Steven

🎄 Put on your cute little helmet and join us on a journey back to 1984 for a Christmas special based on the toy craze that turned holiday shopping from a winter wonderland to a warzone.  🎙️ Julia (Tis the Podcast) and Steven (The Bigfoot Club) join the adventure from the hidden home of the Cabbage Patch Kids to the unnamed but totally identifiable big city in search of the Christmas spirit, while we evade 2 nearly identical but probably not related trios trying to kidnap us. It’ll all make sense.  Actually, no. It will not.  📺 “The Cabbage Patch Kids’ First Christmas” is well preserved on YouTube. Here’s an upscaled version.  Watch Steven’s film, “The Bigfoot Club,” on Prime Video.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The totally official, extremely bonkers Legend of the Cabbage Patch Kids.  Babyland General Hospital.  ‘Custody’ fight over Cabbage Patch dolls (Christian Science Monitor, 1983)  Josh Rodine (Dawson Glenn) in “Sparky’s Magic Piano” (1987)  Sparky Marcus (Xavier) as Banjo the Woodpile Cat (1979)  “Kudzu: The Invasive Vine that Ate the South.”  Piedmont Park.  What idiot took the gay out of “Don we now our gay apparel”?  ****  📼 Commercials:  Cabbage Patch Kids Talking Phone (1984)  Cabbage Patch Kids Hide and Seek Game (1984)  ****  “The Cabbage Patch Kids’ First Christmas” © 1984 Ruby-Spears Enterprises, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.

🎄 It’s 1984, and Santa’s in front of a firing squad because his executioner didn’t appreciate the socks he got last Christmas.  🎙 Shawn Robare and Steven join us as the slime is in an extra festive shade of green for a Christmas episode of the show that defined Nickelodeon’s early years, featuring an all-star cast of the 5 most featured kid actors of “You Can’t Do That on Television.”  📺 You can watch the episode “Christmas” on Facebook.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Shawn’s piece of the Prevert Family’s living room wallpaper.  Nick Knacks on “You Can’t Do That on Television.”  Mike and Steven pitch their ideas for a sequel to “Santa Claus: The Movie” on SequelQuest (2020)  “UFO Kidnapped,” a TV pilot featuring much of the same cast of kids.  Les Lye as Professor Coldheart in “The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings.”  How we’ve fielded the question of Santa’s one-night flight.  Abby Hagyard (Mom) on YouTube.  Ice Cream Dolls, The Visible Man, and the G.I. Joe Motorized Battle Tank.  Calvin and Hobbes makes the same “Santa wants beer” joke.  ****  📼 Commercials:  “You Can’t Do That on Television” Green Slime Shampoo (circa 1987)  The Lost Christmas Podcast.  “A Very Zelda Christmas,” by DarkNuck, on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube.  ****  “You Can’t Do That on Television” © 1984 Carleton Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we saved Punky Brewster’s Christmas spirit in “Yes, Punky, There Is a Santa Claus.”  This time, join Punky in 1985 on an animated adventure in which Punky and pals visit Santa’s workshop and accidentally start Christmas too early.  🎙 Adam Pope and Steven join us on an instantaneous trip to the North Pole courtesy of Glomer, her new magical leprechaun-gopher Ewok lookin’ friend. The ’80s were weird.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Comparing the original sitcom’s theme song to the cartoon’s theme.  Galoob made a plush Glomer.  Adam’s VHS cover has a very off-model Glomer.  The Master Christmas Switch’s effect on time reminded me of the “Futurama” episode “Time Keeps on Slippin’.”  Punky taught Adam how to wink.  Santa drops off the kids on the roof again, just in like in “Frosty the Snowman.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  The Story of Phroomf commercial featuring baseball star Bob Boone (1986)  WIZARDS The Podcast Guide to Comics.  ****  “It’s Punky Brewster” and “Christmas in July” © 1985 National Broadcasting Company, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1984, and all we want for Christmas is our mom back.  🎙 Adam Pope and Steven join us for a roller coaster of emotions from sad raindrop to beautiful snowflake as we turn around back to 1984 with Punky Brewster during her very special, very crucial first Christmas with her new family.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  I totally missed the 2021 “Punky Brewster” revival series on Peacock.  Ami Foster (Margaux) in “Wrinkles in Need of Cuddles.”  The Punky Brewster Wiki exists and is very helpful.  What do you mean, “Nobody would want A Bomb for Christmas?”  “Santa Claus Lives in Santa Cruz” is a very obscure single that may or may not have been written for this episode.  “I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning” from Annie Get Your Gun.  Today’s TV Trope: Santa’s Existence Clause.  ****  📼 Commercials:  NBC’s One to Grow On interstitial with Soleil Moon Frye, circa 1984.  Wizards! The Podcast Guide to Comics.  ****  “Punky Brewster” and “Yes, Punky, There Is a Santa Claus” © 1984 NBC Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s time for toys and time for cheer as the Advent Calendar House begins another 12-episode countdown to Christmas in July.  🎙 Sean Sotka and Steven join us as we rewind at twice the normal speed back to 1981 to revisit the Christmas special that helped kick off the revival of Alvin and the Chipmunks.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Steven’s story of accidentally erasing his VHS recording of this special, only to find another recording of the same broadcast years later.  The History of the Chipmunks (RIP The Hourchive).  “Witch Doctor.”  R.J. Williams (Tommy), who was 3 years old in this special, later starred in “Wake, Rattle, & Roll.”  Dave’s 3-story Victorian mansion seen only in this special and never again.  Yes, the Chipmunks wear pants.  Vintage Echo harmonicas are real, but good luck finding a gold one.  Selling photos of Santa with dogs dressed as reindeer looks way more fun than selling dollar store junk door-to-door.  Clyde Crashcup invented a popular “Simpsons” joke.  Today’s TV trope: Talking in Your Sleep.  “Paw Patrol” makes no sense.  ****  📼 Commercials:  A Chipmunk Christmas Soundtrack Album (1981)  7up Countdown to Christmas Posters (1986)  ****  “A Chipmunk Christmas” © 1981 Bagdasarian Productions.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.