All Episodes

🦃 It’s 2015, and in my search for a noisy cryptid I accidentally freed 175 roided-up turkeys, but neither of those things is the real monster.  🎙 Sammy Hain, Tony Whitaker, Ethan “The Hungry Reader” join us as we rediscover a long lost Thanksgiving special concept Jim Henson dreamed up in the 1960s and meet the Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow.  📺 You can find “Turkey Hollow” on Disney+.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  ToughPigs.com Behind the Scenes of Turkey Hollow.  Muppet Wiki on this special, Jim Henson’s original concept, and the 2014 graphic novel.  Some prototype musical monsters: An early Grover, Snerf, and the Rock and Roll Monster.  Director Kirk Thatcher in “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.”  On-set interviews with Ludacris, Lisa Henson, and Alice Dinnean.  Hope you like Beets.  Today’s TV Tropes: When You Coming Home, Dad? and Hollywood Law.  Station from “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.”  “Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge.”  Jason Hopley’s (Zorp) IMDb profile picture is from “Goosebumps.”  Lewis, Target’s Halloween Ghoul.  Homer Simpson eating potato chips on the space shuttle.  ****  📼 Commercials:  AT&T “Turkey” Commercial (2008)  TGI Podcast.  ****  “Turkey Hollow” © 2015 The Jim Henson Company, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1992, and my daydreams of snow are melting into a bucket of water getting dumped on my head from an airplane.  🎙 Kit Quinn, Randee Martin, and Tyler Green from Channel KRT join us as we dive down the rabbit hole to the strange world of The Disney Channel’s “Adventures in Wonderland,” where the White Rabbit wears Rollerblades and the halls are decked with fresh produce, the way Christmas was meant to be celebrated.  📺 You can find “Christmas in Wonderland” on Disney+, or this copy with a commercial bumper in front of it.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Channel KRT on the episodes “Pie Noon” and “Wonderland: The Movie.”  “White Rabbits Can’t Jump,” an unaired episode guest starring O.J. Simpson.  One Movie Later: Alice Through the Looking Glass.  Deadline’s obituary for Armelia McQueen (The Red Queen) uses a photo from this special.  Armelia McQueen on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and… “The Fesh Pince of Blair.”  Patrick Richwood (White Rabbit) lied to the casting director about knowing how to rollerblade.  Cast members on The Tiara Talk Show.  The Christmas Pickle.  Harry Waters Jr. (Tweedle Dee) in “Back to the Future,” and Wesley Mann (Caterpillar) in “Part II.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  Disney Channel Holiday Preview Bumper with Jane Seymour (1992) Juicy Fruit Skiing Commercial (circa 1989)  Cool Kids Club, a nostalgia-filled trip back to childhood.  ****  “Adventures in Wonderland” and “Christmas in Wonderland” © 1992 The Walt Disney Company.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1988, the monsters under my bed are real, and they’re stealing Christmas.  🎙 Ethan “The Hungry Reader” follows us under the covers through a wormhole to the home of ’80s kids’ bedding sensation the Pillow People in a Christmas special so obscure, it’s not even listed on IMDb. But it’s real, and it’s ironically nightmarish.  📺 You can watch “Pillow People Save Christmas” on YouTube.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Pillow People on the toy collectors’ website Ghost of the Doll.  Toot Sweet Toys, or what’s left of it.  TV listing in New York magazine (November 1988)  Victor DiMattia (Billy) on filming “The Sandlot.”  Window Rattler as seen on “Full House.”  The Who Cares Bears.  Today’s TV Trope: Introdump, example: the worst Rob Liefeld drawing.  Cheryl Chase (Sweet Dreams) mentions working with Cree Summer (Rock-a-Bye Baby) on this special in a 2004 interview about the “Rugrats” spinoff “All Grown Up.”  The Far Side: “…He’s taking it with him!”  Nightmara looks like a cross between Mother Brain in “Captain N: The Game Master” and Madam Hecuba from the 1974 anime adaptation of “Jack and the Beanstalk.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  Pillow People: Pillow Valley Commercial (1988)  Holidays After Dark.  ****  “Pillow People Save Christmas” © 1988 TMS Entertainment, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎃 It’s 1986, and one student at a magical boarding school is struggling to fit in while having to deal with a hard-nosed potions teacher and bullying from a golden child whose father will hear about this, but finds comfort in broom flying and encouragement from the kindly old headmaster.  No, not that one.  🎙️ Becca Petunia and Lindy Kempe join us for “The Worst Witch,” adapted from the original beloved series of books about a quirky boarding school for witches. This Halloween special stars a young Fairuza Balk, featuring Dianna Rigg, Charlotte Rae in a dual role, and Tim Curry in the trippiest ’80s music video.  📺 You can watch “The Worst Witch” on the Internet Archive.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Find “The Worst Witch” book at your local library.  St. Michael’s College is for sale.  Pam Jones (Donna) — formerly Kate Buckley before another actress took that name while she was on hiatus — is now a ceramic artist.  The kitten ceremony background music sounds kind of like Zelda’s Lullaby.  Mildred and Ethel’s rivalry gave us “Owl House” vibes.  Toonces the Driving Cat.  One student is a future Teletubby!  Becca on Movin’ Right Along discussing Tim Curry singing in “Muppet Treasure Island.”  Both Tim Curry and Sebastian from “The Little Mermaid” sing “begin the Beguine.”  Tim Curry in “Red Alert 3.”  Other “Worst Witch” TV adaptations, including a college spinoff and a Netflix series.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Carvel Halloween Ice Cream Cakes Commercial (1986)  Hyrule Podcasters, an audio “Let’s Play” through The Legend of Zelda.  ****  “The Worst Witch” © 1986 Central Independent Television Plc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1977, and the cast of Broadway’s hottest new musical is taking drastic measures to convince 4 different unions keep the theater open for a Christmas party because they forgot to book a venue.  🎙️ Guy Hutchinson joins us to watch the original Broadway cast of “Annie” play somethings in between themselves and their characters in a unique TV Christmas special that may very well have been many TV viewers’ first exposure to the musical.  📺 You can watch “The Annie Christmas Show” on the Internet Archive.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The original Broadway version of “Annie” ends on Christmas; the 1982 movie ends on the 4th of July.  Andrea McArdle in “Christmas at Walt Disney World.” (Full Episode)  Danielle Brisbois (Molly) in “All in the Family,” and she was a founding member of the band New Radicals.  “It’s Christmas” on the Annie 30th Anniversary Production Cast Recording, featuring multiple Annies and Miss Hannigans.  “I Don’t Care” in “In the Good Old Summertime” and “Back to the Future: The Game.”  “There’s a Broken Heart for Every Light on Broadway” in “Bullets Over Broadway.”  Today’s TV Trope: I Have a Family.  Ethel Merman sings “Tomorrow” in “A Special Sesame Street Christmas.” (Full Episode)  How The Twelve Days of Christmas’ days 9 through 12 got reordered.  Members of the cast reunited in 2019 to perform this Christmas special.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Kinney Shoes (1977)  Fotomat (1977)  Festive Foreign Film Fans.  ****  “The Annie Christmas Show” © 1977 Martin Charmin Productions / NBC Universal Network.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1981, and a jolly swagman who may or may not be Santa Claus is flying me around the world in a sleigh built out of a bench and some rope we had lying around to search the globe for a lost baby kangaroo.  Today’s Christmas in July episode begins where it’s actually winter in July, and only gets stranger and more inappropriate from there.  🎙 Dan MacPherson joins us for “Around the World with Dot,” also known as “Dot and Santa Claus,” starring the title character from an 1899 Australian children’s book, “Dot and the Kangaroo.”  📺 You can find “Around the World with Dot” on YouTube. You may want to watch “Dot and the Kangaroo” first.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Director Yoram Gross endured World War II in Poland; his family was on Schindler’s list. His studio, now Flying Bark Productions, more recently animated “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and Marvel’s “What If…?”  Barbara Frawley (Dot) singing “The Black Cat” on “Play School.”  Today’s TV Trope: Magical Homeless Person.  “Sakura Sakura,” which I recognized from Punch-Out!!  How a White Lie Gave Japan KFC for Christmas. (Gastro Obscura)  “The Real World of the Circus” opens similarly to the movie “Chaplin.”  “Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.”  “Alouette” is about plucking the feathers off a lark.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Mortein “Louie the Fly” Commercial (1980s)  Myer “Celebrate Christmas” Commercial (1980s)  Bad Princess Movies. ****  “Dot and the Kangaroo” © 1981 Yoram Gross Filmstudio Pty Ltd.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🐰 It’s 2004, and a stuffed toy rabbit voluntold me to clean his house.  🎙 Sammy Hain and Matt Spaulding join us to celebrate both Easter in July and Scrooge Sunday with a trip to the Hundred Acre Wood as Rabbit does double duty as both the Easter Bunny and Scrooge, all while Christopher Robin is somewhere else entirely.  📺 You can find “Springtime with Roo” on Disney+.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Ads from the 2004 DVD, plus a video of some dude walking through the menu screen.  Why do Christopher Robin’s toys have American accents?  John Fiedler (Piglet) in “The Golden Girls” and “12 Angry Men.”  “Christmas in the Stars,” the Star Wars Christmas album.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Sears Video Game Arcade Christmas Sale (1983)  ****  “Winnie the Pooh” and “Springtime with Roo” © 2004 Disney Enterprises, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1983, and my emotional support jack-in-the-box is not providing much help for my Imposter Syndrome.  🎙️ Tommy Coombs, Jayme Kilsby, and Chad Young join us for a deep dive into another pre-ALF puppet special from Paul Fusco starring a very depressed elf in training trying to find where he belongs in Santa’s workshop by first finding everywhere he doesn’t belong.  Plus: Santa’s Swedish Chef-like human hands!  A three-eyed purple teddy bear we never get to see!  Paul Fusco inserting himself into his own Christmas fan fiction!  📺 You can watch “Santa’s Magic Toy Bag” on Tubi.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Sherman looks like A Gnome Named Gnorm.  The hot dog puppet from “Funland.”  The History of the Nickelodeon Hotel (Defunctland)  The keeper of Santa’s Magic Toy Bag reminds me of the presidential designated survivor.  Superman impales some jerk’s truck on a telephone pole in “Man of Steel.”  Cracked: We Ruined Santa With Math.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Sears Video Game Arcade Christmas Sale (1983)  The Studio Demands It!  ****  “Santa’s Magic Toy Bag” © 1983 Imagicom Productions, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄It’s 1979, and an evil king is having abandonment issues after his entire kingdom left, so he made an army of robots instead of going to therapy.  The Advent Calendar House has once again emerged from hibernation after declaring 4 more months of winter to pretend it’s still winter.  🎙 Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas, Matt Spaulding from North Pole Radio, and Jeff Loftin from the Lost Christmas Podcast join us as we encounter what might be the least Christmassy Rankin/Bass Christmas special, featuring a friendlier version of Jack Frost, a groundhog dressed like a pro wrestling manager, and the wintry weather neighbors of those angels your grandmother told you were bowling whenever there was a thunderstorm.  📺 You can watch “Jack Frost” on Tubi.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Toei Animation’s “The Little Mermaid” (1975)  Gilbert Gottfried on his favorite death scene: Buddy Hackett as Lou Costello in “Bud and Lou.”  Today’s TV Trope: Inevitable Waterfall.  The Christmas tradition of “dream presents” is like the dinner scene from “Hook.”  February 2 is Candlemas, the 40th day of Christmas.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Pennsylvania Lottery: Like Holiday Morning, starring Gus, the 2nd most famous groundhog in Pennsylvania (2018)  Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Hedgehog Day (1992)  ****  “Jack Frost” © 1979 Rankin/Bass Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

Let’s all go to the taco show!  The Advent Calendar House has awoken early from its long winter’s nap to take the Leap Year challenge as prescribed by Dr. Frasier Crane on one unseasonably warm February morning in 1996.  🎙 Erin Evans and Joey O. get dressed up in buttons and boys to look into the “Frasier” cast’s Christmas connections, explore the world of complicated opera solos and bad Western ballads, and call in to a PBS pledge drive to try and talk to Big Bird.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Kelsey Grammer in “Mr. St. Nick” and “The Twelve Days of Christmas Eve.”  Our adventures on the mid-1990s internet, when it was All About the Pentiums.  “Frasier” episodes ranked on Variety, Frasier Online, and Thrillist.  “When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold” from “The Pirates of Penzance,” in which Leap Day becomes a plot point.  Oleg Cassini and the worst title card gag.   KACL is a real radio station, but not in Seattle.  “Rigoletto” and the aria “Ella mi fu rapita / Parmi veder le lagrime.”  Kelsey Grammer sings “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1996 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Philadelphia.   “Buttons and Bows,” as sung by Bob Hope in “The Paleface” and by Leap Day baby Dinah Shore.  Adam “Edge” Copeland talks “Money Plane” on Hey! (EW).  ****  📼 Commercials:  McDonald’s “Morning Break” Commercial starring Kelsey Grammer (1995)  Remember That Show?  ****  “Frasier” and “Look Before You Leap” © 1996 Paramount Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄It’s 1984, and Ebenezer Scrooge is threatening to raise his asking price for a warehouse full of corn.  This Christmas Eve episode not only drops on a Scrooge Sunday, but it’s also the Advent Calendar House’s 150th episode! 🎙 Erin Evans, Joey O., and Anthony Strand join us for a Dickens of a celebration with 1984’s TV movie adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” starring George S. Scott, along with the original “Equalizer” Edward Woodward as a sassy Ghost of Christmas Present, and we even spotted our favorite Alfred Pennyworth, Michael Gough, as a not-so-portly gentleman.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  David Warner in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.”  George S. Scott in “Angus” and “Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.”  “God Bless Us Everyone,” this movie’s theme music by Nick Bicât.  Wikipedia and NO ONE ELSE names one Cratchit child “Michael,” played by Susannah York’s (Mrs. Cratchit) real-life son, Orlando Wells.  Michael Carter (Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) as Bib Fortuna in “Return of the Jedi.”  “It’s Corn,” and My favorite “Futurama” joke.  Scrooge’s grave, allegedly a real, reinscribed headstone, at St. Chad’s Church in Shrewsbury.  Twelve Hundred Ghosts - A Christmas Carol in Supercut.  ****  📼 Commercials:  IBM Sponsored Commercial Break from the original airing of “A Christmas Carol.”  George C. Scott “Read More About It” PSA.  The Christmas Podcast Network All-Star Comedy Christmas Show!  ****  “A Christmas Carol” © 1984 Travenol Laboratories Limited.  In memory of Jason Gross (1976–2023).  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  “Christmas in Your Heart” (from “A Garfield Christmas Special”) performed by Todd from Vista Blue/Second Saturday.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄It’s 1980, and my spoiled nephew just got beaten in a ski-jumping contest by a bear who’s never seen winter before.  🎙 Bill Hanstock join us we fail upward through middle to upper hotel management featuring a simultaneously very mature and very immature conversation about cartoon bears discovering mistletoe. What could be the Jellystone Winter Lodge’s final Christmas carnival manages to wake up Yogi Bear, who hibernates directly underneath it but somehow never knew about it before now.  📖 Check out Bill’s book, “We Promised You a Great Main Event: An Unauthorized WWE History.”  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  This special opens with a typo: The sign reads “Yellystone Park.”  Daws Butler’s Snagglepuss voice was a Bert Lahr impression that was so spot on, Lahr threatened to sue when Snagglepuss started endorsing Kellogg’s cereal.  Hanna-Barbera’s Christmas Sing-A-Long album, featuring songs from this special.  Yogi was in “Casper’s First Christmas” in 1979, so this isn’t really Yogi’s First Christmas.  Fruity Pebbles Christmas Commercial episode (2017)  The Wonkamobile.  ClickHole: “Which One of My Garbage Sons Are You?” Clickhole, 2014.  Eddie the Eagle.  Mickey Mouse’s shirtless (and hatless) Steamboat Willie winter look at Disneyland.  “Mean, Sour, Crafty, and Cruel” in “Oliver and the Artful Dodger” and “Smurfs.”  The Zone of Death in the part of Yellowstone National Park that’s in Idaho.  “Christmas Is Here” in “A Flintstone Christmas.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  Cocoa Krispies Snagglepuss “Heavens to Murgatroyd” Commercial, circa 1963.  Bad Princess Movies.  ****  “Yogi’s First Christmas” © 1980 Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄It’s 1970, and Santa’s been locked up in an underground cave with 2 giant Muppet monsters.  🎙️ Tori Schmidt and Tony Whitaker join us as we venture through the tunnels under Santa’s workshop to uncover Jim Henson’s first ever TV holiday special, presented by The Ed Sullivan Show and featuring the first Muppet performances by Richard Hunt, Fran Brill, Marilyn Sokol, and John Lovelady, as well as the first appearances of Thog and a familiar-looking Frackle who’d later be reworked into the Great Gonzo.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “The Great Santa Claus Switch” on Muppet Wiki.  ToughPigs.com’s transcript of the special (2004)   Jim Henson, Thog, and Lothar on “The Dick Cavett Show” (1971)  Taminella Grinderfall in “Tales of the Tinkerdee.”  Jim Henson’s Red Book entries on the special’s casting and debut.  Tony’s art of the Two-Headed Monster as the Miser Brothers.  So Many Muppets Are Named Fred.  Daniel Seagren as Spider-Man on “The Electric Company.”  Richard Hunt as Elmo.  Snarl, the Frackle who would become Gonzo.  My Emmet Otter’s Teenage Mutant Jug-Band Christmas T-shirt.  We have dubbed the green Frackle who looks like Thig with a beak and horns “Theg.”  “This Is Halloween” in a Sesame Place parade.  “8 Balls of Fur.”  Stop calling them “Muppeteers.”  ****  📼 Commercial Break:  FritoLay Holiday Party Display Commercial (1970)  “Noëlco” Razor Santa Commercial (1970)  Merry Britsmas.  ****  “The Great Santa Claus Switch” © 1970 Sullivan Productions, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄It’s 1983, and the Worst Kids in the World are taking over the church Nativity play, smoking in the ladies’ room, and helping themselves to the sacramental grape juice.  🎙 Scott Leopold from Holly Jolly X’masu and Bob Baker from Festive Foreign Film Fans join us as we meet the Herdmans in a classic Christmas story turned TV movie starring Loretta Swit from “M*A*S*H” and a young Fairuza Balk in her on-screen debut.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Today’s TV Tropes: It’s the Best Whatever, Ever and Title Drop.  Author Barbara Robinson wrote 2 sequels: “The Best School Year Ever” (1994) and “The Best Halloween Ever” (2004).  Fairuza Balk (Beth) in “The Waterboy.”  Loretta Swit (Grace) interview: “Meanest kids in town make the best pageant,” AP via The Free Lance-Star, 1983.  Jason Michas (Leroy) as Johnny Arcade in “The Power Team” animated segment from Season 1 of “Video Power.”  Antony Holland (Reverend Hopkins) as Dr. Light — er, “Wright” — in “Captain N: The Game Master.”  Ocean Hellman (Alice) in “Danger Bay,” which keeps coming up this season.  ****  📼 Commercial:  Duracell “No Longer Under the Christmas Tree” Commercial (1983)  Festive Foreign Film Fans.  ****  “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” © 1983 Comworld Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄It’s 1994, and the Jeffersons are poisoning Metropolis with greed spray from toy atomic space rats.  🎙 Gerry Davila, Paxton Holley, and Jeeg join us on an unpredictable flight through the first Christmas episode of “Lois and Clark,” written by Dean Cain and starring Sherman Hemsley as the Toyman and Isabel Sanford as his reluctant assistant, plus Denise Richards, Dick Van Patten, Doug Llewellyn, and terrible special effects.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  C.T. brings up this episode and Jeeg seals his fate on Nerd Lunch’s “Nerdstradamus 2013 Redux.”  Winslow Schott’s plan to dump his greed toxin into Metropolis’s water supply is similar to Scarecrow’s plan in “Batman Begins.”  Progressive Insurance “Barbie” Commercial.  Denise Richards (Angela) in “Tammy and the T-Rex.”  Eddie Jones (Jonathan Kent) in “A League of Their Own.”  Christmas at Graceland.  Totally Rad Christmas on “It’s Gary Shandling’s Christmas Show” featuring Dom Irrera (Hecklebaum).  Homer Simpson licking poisonous toads.  Today’s TV Trope: Anticipatory Breath Spray.  “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by The Pretenders.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Burger King Holiday Disney Glasses Commercial (1994)  Children First “Read a Book” PSA featuring Brett Butler (1994)  Totally Rad Christmas. ****  “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” and “Season’s Greedings” © 1994 Warner Bros. Television.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄It’s 2001, and a magical partridge is sending me on a coat drive for some kind of Karate Kid-style Santa training.  🎙️ Andre Bennett and Tim Babb join us for a ride in our light blue ’54 convertible as we take a joyride through the very last and most overlooked Rankin/Bass Christmas special, featuring a mostly black cast starring Patti LaBelle, Gregory Hines, and a criminally underused Eartha Kitt as a talking cat.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  This special was co-written by Suzanne Collins, who went on to write “The Hunger Games.”  The other co-writer, Peter Bakalian, also has a book series. It’s called “The F.A.R.T. Diaries.”  Patti LaBelle in Philadelphia’s “Get to Know Us” tourism campaign, 1985.  Patti LaBelle on “Sesame Street” singing “How I Miss My X.”  IMDb’s photo gallery for “Santa, Baby!” is full of high-quality promotional images.  RankinBass.com’s first look at “Santa, Baby!” from December 2001.  Gregory Hines in “The Muppets Take Manhattan” and “Running Scared.”  Rankin/Bass finally includes “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and “Jingle Bells” in a Christmas special.  Natalie Toro (Samson) lists “Santa Baby!” on her bio page.  Andre’s uncle co-wrote K-Ci & JoJo’s “All My Life.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  McDonald’s “Wake Up” Breakfast Commercial featuring Patti LaBelle (1990)  Can’t Wait for Christmas.  ****  “Santa, Baby” © 2001 Perisphere Pictures, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄It’s 1989, and a killer in a Santa suit is making it really hard to hide my dead husband’s body.  🎙 Jamie Ray from Fave Five From Fans joins us to dig up the first filmed episode of “Tales From the Crypt,” a cozy Christmas nightmare directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring his then-wife and talented screamer, Mary Ellen Trainor, and the kid who gets her hoverboard stolen by Marty McFly.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Mike on Fave Five From Fans with my Fave Five Christmas TV Specials (already covered them all here).  Fave Five Christmas Horror Movies.  The Vault of Horror No. 35 (1954) “And All Through the House” segment of the 1972 “Tales from the Crypt” movie.  HBO Feature Presentation opening (1983)  John Kassir (The Crypt-Keeper) in a commercial for The Legend of Zelda (1987)  Mary Ellen Trainor (Elizabeth) and Lyndsey Whitney Barry (Carrie Ann) in “Back to the Future Part II.”  Today’s TV Trope: Tempting Fate.  Elizabeth calls the operator because 9-1-1 was only available in about half the U.S. by 1989.  ****  📼 Commercials:  The Crypt-Keeper’s Ghoulish Guide to the Howlidays on Kids’ WB (2001)  Holidays After Dark.  ****  “Tales From the Crypt” and “And All Through the House” © 1989 Tales From the Crypt Venture.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1979, by way of 1933 — or the other way around — and the human from Fraggle Rock has broken into my garage with a haunted choir of singing children.  🎙️ Scott Leopold from Holly Jolly X’masu and Tommy Coombs join us as we turn the dial on our haunted time-traveling radio to find Henry Winkler at the height of his fame as the Fonz hiding under multiple layers of makeup as a Scrooge figure in Depression-era New England.  📺 You can watch “An American Christmas Carol” for free on YouTube.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Henry Winkler interview on being asked to play a Scrooge figure.  The Ford Model TT truck.  Dorian Harewood (Matt Reeves/Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) filling in for James Avery as Shredder.  Today’s TV Trope: Recursive Fiction — and “The Identical.”  Robin Williams on “Sesame Street” showing Elmo different ways to play with a stick.  “Sister Kenny,” based on the true story of an Australian nurse.  ****  📼 Commercials:  McDonald’s Gift Certificates Christmas Commercial (1979)  Holly Jolly X’masu, your podcast destination for Japanese Christmas music.  ****  “An American Christmas Carol” © 1979 Scrooge Productions, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🕎 It’s 2003, and a team of Hebrew school basketball players think they’ve found the ghost of Judah Maccabee in a random guy living in a van.  🎙️ April Ryley and J.W. Friedman join us for a Disney Channel Original Hanukkah Movie very, very loosely based on the true story of former college basketball star Lamont Carr and a yeshiva’s struggling team looking for a leader.  📺 “Full-Court Miracle” is available on Disney+.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Lamont Carr’s obituary in Virginia Magazine (2017)  Psychocandy, an experimental pop duo of Cassie Steele (Julie) and Jase Blankfort (Stick).  UVA’s Athletics website circa 2003.  Alex’s prized Dr. J basketball card isn’t even a rookie card and isn’t that valuable.  “Jewball,” a novel featuring the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association basketball team.   Sadly, the only upload I could find of the hip-hop cover of the Dreidel song is a smartphone recording of a TV playing this movie.  This basketball movie’s NBA star cameo is provided by Jerome Williams.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Microsoft Encarta Commercial (1995)  Returning Student.  ****  “Full-Court Miracle” © 2003 Disney Enterprises, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1987, and someone stole Santa Claus in the middle of his hot dog break.  🎙️ Lindy Kempe and Emily Rowley join us as we follow a renowned novelist who may or may not be a teenager and her animated mouse writing partner on a quest find out who kidnapped a department store Santa, while we solve the mystery of how anyone remembers this Christmas special that only aired once.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Dick Van Patten’s shout-out in “Wayne’s World” and cameo in “Robin Hood: Men In Tights.”  Darcy Marta (Jill) on Totally Rad Christmas.  Gene Kelly and Jerry Mouse dancing in “Anchors Aweigh.”  Jill’s Miami Mice poster — no relation to the “Sesame Street” parody of the same name.  Donald O’Connor (Alex) in “Singin’ in the Rain.”  Helen Hughes (whoever the woman who answers Jill’s door is supposed to be) in “Billy Madison.”  Today’s TV Trope: 555.  Francis Dambeger’s (Jerry) 1991 film “Solitaire,” and its solitaire review on IMDb.  The realistic looking toy gun predates the same federal law that forced Nintendo to recolor its Zapper orange.  ****  📼 Commercials:  7up Christmas Commercial (1986–1987)  Wild Puffalumps Commercial (1987)  The Magic of the Season.  ****  “A Mouse, A Mystery, and Me” © 1987 Ruby-Spears Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.