Advent Calendar House

Latest Episodes:

Full-Court Miracle Dec 08, 2023

Show notes

🕎 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).

UVA’s Athletics website circa 2003.

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.

#s11 #2000s #hanukkah #disney

A Mouse, A Mystery, and Me Dec 06, 2023

Show notes

🎄 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.

#s11 #1987 #rubyspears

The Soulmates in The Gift of Light Dec 04, 2023

Show notes

🎄 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)

Remember That Show?

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

#s11 #1990s

Christmastime with Mister Rogers Dec 02, 2023

Show notes

🎄 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)

Dirt Cheap Liquors Chicken Commercial.

Closer to Christmas.

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

#s11 #1970s

Animaniacs - A Christmas Plotz / Little Drummer Warners Nov 01, 2023

Show notes

🎄 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)

Snow in Southtown.

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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.

#s10 #1990s #scroogesunday #warnerbros #nativity

A Flintstones Christmas Carol Jul 23, 2023

Show notes

🎄 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)

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

#s10 #1990s #scroogesunday #hannabarbera #flintstones

ALF - Turkey in the Straw Jul 21, 2023

Show notes

🦃 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.

Is turkey really an aphrodisiac?

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.

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

#s10 #1980s #thanksgiving #alf #puppets

The Little Drummer Boy, Book II Jul 19, 2023

Show notes

🎄 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.

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

#s10 #1970s #rankinbass #nativity

Elmo Saves Christmas Jul 17, 2023

Show notes

🎄 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.

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

#s10 #1990s #muppets #christmaseveryday

It’s Punky Brewster - Christmas in July Jul 15, 2023

Show notes

🎄 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.”

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📼 Commercials:

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

WIZARDS The Podcast Guide to Comics.