Advent Calendar House

🎄 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.” 🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni and Michael May return to talk “The Stingiest Man in Town,” an animated remake of a made-for-TV musical, featuring the voices of Walter Matthau as Scrooge and Tom Bosley as our narrator, a literal talking Humbug. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: This is specifically an adaptation of a 1956 production on “The Alcoa Hour” starring Basil Rathbone as Scrooge. The original special on Sleigh Bell Cinema. Michael May’s Christmas Carol Project. Sonny Melendrez (Bob Cratchit) in “You and Me, Kid.” This has my all-time favorite, super creepy version of Marley’s face appearing on Scrooge’s door knocker. This special gets older Belle completely wrong. Tiny Tim has skinny robot legs. Debbie Clinger (Martha Cratchit) of the Clinger Sisters, a.k.a. Superchick from the “Krofft Supershow” host band Kaptain Kool and the Kongs. Rankin/Bass should have made a south seas-themed special called Christmas Island. (Hi from the future! We ended up exploring this idea on After Lunch.) Scrooge’s grave morphing into a giant devil face is a reminder in hindsight that this special was animated in Japan by Topcraft, the predecessor to Studio Ghibli. **** 📼 Commercials: Glad Trash Bags Commercial starring Tom Bosley (1981) Christmas Creeps. **** “The Stingiest Man in Town” © 1978 Rankin/Bass Productions. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Sail back to 1981 as we dig up Rankin/Bass’s penultimate and possibly most obscure stop-motion Christmas special. 🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni and Michael May stumble in to imbibe “The Leprechauns’ Christmas Gold,” which may or may not only exist because Rankin/Bass had the rights to use the song “Christmas in Killarney” and needed someplace to put it. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Ken Jennings (the voice of Dinty Doyle, not the Jeopardy! guy) in the short-lived Epcot Center attraction, “The Astuter Computer Revue.” Mag the Hag’s entrance reminds me of Rita Repulsa in “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.” This special keeps adding new rules about how both banshees and rainbows work, like they’re Mogwai. The Leprechauns’ “phantom island of Tralee” shares a name with an actual mainland town in Ireland, but is closer to Dursey Island, population (as of 2016): 4. The only thing many remember about this special is its Nightmare Face reveal that a beautiful woman Dinty finds washed ashore is the banshee in disguise. According to the Christmas Specials Wiki, Arthur Rankin said a promotion was planned involving prizes buried in random places around the United States for children to dig up, but was abandoned for safety concerns. “Jack O’Lantern,” from Rankin/Bass’s Festival of Family Classics TV series, featuring a leprechaun disguised as a pumpkin. **** 📼 Commercials: Gremlins Gizmo Plush Pet (1984) The Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast. **** “The Leprechauns’ Christmas Gold” © 1981 Rankin/Bass Productions. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Hey, paisanos! Join us as we warp back to 1989 for a double dose of Christmas segments from “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.” 🎙 Adam Pope joins us to watch Mario and Luigi save Santa in 2 different dimensions: 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. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Nintendo Power’s preview of “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.” I didn’t realize till recently the music in the “Back to the Future” Nintendo game is just “The Power of Love” sped up. “King Koopa’s Kool Kartoons,” a live-in-studio spinoff show local to Los Angeles and hosted by King Koopa, performed at one point by Chris Latta, a.k.a. Christopher Collins. Captain Lou Albano’s Wrestling Hotline 1-900 number. We map out where Mario and Luigi lived in Brooklyn. “Stunt Dawgs,” an obscure 1992 cartoon featuring Harvey Atkin playing another character with the same King Koopa voice. “Teeter-totter” vs. “see-saw.” How tall is Mario? Captain Lou was 5-foot-10, though other sources range from 5-foot-1 to 3-foot-8. Preview of Super Nintendo World, coming to Universal theme parks. Finally, I get to talk at length about The Legend of Zelda! Adam’s SequelQuest episode on the Super Mario Bros. movie, featuring a parody of the Super Show theme song. **** 📼 Commercials: Pepsi Nintendo Holiday Game (1989), preserved by Dinosaur Dracula. Nintendo Power Commercial (1990), preserved by RobertDigitalGames. Christmas Clatter. **** “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show,” “Koopa Klaus,” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Flatbush” © 1989 DiC Entertainment. “Super Mario Bros.” © Nintendo Co. Ltd. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎃 It’s the 13th of July, so it’s time for the Advent Calendar House to unearth one of our favorite Halloween haunts. 🎙️ Tommy Coombs flies in to talk 1979’s “The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t,” starring an exceptionally great Judd Hirsch as Count Dracula. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: This was renamed for its VHS release as “The Night Dracula Saved the World,” except no, he doesn’t. Lyndhurst Mansion. Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” was never in a Dracula movie. Wildwood, New Jersey’s Castle Dracula. Jack Riley (Warren the Werewolf) in commercials for Country Crock spread. **** 📼 Commercials: McDonald’s Scared Silly (1986) starring Ronald McDonald and the Chicken McNuggets. Weird Christmas. **** “The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t” © 1979 Concepts Unlimited. Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Go-go Gadget podcast! It’s time to spring back to 1992 to take “Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas” in for questioning. 🎙 Chad Young accepts our assignment to investigate the time Dr. Claw took over Santa’s workshop for some reason. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Nick Knacks, a show-by-show video history of Nickelodeon. Halloween 1992 was the year of white kids dressing like Steve Urkel. Inspector Gadget’s run on Nickelodeon got me into “Get Smart” on Nick at Nite. The time Chad got a crew jacket from the set of the “Inspector Gadget” movie. The action figure that revealed Dr. Claw’s goofy face. The Inspector Gadget Super Nintendo game, featuring the same alternate theme song as this special. Maurice LaMarche subbing for Don Adams for Gadget’s weird version of “The 12 Days of Christmas” is similar to Jim Cummings finishing “Be Prepared” for Jeremy Irons in “The Lion King.” Where’s the camera Penny’s Not Apple Watch uses to see Brain? Jerry “The King” Lawler entering the 1997 Royal Rumble Match in the middle of a sentence, then finishing it after being eliminated in 4 seconds. “Disney’s Christmas All-Time Favorites.” **** 📼 Commercials: Cookie Crisp Cereal Christmas Commercial (1992) Tinsel Tunes. **** “Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas” © 1992 DiC Entertainment. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 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. 🎙️ Joey O. returns to talk “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! **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: “The Dr. Fad Show.” Eight ’80s Xmas Specials You Might’ve Forgotten (Dinosaur Dracula, 2015) X-Entertainment’s preserved 2003 tribute to the Wacky WallWalker. This isn’t the right Apple Jacks commercial, but I can’t not mention young Julia Stiles scoffing that it doesn’t taste like apples. Writer Mark Evanier’s blog. The WallWalkers’ home planet looks like an M.C. Escher painting. Darryl’s friend, Kenzo, is named after one of Dr. Fad’s sons. His other son married comedian Ali Wong. The most expensive things we’ve asked for from our parents for Christmas, which pale in comparison to a $1,000 toy car — which, of course, we then look up its adjustment for inflation. Waxing nostalgic about popcorn garland on Christmas trees. **** 📼 Commercials: Corn Pops Cereal with free Wacky WallWalker inside (1984) **** “Deck the Halls with Wacky Walls” © 1983 NBC Productions. “The Dr. Fad Show” © 1988 Tradex Corp. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🐰 Hello, sunshine! Join us for a hop back to Easter 1986 to revisit the Jim Henson special, “The Tale of the Bunny Picnic.” 🎙 Emily Rowley hops into the guest chair for this special, which it turns out is about neither Easter, nor a bunny picnic… but it did introduce the world to Bean Bunny, the Muppets’ Nermal. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Jim Henson’s original intro to this special. “The Jim Henson Hour.” Bean Bunny in Muppet*Vision 3D at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Bean was also a late-series addition to “Muppet Babies,” and his picture is on the playroom wall in Disney’s new “Muppet Babies.” “The Muppet Musicians of Bremen” and its grotesque, full-size Muppet bad guys. Sweetums in “Tales from Muppetland: The Frog Prince.” Bean trying to tell the other bunnies to quiet down or the dog will hear them is also the plot of the first act of “Trolls.” Every Easter Bunny costume is terrifying. Y’all remember Puffalumps? You do now. The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta is home to several Muppets from this special, including both Bean and his Dragon Bunny form from his dream sequence. Carlin Trammel’s video tour of the Center for Puppetry Arts’ Jim Henson exhibit. **** 📼 Commercials: McDonald’s Muppet Babies Holiday Huggables (1988) Christmas Creeps. **** “The Tale of the Bunny Picnic” © 1986 Henson Associates. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 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.”🎙 Tommy Coombs and Chad Young join the adventure after our heroes accidentally save Scrooge from the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Hey, grown-ups! Remember getting lost while driving when we didn’t all have maps of the entire planet in our pockets? Scrooge pays the Ghostbusters a mint-condition shilling from 1837, so we looked up its actual value. You can actually buy Christmas Carol View Master reels from the 1950s online. Rick and Morty talking about Bill Murray and Lorenzo Music comes up and goes… somewhere. Egon entering the ghost containment unit looks like the warp tunnel on Space Mountain. The other ghosts in the containment unit are callbacks to previous episodes, including Sandman, who bears a passing resemblance to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Santa should not laugh like Megatron. **** 📼 Commercials: The Real Ghostbusters Firehouse Playset, Tombstone Tackle, and X-Cop (1986) Tis the Podcast. **** “The Real Ghostbusters” and “Xmas Marks the Spot” © 1986 Columbia Pictures Television. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Mr. Snowman, I don’t feel so good. Rankin/Bass’s Avengers assemble in the studio’s longest holiday special ever. 🎙️ Brandon Medley returns to marvel at “Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July.” Frosty’s a dad! And Rudolph’s a fake uncle whose nose stops shining at the beginning of this story… but what happens to Frosty and his whole family is even worse. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: King Winterbolt’s genie of the ice scepter, allegedly Thurl Ravenscroft, is the stuff of nightmares. “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus” may be the most metal Christmas special, but this is a contender. Rudolph’s entire story gets retconned into a long play to stop Winterbolt’s foggy Christmas Eve from grounding Santa. Ethel Merman on “The Muppet Show.” Scratcher is a great evil reindeer, but we’d like it better if he was Fireball. A couple of songs were cut for time from TV, including “Chicken Today, Feathers Tomorrow” and “I See Rainbows When I Look at You.” Walt Disney World’s Candlelight Processional. **** 📼 Commercials: Atari Christmas Commercial, aired during a 1981 ABC Movie Special airing, preserved by the Museum of Classic Chicago Television. The Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast. **** “Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July” © 1979 Rankin/Bass Productions. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 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,” the “Weird Science” of Christmas specials. 🎙️ Brandon Medley belly-whops in to salute this snowy sequel from 1976 starring a strange, tall goblin claiming to be Andy Griffith. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: A brief guide to finding obsure things on Disney+, like “Melody Time,” starring Dennis Day, (Parson Brown) as Johnny Appleseed. Barbara Jo Ewing voiced one of the kids in her only known credit, but somehow IMDb knows her height. We do the math to figure out how far the wind carried a newspaper from Frosty’s hometown to the North Pole. Frosty beat “The Santa Clause 2” to the “gotta get a wife” plot point by more than 20 years. Frosty’s “specifications” for his ideal woman are the same as Sir Mix-a-Lot’s. At what point do snow people become self-aware? Jack Frost’s “winter that almost didn’t end” foreshadowed the real-life Blizzard of 1977. **** 📼 Commercials: Freezy Freakies (1984) Christmas Clatter. **** “Frosty’s Winter Wonderland” © 1976 Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

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 to celebrate Leap Day! 🎙️ Joey O. joins the celebration of the “30 Rock” universe’s most important holiday. As such, nothing that happens in this episode counts, and we’re just your imaginary friends whom no one else can hear, because real life is for March. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Steve Buscemi, whose name I mispronounce right out of the gate, quotes himself at the 2020 Screen Actors’ Guild Awards. Steve Buscemi as The Madder Hatter on “Saturday Night Live” in 1998. Film School Rejects’ ranking of every 30 Rock episode. Jane Krakowski as the Ghost of Christmas Past to Kelsey Grammer’s Scrooge in 2004’s “A Christmas Carol: The Musical.” James Cameron is one of a very, very small group of people who have reached the deepest point in the ocean, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. A very unscientific look into how many times it would take to order everything on the Benihana menu to use an entire $50,000 gift card. Of course there’s a Getty Image of Tina Fey posing with the Ewok behind glass. Thad Warmald, the poor man’s Artie Ziff. Both human leads from the Sonic the Hedgehog movie are in this episode! Kevin Brown’s Wikipedia entry calls him “Kevin ‘Dot Com’ Brown” right at the beginning. Guest star Karolína Kurková was almost a Leap Day baby; she was born February 28, 1984. Tracy’s word association game that gets to “soup kitcken,” but keeps going before looping back around again reminds us of a similar bit from the 1966 Batman movie. A very, very quick look at the Irish Leap Day tradition of women proposing to men, as seen in the 2010 Amy Adams movie “Leap Year,” which couldn’t even be bothered coming out on a leap year. As an extra bonus mini-episode at the end of this one, Joey quickly sums up the Leap Day episode of “Frasier” from 1996, “Look Before You Leap.” **** “30 Rock” and “Leap Day” ©2012 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎉 It’s a special, post-Christmas bonus episode for your oversized ears! 🎙 Joey O. and Brandon Medley help us turn back the years to 1976 and tip an oversized hat to “Rudolph’s Shiny New Year,” Rankin/Bass’s first sequel special, in which Rudolph has to save the Baby New Year from a big, angry bird. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Rudolph devolves into a younger-looking reindeer, because the original model may have been lost. But also he seems to forget he can fly. According to our narrator, Father Time (Red Skelton), this story begins “on that very same foggy night.” As in Christmas Eve. When Santa’s kind of busy. I learned who Red Skelton was from a joke in a Tex Avery cartoon. “The Phantom Tollbooth.” Tik-Tok from “Return to Oz.” Creepier song about time: “The Moving Finger Writes” from this, or “Older” by They Might Be Giants? Ralph Archibold, Philadelphia’s longtime Ben Franklin impersonator. Billy Corgan rides a roller coaster. **** “Rudolph’s Shiny New Year” © 1976 Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s the 50th episode of the Advent Calendar House, so it’s time to address the spotted elephant in the room. 🎙 Joey O. and Brandon Medley fly in to tackle the 1964 Christmas special that put Rankin/Bass on the map and into our hearts. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Is Santa really this big of a jerk or just hangry? The History Channel on the creation of Rudolph. Mashable’s 12 ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ facts. Burger King and Hallmark’s Rodney Reindeer plushes, which at one point doubled as stockings. Rudolph almost had huge, glowing eyes instead of a red nose, and all I can think of is the terrifying original version of Mr. Snuffleupagus. The rare and expensive Santa’s Castle play set, which includes Santa and Mr. Claus’s tiny bed. A lot of voices in this cast were later part of the 1960s “Spider-Man” and “Marvel Super Heroes” animated series. The first mention of Santa having a wife was in a short story by Philadelphia missionary James Rees in 1849. The mystery of the head elf’s suddenly changing voice: Wikipedia claims it’s intentional, but we’re not buying it. Carl Banas (Head Elf) was also the original voice of Sweetums in “Tales from Muppetland: The Frog Prince.” “Fame and Fortune,” a song that replaced “We’re a Couple of Misfits” as Rudolph and Hermey’s duet from 1965 to 1997. You can meet characters from this version of Rudolph at SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, and Sesame Place. Arthur Rankin Jr. explains why Dolly’s on the Island of Misfit Toys on NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me.” The original ending included Yukon Corneilius finding a peppermint mine. “The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass: A Portfolio.” Original figures of Rudolph and Santa were found in an attic and appraised on Antiques Roadshow in 2005. They were later sold and restored. **** “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” ©1964 Rankin/Bass Productions. Closing music: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” by the California Raisins, from “Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration.” Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🕎 Kick off Hanukkah with the objectively better son from “Growing Pains” spinning bad puns like he made them out of clay. 🎙️Sarah Shay stops by as we shine a light on a 1990 episode of “Shalom Sesame,” an on-again, off-again co-production of “Sesame Street” and its counterpart in Israel, “Rechov Sumsum.” **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: “Shalom Sesame” on Muppet Wiki. Israel’s Big Bird stand-in, Kippi Ben Kippod, is mistranslated as a porcupine despite clearly being a hedgehog. A similar but unclothed costume was used in Spain’s Barrio Sésamo for Espinete, who’s identified as a hedgehog. Jeremy Miller, as Linus, sings “The Vigil” in “Snoopy! The Musical.” Yoav Tzafir’s other credits include the Hebrew-dubbed voices of Ninja Turtle Michaelangelo and Super Mario. Later he directed Israel’s version of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” The real, actual, annual Hanukkah Torch Relay. Moishe Oofnik, Israel’s counterpart to Oscar, looks less like a grouch and more like a standard Muppet monster. Probably because he has a nose. Baby Bear teaches Telly Monster how to play dreidel. A supposed folktale listed on the Wikipedia entry for sufganiyah may or may not be full of something that’s not jelly. Sarah met the head puppeteer from “Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah.” Nell Carter, a Jewish convert, appeared on other episodes of “Shalom Sesame” as herself. **** “Shalom Sesame” © 1990 Children’s Television Workshop. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Set your sentient clocks back to 1988 for a very wound-up and thrown out into a pile of junk in another dimension episode of the Advent Calendar House. 🎙 Chad Young joins us for a one-time-only trip to Tattertown, the holiday brain-child of Ralph Bakshi and Nickelodeon’s first-ever original animated TV program. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: “Christmas in Tattertown” sketches from Bakshi Productions. Nick Knacks on “Christmas in Tattertown.” Cameos by Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Flip the Frog, and Popeye. Today’s TV Trope: The Up the Real Rabbit Hole. A shout-out to the dearly departed Hollywood Video for staying open on Christmas Day for idiots like me who forgot to ask for required accessories like the Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak. Wawa’s Holiday Gobbler hoagie. Bosko and Honey on “Tiny Toon Adventures.” A brief introduction to “snoap,” Florida’s fake snow. **** “Christmas in Tattertown” ©1988 Bakshi Productions, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Every unstoppable monster has a beginning. 🎙️ Erin Evans, Joey O., and Brandon Medley squeeze onto the couch to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “The Simpsons” and its series premiere, “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire,” or, as it was introduced to us in 1989, “The Simpsons’ Christmas Special.” **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: The time I accidentally watched “The Tracey Ullman Show,” because I was too sick to get up and change the channel. We can’t talk about early Simpsons without mentioning Burger King toys, The Simpsons arcade game, and of course, “Do the Bartman.” Bart’s first Butterfinger commercial. Al Jean’s 5 favorite Simpsons episodes (The Wall Street Journal, 2014) Animator Eric Stefani had already founded some band with his sister while working on this episode. The crowdsourced origins of “Jingle Bells, Batman Smells” and the “like a light bulb!” interjections to “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Real, intentionally unfinished “Moth” tattoos. The tattoo artist was retroactively named Mervin Monroe, Dr. Marvin’s younger brother. Early, strange in hindsight prototypes of Springfield citizens, including a more competent Ralph Wiggum, a cockier Milhouse, and a Ned Flanders who says, “Happy holidays.” The time Brandon cut down his own Christmas tree. My guest appearance on the Two Bad Neighbors podcast for “Marge Be Not Proud.” **** “The Simpsons” and “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” ©1989 20th Century Fox Television. Closing Music: The Simpsons Theme, performed by Green Day, ©2007 Reprise Records. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Of all the animated Christmas specials we have covered and will cover, this is the nearsighted granddaddy of them all. 🎙 Anthony Caruso and Julia Colburn from Tis the Podcast visit the Advent Calendar House for a very special Scrooge Sunday episode as we nearly-blindly fumble back to 1962 to celebrate “Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol,” TV’s first ever animated Christmas special. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Jim Backus (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. Scrooge’s nephew is cut entirely to make room for a song about Broadway that sometimes also gets cut entirely. The ghosts of Christmas Present and Past show up out of order for no clear reason, but an A.V. Club article from 2012 tried to find one. Tiny Tim is an English-speaking Gerald McBoing-Boing. This special invented a flavor! Razzleberry pie is now a thing that exists, made with raspberries and blackberries. The Ghost of Christmas Past looks like Toon Link. The last surviving member of the cast, Marie Matthews (Young Scrooge), was on a 2009 panel revisiting the special. Is Belle’s hair supposed to look like an actual bell? **** “Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol” © 1962 UPA Pictures, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 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. 🎙 Zac Shipley dives in as we feast on a very festive, very inappropriate 2002 episode of the Adult Swim cartoon “Sealab 2021.” **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: “Sealab 2020,” the very different, very boring original 1972 cartoon that serves as the butt of Sealab 2021’s joke. The usual Sealab theme song by Calamine is absent here to make room in the stable for the story of the birth of Alvis. The Church of Alvis, a blog last updated in 2007 with a cliffhanger, but the faithful still await that day with patience. Alvisism as explained by Sealab Wiki, which also exists. A series of quotes from this episode made into animated gif icons and posted on LiveJournal. This show is a very specific sort of old. **** “Sealab 2021” and “Feast of Alvis” ©2002 Cartoon Network. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s Glo! Join Hasbro’s hive of bioluminescent bugs, the Glo Friends, in their own Christmas special from 1985. 🎙️ Erin Evans and Joey O. join forces as we learn how to selectively melt only certain ice we’re radiating near to save Santa (Carroll O’Connor), who’s been locked in an icicle cage by Blanche, the Wicked Witch of the North Pole (Sally Struthers), who’s jealous of Santa’s publicity. Take notes, Great Pumpkin… or, perhaps, don’t. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: This was a pilot for an eventual series that aired alongside the original “My Little Pony & Friends.” A helpful guide to identifying every Glo Friend. Nancy Cartwright was the voice of Baby Glo Worm in the series, but in this pilot, it’s Laurie O’Brien doing her Baby Piggy voice. Joey interviews Pat Fraley (Glo Worm) on his later performance as Krang. Glo Worm’s purple outfit here, as opposed to the original toy’s green outfit, was apparently a “source of controversy,” according to Wikipedia. Can all antlered mammals fly if you go far enough north? Lorenzo Music doing a weird, nervous lisp instead of his usual Resting Garfield Voice™. Santa sings the least bluesy blues song ever while his reindeer do Rockettes kicks. More of Mike’s thoughts on The Glo Friends Save Christmas on the Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast. **** “The Glo Friends Save Christmas” ©1985 Hasbro, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Everyone’s after the little guy for no reason. 🎙️ Chad Young joins us for a short-statured trip back to 1982 to explore “Ziggy’s Gift,” a one-off TV Christmas special starring no one’s favorite funny papers hero and featuring a beautifully animated puddle of dog pee. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: “Ziggy’s Gift” on Dinosaur Dracula After Dark. “The Point,” a Harry Nilsson album turned into an animated movie. Ziggy’s toothpaste looks like Beetlejuice sandworms. Ziggy Theories: Is he adult Charlie Brown? A vegetarian? A guardian angel? The time Chad met Billy West, who stood on a chair because he thought Chad was too tall. The time I inquired about a job opportunity that wasn’t what I expected. The terrifying robot Santa window display reminded me a little too much of the equally terrifying “Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure.” Frank Welker voiced 25 characters in this special if you count each individual turkey. Ziggy’s kettle has the Glow from “The Last Dragon.” The “Linus moment” is out; the “Skeletor face turn” is in. **** “Ziggy’s Gift” ©1982 Universal Press Syndicate. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 For its first Christmas special after the success of “Rudolph,” Rankin/Bass presented us with a Dickens of a story, but not that one. 🎙️ Brian Earl from Christmas Past podcast visits the Advent Calendar House to experience 1967’s “Cricket on the Hearth,” as told by Danny Thomas, featuring a bizarre, burlesque performance of a song about Fish ’n’ Chips, and a clearly implied, off-camera murder. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: The history of legends about crickets on hearths bringing good luck. The full “Cricket on the Hearth” soundtrack is on YouTube. Christmas Past on Golden Age Christmas TV Cartoons. Christmas TV History’s Joanna Wilson on Rankin/Bass Voice Actors. **** “Cricket on the Hearth” ©1967 Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Opus the Penguin fails to take off in his own TV Christmas special from 1991. 🎙️ Erin Evans and Joey O. parachute in to rewatch “A Wish for Wings That Work,” starring Opus and Bill from the comic strip series “Bloom County” and “Outland.” **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: This is based on a book version you can watch someone read to you on YouTube, if you’d like. “Bloom County” creator Berkeley Breathed was not happy with this special. He also confirmed the animators hid some naughty bits in the opening. Bill the Cat’s 1988 presidential run, including the other candidates trying to translate the song “Louie Louie.” Joey interviews Michael Bell (Opus). “The Ant and the Aardvark” starring John Byner (Bill). Surprise cameos by Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman, who may or may not have walked over from the set of “Hook.” Larry Walters has a flying lawn chair and a BB gun. “Lost Horizon.” “A Frog Thing,” a children’s book with a very similar plot, but less Christmassy. Opus plushes with Santa hats are pretty easy to find on eBay. **** “A Wish for Wings That Work” ©1991 Universal Cartoon Studios, Inc. / Amblin Entertainment, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 The Advent Calendar House gets overrun by earworms strong enough to burrow into wood. 🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni and Michael May drop in to help carve into a 1980 Rankin/Bass special starring that beloved Christmas icon… Pinocchio. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Two songs, “Dancin’” and “The Very Best Friend I Ever Had,” were cut from and later restored to TV broadcasts. “Starstuff,” a Philadelphia market, Saturday morning kids’ sci-fi TV series starring Todd Porter, the voice of Pinocchio. The most disappointing gifts we’ve ever received, including what Santa gave me after I allegedly misspelled “Alpha Critters.” How does Pinocchio’s nose detect lies, and does it grant him a mulligan here? The strange flash-forward to the rest of Pinocchio’s better-known adventures, even though Rankin/Bass already made a Pinocchio TV series, its first ever stop-motion animation project. **** “Pinocchio’s Christmas” ©1980 Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Season 3 of the Advent Calendar House kicks off with a new regular feature: Scrooge Sunday, celebrating the many adaptations of “A Christmas Carol.” 🎙 Lizzie Twachtman and Adam Pope drop in as we begin with Disney’s 1983 featurette marking the big-screen debut of Scrooge McDuck playing his namesake. 📺 You can watch “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” on Disney+. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Before Disney+, almost all of this film was hiding on Netflix at the end of “Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. Adam’s well-preserved VHS copy. A 1974 Disneyland Records LP called “Dickens’ Christmas Carol,” Alan Young’s first recording as the voice of Scrooge. Mickey Mouse’s very detailed, fanmade family tree. Siskel and Ebert’s 2 Thumbs Down review. Goofy as Marley’s ghost at Disneyland. Mickey’s Christmas Carol animatronic window displays in the Magic Kingdom. We identify every Disney background character at Fezziwig’s party and lament the absence of Pluto from this entire thing. Quick shout-outs to Totally Minnie and “Disney’s DTV Romancin’” Valentine special. Willie the Giant as the Ghost of Christmas Present carefully wandering through the tiny streets of London calls back to the ending of “Fun and Fancy Free,” Disney’s 1947 package film featuring “Mickey and the Beanstalk,” which is also on Disney+. Your now-annual reminder that Pete has been a cat this entire time. **** Mickey’s Christmas Carol ©1983 Disney. Opening Music: “Christmas Was Better in the ’80s,” by The Futureheads, ©2010 Nul Records. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎃 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.🎙️ Jeff Somogyi joins us to celebrate the special that turned a generation into scaredy cats. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Jim Davis wanted Garfield’s Halloween Adventure to “at least scare 4-year-olds” (The A.V. Club, 2014) Samples of the comic book adaptation, “Garfield in Disguise,” from Rotten Ink and Goodwill Hunting 4 Geeks, including even creepier drawings of the old man and pirate ghosts. The first appearance of Binky the Clown! The time a raccoon broke into Jeff’s attic and left a hornet’s nest inside a Nativity scene shepherd. Speaking of attics, the Pink Panther advertising Owens Corning fiberglass insulation. The Roy Ogle of “Roy Ogle’s roots” was a plant breeder at Clemson. They’re sweet potatoes. The black cat pajamas may be a callback to the killer panther from 1984’s “Garfield in the Rough,” another good special to put on if you want to give your kids nightmares. Was the ghost of Jon’s grandfather watching all the Christmas festivities in that special? C. Lindsay Workman (Old Man) as Garfield’s grandfather in “Garfield on the Town” and God in “Garfield: His 9 Lives.” The “double burn” glowing effect used on the ghosts reminds us of the “Night on Bald Mountain” sequence of Fantasia. We had to ask: Did Garfield and Odie really survive the night, or is everything thereafter really Garfield Minus Garfield? **** 📼 Commercials: McDonald’s Halloween Pumpkin Pails (1986) **** “Garfield’s Halloween Adventure” ©1985 United Feature Syndicate, Inc./Anderson Digital. Closing Music: “Witch’s Night Out,” performed by Razoreater, written by Peter Rochon. Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.

💝 Love and dynamite are in the air as I introduce 2 guests to an early pilot of what would eventually become “The Muppet Show,” guest-starring a pregnant Mia Farrow. 🎙️ Joey O. and Brian Arnold drop by as we fall head over heels for “The Muppets Valentine Show,” a 1974 TV special that misinformed me about where babies come from. 📺 You can find “The Muppets Valentine Show” on YouTube. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: “The Muppets Valentine Show” on Muppet Wiki. Jim Henson’s Red Book entry about getting this pilot green-lit by some guy at ABC named “Mike” Eisner. We quickly touch on Crazy Harry’s original incarnation as “Crazy Donald” and then immediately drop it. Miss Mousey. George the Janitor is simultaneously UHF’s Stanley Spadowski and WWE’s Perry Saturn. George and Mildred At the Dance. Droop in the “Cosby Show” episode, “Cliff’s Nightmare.” The first appearance of Kermit the Frog riding a bicycle. “You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket.” “Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms” and the Looney Tunes musical bomb gag. Brian’s blog post about “The Candy Apple News Company.” **** “The Muppets Valentine Show” © 1974 The Jim Henson Company. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s Christmas Eve, and we’re celebrating with the first Christmas special I ever remember watching, from 1978. 🎙️ Erin Evans and Joey O. help bring Advent to a close as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street,” in which Big Bird worries Santa’s unfit for skinny chimneys, Mr. Hooper spends his Hanukkah saving Christmas, and we get a possible clue into how to get to Sesame Street. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: My taped copy of this is interrupted in the middle by a WHYY telethon with Philadelphia TV legend Ed Cunningham. The Count’s amazing ice-skating cape. The wibbly-wobbly physics of Oscar’s trash can. Olivia married the Predator. A cameo by Mr. Macintosh. If you want to go read about Northern Calloway (David) and his off-screen troubles and tragic death, proceed with caution. The adorable 2-year-old girl too little for her own vocabulary trying to explain that Santa pushes a magic button to go down chimneys is now in her 40s. “Don’t Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” An oral history of Mr. Snuffleupagus’s revelation as not imaginary. Oscar holds a broom like it’s Not His Broom. Ernie’s pajamas look like the background of the “Trololo” video. Joey makes my Christmas by assuring me I didn’t imagine “The Candy Apple News Company.” **** 🏌️‍♂️ After This Episode: Listen to my guest appearance on the Two Bad Neighbors podcast discussing my favorite Christmas-adjacent episode of The Simpsons, “Marge Be Not Proud.” Then go relax or take a nap or something. Hope you enjoy your Christmas! **** “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street” © 1978 Children’s Television Workshop. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Remember ALF? He’s back, in podcast form! 🎙️ Jeff Somogyi drops by 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. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: The heartbreaking true story behind “ALF’s Special Christmas.” A study in human ignorance: Gordon Shumway has a name, which he’s told everyone, yet everyone still calls him HEY ALIEN! A study in willful alien ignorance: ALF opens everyone else’s Christmas gifts and succeeds in convincing me it’s because he doesn’t know how any of this works. Talking ALF: The Storytelling Alien. “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” **** “ALF’s Special Christmas” © 1987 Alien Productions. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 We unearthed a Christmas special so low-quality, it happens in a sewer. 🎙️ Shawn Robare from the Cult Film Club and Jonathan Zelenak from The Sewer Den drop in for a radically recollection of “We Wish You a Turtle Christmas,” a 1994 cash-grab video starring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles… or at least some version of them. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: About the Sewer Den, Jonathan’s massive TMNT collection, and his blog post about this special. The Coming Out of Their Shells Tour. The Turtles’ smiles look like they’re from Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” music video. A 1975 anime version of “The Little Mermaid” had a not-at-all-coincidental resurgence around 1990. Writer Tish Rabe also produced “Big Bird in China” and “3-2-1 Contact,” created The Cat in the Hat Learning Library after Dr. Seuss’s death, and has written over 160 children’s books. Y’all want to watch 43 minutes of the Ninja Turtles on Oprah? That time a warehouse that housed the Rock-afire Explosion actually exploded. The only pizza place willing to appear in this special is Sbarro, which has come a long way since the Fat Boys’ “All You Can Eat.” The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizza Cookbook is a real book you should own. The cheapest gifts we’ve ever gotten our parents from our elementary school Christmas bazaar. Fun game: Sneak the “Wrap Rap” on a playlist in the middle of New Kids on the Block’s Christmas album and see if anyone notices. **** “We Wish You a Turtle Christmas” © 1994 Christopher Films, Inc. / Mirage Studios. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Tune in as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Pee-wee Herman’s Christmas special the only way we know how: With lots of screaming, lots of fruitcake, and lots more screaming. 🎙️ Erin Evans, Lindy Kempe, and Joey O. call into the Podcast Phone to embrace the wackiest holiday party of 1988. 📺 The “Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special” is available for free on YouTube. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Magic Johnson recorded his segment hours before playing in — and winning — a Lakers game. We don’t know the precise date, but one win was against the SuperSonics, possibly (but probably not) on Ice Cube’s “Good Day.” One commercial break includes a bizarre Pringles commercial starring a young Brad Pitt. “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.” When did fruitcake become a punchline? Christmas Past has something of an answer. Or is fruitcake a byproduct of the Joys of Jell-O era? The working script and storyboards for this special. Who mailed Grace Jones to the Reagan White House? Pee-wee in “Back to the Beach.” The King of Cartoons’ cartoon: 1936’s “Christmas Comes But Once a Year.” My feelings about snow mirror this one, particular Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, published 5 days after this special aired. The awkward moment when we realize the Dinosaur Family has a pet dinosaur. **** “Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special” © 1988 Paul Reubens. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 In Part 2 of our Disney Christmas double feature, Mickey and the rest of the Fab Five — and Daisy, who’s somehow less important than the dog — enter the third-dimension. 🎙️ Drew Crowley and John Dedeke from The Hourchive return for “Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas,” the main mouse’s first 3D-animated special. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: If you haven’t been to a Disney theme park in the last year or two, Mickey has a different face now. The hippo and crocodile from “Fantasia” have names. Chuck McCann (Santa) was the Dreamfinder in the original Journey Into Imagination. The grumpy dog who keeps showing up only to get beverages spilled on him is the Stan Lee of the Mickey Mouse universe, which I only mention because we recorded this the day after Stan died. Between the Goofys and the Plutos of this universe, there are talking reindeer who can own pets. The Hidden Mickeys Podcast. **** “Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas” © 2004 Disney Enterprises, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Live from the Turducken Hunger Games comes Part 1 of a Disney Christmas double feature featuring Mickey Mouse and his pals. 🎙️ Drew Crowley and John Dedeke from The Hourchive help me attempt to make sense of time, space, and the Disney fowl food chain as we watch Disney’s 1999 direct to video Christmas special. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Donald Duck’s comically enormous, fanmade family tree. Happy Duck to the Future Day! The “Quack Pack” intro will tell you everything you need to know about “Quack Pack.” Donald Jr., a tiny, semi-realistic duck introduced in “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” The Fab Five supposedly live in the fictional U.S. state of Calisota, on the Pacific coast. Pete has been a cat this entire time! Pete smokes a cigar, something since reportedly banned from Disney movies, despite still showing up in Disney movies. Recycled animation alert: Mickey’s wacky, tongue-waggling dance first appeared in 1942’s “Mickey’s Birthday Party.” **** “Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas” © 1999 Disney Enterprises, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 By the power of Grayskull, the only holiday podcast with Battle Damage action is back to be nice, kind, and wonderful to 1985’s He-Man and She-Ra Christmas special, in which Skeletor’s heart grows three sizes. 🎙️ Brandon Medley and Chad Young are here to help me identify everyone at Eternia’s first ever Christmas party. And Brandon’s dog stops by because he heard us talking about the Beast Monster! **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: 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. Greyskull Wiki has an entire section of Queen Marlena’s entry dedicated to speculating about her religion. The Monstroids exist because the makers of He-Man toys want you to believe giant robots that can transform are evil. Skeletor and Hordak are basically Miracle Max and his wife from “The Princess Bride.” This may have been the first time I’d ever seen someone yank off Santa’s beard. **** “He-Man/She-Ra: A Christmas Special” © 1985 Mattel, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Tonight in the Advent Calendar House, we’re doing the same thing we do every night… watchin’ a bunch of holiday specials! 🎙️ Joey O. and special guest Joey Letson from The Animanicast joins the mission to 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. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: This special won the 1996 Primetime Emmy award for outstanding animated program. Joey O. interviewed Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche. The Animanicast interview with Maurice LaMarche. “Powerhouse,” Warner Bros.’ go-to “assembly line” music. io9 ranked this episode dead last among the Brain’s plans to take over the world. **** “A Pinky and the Brain Christmas” © 1996 Warner Bros. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Listen in as we gush over a 1977 Muppet Christmas special that probably doesn’t get the attention it deserves. 🎙️ Emily Rowley drops in to marvel at Kermit riding a bicycle, watch a drum roll out a door too many times to count, and rock out to the Riverbottom Nightmare Band. Pa would’ve loved this podcast. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Muppet Wiki has the lowdown of all 5 cuts of this. The official outtake reel and the one with the drum roll. Of Muppets and Men: The Making of The Muppet Show. The Christmas Price Index. The “ass sliding” scene from “Rad.” Jerry Nelson and Louise Gold sing “When the River Meets the Sea” at Jim Henson’s memorial. The Can’t Wait for Christmas podcast on Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas. **** “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas” © 1977 The Jim Henson Company. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Hang on to your creepy mistletoe hat as we hit the Bayside Mall for a 2-part “Saved by the Bell” Christmas special from 1991. 🎙️ Chad Young and Tommy Coombs drop in to watch Zack get way too shook upon learning the latest girl of his dreams is homeless. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Chad’s write-up on “Home for Christmas” from 2013. That time WWE’s Daniel Bryan got fired for choking out an announcer. Puppy Surprise, the dog that’s pregnant. Dustin Diamond’s terrible heel turn on “Celebrity Fit Club.” Homer Simpson beat Screech to the “What’s the number for 911?” joke by a year in “Bart vs. Thanksgiving.” Who waits until Christmas Eve to buy a tree? The Evolution of the Zack Morris phone. Funny or Die: The Time Zack Morris Gave Himself A Homeless Girl For Christmas. **** “Saved by the Bell” and “Home for Christmas” © 1991 National Broadcasting Company, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Coming to you from Gotham City, it’s the podcast nobody wanted to see, but everyone will hear. 🎙️ Jay from the Purple Stuff Podcast and Joey O. drop in to spend Christmas with the Joker on a 1992 episode of “Batman: The Animated Series.” **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: The crowdsourced origins of Jingle Bells, Batman Smells. More discussion on “Christmas with the Joker” on Batman: The Animated Podcast and The Arkham Sessions. Gotham City is in New Jersey. Mark Hamill’s original performance as Ferris Boyle in “Heart of Ice.” “Comic Book: The Movie.” Mark Hamill’s longtime obsession with David Letterman. Charles Manson apparently spent this Christmas at Arkham Asylum before spending a later Christmas in Nebraska on “South Park.” Joker’s “Laffy” hand puppet reminds us of Señor Wences. His upside-down mouth puppet is even weirder. Betty Blooper looks like Toot from “Drawn Together.” Of course the Joker is hiding out at the Laffco Toy Factory. Look at it! **** “Batman: The Animated Series” and “Christmas with the Joker” © 1992 Warner Bros. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Part 2 of our Christmas donkey double feature presents a completely different origin story of the donkey who carried Mary to Bethlehem. 🎙️ Lindy Kempe and Brandon Medley return to talk “The Small One,” Don Bluth’s last Disney project, released in front of the 1978 re-release of “Pinocchio.” **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: The original book, “The Small One: A Story for Those Who Like Christmas and Small Donkeys.” “Dragon’s Lair.” The Land Before Time toys from Pizza Hut. Mouse in Transition: When Everyone Left Disney (Cartoon Brew, 2014) Don Bluth visited Walt Disney Animation Studios 40 years later. Assistant director Richard Rich went on to direct all 8 Swan Princess movies. (I’m sorry if you just learned there are 8 Swan Princess movies.) One piece of silver, adjusted for inflation. Edits for home video include the Merchants’ song, and the Star of Bethlehem getting extra rays of light to look less cross-shaped. To avoid too much foreshadowing, I guess. Gordon Jump, the voice of Joseph, was on a very special episode of “Diff’rent Strokes.” Yeah. Sorry. **** “The Small One” © 1978 Walt Disney Productions. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Extend your ears as we revisit a lesser-known Rankin/Bass special from 1977 that unravels a new side quest to the Nativity story. 🎙️ Lindy Kempe and Brandon Medley droop in to salute “Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey,” the first of a Christmas donkey double feature. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Roger Miller performing “Do Wacka Do” in 1966 with another guitarist, “Stubbs,” who’s wearing a Batman T-shirt. Roger Miller’s “Whistle Stop” in Disney’s “Robin Hood” is secretly the Hamster Dance. Tilly’s ascension back to heaven is strikingly similar to Poochie’s exit from “The Itchy and Scratchy Show.” Mary has the Glow from “The Last Dragon.” Annalee Santa dolls. **** “Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey” © 1977 Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 We dug down like dogs to the bottom of the VHS bargain bin and found “Jingle Bell Rap,” an overlooked special from 1991 that had all the potential to become a Christmas classic, but none of the airtime. 🎙️ Chad Young drops in to introduce me to this special from Perennial Pictures, a studio that managed to spend the entire 1990s producing a whole slew of holiday specials I never knew about till now. 📺 You can watch “Jingle Bell Rap” in Tubi. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: “Jingle Bell Rap” on Perennial Pictures. Fruity Pebbles’ “Master Rapper” commercial. Shout-out to the Cult Film Club and “Plot in 60 Seconds.” Rollover’s dad looks like angry Homer Simpson. Ralph Wiggum’s heart breaks in slow motion. New Kids on the Block perform “Funky Funky Xmas” on “The Arsenio Hall Show.” **** “Jingle Bell Rap” © 1991 Perennial Pictures. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Lace up your ice skates for a look at 3 classic holiday commercials starring 3 different iterations of McDonald’s clown in charge: “Happy Holidays” (the ice skating one), “Star Wish,” and “Runaway.” 🎙 Joey O. swoops in just in time to convince me not to leave home and run away to McDonaldland, which is honestly tempting. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Grape jelly is good on Sausage McMuffins. Try it. McDonald’s Wiki, which exists, runs down all 7 versions of the ice skating commercial. Yes, there are 7, and they’re all on YouTube: 1982: the original, with King Moody as Ronald and the “You Deserve a Break Today” jingle variant. 1983: with the “McDonald’s and You” jingle variant. 1984: with the “It’s a Good Time for the Great Taste” jingle variant. 1986: with Squire Fridell as Ronald, the version I remember most. 1988: with Fridell and the original jingle. 1990: with Fridell and the “Food, Folks and Fun” jingle variant. 1991: with Jack Doepke as Ronald, bad lighting, and “The Wish that Changed Christmas.” King Booker. Squire Fridell as Ronald McDonald in “Mac and Me” and Paul Rudd’s ongoing prank on Conan O’Brien. Grimace’s last appearance as of this recording was at Dodger Stadium, though as we know, nothing can kill the Grimace. The “World’s Largest Entertainment McDonald’s” in Orlando, home to an animatronic Mac Tonight that hangs from the ceiling. **** “Happy Holidays,” “Star Wish,” and “Runaway” © McDonald’s. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s mime time at the Most Magical Place on Earth in 1978’s “Christmas at Walt Disney World.” 🎙️ Drew Crowley and John Dedeke from The Hourchive drop in to watch 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 surprisingly reverent Disney villains. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Map of what Walt Disney World looked like in 1978. Vault Disney. How “My Favorite Things” became a Christmas song. The opening music, “The Great Gate of Kiev” from Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” or as I know it best, Jerry “The King” Lawler’s theme music. Shields and Yarnell on “American Bandstand” (1976) Drew eating a gigantic spoonful of mashed potatoes at the Liberty Tree Tavern. Photos from the long-abandoned Discovery Island in 2009. Disney’s short-lived plans of reopening Discovery Island as an attraction based on Myst. One-day admission to the Magic Kingdom plus a book of attraction tickets in 1978 cost $13, according to this Ticket Price Guide. “Ernest Goes to Splash Mountain.” Winnie-the-Pooh wearing a honey pot on his head. Giant, smoking cigars in a theme park parade for children. The (1970s) “Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World.” “Kraft Salutes Walt Disney World’s 10th Anniversary” (1981) The Hourchive on Walt Disney World: Part 1 and Part 2. **** “Christmas at Walt Disney World” © 1978 Walt Disney Productions. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Merry Christmas, little Zachary. Enter the void as time, space, and reality blur around the 1979 TV special accompaniment to my favorite Christmas album of all time, “John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together.”🎙️ Carlin Trammel and Bill Hanstock join the celebration of peace on Earth and good will to men, women, chickens, bears, Dizzy Gillespie, and Missy Piggy. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Bill’s Uncle Deadly tattoo. Pro-wrestler and “Muppets Most Wanted” cast member Hornswoggle’s Muppet tattoo. The Muppet Show Season 4 DVD promised at 2009’s D23 Expo, but which never came. Miss Piggy makes a sex joke, lest we forget the “Muppet Show” pilot opened with “Sex and Violence.” John Denver’s linear notes for the album’s 1996 re-release cite the Muppets as an inspiration for writing “Alfie, the Christmas Tree.” “A Baby Just Like You is one endpoint of the John Denver Christmas song emotional spectrum. The other is “Please Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas).” “I Will Wait for You” in “Futurama.” Jesus Christ has His own entry on Muppet Wiki. Zachary Denver in the audience during “Silent Night,” and at his father’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony in 2014. Jerry Nelson and Louise Gold sing “When the River Meets the Sea” at Jim Henson’s memorial service. Bill remembers Jim Henson on Scientific Podcast Goes Boink. **** “John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together” © 1979 John Jer Productions. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 In 1987, the California Raisins missed their bus, then made a sleigh out of garbage and flew it into space. 🎙️ The Advent Calendar House welcomes Erin Evans, Joey O., and Emily Rowley to join in the raisiny reindeer games that make up Will Vinton’s “Claymation Christmas Celebration,” the greatest holiday special out of all holiday specials hosted by clay dinosaurs. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: RIP Will Vinton (1947–2018), the creator of “capital-C” Claymation who may or may not have inspired Leap Day William, and who was still alive when we recorded this. Vinton also worked special effects on the EPCOT attraction “Captain EO.” Johnny Counterfit, the voice of Rex (and not at all Johnny Arcade), wrote a JFK time-travel novel. Rex and Herb’s original appearance in “Dinosaur,” which was later included in a “direct-to-video thing” starring Fred Savage. Related: “I Just Realized Why We Are All Mean,” by Jon Bois. “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven,” from “The Adventures of Mark Twain,” featuring Tim Conner (Herb) as a 3-headed alien in St. Peter’s Place at the wrong “Heaven.” The California Raisins’ cancelled Nintendo game: “The Grape Escape.” The California Prunes on “The Simpsons.” This special ends with a reference to the grossly enormous Mr. Creosote from “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life.” **** “Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration” © 1987 Will Vinton Productions, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Let’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. 🎙️ The Advent Calendar House welcomes Jeff Somogyi as we contemplate lasagna as a Christmas food, go long on the dinner prayer, and wonder how Binky, “The Clown Who Saved Christmas,” saved Christmas. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Joey O. interviews Gregg Berger, the voice of Odie. Dinosaur Dracula identifies all the presents in Garfield’s dream. Better “Weird Al” Yankovic Christmas song: “Christmas at Ground Zero” or “The Night Santa Went Crazy”? The simultaneously best and worst line in the history of animated Christmas specials for children: “Whoever invented Christmas trees should be drug out into the street and shot.” Jeff wanted a ringtone of that blaring trumpet when Garfield looks down from the top of the Christmas tree, so here it is! **** “A Garfield Christmas Special” © 1987 United Feature Syndicate, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 From the author of “The Wizard of Oz” comes one of the craziest Santa origin stories ever. 🎙️ Brandon Medley and Paxton Holley stop by to witness Rankin/Bass go 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 L. Frank Baum, which explains a lot. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Santa Claus’s growth to manhood, from J.D. Roth to Mumm-ra, and the rest of the Thundercats are here, too! L. Frank Baum’s original book on the Internet Archive, in ebook, PDF, and audiobook format. Pax’s review of the book and “Road to Oz,” which also features Santa. Baum’s sequel story, “A Kidnapped Santa Claus.” King Awgwa looks like My Pet Monster. The Most Pagan Christmas Special You Will Ever See (Fit for Dragon Con, 2013) That’s not Santa in “Return to Oz.” That’s the Shaggy Man. A Doom Metal Tribute to The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. **** “The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus” © 1985 Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🕎 Hanukkah 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. 🎙️ Sarah Shay returns to the Advent Calendar House to reintroduce me to “Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah,” which miraculously brings together Pat Morita, Alan Thicke, and Lloyd Bochner as both dinner guests and computer-generated, one-dimensional superheroes. There’s now a better copy of “Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah” on YouTube. The one we watched for this podcast was from some guy holding his iPad’s camera up to a TV. Check out Sarah’s albums: “You Have Queer Street Cred” and “The Shay & Shay Radio Hour.” **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: Shari Lewis’s amazing single-color red dreamcoat and stylin’ menorah. Alan Thicke on “Celebrity Family Feud.” “Lamb Chop in the Haunted Studio,” an earlier Halloween special also featuring Alan Thicke. Charlie Horse’s prize-winning superhero, the stuff of someone’s very specific nightmares. They almost make it through a whole Hanukkah special without mentioning Christmas, but blow it at the end for no reason. **** “Lamb Chop’s Special Chanukah” © 1995 8 Candles Production, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄🐭 It’s the one with the mouse. Turn 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. 🎙️ Joey O. is in the Advent Calendar House to do what’s necessary, ’cause even a miracle needs a hand. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: The worst thing we’ve broken that ruined multiple peoples’ day. We prepared for this episode by listening to Green Day’s “Kerplunk!” South Park’s cover of “Even a Miracle Needs a Hand.” A young Julia Stiles in a 1990s Apple Jacks cereal commercial. Dusty Rhodes’s “Hard Times” promo. **** “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” © 1974 Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

💫 Get ready to blast off for space church as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Star Wars Holiday Special! 🎙️ Lizzie Twacthman joins our exploration of the farthest point from the bright center of our favorite galaxy far, far away. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: “Some folks are in space for the benefit of nobody” (SB Nation, 2015) Our disappointment that Chewbacca’s family didn’t show up in Solo, but at least we got L3-37, who was great. High praise for the animated segment, marking our introduction to Boba Fett and the return of Luke’s awesome yellow jacket. Dihann Carroll was 43 years old in that erotic VR helmet sequence. Screen Junkies’ Honest Trailers of the Star Wars Holiday Special and other spinoffs. **** “Star Wars Holiday Special” © 1978 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’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. 🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni and Michael May drop by as all 3 Mikes compare and contrast 3 very different Grinches. **** 💬 Topics & Tangents: “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.,” Dr. Seuss’s first — and last — feature film screenplay. DiGio discovers Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice behind “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” was also Tony the Tiger. Grinchmas, the annual Christmas celebration at Universal Studios Hollywood and Islands of Adventure in Orlando. “How Murray Saved Christmas,” a 2014 animated TV special starring Jerry Stiller that just made my to-do list. “The Muppet Christmas Carol” on Sleigh Bell Cinema. **** “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” © 1966 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” © 2000 LUNI Productions GmbH & Co. KG. “The Grinch” © 2018 Universal Studios. Find us at adventcalendar.house.