Advent Calendar House - TV Holiday & Christmas Specials
153 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 32 ratingsA salute to all TV holiday specials, but mostly the Christmas ones. Revisit 12 holiday classics and not-so-classics each December and July.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Frosty’s Winter Wonderland
July 01, 2020 08:00 - 44 minutes - 41 MB🎄 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, (th...
30 Rock: Leap Day
February 29, 2020 09:00 - 52 minutes - 48.1 MBHow 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 mispro...
Rudolph’s Shiny New Year
December 30, 2019 09:00 - 44 minutes - 40.9 MB🎉 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, bec...
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
December 24, 2019 09:00 - 57 minutes - 52.3 MB🎄 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...
Shalom Sesame: Chanukah
December 22, 2019 16:30 - 1 hour - 55.7 MB🕎 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 Kip...
Christmas in Tattertown
December 19, 2019 09:00 - 1 hour - 59.5 MB🎄 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 Tatter...
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire
December 17, 2019 09:00 - 1 hour - 61.8 MB🎄 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 (@...
Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol
December 15, 2019 09:00 - 54 minutes - 49.6 MB🎄 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...
Sealab 2021: Feast of Alvis
December 13, 2019 09:00 - 40 minutes - 37.2 MBContent 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 ...
The Glo Friends Save Christmas
December 11, 2019 09:00 - 45 minutes - 41.3 MB🎄 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). **** 💬 ...
Ziggy’s Gift
December 09, 2019 09:00 - 51 minutes - 47.3 MB🎄 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 The...
Cricket on the Hearth
December 07, 2019 09:00 - 47 minutes - 43.4 MB🎄 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 Wils...
A Wish for Wings That Work
December 05, 2019 09:00 - 53 minutes - 49.2 MB🎄 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 al...
Pinocchio’s Christmas
December 03, 2019 09:00 - 1 hour - 59.2 MB🎄 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. ...
Mickey’s Christmas Carol
December 01, 2019 09:00 - 1 hour - 63.8 MB🎄 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 Car...
Garfield’s Halloween Adventure
October 10, 2019 16:29 - 1 hour - 74.1 MB🎃 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 draw...
The Muppets Valentine Show
February 13, 2019 16:14 - 48 minutes - 44.9 MBLove and dynamite are in the air as I introduce 2 guests to an early pilot of what would eventually become The Muppet Show from 1974, guest-starring a pregnant Mia Farrow. **** 🎙 Guests: Brian Arnold (@phillyradiogeek, Me and You and a Blog Named Boo). Joey O. (@ImGonnaDJ24, Y-Not Radio, Words with Nerds). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The Muppets Valentine Show on YouTube. 2. Muppet Wiki on The Muppets Valentine Show. 3. Jim Henson’s Red Book entry about getting th...
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
December 24, 2018 05:24 - 1 hour - 58.8 MBIt’s Christmas Eve! Tune in as we bring Advent to a close with the first Christmas special I ever remember watching, from 1978. **** 🎙 Guests: Erin Evans (@mserinmevans). Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, Words with Nerds, @ImGonnaDJ24). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. My taped copy of this is interrupted in the middle by a WHYY telethon with Philadelphia TV legend Ed Cunningham. 2. The Count’s amazing ice-skating cape. 3. The wibbly-wobbly physics of Oscar’s trash can. 4. Oli...
ALF’s Special Christmas
December 23, 2018 05:23 - 57 minutes - 53.1 MBRemember ALF? He’s back, in podcast form! Tune in as we salute ALF’s two-part Christmas special from 1987, the single most depressing special starring a wisecracking alien puppet of all time. Content Warning: In this Christmas special, the goofy alien with the jokes meets a terminally ill child and a man contemplating suicide. **** 🎙 Guest: Jeff Somogyi (Talkin’ Chopp, Down the Rabbit Hole, @sommerjam). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The heartbreaking true story behind ALF...
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: We Wish You a Turtle Christmas
December 22, 2018 05:22 - 55 minutes - 50.8 MBTune in as we unearth a 1994 cash-grab video starring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — or at least some version of them — a special so low-quality, it happens in a sewer. **** 🎙 Guests: Shawn Robare (Branded in the ’80s, Cult Film Club, @ShawnRobare). Jonathan Zelenak (@TheSewerDen). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. About the Sewer Den, Jonathan’s massive TMNT collection, and his blog post about We Wish You a Turtle Christmas. 2. Of course we touch on the Turtles’ Comin...
Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special
December 21, 2018 05:21 - 1 hour - 75.6 MBTune in as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special the only way we know how: With lots of screaming, lots of fruitcake, and lots more screaming. **** 🎙 Guests: Erin Evans (@mserinmevans). Lindy Kempe (@ieatvideogames). Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, Words with Nerds, @ImGonnaDJ24). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Magic Johnson recorded his segment hours before playing in — and winning — a Lakers game. We don’t know the precise date, but one ...
Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas
December 20, 2018 05:20 - 1 hour - 56.7 MBMickey Mouse drags his pals into third dimension in this 2004 direct-to-DVD Disney Christmas special. **** 🎙 Guests: Drew Crowley (@pizzanautgo) and John Dedeke (@johndedeke) from The Hourchive. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. If you haven’t been to a Disney theme park in the last year or two, Mickey has a different face now. 2. The hippo and crocodile from “Fantasia” have names. 3. Chuck McCann, the voice of Santa, was the Dreamfinder in the original Journey Into Imagin...
Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas
December 19, 2018 05:19 - 59 minutes - 55 MBTune in as we attempt to make sense of time, space, and the Disney fowl food chain as we watch Disney’s 1999 direct to video Christmas special. **** 🎙 Guests: Drew Crowley (@pizzanautgo) and John Dedeke (@johndedeke) from The Hourchive. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Donald Duck’s comically enormous, fanmade family tree. 2. Happy Duck to the Future Day! 3. The Quack Pack intro will tell you everything you need to know about Quack Pack. 4. Does Donald’s Christmas cabi...
He-Man/She-Ra: A Christmas Special
December 18, 2018 05:18 - 1 hour - 78.3 MBWe are not nice, not kind, and not wonderful to 1985’s He-Man and She-Ra Christmas special, in which Skeletor’s heart grows three sizes. **** 🎙 Guests: Brandon Medley (@brandmed, Blessed are the Geek). Chad Young (The Horror Movie BBQ, TPIF: Thank Pod It’s Funny, @horrormoviebbq). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. He-Man and She-Ra are between 18 and 21 years old and gave children unreasonable expectations of what they’d look like when they grow up. 2. Thank goodness Chad ...
A Pinky and the Brain Christmas
December 17, 2018 05:17 - 52 minutes - 48.5 MBTune in as we apply North Pole to Pinky and the Brain’s 1996 Christmas special, probably the closest the lab mouse duo ever got to actually taking over the world. **** 🎙 Guests: Joey Letson (The Animanicast, @Animanicast). Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, Words with Nerds, @ImGonnaDJ24). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. This special won the 1996 Primetime Emmy award for outstanding animated program. 2. Joey O.’s interviews with Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche. 3. The Animanicast...
Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas
December 16, 2018 05:16 - 1 hour - 61.5 MBJoin us as we gush about the Riverbottom Nightmare Band and Kermit riding a bicycle in this episode about the 1977 Jim Henson special, Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas. Pa would’ve loved this podcast. **** 🎙 Guest: Emily Rowley (@mlerowley). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Muppet Wiki has the lowdown of all 5 cuts of this. 2. The official outtake reel. 3. The drum roll outtake reel. 4. Of Muppets and Men: The Making of The Muppet Show. 5. The Christmas Price Index....
Saved by the Bell: Home for Christmas
December 15, 2018 05:15 - 1 hour - 58.6 MBHang on to your creepy mistletoe hat as we hit the Bayside Mall for a 2-part Saved by the Bell Christmas special from 1991, in which Zack gets shook upon learning the latest girl of his dreams is homeless. **** 🎙 Guests: Chad Young (The Horror Movie BBQ, TPIF: Thank Pod It’s Funny, @horrormoviebbq). Tom Coombs (@ClassicTomedy). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Chad’s 2013 write-up on Home for Christmas. 2. That time WWE’s Daniel Bryan got fired for choking out an announcer....
Batman, the Animated Series: Christmas with the Joker
December 14, 2018 05:14 - 53 minutes - 49.1 MBTune in as we trace the origins of Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, in the 1992 Christmas episode of Batman, the Animated Series. **** 🎙 Guests: Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, Words with Nerds, @ImGonnaDJ24). Jay Ryan (Sludge Central, the Purple Stuff Podcast, @SludgeCentral). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The crowdsourced origins of Jingle Bells, Batman Smells. 2. More discussion on Christmas with the Joker on Batman, the Animated Podcast’s Batman, the Animated Podcast and The Ark...
The Small One
December 13, 2018 05:13 - 41 minutes - 38.1 MBPart 2 of our Christmas donkey double feature takes a deep dive into Don Bluth’s last Disney project, a short film released in front of the 1978 re-release of Pinocchio. **** 🎙 Guests: Lindy Kempe (@ieatvideogames). Brandon Medley (@brandmed, Blessed are the Geek). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Like so many Disney movies, it’s based on a book — The Small One: A Story for Those Who Like Christmas and Small Donkeys. 2. Dragon’s Lair. 3. The Land Before Time toys from Pi...
Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey
December 12, 2018 05:12 - 39 minutes - 36.2 MBWe try to make more accurate donkeys in Nativity displays catch on like a certain elf on a certain shelf by revisiting the 1977 Rankin/Bass special, Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey. **** 🎙 Guests: Lindy Kempe (@ieatvideogames). Brandon Medley (@brandmed, Blessed are the Geek). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Roger Miller performing Do Wacka Do in 1966 with another guitarist, “Stubbs,” who’s wearing a Batman T-shirt. 2. Roger Miller’s Whistle Stop intro to Disney’s...
Jingle Bell Rap
December 11, 2018 05:11 - 1 hour - 58.2 MBWe dig down like dogs to the bottom of the VHS bargain bin for an overlooked special from 1991 that had all the potential to become a Christmas classic, but none of the airtime. You can watch Jingle Bell Rap on Amazon Prime. **** 🎙 Guest: Chad Young (The Horror Movie BBQ, TPIF: Thank Pod It’s Funny, @horrormoviebbq). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Perennial Pictures’ webpage for Jingle Bell Rap. 2. Chad’s on, so of course we talk about Roy Rogers. 3. Fetch and Uncle ...
McDonald’s Holiday Commercials
December 10, 2018 05:10 - 42 minutes - 38.6 MBLace up your ice skates for a look at 3 classic holiday commercials starring McDonald’s clown in charge: 1. Happy Holidays (the ice skating one). 2. Star Wish. 3. Runaway. **** 🎙 Guest: Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, Words with Nerds, @ImGonnaDJ24). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Grape jelly is good on Sausage McMuffins. 2. McDonald’s Wiki, which exists, runs down all 7 versions of the ice skating commercial. Yes, there are seven different edits, and they’re all on YouTube: ...
Christmas at Walt Disney World (1978)
December 09, 2018 05:09 - 1 hour - 94.7 MBIt’s mime time at the Most Magical Place on Earth in 1978’s Christmas at Walt Disney World, featuring Shields and Yarnell as the most 1978 couple imaginable, Pablo Cruise and their indifference to help a screaming woman escape from pirates, Phyllis Diller in the world’s poofiest princess dress, the Doritos guy as a wildly off-model Geppetto, Dee from What’s Happening as an ungrateful passenger in a magical pumpkin coach, and Broadway’s original Annie singing Christmas carols with surprisingl...
John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together
December 08, 2018 05:08 - 1 hour - 67.3 MBWe blur the lines of reality, time, and space and practice peace on Earth and good will to men, women, chickens, bears, and Dizzy Gillespie in the 1979 TV special, John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together. **** 🎙 Guests: Bill Hanstock (SBNation, IMDb, Progressive Boink, @sundownmotel). Carlin Trammel (Nerd Lunch, Dragonfly Ripple, @nerdlunch). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Bill’s Uncle Deadly tattoo. 2. Pro-wrestler and Muppets Most Wanted cast member Hornswog...
Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration
December 07, 2018 05:07 - 50 minutes - 46.6 MBIn 1987, the California Raisins missed their bus, then made a sleigh out of garbage and flew it into space in the greatest holiday special out of all holiday specials hosted by clay dinosaurs. WARNING: This episode inexplicably contains a major spoiler for the 2014 movie How to Train Your Dragon 2. **** 🎙 Guest: Erin Evans (@mserinmevans). Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, Words with Nerds, @ImGonnaDJ24). Emily Rowley (@mlerowley). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. RIP Will Vinton ...
A Garfield Christmas Special
December 06, 2018 05:06 - 1 hour - 69.3 MBLet’s have a good, old-fashioned Christmas down on the farm in 1987’s A Garfield Christmas Special, featuring the voices of Squiggy and Ursula. **** 🎙 Guest: Jeff Somogyi (Talkin’ Chopp, Down the Rabbit Hole, @sommerjam). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Joey O. interviews Gregg Berger, the voice of Odie. 2. On lasagna as a Christmas food and how including shrimp as one of the Seven Fishes is cheating, you cheaters. 3. Dinosaur Dracula identifies all the presents in Garfi...
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
December 05, 2018 05:05 - 1 hour - 62.6 MBRankin/Bass goes off the rails in its last-ever stop motion animated Christmas special, 1985’s The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, based on the 1902 book by Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum, which explains a lot. **** 🎙 Guests: Paxton Holley (Cavalcade of Awesome, I Read Movies, Nerd Lunch, Cult Film Club, Hellbent for Letterbox, @paxtonholley). Brandon Medley (@brandmed, Blessed Are the Geek). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Santa Claus’s growth to manhood, from J.D. ...
Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah
December 04, 2018 05:04 - 1 hour - 74.3 MBHanukkah is here, so here’s a 1995 special starring sock puppets hanging out with Mr. Miyagi, the dad from Growing Pains, and the mayor of Gotham City. **** 🎙 Guest: Sarah Shay (Pilot House Podcast, Bandcamp, @thesarahshay). Check out her 2 new albums: You Have Queer Street Cred and The Shay & Shay Radio Hour! **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The special audio featured here is from a YouTube upload by some guy holding his iPad’s camera up to his TV screen. 2. Shari Lewis’s a...
’Twas the Night Before Christmas
December 03, 2018 05:03 - 41 minutes - 38 MBTurn back the clock till it goes kerplunk — or kerplooey — to make some time for Rankin/Bass’s 1974 retelling of ’Twas the Night Before Christmas from the perspective of the mouse and his know-it-all nerdy son. **** 🎙 Guest: Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, Words with Nerds, @ImGonnaDJ24). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The worst thing we’ve broken that ruined multiple peoples’ day. 2. We prepared for this episode by listening to Green Day’s Kerplunk! 3. South Park covered the son...
The Star Wars Holiday Special
December 02, 2018 05:02 - 1 hour - 56.9 MBGet ready to blast off for Space Church as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Star Wars Holiday Special, the farthest point from the bright center of our favorite galaxy far, far away. **** 🎙 Guest: Liz Twachtman (@thelizzietea, Random Chatter Network, Enchanted Chatter) **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. “Some folks are in space for the benefit of nobody,” by Jon Bois for SB Nation. 2. Our disappointment that Chewbacca’s family didn’t show up in Solo, but at least we go...
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
December 01, 2018 05:01 - 1 hour - 65.1 MBIt’s time once again to count down to Christmas Eve, starting with 3 versions of Dr. Seuss’s classic Christmas tale from 1966, 2000, and 2018. **** 🎙 Guest: Michael DiGiovanni (The Atomic Geeks, Classic Film Jerks, Pop Culture Retrofit, @theatomicgeeks). Michael May (MichaelMay.online, Sleigh Bell Cinema, @michaelmaycomix). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T., Dr. Seuss’s first — and last — feature film screenplay. 2. DiGio discovers Thurl Ravensc...
Christmas Podcast Network Crossover / Season 2 Teaser
November 22, 2018 05:00 - 34 minutes - 31.6 MBIt’s time to dust off the cobwebs and get the Advent Calendar House ready for Season 2, featuring a new episode every day from December 1 through Christmas Eve, 2018. In between commercial teasers for all 24 episodes coming in Season 2 — though not necessarily in order — the members of the all-new Christmas Podcast Network share stories of Christmas music traditions. **** 🎙 Guests: 1. Brian Earl (Christmas Past) 2. Tim Babb (Can’t Wait for Christmas) 3. Craig Kringle (Weird...
Witch’s Night Out
September 24, 2018 07:31 - 1 hour - 57 MBThe Advent Calendar House presents a dazzling display of magical mischief as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Witch’s Night Out, an often remembered, then forgotten, then re-remembered Halloween classic from 1978. You can watch Witch’s Night Out at Shout! Factory TV. **** 🎙 Guest: Chad Young (The Horror Movie BBQ, @horrormoviebbq). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. WitchsNightOut.com, the official website. 2. @BazooeyWNO on Twitter. 3. Anytown Series, a planned sequ...
The Adventures of the American Rabbit
July 03, 2018 03:00 - 1 hour - 67.4 MBWe’re back for a surprise summertime episode on the 1986 animated movie, The Adventures of the American Rabbit, a star-spangled box-office bomb starring the voices of Donatello, Baby Piggy, and King Triton. **** 🎙 Guest: Chad Young (The Horror Movie BBQ, @horrormoviebbq). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Fred Wolf Films. 2. Toei Animation. 3. The late Stewart Moskowitz’s archived gallery and current website, operated by his family. 4. Too-Loose, the Chocolate Moose. ...
The First Easter Rabbit
March 30, 2018 07:25 - 53 minutes - 98.7 MBWe’re back! This surprise bonus episode covers the 1976 Rankin/Bass special, The First Easter Rabbit, which despite its name and main theme, still relies heavily on Christmas. **** 🎙 Guest: Brandon Medley (@brandmed, Blessed Are the Geek). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. A very obvious and very uncredited Velveteen Rabbit connection. 2. Easter Valley’s odd location next door to the North Pole, and Rankin/Bass’s habit of giving bad directions. 3. They named the talking sn...
A Christmas Carol Cast Draft
December 24, 2017 05:45 - 1 hour - 75.2 MBIn our Christmas Eve season finale, the Advent Calendar House is haunted by 3 spirited guests as we each draft our own casts of A Christmas Carol from a pool of characters from Christmas past. **** 🎙 Guests: Sue London (@cmdrsue), romance novelist of Christmas past. Jonathan MacFarlane (@otherjmac), Discoverography podcast host of Christmas present. Joey O. (@ImGonnaDJ24), Y-Not Radio and Words with Nerds co-host of Christmas yet to come. **** 🎄 A Christmas Carol Renditi...
Pennsylvania Lottery Christmas Commercial
December 21, 2017 05:01 - 8 minutes - 8.28 MBJoin us as we spend 17 times the length of a 30-second lottery commercial talking about the spot that had a whole commonwealth singing “FIVE CASH FIVES!” **** 🎙 Guest: Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, @ImGonnaDJ24). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. The original Pennsylvania Lottery Christmas Commercial from 1992. 2. The updated commercial from 2012, remade shot-for-shot like 1998’s Psycho. 3. PA Lottery’s Holiday Ad Gets Makeover (CBS Philly, 2012). 4. “Move Closer to Your World,...
A Rugrats Chanukah
December 18, 2017 05:25 - 1 hour - 58.3 MBIn the Advent Calendar House’s first Hanukkah episode, we follow the Rugrats on their mission to stop the “Meanie of Chanukah” and make him take a nap, counting all the Yiddish words and misspoken “babyisms” along the way. **** 🎙 Guest: Sarah Shay (Pilot House Podcast, Bandcamp, @thesarahshay). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Sarah’s top 2 favorite spellings of “Hanukkah.” 2. Going back to watch Pee-wee’s Big Adventure with the knowledge that Dottie (E.G. Daily) is the voic...
Fruity Pebbles Christmas Commercial
December 14, 2017 05:01 - 10 minutes - 9.51 MBHo-ho-ho, I’m hu-hu-hungry! Fill your soul with season’s greetings as we revisit a collection of Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles cereal commercials of Christmas past. **** 🎙 Guest: Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, @ImGonnaDJ24). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Fruity Pebbles Christmas commercial, dated between 1986 and 1989. 2. Recut commercial, with Jim Cummings as Santa, dated between 1992 and 1995. 3. Older Fruity Pebbles Christmas commercial, dated 1980. 4. Newer Cocoa Pebbles “Chr...
The Gift of Winter
December 11, 2017 05:01 - 51 minutes - 47.6 MBTrudge back to 1974 as we dig up a rare gem, The Gift of Winter, which introduces a colorful cast of characters better known from its Halloween sequel, Witch’s Night Out! You can watch The Gift of Winter online on Shout! Factory TV. **** 🎙 Guest: Chad Young (The Horror Movie BBQ, @horrormoviebbq). **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 1. Pre-SNL appearances by the voices of Gilda Radner and Dan Aykroyd. 2. The special’s true heroes: A couple of gay trees. 3. Whenever Bazooey’s...