Advent Calendar House - TV Holiday & Christmas Specials

🎄It’s 1982, and I’m trapped at sea while Mickey Rooney butts into everyone’s conversation.  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.  ****  🎙 Guests:Guy Hutchinson (Pointless Nostalgia, GuyHutchinson.com)  William Bruce West (West Week Ever, Remember That Show?)  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:1. “The Christmas Presence” on Paramount+, Pluto TV, and Facebook.  2. Sesame Street’s Love Boat parody and “Song of Ten.”  3. Guy on the history of the Lacoste Crocodile.  4. “Brady Bunch” references: Maureen McCormick can’t stop getting hit in the face , and Mrs. Brady gets her voice back.  5. What’s in Santa Stubing’s bag: Stadium Checkers, a Jeep Honcho model truck, and more.  ****  📼 Commercial Break:Toys “R” Us featuring the E.T. Atari 2600 Game (1982)  Remember That Show?  ****  “The Love Boat” and “The Christmas Presence” © 1982 The Love Boat Company.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄It’s 1988, and the Spirit of Christmas just broke down my bedroom door to say hello.  This edition of Scrooge Sunday 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.  ****  🎙 Guest:  Jack Ford (Total Christmas Podcast)  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  1. “Blackadder’s Christmas Carol” on Vimeo.  2. Tony Robinson’s “Christmas Wrapping” and the Total Christmas Podcast episode on it.  3. How have I never heard of humbug candies?  4. “A Merry Messy Kweznuz.”  5. A deleted scene.  6. Miriam Margolyes (Queen Victoria) in “Little Shop of Horrors.”  7. Jim Broadbent (Prince Albert) as Santa in an Aldi Christmas ad.  8. “The Last of Scrooge,” and Jack’s review of it.  9. The cast of “Grange Hill” sings “Just Say No.”  10. Dennis Lill (Beadle) in “Batman” (1989).  11. Spitting Image and “The Chicken Song.”  12. Merry Britsmas on “A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong.”  ****  📼 Commercial Break:  BBC1 Intro to “Blackadder’s Christmas Carol” (1988)  Barclaycard: “Surveillance” (1995), starring Rowan Atkinson.  Festive Foreign Film Fans.  ****  “Blackadder’s Christmas Carol” © 1988 BBC.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄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.  From the makers of “ReBoot” and Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” music video comes Barbie’s first feature-length movie, complete with motion capture of the New York City Ballet, revolutionary hair animation, and Tim Curry as an extra sassy Mouse King.  ****  🎙 Guests:Kristi and Bri from Bad Princess Movies.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:1. “Barbie and the Nutcracker” on the Internet Archive.  2. Bad Princess Movies on “Barbie in The Nutcracker.”  3. Motion capture footage of the New York City Ballet.  4. Oops, we went on multiple Zelda tangents about Majora’s Mask and the Song of Storms.  5. It’s usually not a good sign when you find a doll on the ground in a destroyed village.  6. Of course there’s a toy of Marzipan the horse (no relation to the Marzipan with the answering machine).  7. Today’s TV Trope: Literal Cliffhanger.  8. Do the Great Lakes freeze over?  9. Mod Hair Ken and his stick-on facial hair.  10. Barbie eyes new horizons (BBC News, 2001).  ****  📼 Commercial Break:Barbie in the Nutcracker My Size Sugarplum Princess (2001)  “A Very Zelda Christmas,” by DarkNuck, on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube.  ****  “Barbie in The Nutcracker” © 2001 Mattel, Inc.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄It’s 1984, and Santa’s in front of a firing squad because his executioner didn’t appreciate the socks he got last Christmas.  The slime is an extra festive shade of green in this 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.”  ****  🎙 Guests:Shawn Robare (Plastic Rocket Pop, Cult Film Club, Wolfman’s Got Nards)  Steven (UFO Club, The Bigfoot Club)  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:1. Watch the Christmas episode on Facebook.  2. Shawn’s piece of the Prevert Family’s living room wallpaper.  3. Nick Knacks on “You Can’t Do That on Television.”  4. Mike pitches a sequel to “Santa Claus: The Movie” on SequelQuest (2020).  5. “UFO Kidnapped,” a TV pilot featuring much of the same cast of kids.  6. Les Lye as Professor Coldheart in “The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings.”  7. How we’ve fielded the question of Santa’s one-night flight.  8. Abby Hagyard (Mom) on YouTube.  9. Ice Cream Dolls, The Visible Man, and the G.I. Joe Motorized Battle Tank.  10. Calvin and Hobbes makes the same “Santa wants beer” joke.  ****  📼 Commercial Break:“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.  ****  “You Can’t Do That on Television” © 1984 Carleton Productions.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄It’s 1995, and Robert Downey Jr. may or may not be holding Kermit the Frog hostage until he gets his perfect Christmas tree.  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. Also starring shy butler Leslie Nielsen, homesick Swedish maid Stockard Channing, and a pre-Bobo Bobo the Bear.  ****  🎙 Guests:Anthony Strand (ToughPigs.com, Movin’ Right Along, Bluesky)  Tim Babb (Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast)  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:1. Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree: 1995 broadcast with commercials.  2. Muppet Wiki entry.  3. The original book.  4. An odd TV promo featuring Brian Cummings’ Kermit the Frog impression.  5. Kermit and Miss Piggy’s music video of “She Drives Me Crazy,” featuring Leslie Nielsen.  6. Movin’ Right Along talks Kermit: Unpigged.  7. The Sesame Street Muppets on “The West Wing” with Stockard Channing.  8. Mama and Papa Bear are Beth from “The Muppets Take Manhattan” and the future Bobo from “Muppets Tonight.”  9. “Jim Henson’s Animal Show” on Owls… and Humans.  10. Sandra Bullock plays the glass harp in “Miss Congeniality.”  11. An Oreo commercial where a mall Santa takes off his beard way too quickly.  ****  📼 Commercial Break:Dizzy Grizzlies and Ritz Air Crisps (1995)  “Santa in His Own Words,” a book by North Pole Radio’s Matt Spaulding.  ****  “Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree” © 1995 Jim Henson Productions, Inc.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄It’s 1992, and there’s no such thing as Buster Bunny.  The Advent Calendar House wraps 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.  ****  🎙 Guests:  Adam Pope (Geekster, YouTube, Remember That Show?)  William Bruce West (West Week Ever, Remember That Show?)  Chad Young (The Horror Movie BBQ)  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  1. I found this special hiding in a 4-hour Christmas special compilation on the Internet Archive.  2. “Meet the Tiny Toons” in the special edition magazine “Bugs Bunny: He’s 50, Folks” (1990).  3. “The Chipmunks Go to the Movies.”  4. 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.”  5. John Kassir (who voices Buster in this episode) as the Crypt-Keeper in RD’s Retro Detention Halloween Specials in 2019 and 2023.  6. Today’s TV Trope: Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal.  7. Jacoby & Meyers and a 2-minute-long tangent about personal injury lawyer commercials.  8. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s upcoming role as Santa in “The Man with the Bag.”  9. American Express Commercials with Mel Blanc and Jim Davis.  10. Bugs Bunny may have been voiced by an uncredited Noel Blanc, Mel’s son, for a single line at the end.  ****  📼 Commercial Break:  Godzilla: The Series Promo (1998)  Toy Story: Holiday TV Spot (1995)  ****  “Tiny Toon Adventures” and “It’s a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special” © 1992 Warner Bros.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄It’s 1990… or 1962… and a quantum physicist forgot to powder his boss’s underwear.  This Scrooge Sunday edition of the Advent Calendar House involves 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.  * CONTENT WARNING: This episode briefly discusses the death of actor Charles Rocket and the would-be death of his Scrooge-like character, Michael Blake.  ****  🎙 Guests:  Erin Evans (@mserinevans).  Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, @imgonnadj24).  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  1. Episode guide on Al’s Place.  2. A Christmas story from the Quantum Leap comic: “He Knows If You’ve Been Bad or Good.”  3. Charles Rocket drops an F-bomb on “Saturday Night Live.”  4. “Bringing in the Sheaves” on “The Simpsons” and “Batman” (1966).  5. Polish Christmas desserts piernik and makowiec.  6. Al’s Ghost of Christmas Future costume looks more like Jacob Marley mixed with the Ghost of Christmas Past from “Scrooged.”  7. Goldie Wilson III from “Back to the Future Part II.”  ****  📼 Commercial Break:  Squarbles (circa 1987).  Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast.  ****  “Quantum Leap” and “A Little Miracle” © 1990 Universal City Studios, Inc.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🦃 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.  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.  ****  🎙 Guests:  Ethan (The Hungry Reader, A Special Presentation or ALF Will Not Be Seen Tonight, Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head)  Sammy Hain (Sammy’s Easter Tails)  Tony Whitaker (@muppetdude, Muppet Wiki)  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  1. Watch “Turkey Hollow” on Disney+.  2. ToughPigs.com Behind the Scenes of Turkey Hollow.  3. Muppet Wiki on this special, Jim Henson’s original concept, and the 2014 graphic novel.  4. Some prototype musical monsters: An early Grover, Snerf, and the Rock and Roll Monster.  5. Director Kirk Thatcher in “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.”  6. On-set interviews with Ludacris, Lisa Henson, and Alice Dinnean.  7. Hope you like Beets.  8. Today’s TV Tropes: When You Coming Home, Dad? and Hollywood Law.  9. Station from “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.”  10. “Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge.”  11. Jason Hopley’s (Zorp) IMDb profile picture is from “Goosebumps.”  12. Lewis, Target’s Halloween Ghoul.  13. Homer Simpson eating potato chips on the space shuttle.  ****  📼 Commercial Break:  AT&T “Turkey” Commercial (2008)  TGI Podcast, diving into holiday episodes from TGIF and more.  ****  “Turkey Hollow” © 2015 The Jim Henson Company, Inc.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1992, and my daydreams of snow are melting into a bucket of water getting dumped on my head from an airplane.  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.  ****  🎙 Guests:  Channel KRT:  Kit Quinn (@missi0nbreakout, Letterboxd)  Randee Martin (@NeonTailzz, YouTube)  Tyler Green (@TylerFG, Bluesky, The Mask: Gone Viral)  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  1. Watch “Christmas in Wonderland” on Disney+, or this copy with a commercial bumper in front of it.  2. Channel KRT on the episodes “Pie Noon” and “Wonderland: The Movie.”  3. “White Rabbits Can’t Jump,” an unaired episode guest starring O.J. Simpson.  4. One Movie Later: Alice Through the Looking Glass.  5. Deadline’s obituary for Armelia McQueen (The Red Queen) uses a photo from this special.  6. Armelia McQueen on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and… “The Fesh Pince of Blair.”  7. Patrick Richwood (White Rabbit) lied to the casting director about knowing how to rollerblade.  8. Cast members on The Tiara Talk Show.  9. The Christmas Pickle.  10. Harry Waters Jr. (Tweedle Dee) in “Back to the Future,” and Wesley Mann (Caterpillar) in “Part II.”  ****  📼 Commercial Break:  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.  ****  “Adventures in Wonderland” and “Christmas in Wonderland” © 1992 The Walt Disney Company.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1988, the monsters under my bed are real, and they’re stealing Christmas.  Follow 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.  ****  🎙 Guest:  Ethan (The Hungry Reader, A Special Presentation or ALF Will Not Be Seen Tonight, Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head)  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  1. Watch “Pillow People Save Christmas” on YouTube.  2. Pillow People on the toy collectors’ website Ghost of the Doll.  2. Toot Sweet Toys, or what’s left of it.  3. TV listing in New York magazine, November 1988.  4. Victor DiMattia (Billy) on filming “The Sandlot.”  5. Window Rattler as seen on “Full House.”  6. The Who Cares Bears.  7. Today’s TV Trope: Introdump, example: the worst Rob Liefeld drawing.  8. 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.”  9. The Far Side: “…He’s taking it with him!”  10. 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.”  ****  📼 Commercial Break:  Pillow People: Pillow Valley Commercial (1988)  Holidays After Dark, exploring the strange, unusual, and dark sides of the holidays.  ****  “Pillow People Save Christmas” © 1988 TMS Entertainment, Inc.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎃 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.  Before Harry Potter, there was “The Worst Witch,” which was adapted into a TV Halloween special starring a young Fairuza Balk, Dianna Rigg, Charlotte Rae in a dual role, and Tim Curry in the trippiest ’80s music video.  ****  🎙 Guests:  Becca Petunia (ToughPigs.com, Hubba-Wha?!)  Lindy Kempe (@ieatvideogames.bsky.social)  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  1. Watch “The Worst Witch” on the Internet Archive.  2. Find “The Worst Witch” book at your local library.  2. St. Michael’s College is for sale.  3. Pam Jones (Donna) — formerly Kate Buckley before another actress took that name while she was on hiatus — is now a ceramic artist.  4. The kitten ceremony background music sounds kind of like Zelda’s Lullaby.  5. Mildred and Ethel’s rivalry gave us “Owl House” vibes.  6. Toonces the Driving Cat.  7. One student is a future Teletubby!  8. Becca on Movin’ Right Along discussing Tim Curry singing in “Muppet Treasure Island.”  9. Both Tim Curry and Sebastian from “The Little Mermaid” sing “begin the Beguine.”  10. Tim Curry in “Red Alert 3.”  11. Other “Worst Witch” TV adaptations, including a college spinoff and a Netflix series.  ****  📼 Commercial Break:  Carvel Halloween Ice Cream Cakes Commercial (1986)  Hyrule Podcasters, an audio “Let’s Play” through The Legend of Zelda.  ****  “The Worst Witch” © 1986 Central Independent Television Plc.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 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.  Join the original Broadway cast of “Annie” as somewhere in between themselves and their characters in a unique TV Christmas special which may very well have been many TV viewers’ first exposure to the musical.  ****  🎙 Guest:  Guy Hutchinson (Pointless Nostalgia, GuyHutchinson.com).  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  1. Watch “The Annie Christmas Show” on the Internet Archive.  2. The original Broadway version of “Annie” ends on Christmas; the 1982 movie ends on the 4th of July.  3. Andrea McArdle in “Christmas at Walt Disney World.” (Full Episode)  4. Danielle Brisbois (Molly) in “All in the Family,” and she was a founding member of the band New Radicals.  5. “It’s Christmas” on the Annie 30th Anniversary Production Cast Recording, featuring multiple Annies and Miss Hannigans.  6. “I Don’t Care” in “In the Good Old Summertime” and “Back to the Future: The Game.”  7. “There’s a Broken Heart for Every Light on Broadway” in “Bullets Over Broadway.”  8. Today’s TV Trope: I Have a Family.   9. Ethel Merman sings “Tomorrow” in “A Special Sesame Street Christmas.” (Full Episode)  10. How The Twelve Days of Christmas’ days 9 through 12 got reordered.  11. Members of the cast reunited in 2019 to perform this Christmas special.  ****  📼 Commercial Break:  Kinney Shoes (1977)  Fotomat (1977)  Festive Foreign Film Fans, a podcast covering festive movies and music from around the world.  ****  “The Annie Christmas Show” © 1977 Martin Charmin Productions / NBC Universal Network.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 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. It’s “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.”  ****  🎙 Guest:  Dan MacPherson (@danmacpherson.bsky.social)  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  1. Watch “Around the World with Dot” on YouTube (Aussie Kids TV).  2. But you may want to watch “Dot and the Kangaroo” first.  3. 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…?”  4. Barbara Frawley (Dot) singing “The Black Cat” on “Play School.”  5. Today’s TV Trope: Magical Homeless Person.  6. “Sakura Sakura,” which I recognized from Punch-Out!!  7. How a White Lie Gave Japan KFC for Christmas. (Gastro Obscura)  8. “The Real World of the Circus” opens similarly to the movie “Chaplin.”  9. Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.  10. “Alouette” is about plucking the feathers off a lark.  ****  📼 Commercial Break:  Mortein “Louie the Fly” Commercial (1980s)  Myer “Celebrate Christmas” Commercial (1980s)  Bad Princess Movies, a catalogue of terrible movies about princesses and princesses-to-be. ****  “Dot and the Kangaroo” © 1981 Yoram Gross Filmstudio Pty Ltd.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🐰 It’s 2004, and a stuffed toy rabbit voluntold me to clean his house.  The Advent Calendar House celebrates 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.  ****  🎙 Guests:  Sammy Hain (Sammy’s Easter Tails)  Matt Spaulding (North Pole Radio, Two Broke Geeks)  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  1. Watch “Springtime with Roo” on Disney+.  2. Ads from the 2004 DVD, plus a video of some dude walking through the menu screen.  3. Why do Christopher Robin’s toys have American accents?  4. John Fiedler (Piglet) in “The Golden Girls” and “12 Angry Men.”  5. “Christmas in the Stars,” the Star Wars Christmas album.  ****  📼 Commercial Break:  Sears Video Game Arcade Christmas Sale (1983)  ****  “Winnie the Pooh” and “Springtime with Roo” © 2004 Disney Enterprises, Inc.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1983, and my emotional support jack-in-the-box is not providing much help for my Imposter Syndrome.  Prepare 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!  ****  🎙 Guests:  Tom Coombs (The Pop Daddy)  Jayme Kilsby (Forever Bogus Podcast)  Chad Young (The Horror Movie BBQ)  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  1. Watch “Santa’s Magic Toy Bag” on Tubi.  2. Sherman looks like A Gnome Named Gnorm.  3. The hot dog puppet from “Funland.”  4. The History of the Nickelodeon Hotel (Defunctland).  5. The keeper of Santa’s Magic Toy Bag reminds me of the presidential designated survivor.  6. Superman impales some jerk’s truck on a telephone pole in “Man of Steel.”  7. Cracked: We Ruined Santa With Math.  ****  📼 Commercial Break:  Sears Video Game Arcade Christmas Sale (1983)  The Studio Demands It!, a podcast that recreates, reimagines, or flat out fixes existing film franchises when a hypothetical studio demands more films.  ****  “Santa’s Magic Toy Bag” © 1983 Imagicom Productions, Inc.   Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.