Gerry Davila

🎄 What if Mr. Christmas was on the naughty list this entire time, thanks to a curse on his family for generations?  Gerry Davila (Totally Rad Christmas) and Guy Hutchinson (Pointless Nostalgia) join us on a Christmas quest back to 1985 as Andy Williams leads a dozen “true believers” on a trip to Finland to find Santa and answer for his totally-not-made-up ancestor.  📺 You can watch “Andy Williams and the NBC Kids Search for Santa” on the Internet Archive.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The NBC Kids are: Soleil Moon Frye, Cherie Johnson, Ami Foster, and Casey Ellison from “Punky Brewster”; Lisa Bonet, Tempestt Bledsoe, Keshia Knight Pulliam, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner from “The Cosby Show”; Alfonso Ribeiro from “Silver Spoons”; and Joey and Matthew Lawrence from “Gimme a Break!” But not Mindy Cohn from “The Facts of Life,” who shows up, sings half a line, and that’s it.  Guy visits New York City’s Christmas cinematic landmarks, including the locations from “Mr. T and Emmanuel Lewis in A Christmas Dream.”  Not Just Theo: Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s Surprising Career.  Alfonso Ribeiro’s Pepsi Commercial with Michael Jackson (1984)  The painting supposedly featuring Lars Sven Olaf Williams, from 1863.  The Sàmi.  “Sea for Catwoman!”  Porvoo Cathedral (pronounced like “Borga”).  ****  📼 Commercials:  NBC “Let’s All Be There” ID with Santa (1985)  Polaroid: “Christmas – Santa Claus” (1985)  Tinsel Tunes - The Christmas Music Podcast.  ****  “Andy Williams and the NBC Kids Search for Santa” © 1985 Pierre Cossette / Barnaby Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.

🍍 I’ve hidden a pineapple somewhere in this episode, and if you can find it… you get nothing. Sorry.  The Advent Calendar House is back for Christmas Podcast Day. This year, a bunch of your yuletide podcast pals are dropping episodes themed to “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and that gave me a premonition to take a closer look at a very merry episode of “Psych” from 2010.  Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas joins this examination of our superego, taking the form of renowned actor Tony Cox as himself… kind of.  Find more “Wonderful” episodes in the Christmas Podcasts directory.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “Psych’s Take on ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Changed Shawn’s Character” (Collider, 2023)  Maggie Lawson (Jules) on “Boy Meets World.”  Corbin Bernsen (Henry) has a collection of over 8,000 snow globes.  Today’s TV Trope: Good Angel, Bad Angel.  Keshia Knight Pulliam as Gus’s sitcom wife.  Behind-the-scenes photo of dream sequence Jules, Lassie, and Chief Vick.  Skyler Gisondo as Young Shawn.  The Canadian Motion Picture Park Backlot standing in for the least Miami-looking Miami.  Oh, there’s the pineapple.  “This Is Christmas” by Curt Smith.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Corn Pops: “Pops Locked in the Car” commercial starring Dulé Hill (1994)  ****  “Psych” and “The Polarizing Express” © 2010 Universal Network Television, LLC.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.

🎃 This year, Halloween in July has fallen on a Scrooge Sunday, so we’re hitting two holiday tropes with one garbage disposal.  Gerry Davila and Brandon Medley join us on a journey back to 1992 to watch Roseanne endure a haunting by the Ghosts of Halloween Past, Present, and Future.  At press time, the episode “Halloween IV” is available on Peacock.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The Story Behind Roseanne’s Iconic Chicken Shirt (Decider, 2018).  The “Psych” pineapple.  October 30th is Mischief Night in New Jersey and, apparently, nowhere else.  Elks Lodges lodges are real.  Our Halloween costumes from around 1992, and the worst things we’ve gotten while trick-or-treating.  Lee Arenberg (Ghost of Halloween Past) in “The Wizard.”  Mario Reccuzo (Ghost of Halloween Present) on “California Dreams.”  Dan and Jackie’s amazing beheaded Marie Antoinette costume.  A background actor is wearing a Pigs in Space costume.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Walgreens Halloween Decorations (1992)  How a Count Eats a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (1990)  ****  “Roseanne” and “Halloween IV” © 1992 The Carsey-Werner Company.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.

No porpoises were harmed during the making of this podcast. Guests: Gerry Davila, Ethan the Hungry Reader

The harbinger of winter gets friend-zoned. Guests: Gerry Davila, Matt Spaulding, Jeff Loftin.

Sherman Hemsley stars as the Toyman plotting to turn Metropolis greedy with atomic space rats. Guests: Gerry Davila, Paxton Holley, Jeeg

Love, hockey, and poorly engineered public displays of affection are in the air. Guest: Gerry Davila.

A #ChristmasPodcastDay deep dive into Rudolph’s original animated adventure. Guests: Gerry Davila (Totally Rad Christmas), Matt Spaulding (North Pole Radio). Find show notes at https://adventcalendar.house

Santa falls off the roof, and a guy who acts like a caveman takes over his job. Guests: Gerry Davlia, Sean Sotka. Find show notes at https://adventcalendar.house

🎄 Tune in as we mysteriously float back to 1983 with Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas on an unseasonably warm Christmas adventure through Mexico with our cool grandma and a talking Rubik’s Cube with more powers than Superman.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The History of Rubik’s Cube.  The theme song by pre-Ricky Martin Menudo.  Ángela Moya, the voice of the kids’ mother, played a small but grim part in “Gleaming the Cube.”  An ode to the family station wagon.  An archived, early-Internet Rubik fan site.  Las Posadas.  Date a TV show by adding a CB radio.  Rubik ending up in an eagle’s nest reminded me of “The Polar Express.”  Reynoldo’s speed cubing skills compared to the real-life Rubik’s Cube world records in 1983 and today.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Cap’n O.G. Readmore (1985)  Cap’n Crunch Cereal: Crunch vs. Taste (1985)  An Alpha Bits Cereal commercial that’s clearly still trying to ride the Pac-Man wave, but I’m not complaining (1985)  ****  “Rubik, the Amazing Cube” and “Rubik’s First Christmas” © 1983 Ruby-Spears Enterprises, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.

Goodness makes the badness go away. Guests: Thom Crowe (Tis the Podcast), Gerry Davila (Totally Rad Christmas). Find show notes at https://adventcalendar.house