🎄 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. Join us as we try to wrap our heads around this Henry Winkler-directed TV movie that gets really weird really quickly. **** 🎙 Guest: April Ryley ( @Where2NextApril , 📸 @motherchristmascosplay ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Dolly Parton Meets the Kids . 2. Muppet doppelgänger Polly Darton . 3. Dolly Parton saved a girl’s life on the set of Christmas on the ...
Dec 18, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 7Ep. 9
🎄 It’s 1995, and I call upon the raging wind and the retired hosts of The Hourchive to send us flying into the Marvel Animated Universe where the X-Men spend an uncanny Christmas in the sewer trying to save a sick Morlock. Join us as we size up the X-Mansion Christmas tree, praise Storm’s fashion sense, and berate her leadership skills. **** 🎙 Guests: Drew Crowley ( Pizzanaut.com , @pizzanautgo , 📸 @gopizzanaut ). John Dedeke ( JohnDedeke.com , @johndedeke , 📸 @gratefuldedeke ). Adam Jurotic...
Dec 16, 2021•1 hr 26 min•Season 7Ep. 8
🎄 It’s 1978, and we’re glued to the TV… whether we like it or not. 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. **** 🎙 Guests: Molly Patton ( MollyPatton.com , @molly_patton , @MoMakesStuffUp ). Adam Pope ( RetroDaze , Wizards: The Podcast Guide to Comics , @hojukoolander ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure and The Greedy . 2. Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog , in example: ...
Dec 14, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 7Ep. 7
🎄 It’s 1978, and celebrities pretending to be ghosts are gaslighting Oscar the Grouch into participating in Christmas. Also, Michael Jackson shows up. This Scrooge Sunday, witness the other Sesame Street Christmas special from 1978, featuring 3 whole, entire Muppets. **** 🎙 Guests: Alan Johnson ( @AlanJ ) from Two Bad Neighbors in the 31st Century , now a Futurama Podcast. Donnie Storms ( @boxcar45 , Bronwen’s Ghost ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Our episode on Christmas Eve on Sesame St...
Dec 12, 2021•1 hr 26 min•Season 7Ep. 6
🎄 It’s 1980, and we’re having a hiccuping fit that can literally move mountains. Join us on a trip back to the World of Filmation for a barely Christmassy Snow White sequel featuring Seven Friendly Giants, each with their own involuntary reflexes. **** 🎙 Guests: Kristi ( @BadPrincessMov ) and Bri ( @wallabri ) from Bad Princess Movies . **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Bad Princess Movies on Happily Ever After . 2. Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation . 3. Cash-grab home videos inc...
Dec 10, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Season 7Ep. 5
🎄 It’s 1988, and we’re staring intensely at the totally nuts series finale of The Care Bears Family , the Care Bears’ last TV appearance for 16 years. **** 🎙 Guests: Lindy Kempe ( @ieatvideogames ). Karen Flieger ( @karenflieger8 , The Retro Network ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The World’s Smallest Tenderheart Bear . 2. Karen’s awesome Nutcracker socks . 3. Abby Hagyard on Twitter (Ms. Walker, and also Mom on You Can’t Do That on Television ). 4. The Wild Puffalumps . 5. Billie Mae Ric...
Dec 08, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Season 7Ep. 4
🕎 It’s 1988, and we’re getting lit at Bubbe’s Boarding House for Hanukkah. Take a spin with us as we meet a bunch of puppets you’ll never hear from again. **** 🎙 Guest: April Ryley ( @Where2NextApril , 📸 @motherchristmascosplay ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. A Simpsons animator designed the puppets for this weird, wonderful ’80s Hanukkah special (Splinter). 2. Caps for Sale . 3. Anton and his Easter Island head. 4. April’s very non-kosher latke recipe. 5. Mayim Bialik explains the lette...
Dec 06, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 7Ep. 3
🎄 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. **** 🎙 Guest: Tim Babb ( Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast , @TimBabbComedian , @ChristmasPod ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Dick Van Dyke as Tubby the Tuba . 2. 8 great little details you never noticed in The Dick Van Dyke Show Christmas episode (MeTV). 3. Every Episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show , Ranked (...
Dec 04, 2021•46 min•Season 7Ep. 2
☃️ It’s 1982, and we’re walking in the air. The Advent Calendar House takes flight for its 7th season as we melt over a British Christmas classic and a personal favorite I wish was more beloved stateside. **** 🎙 Guest: Adam Parker Sibun from the Merry Britsmas Podcast ( @MerryBritsmas ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. New theme song! Thanks, Bronwen’s Ghost ! 2. Merry Britsmas episode on Raymond Briggs . 3. The British Film Institute’s Top 100 British TV Programmes of the 20th Century . 4. T...
Dec 02, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Season 7Ep. 1
🎄 We close out another countdown to Christmas in July with a sleigh ride back to the Stone-Age Year of Our Lord 1977 to watch Santa fall off the roof and a guy who acts like a caveman take over his job. **** 🎙 Guests: Gerry Davila ( Totally Rad Christmas , @RadChristmas ). Sean Sotka ( The Christmas Podcasts Podcast , @xander0527 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Our episode on the Fruity Pebbles Christmas Commercial . 2. I found a Flintstones chronology on, of all places, Flickr. 3. The In...
Jul 23, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Season 6Ep. 12
🦃 We’re talking turkey as we dig up and dig in to a 1983 Thanksgiving special from puppeteer Paul Fusco, the creator of ALF. **** 🎙 Guests: Chad “Ecto” Young ( The Horror Movie BBQ , TPIF: Thank Pod It’s Funny , @horrormoviebbq ). Tom Coombs ( @ClassicTomedy , TPIF ). Jayme Kilsby ( @brainexploderrr ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Imagicom Productions’ Holiday Specials Collection . 2. A Thanksgiving Tale, with curated retro Thanksgiving commercials . 3. The Joker at the 1989 Macy’s Thanks...
Jul 21, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Season 6Ep. 11
🦖 Get your frying pan ready and join us on a journey to what feels like 60 million years ago back to 1991 to observe the most wonderful time of the year for the Jim Henson Company’s Dinosaurs , which by some Fridge Day miracle is the Advent Calendar House’s first TGIF episode. **** 🎙 Guest: Lindy Kempe ( @ieatvideogames ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The Dinosaurs parody on The Simpsons . 2. We go from talking about the Økėÿ Døkęÿ Køøkïñ segment of Muppets Now to Netflix’s Nailed It! 3. ...
Jul 19, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Season 6Ep. 10
🎄 I know what we’re going to podcast about today, so get ready 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. **** 🎙 Guests: Brandon Medley ( @brandmed , @blessedarethegeek ). James Riley ( @yourbuddyspooky ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Ferb) in Love Actually and Star Wars: The Force Awakens . 2. The time James accidentally knocked over Ben Stiller. 3. The Sears Wish Book ...
Jul 17, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Season 6Ep. 9
🎄 It’s Garbage Day! Join us as we look happily deranged back to 1996 to follow Pete and Pete’s brother, Pete, on their mission to keep the Christmas spirit alive for as long as possible, and keep their Christmas tree safe from the evil Garbageman. **** 🎙 Guests: Tom Coombs ( @ClassicTomedy , TPIF: Thank Pod It’s Funny ). Chad “Ecto” Young ( The Horror Movie BBQ , TPIF , @horrormoviebbq ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Michael C. Maronna (Big Pete) in Home Alone , and in a series of Ameritr...
Jul 15, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 8
🎃 It’s spooky time as we wheel our paraphernalia wagon back to 1977 for a Grinch Night we’ll never forget. **** 🎙 Guests: James Riley ( @yourbuddyspooky ). Ethan ( The Hungry Reader , A Special Presentation or ALF Will Not Be Seen Tonight , @TeeAitchAre ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Halloween is Grinch Night on the Dr. Seuss Wiki. 2. The worst, non-candy Halloween treats. 3. Carlton, Your Doorman . 4. This special’s music was by Sesame Street composer Joe Raposo . 5. Hans Conried (The G...
Jul 13, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Season 6Ep. 7
🎄 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. The actually animated segments of the animated series feature Dan Castelleneta as Doc, plus the return of Thomas F. Wilson ( Batman: The Animated Series ) as various Tannens throughout history, and Christmas movie all-s...
Jul 11, 2021•57 min•Season 6Ep. 6
🎄 Take a sleigh ride back to 2014 as the fate of Christmas is in the hands of Murray Weiner (rhymes with diner ), from the hidden hometown of every holiday mascot… but mostly the American ones. **** 🎙 Guests: Michael DiGiovanni ( Classic Film Jerks , Pop Culture Retrofit , @theatomicgeeks ). Donnie Storms ( Bronwen’s Ghost , @boxcar45 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Former Simpsons showrunner Mike Reiss’s original books, How Murray Saved Christmas and Santa Claustrophobia . 2. The trimmed...
Jul 09, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Season 6Ep. 5
🐰 Hop, hop, hop with us 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. **** 🎙 Guests: Alan Johnson ( Two Bad Neighbors – A Simpsons Podcast , Talespin Trivia , @AlanJ ). Emily Rowley (smiling politely, @mlerowley ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The Berenstain Bears’ Easter Surprise on the official YouTube channel. 2. Yes, we all collectively mispronounced “Berenstain.” 3. The VHS cover , for referenc...
Jul 07, 2021•53 min•Season 6Ep. 4
🎄 Tune in as we mysteriously float back to 1983 on an unseasonably warm Christmas adventure through Mexico on a Saturday morning cartoon that lasted a shorter amount of time than the fad it tried to cash in on. **** 🎙 Guest: Gerry Davila ( Totally Rad Christmas , @RadChristmas ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The History of Rubik’s Cube . 2. The theme song by pre-Ricky Martin Menudo. 3. Ángela Moya , the voice of the kids’ mother, played a small but grim part in Gleaming the Cube . 4. An o...
Jul 05, 2021•59 min•Season 6Ep. 3
🎄 By special request, this episode of the official podcast of teaching aliens about Christmas takes you on a domesticated goose chase back to 1977 through the first fully animated feature by Canadian studio Nelvana. **** 🎙 Guest: Jeff Fox ( Name That Christmas Special , @chrspecials ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Jeff’s collection of A Cosmic Christmas music and scanned promotional items . 2. Joanna Wilson’s Christmas TV History . 3. This special got George Lucas’s attention and led to N...
Jul 03, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Season 6Ep. 2
🎄 It’s time for toys and time for cheer as the Advent Calendar House begins another 12-episode countdown to Christmas in July, starting by rewinding at twice the normal speed back to 1981 to revisit the Christmas special that helped kick off the revival of Alvin and the Chipmunks. **** 🎙 Guests: Steven ( Wizards: The Podcast Guide to Comics , @StevenStaples81 ). Sean Sotka ( The Christmas Podcasts Podcast , @xander0527 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Steven’s story of accidentally erasing hi...
Jul 01, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 6Ep. 1
🎄 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. **** 🎙 Guests: Thom Crowe ( Tis the Podcast, @thomcrowe ). Gerry Davila ( Totally Rad Christmas , @RadChristmas ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Watch The Smurfs’ Christmas Special on the official Smurfs YouTube channel . 2. We want to try Greedy Smurf’s cauldron of pink pudding. 3. My son thinks the king of Hyrule is Santa. ...
Dec 24, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Season 5Ep. 12
🎄 10 years after The Simpsons debuted, Matt Groening presented this misheard but not forgotten doggie treat from 1999. **** 🎙 Guests: Erin Evans ( @mserinevans ). Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words With Nerds , @imgonnadj24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The Making of Olive, the Other Reindeer . 2. PaRappa the Rapper . 3. Mr. Lunch Takes a Plane Ride , the first book by Olive creators Vivian Walsh and J. Otto Seibold. 4. The Goonies II . 5. Jay Mohr in Camp Wilder . 6. Famous mondegreens and ...
Dec 22, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Season 5Ep. 11
🎄 Venture into the uncanny valley on a trip back to 2009 to rewatch Disney’s motion capture nightmare starring 4 Jim Carreys, 3 Gary Oldmans, 2 Robin Wrights, and a Cary Elwes in a pear shape. **** 🎙 Guest: Matt Weiland ( Matt’s Dream Destinations , @DinnahDawg ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Respect to a Disney movie that jumps from a storybook opening to a corpse’s face. 2. Despite being the 5th highest grossing Christmas movie as of 2020, this is also one of history’s biggest box-offic...
Dec 20, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Season 5Ep. 10
🎄 We’re skating on thin ice back to 1993 for a very educational trip to Bluffington in an episode of Doug that I forgot was a Christmas episode I was watching for the podcast. **** 🎙 On This Episode: Greg Stevens ( Pop Arena , Nick Knacks , @pop_arena ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Disney’s Doug was fine, y’all. 2. Doug creator Jim Jinkins worked on Nickelodeon’s first show, Pinwheel . 3. Early versions of Doug in a bumper for USA Network and a PSA for Florida Grapefruit Juice narrated b...
Dec 18, 2020•58 min•Season 5Ep. 9
🎄On this episode of the official holiday podcast for people who hate all humans — which, in 2020, is most of us — we 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 . **** 🎙 Guests Brandon Medley ( @brandmed , Star Weirdos ). Michael May ( MichaelMay.online , Sleigh Bell Cinema , AfterLUNCH , Mystery Movie Night , @michaelmaycomix ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. This was Romeo Muller’s favorite Christmas spec...
Dec 16, 2020•54 min•Season 5Ep. 8
⚠️ CONTENT WARNING: This podcast discusses a 1960 episode of The Jack Benny Program in which a character shoots himself offscreen. 🎄 Join 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. **** 🎙 Guest: Guy Hutchinson ( GuyHutchinson.com , Drunk On Disney Podcast , @GuyHutchinson ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The Television Academy Foundation’s page on Jack Benny’s Christmas...
Dec 14, 2020•54 min•Season 5Ep. 7
🎄 We’re responsibly deforesting our way back to 1980 to dig up the first appearance of early Disney Channel imports The Raccoons and the greedy Cyril Sneer. **** 🎙 On This Episode: Michael DiGiovanni ( Classic Film Jerks , Pop Culture Retrofit , @theatomicgeeks ). Christian Nielsen ( Pop Culture Retrofit , @hunkburger ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. This special and an accompanying story album were narrated by Rich Little , a “Man of a Thousand Voices,” in his own, regular voice. 2. The v...
Dec 12, 2020•57 min•Season 5Ep. 6
🕎 Tune in as we noisily snowmobile back to 1995 to try and figure out what everyone’s yelling about in Nickelodeon’s first Hanukkah special, created by Marc Weiner and his puppets who can’t stop screaming. **** 🎙 Guest: April Ryley ( @Where2NextApril ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. We watched this videotaped original broadcast of The Weinerville Chanukah Special , complete with commercials. 2. Weinerville.com is alive and well in 2020. 3. Marc Weiner went on to be the voice of Swiper the ...
Dec 10, 2020•54 min•Season 5Ep. 5
🎄 It’s time to catch a last-minute flight to the North Pole and do the monkey with me back to 2001 for a well-deserved punch in the face that’s a little bit rock ’n’ roll. **** 🎙 Guest: James Riley ( @yourbuddyspooky ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. ’Twas the Night , a 1997 Johnny Bravo segment which this special accounts for in the show’s continuity… sort of. 2. Larry & Steve , Seth MacFarlane’s proto- Family Guy short film before from before he worked as a Johnny Bravo staff writer. ...
Dec 08, 2020•54 min•Season 5Ep. 4
