Advent Calendar House

Latest Episodes:

Family Ties - A Keaton Christmas Carol Jul 03, 2022

Show notes

🎄 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)

The Christmas Alphabet Podcast.

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

#s8 #1980s #scroogesunday

The Bells of Fraggle Rock Jul 01, 2022

Show notes

🎄 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.

#s8 #1980s #muppets

Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town Dec 24, 2021

Show notes

🎅 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.

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💬 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.

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📼 Commercials:

Folgers Coffee: Peter Comes Home for Christmas (1982)

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

#s7 #1970s #rankinbass

Hey Arnold! - Arnold’s Christmas Dec 22, 2021

Show notes

🎄 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.

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💬 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)

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📼 Commercials:

Talkboy Voice Recorder from “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.”

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

#s7 #1990s #nickelodeon

Mr. T and Emmanuel Lewis in A Christmas Dream Dec 20, 2021

Show notes

🎄 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.

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💬 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.

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📼 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.

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

#s7 #1980s

A Smoky Mountain Christmas Dec 18, 2021

Show notes

🎄 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.

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💬 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)

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📼 Commercials:

Dollywood Commercial (1988)

Christmas Clatter.

Santa by the Minute.

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

#s7 #1980s

X-Men - Have Yourself a Morlock Little X-Mas Dec 16, 2021

Show notes

🎄 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.

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💬 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.

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📼 Commercials:

The Uncanny X-Men ToyBiz Action Figures.

Lit for Christmas.

“The Christmas Book: The Ultimate Guide to Your Favorite Holiday” by Ed Daly.
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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Find us at adventcalendar.house.

#s7 #1990s #marvel

Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Great Santa Claus Caper Dec 14, 2021

Show notes

🎄 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.

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“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.”

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📼 Commercials:

1978 M&M’s Christmas Commercial.

A Cozy Christmas.

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

#s7 #1970s #chuckjones

A Special Sesame Street Christmas Dec 12, 2021

Show notes

🎄 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.

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💬 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.

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📼 Commercials:

Sesame Place (1984)

Kringle Talks Kristmas.

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

#s7 #1970s #scroogesunday #muppets

A Snow White Christmas Dec 10, 2021

Show notes

🎄 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.

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💬 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.

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📼 Commercials:

Barbie Dreamhouse (1982)