🎄 Hang on to your hats as we blast back to 1987 to revisit the Filmation space western BraveStarr and its dickens of a backstory. **** 🎙 Guests: Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words With Nerds , @ImGonnaDJ24 ). Sammy Hain ( @SammyHain ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The official BraveStarr YouTube channel . 2. The Fisher-Price Western Town I used as a backdrop for the much larger Bravestarr action figure. 3. Joey’s interview with Pat Fraley (Marshal BraveStarr). 4. This episode uses flashback sc...
Dec 06, 2020•47 min•Season 5Ep. 3
🎄 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. **** 🎙 Guests: Beth Cieslik ( @BethTheObscure ). Adam Jurotich ( The Hourchive ). Donnie Storms ( Bronwen’s Ghost , @boxcar45 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Kermit was cut from the DVD release, but he’s back in the version on Amazon Prime Video . 2. Rugby crashing his skateboard into a block tower is the 1980s Muppet version of WWE’s Titus O’Neil tripp...
Dec 04, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Season 5Ep. 2
🎄 The Advent Calendar House kicks off another Christmas countdown by rewinding back to 1982, when Santa found himself stranded in Pac-Man’s neighborhood in the original video game crash. WARNING: This episode contains spoilers about Santa Claus from 11:25 to 13:30 . **** 🎙 Guests: Lindy ( @ieatvideogames ) and Alicia ( @thinkbluee ), the Sour Puss and Chomp-Chomp to my Pac-Baby. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Santa is flying with 8 reindeer, including Rudolph. Who got the night off? 2. Why ...
Dec 02, 2020•50 min•Season 5Ep. 1
🦃 We end our countdown to Christmas in July by badly dancing back to 1989 to celebrate the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season in Garfield’s Thanksgiving , the clear bronze medalist of Garfield’s holiday trilogy, thanks to Jon Arbuckle going from goofy pet owner to gaslighting, mansplaining, hopelessly inept creep. **** 🎙 Guest: Jeff Somogyi ( Talkin’ Chopp , @sommerjam ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Orson the Pig from U.S. Acres makes a cameo in Liz’s waiting room. 2. The du...
Jul 23, 2020•57 min•Season 4Ep. 12
🎄 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 , entitled Cobra CLAWs Are Coming to Town . **** 🎙 Guest: Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words With Nerds , @ImGonnaDJ24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. We don’t even get 4 minutes into this without talking about the U.S.S. Flagg . 2. Crossfire comes up for no reason. 3. A brief history of the G.I. Joe toy line, from “ America’s Movable Fight...
Jul 21, 2020•40 min•Season 4Ep. 11
🎄 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. **** 🎙 Guests: Michael DiGiovanni ( Classic Film Jerks , Pop Culture Retrofit , @theatomicgeeks ). Michael May ( MichaelMay.online , Sleigh Bell Cinema , Mystery Movie Night , AfterLUNCH , @michaelmaycomix ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. This is specifically an adaptation of a 1956 production on The Alcoa Hour starring Basil Rathbone as Scrooge....
Jul 19, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Season 4Ep. 10
🎄 Sail back to 1981 with us as we dig up Rankin/Bass’s penultimate and possibly most obscure stop-motion Christmas special ever, which may or may not only exist because they had the rights to use Christmas in Killarney and needed someplace to put it. **** 🎙 Guests: Michael DiGiovanni ( Classic Film Jerks , Pop Culture Retrofit , @theatomicgeeks ). Michael May ( MichaelMay.online , Sleigh Bell Cinema , Mystery Movie Night , AfterLUNCH , @michaelmaycomix ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Ken ...
Jul 17, 2020•51 min•Season 4Ep. 9
🎄 Hey, paisanos! Join us as we warp back to 1989 for a double dose of Christmas segments from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show — 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. **** 🎙 Guest: Adam Pope ( Retro-Daze , Retro Detention , The Retro Network , @hojukoolander ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Nintendo Power’s Preview of The Super Mario Bros. Super ...
Jul 15, 2020•52 min•Season 4Ep. 8
🎃 It’s the 13th of July, so it’s time for the Advent Calendar House to unearth one of our favorite Halloween haunts, 1979’s The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t , starring an exceptionally great Judd Hirsch as Count Dracula. **** 🎙 Guest: Tom Coombs ( TPIF: Thank Pod It’s Funny , @ClassicTomedy ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. This was renamed for its VHS release as The Night Dracula Saved the World , except no, he doesn’t. 2. Lyndhurst Mansion plays the role of both Dracula’s castle and the W...
Jul 13, 2020•48 min•Season 4Ep. 7
🎄 Go-go Gadget podcast! It’s time to spring back to 1992 to take Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas in for questioning. **** 🎙 Guest: Chad Young ( The Horror Movie BBQ , @horrormoviebbq ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Nick Knacks , a show-by-show video history of Nickelodeon. 2. Halloween 1992 was the year of white kids dressing like Steve Urkel. 3. Inspector Gadget’s run on Nickelodeon got me into Get Smart on Nick at Nite. 4. The time Chad got an crew jacket from the set of the Inspector ...
Jul 11, 2020•57 min•Season 4Ep. 6
🎄 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. It’s 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. **** 🎙 Guest: Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words With Nerds , @ImGonnaDJ24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The Dr. Fad Show . 2. Eight ’80s Xmas Specials You Might’ve Forgotten , from Din...
Jul 09, 2020•43 min•Season 4Ep. 5
🐰 Hello, sunshine! Join us for a hop back to Easter 1986 to revisit the Jim Henson special, The Tale of the Bunny Picnic — which is about neither Easter, nor a bunny picnic — but it did introduce the world to Bean Bunny, the Muppets’ Nermal. **** 🎙 Guest: Emily Rowley ( @mlerowley ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Jim Henson’s original introduction to The Tale of the Bunny Picnic . 2. The Jim Henson Hour . 3. Bean Bunny is still around at Muppet*Vision 3D in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. 4. B...
Jul 07, 2020•52 min•Season 4Ep. 4
🎄 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 , who accidentally save Scrooge from the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. **** 🎙 Guests: Tom Coombs ( @ClassicTomedy , TPIF: Thank Pod It’s Funny ). Chad “Ecto” Young ( The Horror Movie BBQ , TPIF , @horrormoviebbq ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Hey, grown-ups! Remember getting lost whi...
Jul 05, 2020•44 min•Season 4Ep. 3
🎄 Rankin/Bass’s Avengers assemble in 1979’s Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July . The studio’s longest holiday special ever opens with the shine on Rudolph’s nose blipping out of existence, and what happens to Frosty and his whole family is worse. **** 🎙 Guest: Brandon Medley ( @brandmed , Blessed Are the Geek , Star Weirdos ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Frosty’s a dad! And Rudolph’s a fake uncle! 2. King Winterbolt’s genie of the ice scepter , allegedly Thurl Ravenscroft, is the stu...
Jul 03, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Season 4Ep. 2
🎄 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 , a snowy sequel from 1976 starring a strange, tall goblin claiming to be Andy Griffith. **** 🎙 Guest: Brandon Medley ( @brandmed , Blessed Are the Geek , Star Weirdos ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. A brief guide to finding obsure things on Disney+, like Melody Time , starring Dennis Day, (the voice...
Jul 01, 2020•45 min•Season 4Ep. 1
How do you do, fellow holiday special enthusiasts? The Advent Calendar House has emerged from its slumber in the Mariana Trench a few months early for an important visit to the 30 Rock universe and its celebration of Leap Day. As such, nothing that happens in this episode counts, and we’re just your imaginary friends whom no one else can hear. **** 🎙 Guest: Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words with Nerds , @ImGonnaDJ24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Steve Buscemi, whose name I mispronounce right...
Feb 29, 2020•53 min•Season 3Ep. 14
🎉 It’s a special, post-Christmas bonus episode of the Advent Calendar House as we turn back the years to 1976 and tip our oversized hat hiding our oversized ears to Rankin/Bass’s first sequel special, in which Rudolph has to save the Baby New Year from a big, angry bird. **** 🎙 Guests: Brandon Medley ( @brandmed , Blessed Are the Geek ). Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words with Nerds , @ImGonnaDJ24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Rudolph devolves into a younger-looking reindeer, because the ori...
Dec 30, 2019•45 min•Season 3Ep. 13
🎄 It’s the 50th episode of the Advent Calendar House, so it’s time to address the spotted elephant in the room and tackle the 1964 Christmas special that put Rankin/Bass on the map and into our hearts. **** 🎙 Guests: Brandon Medley ( @brandmed , Blessed Are the Geek ). Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words with Nerds , @ImGonnaDJ24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Is Santa really this big of a jerk or just hangry? 2. The History Channel on the creation of Rudolph . 3. Mashable’s 12 ‘Rudolph the Re...
Dec 24, 2019•57 min•Season 3Ep. 12
🕎 To kick off Hanukkah, we’re shining a light on a 1990 episode of Shalom Sesame , an on-again, off-again co-production of Sesame Street and its Israeli counterpart, Rechov Sumsum , featuring the objectively better son from Growing Pains . **** 🎙 Guest: Sarah Shay ( SarayShay.com , Bandcamp , Pilot House Podcast , @thesarahshay ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. A brief history of Shalom Sesame , provided by the ever-thorough Muppet Wiki. 2. Israel’s Big Bird stand-in, Kippi Ben Kippod , is ...
Dec 22, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Season 3Ep. 11
🎄 On a very wound-up and thrown out into a pile of junk in another dimension episode of the Advent Calendar House, we set our sentient clocks back to 1988 for a one-time-only trip to Tattertown, the holiday brain-child Ralph Bakshi and Nickelodeon’s first-ever original animated TV program. **** 🎙 Guest: Chad Young ( The Horror Movie BBQ , @horrormoviebbq ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Christmas in Tattertown info and sketches from Bakshi Productions . 2. Christmas in Tattertown review on...
Dec 19, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 10
🎄 Every unstoppable monster has a beginning. Squeeze onto the couch as a perfectly cromulent panel of Advent Calendar House regulars celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Simpsons and its series premiere, Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire , or as it was advertised to us in 1989, “The Simpsons’ Christmas Special.” CONTENT WARNING: We briefly discuss Mall Santas and 10-year-olds’ feelings on Mall Santas. **** 🎙 Guests: Brandon Medley ( @brandmed , Blessed Are the Geek ). Erin Evans ( @mserinmeva...
Dec 17, 2019•1 hr 8 min•Season 3Ep. 9
🎄 It’s a very special Scrooge Sunday episode as we nearly-blindly fumble back to 1962 to celebrate TV’s first ever animated Christmas special. **** 🎙 Guests: Anthony Caruso ( @acaruso929 ) and Julia Colburn from Tis the Podcast . **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Jim Backus , the voice of Mister Magoo, based his portrayal of Thurston Howell III from Gilligan’s Island on another character he played on a radio show hosted by another famous future Scrooge, Alan Young . 2. Nephew Fred is cut entir...
Dec 15, 2019•54 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Content Warning: If you usually let your children listen to your podcast feed with you, you may want to get the kids out of the pool for this one as we dive into a very festive, very inappropriate 2002 episode of the Adult Swim cartoon Sealab 2021 to wage war on the Feast of Alvis . **** 🎙 Guests: Zac Shipley ( @zacshipley ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Sealab 2020 , the very different, very boring original 1972 cartoon that serves as the butt of Sealab 2021’s joke. 2. The usual Sealab th...
Dec 13, 2019•41 min•Season 3Ep. 7
🎄 It’s Glo! We learn how to selectively melt only certain ice we’re radiating near with Hasbro’s hive of bioluminescent bugs, the Glo Friends, in their 1985 Christmas special starring Carroll O’Connor as Santa and Sally Struthers as Blanche, the Wicked Witch of the North Pole, who exists and is jealous of Santa’s publicity. Take notes, Great Pumpkin… or, perhaps, don’t. **** 🎙 Guests: Erin Evans ( @mserinmevans ). Joey O. ( @ImGonnaDJ24 , Y-Not Radio , Words With Nerds ). **** 💬 Topics & ...
Dec 11, 2019•45 min•Season 3Ep. 6
🎄 Take a short-statured trip back to 1982 to explore one-off TV Christmas special starring no one’s favorite funny papers hero, Ziggy, and featuring a beautifully animated puddle of dog pee. **** 🎙 Guests: Chad Young ( The Horror Movie BBQ , @horrormoviebbq ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Ziggy’s Gift on Dinosaur Dracula After Dark . 2. The Point , a Harry Nilsson album turned into an animated movie. 3. Ziggy’s toothpaste looks like Beetlejuice sandworms . 4. Ziggy Theories: Is he adult C...
Dec 09, 2019•52 min•Season 3Ep. 5
🎄 Experience Rankin/Bass’s first festive follow-up to Rudolph through our eyes as we explore a 1967 TV special based on Charles Dickens’s other Christmas story. **** 🎙 Guest: Brian Earl ( Christmas Past , @XmasPastPodcast ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The history of legends about crickets on hearths bringing good luck. 2. The Cricket on the Hearth soundtrack . 3. Brian’s Christmas Past episode on Golden Age Christmas TV Cartoons . 4. Christmas TV History’s Joanna Wilson on Rankin/Bass V...
Dec 07, 2019•47 min•Season 3Ep. 4
🎄 Grab an emergency parachute as we dive in to a 1991 TV Christmas special starring Opus the Penguin and Bill the Cat from the comic strip series Bloom County and Outland . **** 🎙 Guests: Erin Evans ( @mserinmevans ). Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words with Nerds , @ImGonnaDJ24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. This is based on a book version you can watch someone read to you on YouTube , if you’d like. 2. Bloom County creator Berkeley Breathed was not happy with this special . He also confirmed...
Dec 05, 2019•54 min•Season 3Ep. 3
🎄 The Advent Calendar House gets overrun by earworms strong enough to burrow into wood as we carve into the 1980 Rankin/Bass Christmas special starring Pinocchio. **** 🎙 Guests: Michael DiGiovanni ( @theatomicgeeks , The Atomic Geeks , Classic Film Jerks , Pop Culture Retrofit ). Michael May ( @michaelmaycomix , MichaelMay.online , Sleigh Bell Cinema , Mystery Movie Night , Nerd Lunch Fourth Chair Army Invasion , and I think that might be it… FOR NOW). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Two son...
Dec 03, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 2
🎄 Season 3 of the Advent Calendar House kicks off with a new regular feature: Scrooge Sunday , celebrating the many adaptations of A Christmas Carol . We begin with Disney’s 1983 featurette, marking the big-screen debut of Scrooge McDuck playing his namesake. **** 🎙 Guests: Lizzie Twachtman ( @thelizzietea , Moorage Thrift House , Random Chatter ). Adam Pope ( @hojukoolander , SequelQuest , 2 Goofs , Retro-Daze , Retro Detention ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Mickey’s Christmas Carol on ...
Dec 01, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 1
🎃 Put out the oars and surrender yourself to the mercy of the rivers of time as they take us back to Garfield’s terrifying 1985 Halloween special. **** 🎙 Guests: Jeff Somogyi ( @sommerjam , Talkin’ Chopp ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Jim Davis wanted ‘Garfield’s Halloween Adventure’ to ‘at least scare 4-year-olds’ (The A.V. Club, 2014). 2. Samples of the comic book adaptation, Garfield in Disguise , from Rotten Ink and Goodwill Hunting 4 Geeks , including even creepier drawings of the o...
Oct 10, 2019•1 hr 21 min•Season 2Ep. 26
