commercials:

Freezy Freakies (1984)