💝 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we visited the Easter Bunny’s underground nightmare factory in “ The Berenstain Bears’ Easter Surprise .” This time, it’s 1982, and love and hockey are in the air as Brother Bear gets stalked by a secret admirer, and his Papa’s public displays of affection send him into orbit. **** 🎙 Guest: Gerry Davila ( Totally Rad Christmas ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Watch “The Berenstain Bears’ Comic Valentine” on YouTube . 2. The Broad Street Bullies . ...
Jul 03, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 10Ep. 2
🎄 It’s the Advent Calendar House’s 10th season, and to celebrate, every episode is revisiting familiar faces and places already covered on the podcast. Previously, we spent Christmas with the Joker in “Batman: The Animated Series.” This time, we’re on a festive tour of Gotham City through the Joker’s hideously redrawn eyes in the 1997 premiere of the redesigned, rebranded “New Batman Adventures.” **** 🎙 Guests: Andre Bennett ( Cult Cinema Cloister , Philadelphia Championship Rock Paper Scissor...
Jul 01, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Season 10Ep. 1
🎄 It’s 2002, and we’re trapped in a horrifying world where Kermit the Frog doesn’t exist. Join us for a spectacular, spectacular Christmas Eve extravaganza starring Kermit in the George Bailey role of the Muppets’ perfectly silly take on “It’s a Wonderful Life,” also featuring Joan Cusack, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, the cast of “Scrubs,” and Whoopi Goldberg as God, Herself. **** 🎙 Guests: Lindy Kempe ( @ieatvideogames , 📸 @pinkmedley ). Adam Jurotich ( The Ambassadors of Harmony , 📸 @a...
Dec 24, 2022•2 hr•Season 9Ep. 12
🎄 It’s 2012, and I found a 60-year-old tangerine under a floorboard in my bedroom that’s the perfect size for a snowman’s nose… or is it? Join us for another walk in the air back to 2012 for the charming sequel to the British Christmas classic, “The Snowman,” by the now-late Raymond Briggs. **** 🎙 Guest: Adam Parker Sibun ( Merry Britsmas ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. I finally got a copy of the original Raymond Briggs book ! 2. UK Christmas’s “The Snowman” TV listing history . 3. Raymo...
Dec 22, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 9Ep. 11
🕎 It’s 1998, and we’re praying for a miracle after getting stuck in a snow bank on the side of a dark highway with only an eighth of a tank of gas. Join us on an enlightening revisit to the Flashy Girl from Flushing on her first Hanukkah as a married woman. Also, Ray Charles is here! **** 🎙 Guest: April Ryley ( @Where2NextApril ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Watch “The Hanukkah Story” on Facebook . 2. April visits the Sheffield residence , and so can you . 3. Fran Drescher in “UHF.” 4. F...
Dec 20, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 9Ep. 10
🎄 It’s 2016, and a Scrooge-like unicorn is brewing a potion to eliminate Hearth’s Warming Eve from the calendar. That’s how potions work, right? Join us for a Scrooge Sunday canter through a “Christmas Carol” adaptation set in Equestria, the world of “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.” **** 🎙 Guests: Jon and Bin ( Bin’s Toy Bin , Santa by the Minute ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Watch “A Hearth’s Warming Tail” on YouTube. 2. Mike on Santa by the Minute . 3. The first My Little Pony s...
Dec 18, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 9Ep. 9
🎄 It’s 1973, and a musical cricket is about to save the Christmas spirit during New York City’s quietest power failure. Join us for a one-cat open sleigh ride into Chuck Jones’s beautifully animated sequel to “The Cricket in Times Square.” **** 🎙 Guest: Michael DiGiovanni ( Pop Culture Retrofit , Classic Film Jerks , @TheyCallMeDiGio ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. A very insightful Letterboxd review . 2. Name That Christmas Special’s screenshot gallery for this special. 3. Today’s TV Tro...
Dec 16, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 9Ep. 8
🎄 It’s 1970 by way of 1990, and I just noticed the Santa Claus at the mall is actually my gym teacher. Join us on a revealing trip back to The Wonder Years as we salute Robert Picardo’s standout performance as Coach Cutlip… and Santa. **** 🎙 Guest: Andy Gattis ( Straight Chilling , AndyGattis.com ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Joe Cocker’s version of “With a Little Help from My Friends” over the opening credits was replaced for streaming with a soundalike , only they don’t sound alike. 2...
Dec 14, 2022•53 min•Season 9Ep. 7
🎄 It’s 1997, and Tim Curry as an evil pipe organ is literally bringing down the house. Join us as we journey into the depths of Disney’s direct-to-video library for an unnecessary but charming midquel that explains why the Beast hates Christmas and raises even more questions about the curse on his castle. **** 🎙 Guests: Kristi ( @BadPrincessMov ) and Bri ( @wallabri ) from Bad Princess Movies . **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Bad Princess Movies on Disney’s original “ Beauty and the Beast ” ...
Dec 12, 2022•1 hr 49 min•Season 9Ep. 6
🎄 It’s 1975, and a shepherd boy just lost his sight after staring directly at a lightning bolt. Join us as we return to enchanted world of Rankin/Bass Christmas specials for an overlooked, underrated, and redundantly titled hidden gem about neither the first Christmas, nor the first Christmas snow. **** 🎙 Guest: Mike Troxell ( @Prune_Tracy , Mastodon: PruneTracy@sharetron.com ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Vox’s Emily St. James ranks all the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials . 2. A very bri...
Dec 10, 2022•49 min•Season 9Ep. 5
🎄 It’s 1990, and a little girl’s Christmas wish is about to get shot out of the sky. Join us for the podcast’s first voyage into the Disney Afternoon as Baloo the cargo pilot bear attempts to save his boss’s daughter’s belief in Santa. **** 🎙 Guest: Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words With Nerds , @imgonnadj24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Joey’s Christmas TV lineup that he wrote on a piece of paper around 1991 and found again 30 years later. 2. The TaleSpin/Quantum Leap joke. 3. Disney’s “Th...
Dec 08, 2022•50 min•Season 9Ep. 4
🎄 It’s 1979, and no one wants to go to Pat Boone’s lame Christmas party, but we hope you’ll accept our invitation to discover this bizarre but wholesome special featuring the Hudson Brothers, the stars of “The Ropers” as themselves but also still as the Ropers, and a criminally brief appearance by Yogi Bear and his Hanna-Barbera friends. **** 🎙 Guest: Guy Hutchinson ( GuyHutchinson.com , Drunk on Disney ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Watch the Pat Boone and Family Christmas Special on Tu...
Dec 06, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 9Ep. 3
🎄 It’s 1971, and Alastair Sim is delivering an even more animated performance as Scrooge. Join us as we invade your personal space for salute an animated adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” that bent the rules and became the last TV special to win an Oscar, directed by Richard Williams and executive produced by Chuck Jones. **** 🎙 Guests: Michael May ( MichaelMay.online , AfterLUNCH ). Rob Graham ( AfterLUNCH , @spidey004 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Michael May’s Christmas Carol Project...
Dec 04, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 9Ep. 2
🎄 It’s the Advent Calendar House’s 5th anniversary, so instead of celebrating one Christmas special, we watched three! Clear the runway as we salute Disney’s trilogy of 2009’s “Prep & Landing,” 2010’s “Operation: Secret Santa,” and 2011’s “Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice.” SANTA SPOILER WARNING: This episode contains Santa-adjacent spoilers from 1:24:28 to 1:26:49 . **** 🎙 Guests: Jeff Somogyi (Linktree: @sommerjam ). Paxton Holley ( Cavalcade of Awesome , Cult Film Club , Hellbent fo...
Dec 01, 2022•2 hr 31 min•Season 9Ep. 1
🎄 November 1st is Christmas Podcast Day! I don’t make the rules; I just use the hashtag. So join us as on a very important mission to dig up the original animated adventures of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in a 1948 short film that predates the song. You can follow #ChristmasPodcastDay on Facebook , Instagram , and Twitter . And probably TikTok , but I’m not on that. **** 🎙 Guests: Gerry Davila ( Totally Rad Christmas , @RadChristmas ). Matt Spaulding ( North Pole Radio ). **** 💬 Topics &am...
Nov 01, 2022•54 min•Season 8Ep. 13
🎄 It’s 1997, and we couldn’t decide which holiday to end the season with, so we’re celebrating them all. Pack up your accordion and join us on a journey 20 miles below the surface of the Earth to the very Pee-wee’s Playhouse -like split-level cave of “Weird Al” Yankovic as he learns to listen to his friends and family. **** 🎙 Guests: Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words With Nerds , @imgonnadj24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Weirdle , the “Weird Al”-themed offshoot of Heardle, the music-themed...
Jul 23, 2022•1 hr•Season 8Ep. 12
🦃 It’s 1983, and we’re spending Thanksgiving in July at the Saturday Supercade. Join us as we take a cue from Q*bert and pals and try to stay on topic as they learn how to build a Q home in a Q land. **** 🎙 Guests: Chad Young ( The Horror Movie BBQ , TPIF: Thank Pod It’s Funny , @horrormoviebbq ). Tom Coombs ( The Pop Daddy , @thepopdaddy ). Jayme Kilsby ( @brainexploderrr ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. We all tried to remember who brought up the Q*bert special last year while talking ab...
Jul 21, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Season 8Ep. 11
🎄 It’s 1992, and a group of 30-year-old teenagers are on a bus trip to their doom unless an angel in training can convince her supervisor they’re worth saving. Join us for a very strange and very special visit to America’s most famous ZIP code in our first adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life , even though this episode seems to have forgotten to actually adapt it. **** 🎙 Guest: Ed Daly ( The Christmas Book: The Ultimate Guide to Your Favorite Holiday , EZEdDaly.com , @ezeddaly ). **** 💬 Topics...
Jul 19, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Season 8Ep. 10
🎄 It’s 1985, but we’re rocketing into the future, when apparently urgent veterinary care no longer exists. It’s Scrooge Sunday, so join us for a glimpse into the space-age year of 2062 to find out if 3 robotic ghosts of Christmas can convince Mr. Spacely to change his stingy ways, while the clock is ticking for the Jetsons’ dog, Astro, on his deathbed. **** 🎙 Guest: Jack Ford ( The Total Christmas Podcast ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. George Jetson apparently was/will be born at the end...
Jul 17, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 8Ep. 9
🎄 It’s 1995, and a couple of giant space monsters with swords are about to lose a snowball fight against the powerless Power Rangers, who can’t Morph at the North Pole due to a cross-current of holiday magic. And also magnets. You can watch I’m Dreaming of a White Ranger on the official Powers Rangers YouTube Channel. **** 🎙 Guests: Andre Bennett ( @AndreBennettGO ). Lindy Kempe ( @ieatvideogames ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. I’m Dreaming of a White Ranger on Ranger Wiki. 2. Dynaman , a...
Jul 15, 2022•1 hr 39 min•Season 8Ep. 8
🎃 It’s 1989, and Rue McClanahan is trapped in an underground castle inhabited by a bunch of Gremlin-looking puppets called Greevils — and for some reason wants to leave. Join us for a Halloween in July celebration of The Wickedest Witch , co-written and produced by ALF creator Paul Fusco, and starring Blanche from The Golden Girls as the evil Avarissa. As far as we know, this Halloween special only ever aired once, but somehow managed to capture our hearts and burrow itself into the cavernous d...
Jul 13, 2022•47 min•Season 8Ep. 7
🎄 It’s 1983, and a young bear and fox are lost in the Big City after accidentally riding the rails on the apparently famous Christmas Tree Train in an obscure special that has little to do with Christmas trees or trains. Climb aboard as we explore the first holiday special starring Buttons and Rusty, known later as the Chucklewood Critters. You can watch The Christmas Tree Train on the Internet Archive . **** 🎙 Guest: Ethan ( The Hungry Reader , A Special Presentation or ALF Will Not Be Seen T...
Jul 11, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 8Ep. 6
🎄 It’s 1984, and all we want for Christmas is our mom back. Join us as we turn around back to 1984 with Punky Brewster during her very special, very crucial first Christmas with her new family. WARNING: This episode contains Santa spoilers from 23:45 to 27:31 . **** 🎙 Guests: Adam Pope ( The Retro Network , @hojukoolander ). Steven ( UFO Club ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. I totally missed the 2021 Punky Brewster revival series on Peacock. 2. Ami Foster (Margaux) in Wrinkles in Need of C...
Jul 09, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 8Ep. 5
🐰 It’s 1983, and despite replacing our entire body with robot parts, we still can’t plow faster than a rapidly growing magic forest baby. Join us as we get things rolling with the mascots of Paas Easter egg coloring kits in a secret hit piece on landlords disguised as a wacky Easter story. On the way, we’ll meet the ever-looming shadow of the Easter Bunny and teach animals to talk by giving them clothes. **** 🎙 Guests: Sammy Hain ( @SammyHain ). Chad Young ( The Horror Movie BBQ , TPIF: Thank ...
Jul 07, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 8Ep. 4
🎄 It’s 1990, and we’re looking a gift horse in the mouth. Join us on a wild ride to the Bar None Ranch for a Very Special Episode™ of Nickelodeon’s Hey Dude disguised as a barely festive Christmas in July special. WARNING: This episode contains Santa spoilers from 27:07 to 28:58 . **** 🎙 Guest: Justin O’Connor ( @jm_oconnor ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. An ode to our childhood friends who lied about having an Uncle Who Worked For Nintendo. 2. Hey Dude Reviewed’s episode rankings and rev...
Jul 05, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 8Ep. 3
🎄 It’s 1983, and Young Republican Alex P. Keaton is sick and tired of hearing “Merry Christmas.” It was a different time. 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. **** 🎙 Guests: Molly Patton ( MollyPatton.com , @molly_patton , @MoMakesStuffUp ). Joey O. ( Y-Not Radio , Words With Nerds , @imgonnadj24 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Mic...
Jul 03, 2022•47 min•Season 8Ep. 2
🎄 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. On the way, we’ll visit Outer Space as Doc teaches Sprocket — and us — about the Winter Solstice, Saturnalia, and Christmas around the world. **** 🎙 Guests: Tom Coombs ( The Pop Daddy , @thepopdaddy ). Donnie Storms ( Bronwen’s Ghost , @boxcar45 ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. A clip from the British airing of The Bells of ...
Jul 01, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 8Ep. 1
🎅 It’s the 100th episode of the Advent Calendar House! Join us as we put one foot in front of the other back to 1970 to revisit a Rankin/Bass Christmas classic that dares to answer children’s questions about Santa Claus while illegally opening his mail. **** 🎙 Guests: Michael DiGiovanni ( Classic Film Jerks , Pop Culture Retrofit , @theatomicgeeks ). Erin Evans ( @mserinevans ). Michael May ( MichaelMay.online , AfterLUNCH , @michaelmaycomix ). Brandon Medley ( @brandmed , 📸 @blessedarethegee...
Dec 24, 2021•1 hr 39 min•Season 7Ep. 12
🎄 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! Join us for a very special Christmas episode that solidified Hey Arnold! as an unforgettable Nicktoon. **** 🎙 Guests: Anthony Caruso ( Tis the Podcast , @ACaruso929 ). Matt Eurich ( TGI Podcast , @MattEurich ). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The story behind the iconic Vietnam Episode of ‘Hey Arnold!’ (NBC News...
Dec 22, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 7Ep. 11
🎄 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. Along the way, 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. **** 🎙 Guest: Guy Hutchinson ( GuyHutchinson.com , Drunk on...
Dec 20, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Season 7Ep. 10
