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🎄 It’s 2014, but this special about a forgotten holiday mascot feels like it’s from the 1990s. Unfortunately, so do some of the jokes.  🎙 Michael DiGiovanni and Donnie Storms join us on a sleigh ride back through “How Murray Saved Christmas,” which follows Murray Weiner (rhymes with diner) from the hidden hometown of every holiday mascot… but mostly the American ones.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Former “Simpsons” showrunner Mike Reiss’s original books, “How Murray Saved Christmas” and “Santa Claustrophobia.”  The trimmed half-hour cut of the special removes some bad jokes, but also Murray’s backstory.  Speaking of super offensive things, Marc Mero as Johnny B. Badd.  Today’s TV Trope: Santa’s Sweatshop.  “Vishnu” takes “The Problem with Apu” to a new low.  Every LBGTQ+ Joke on The Simpsons Ever (as of early 2021).  There’s an actual National Milkmen Day… on June 26, not August 12.  All 27 or so Holidays Represented:  Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Day, Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Year, Mardi Gras, Presidents Day, St. Patrick’s Day, April Fool’s Day, Easter, Arbor Day, Earth Day, Secretary’s Day (maybe), May Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, Graduation Day?, Father’s Day (maybe), (American) Independence Day, Bastille Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving… oh, and Jack Frost is there.  ****  📼 Commercials:  McDonald’s McDLT Commercial starring Jason Alexander (1985)  Tinsel Tunes.  ****  “How Murray Saved Christmas” © 2014 Universal Animation Studios.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s6 #2010s

🎄 Happy Back to the Future Day! Set your time circuits to 1845 by way of 1991 for a special Christmas in July episode of the “Back to the Future” Saturday morning cartoon featuring hologram clothes, the hoverboard equivalent to texting while driving, and Bill Nye the Science Guy. 🎙 Joey O., along with Joseph Wade from Christmas Creeps and The O/S/T Party, are our partners in time for a “Dickens of a Christmas,” featuring Dan Castellaneta as the voice of the animated Doc, Thomas F. Wilson as Ebiffnezer Tannen, and Christmas movie all-star Mary Steenburger as Clara.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Mary Steenburger playing “Informer” on the accordion in “Last Man on Earth.”  Series art director James S. Baker storyboards his own blog.  The Back to the Future pinball game and its random movie quotes.  Futurepedia on how Doc’s clothing converter camera works.  Weird things we did as kids to show our parents we were responsible.  Some toys in Fedgewick’s shop shouldn’t be there yet in 1845.  Did “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” exist in 1845? Possibly, but not the version we know.  Doc’s wad of cash vs. England’s bank notes circa 1845.  Wilkins’s dog looks like 1980s T-shirt icon Rude Dog.  My Back to the Future-themed Good Friday and Easter Sunday tweets.  The closest thing we could find to a Kaiju Christmas movie is 1962’s “Gorath.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  Back to the Future: The Ride at Universal Studios Florida (1996)  Hi-C Ecto Cooler Commercial (1989), starring David Kaufmann, the voice of Marty.  ****  “Back to the Future,” the Animated Series, and “Dickens of a Christmas” © 1991 Universal Cartoon Studios / Amblin Television.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s6 #1990s #scroogesunday

🎃 It’s a wonderful night for eyebrows and the wildest trip to the euphemism we’ve ever taken.  🎙️ James Riley and Ethan “The Hungry Reader” hitch a ride in our paraphernalia wagon as we wheel it back to 1977 for a Grinch Night we’ll never forget.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The worst, non-candy Halloween treats.  “Carlton, Your Doorman.”  Longtime Sesame Street composer Joe Raposo composed this special’s music.  Hans Conried (The Grinch) was also the titular character in Dr. Seuss’s The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.  I badly describe the plot of “Midnight Madness.”  The Hakken-Kraks in “Oh, the Places You’ll Go.”  The Euphemism, and other words I thought Dr. Seuss made up.  “Dr. Seuss Goes to War,” and other creators of great works doing terrible things.  Bogleech’s gallery of the Grinch’s monsters, and our personal favorites.  The Vug under the Rug, the Jibboo, and the Birthday Bird.  “Danse macabre.”  Is this a prequel, and where does “The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat” fit into it?  ****  📼 Commercials:  Franken Berry and Monster Cereals (1986), preserved by Dinosaur Dracula.  Holly Jolly X’masu.  ****  “Halloween is Grinch Night” © 1977 DePatie–Freleng Enterprises.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.  #s6 #1970s #halloween #drseuss

🎄 Garbageman is here for your Christmas spirit.  🎙️ Tommy Coombs and Chad Young join us as we look happily deranged back to 1996 to follow Pete and Pete’s brother, Pete, on their mission to keep Christmas going for as long as possible, and keep their Christmas tree safe from the evil Garbageman.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Michael C. Maronna (Big Pete) in “Home Alone,” and in a series of Ameritrade commercials circa 1999.  “Snow Day” was originally conceived as a Pete & Pete movie.  The first Pete & Pete short, “What Would You Do for a Dollar?”  The Pete & Pete 20th Anniversary Reunion.  Danny Tamberelli (Little Pete) as Jimmy De Santa in “Grand Theft Auto 5.”  Hardy Rawls (Dad) as the Maytag Repairman circa 2005.  Sludge Central on “Pete & Pete” filming in New Jersey.  Chad and Michael May talk “Silent Night, Deadly Night.”  David Johansen sings “Garbageman’s Ballad.”  The Max Headroom Pirating Incident.  A mini ode to character actress Marilyn Dobrin as the Wrigleys’ notably loud neighbor.  ****  📼 Commercials:  The Adventures of Pete & Pete: “Mom’s Plate” (1991)  Christmas Clatter.  ****  “The Adventures of Pete & Pete” and “O’ Christmas Pete” © 1995 Viacom.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s6 #1990s #nickelodeon #christmaseveryday

🎄 I know what we’re going to podcast about today!  🎙 James Riley and Brandon Medley join us for a toboggan ride without even getting out of bed back to 2009 to watch Phineas and Ferb save their very nice town’s Christmas Vacation.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Ferb) in “Love Actually” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”  The time James accidentally knocked over Ben Stiller.  The Sears Wish Book catalog.  Today’s TV Trope: Look Both Ways.  “What Does He Want?” was cut for time and restored later. Also, it sounds like the “Monster Mash.”  Doofenshmirtz’s Naughty-inator reminds me of the Riddler’s Brain Box from Batman Forever.  “We Are the World.”  Walt Disney World’s Candlelight Processional and Raglan Road.  “Christmas Is Starting Now” by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.    ****  📼 Commercials:  Sears Wish Book (1992)  Merry Britsmas.  ****  “Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation” © 2009 Disney.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s6 #2000s #disney

🦖 It’s the most wonderful time of 60 million years ago, so come in and buy paint.  🎙️ Lindy Kempe joins us with frying pan ready to celebrate Refrigerator Day with the Jim Henson Company’s “Dinosaurs,” which is somehow the Advent Calendar House’s first TGIF episode.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “The Simpsons” parodies “Dinosaurs.”  We go from talking about the “Økėÿ Døkęÿ Køøkïñ” segment of “Muppets Now” to Netflix’s “Nailed It!”  Sally Struthers (Charlene) for International Correspondence School.  A brief history of the Christmas bonus, or “thirteenth salary.”  Sam McMurray in the very short-lived “A League of Their Own” sitcom, and my own pitch for a TV adaptation on Nerd Lunch’s Fourth Chair Army Invasion.  Pons Maar (Roy’s body actor) as the original voice of The Noid.  Unisaurs: The Dinosaurs equivalent to the Anything Muppet.  The biggest gifts we ended up returning.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Talking Baby Dinosaur and Dinosaurs Figures (1991)  TGI Podcast.  ****  “Dinosaurs” and “Refrigerator Day” © 1991 The Walt Disney Company.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s6 #1990s #muppets

🦃 We’re talking turkey as we dig up and dig in to a 1983 Thanksgiving special from puppeteer Paul Fusco, the creator of ALF.  🎙️ Chad Young, Tommy Coombs, and Jayme Kilsby join us the follow a turkey’s dream of stardom that ends with dogs and cats living together.  📺 You can watch “A Thanksgiving Tale” on Youtube, with curated retro Thanksgiving commercials.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Imagicom Productions’ Holiday Specials Collection.  Fred Travalena as the Joker in the 1989 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  A November 16, 1983 TV listing in an archived New York Magazine.  Paul Fusco’s “Space Cats.”  David Lander in “Funland.”  Mental Floss’s Oral History of ALF.  Today’s TV Trope: Invited as Dinner.  The “You Bet Your Life” Duck.  The art of making puppets fight: Throw them into the air from behind a fence.  We compare the Thanksgiving play in this special to the one in Addams Family Values.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Butterball Turkey Commercial (1985)  Christmas Time in the City.  ****  “A Thanksgiving Tale” © 1983 Imagicom Productions, Inc.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s6 #1980s #thanksgiving #puppets

🎄 Santa falls off the roof, and a guy who acts like a caveman takes over his job.  🎙 Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas and Sean Sotka from the Christmas Podcasts Podcast join us as we close out another countdown to Christmas in July with a sleigh ride back to the Stone-Age Year of Our Lord 1977.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Our episode on the Fruity Pebbles Christmas Commercial.  I found a Flintstones chronology on, of all places, Flickr.  The Internet Archive’s VHS Vault.  Domino Rally.    I want to know more about Santa’s reindeer turn signals.  “Daze Before Christmas” for Super Nintendo and Mega Drive (Genesis).  Virginia Gregg (Mrs. Claus) was the uncredited voice of Norman Bates’s mother in the first 3 Psycho movies.  Santa’s workshop should have gotten Flintstone Theming.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Fruity Pebbles: Rapping Barney (1988)  Voice Command Crusher RC Car (1993)  Behind the Bells.  ****  “A Flintstone Christmas” © 1977 Hanna-Barbera Productions.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s6 #1970s #hannabarbera #flintstones

☃️ It’s 1982, and we’re walking in the air. 🎙️ Adam Parker Sibun from the Merry Britsmas Podcast visits the Advent Calendar House as we melt over a British Christmas classic and a personal favorite I wish was more beloved stateside.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  We have a new theme song! Thanks, Bronwen’s Ghost!  Merry Britsmas episode on Raymond Briggs.  The British Film Institute’s Top 100 British TV Programmes of the 20th Century.  The special’s 3 openings, featuring Briggs, David Bowie, and Mel Smith as Father Christmas.  The original picture book wasn’t a Christmas story.  Other Briggs works mentioned: “Father Christmas,” “Fungus the Bogeyman,” “Ethel and Ernest,” and “When the Wind Blows.”  How The Snowman melted David Bowie’s heart (The Guardian, December 2016)  Duncan Jones finds his dad’s scarf.  Video of an owl flying over snow I eerily shared on Facebook the night David Bowie died.  The Maccabees cover “Walking in the Air.”  The Royal Pavilion and Brighton Palace Pier.  Today’s TV Trope: Polar Bears and Penguins.  The Snowman in a commercial for Barbour outerwear.  Irn-Bru soft drink’s parody commercial, and its sequel.  ****  📼 Commercials:  1985 Toys “R” Us Snowman Commercial featuring Aled Jones covering “Walking in the Air” (sung in the special by Peter Auty).  ****  “The Snowman” © 1982 Snowman Enterprises Ltd.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1980s

🎄 It’s 1963, and we’re watching a show about a show within a show putting on a show for Christmas. Don’t ask us to make sense of it. We can’t stop tripping over our own home furniture.  🎙️ Tim Babb from the Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast joins us to watch a show within a show put on a Christmas show, then sing the theme from the show it’s within.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Dick Van Dyke as Tubby the Tuba.  8 great little details you never noticed in The Dick Van Dyke Show Christmas episode (MeTV)  Every Episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Ranked (Vulture)  92-year-old Dick Van Dyke dancing to Step in Time.  Dick Van Dyke in “Mary Poppins Returns.”  “John Brown’s Body.”  Key & Peele’s “Negrotown” sketch and the trope of interrupting someone’s song.  “The Dick Van Dyke Show” cast reunites on “Comic Relief” (1992)  Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book’s history of “I Am a Fine Musician.”  The theme song’s secret lyrics.  ****  📼 Commercial:  Learn Not to Burn: Holiday Fire Safety PSA (1977)  Also mentioned, this Fire Safety PSA with Dick Van Dyke pretending to be a door.  ****  “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “The Alan Brady Show Presents” © 1963 Calvada Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1960s

🕎 It’s 1988, and we’re getting lit at Bubbe’s Boarding House for Hanukkah. 🎙 April Ryley joins us for a spin with a bunch of puppets you’ll never hear from again.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  A Simpsons animator designed the puppets for this weird, wonderful ’80s Hanukkah special (Splinter, 2014)  “Caps for Sale”  Anton and his Easter Island head.  April’s very non-kosher latke recipe.  Mayim Bialik explains the letters on the dreidel and other Hanukkah facts.  Calvin getting trolled by his dad in “Calvin and Hobbes.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  1970s/’80s PBS Logo ID.  1985 Teddy Ruxpin “Frankenstein” Commercial, preserved by Dinosaur Dracula. Teddy Ruxpin voice actor Phil Baron co-wrote this special.  Cool Kids Club.  ****  “Chanuka at Bubbe’s” © 1988 Pan-Imago, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1980s #hanukkah #puppets

🎄 It’s 1988, and the Care Bears are threatening to take hostages on a quest to save Toyland.  🎙 Lindy Kempe and Karen Flieger join us to stare intensely at the totally nuts series finale of “The Care Bears Family,” the Care Bears’ last TV appearance for 16 years.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The World’s Smallest Tenderheart Bear.  Karen’s awesome Nutcracker socks.  Abby Hagyard (Ms. Walker, and also the mom on “You Can’t Do That on Television”).  “The Wild Puffalumps.”  Billie Mae Richards, the voice of Rudolph, as Tenderheart Bear in “The Care Bears Movie.”  That time a goose flew into Fabio’s face on a roller coaster.  Today’s TV Tropes: Identity Amnesia, Evil Chancellor, Rail-Car Separation.  “The Sad Story of Henry” from Thomas the Tank Engine.  The train runs on soda, like the time machine in the first draft of “Back to the Future.”  When we recorded this, the special’s Wikipedia entry was oddly specific about setting this story in 1967.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Care Bears Drinking Glasses from Pizza Hut (1984)  “The Christmas Book: The Ultimate Guide to Your Favorite Holiday,” by Ed Daly.  Snow in Southtown.  ****  “Care Bears Nutcracker Suite” © 1988 Nelvana Ltd.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1980s #nutcracker #nelvana

🎄 It’s 1980, and we’re having a hiccuping fit that can literally move mountains.  🎙 Kristi and Bri from Bad Princess Movies join us on a trip back to the World of Filmation for a barely Christmassy Snow White sequel starring Snow White’s daughter, also named Snow White, who meets Seven Friendly Giants, each with their own involuntary reflexes.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Bad Princess Movies on Filmation’s “Happily Ever After.”  “Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation.”  Cash-grab home videos including “The Reef,” “Ratatoing,” and Toei Animation’s “The Little Mermaid,” which I discovered in a Toys “R” Us in 1989.  Larry Mann (Yukon Cornelius) as the Magic Mirror vs. Dom DeLuise as the Looking Glass in “Happily Ever After.”  “The Thief and the Cobbler.”  Am I Hot or Not?  The word CLINK appears as a key is dropped onto a table, but this is the only time that effect happens in the whole special.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Barbie Dreamhouse (1982)  Weird Christmas.  ****  “A Snow White Christmas” © 1980 Filmation Associates.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1980s #filmation

🎄 It’s 1978, and celebrities pretending to be ghosts are gaslighting Oscar the Grouch into participating in Christmas. Also, Michael Jackson shows up. 🎙 Alan Johnson and Donnie Storms join us for another Scrooge Sunday episode to witness the 2nd best “Sesame Street” Christmas special from 1978… out of 2.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Our episode on “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street.”  I thought Tough Pigs made up this special in 2001 to be funny, but nope, it’s real.  Sesame Street lost an Emmy to Sesame Street.  “A Special Sesame Street Christmas” on Muppet Wiki.  “Elmo’s Delicious Christmas.”  “Anne Murray Sings for the Sesame Street Generation,” an American re-release of “There’s a Hippo in My Tub.”  “Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street.”  Michael Jackson inadvertently saved Sesame Street from a lawsuit.  “Just One Person” at Jim Henson’s memorial service. Mike talks about “Snoopy! The Musical” on A Special Presentation, or ALF Will Not Be Seen Tonight.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Sesame Place (1984)  Kringle Talks Kristmas.  ****  “A Special Sesame Street Christmas” © 1978 Bob Banner Associates.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1970s #scroogesunday #muppets

🎄 It’s 1978, and we’re glued to the TV… whether we like it or not.  🎙 Molly Patton and Adam Pope join us as we catch the next reindeer flight to save Santa’s workshop from being taken over by a palette swapped Wile E. Coyote.  ****  “Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure” and The Greedy.  Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog, in example: “A Sheep in the Deep.”  The Gloopstik Corporation’s address on Google Maps.  Santa’s Reindeer species profile by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.  The Star-On and Star-Off machines from “The Sneetches.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  1978 M&M’s Christmas Commercial.  A Cozy Christmas.  ****  “Raggedy Ann” and “Andy in The Great Santa Claus Caper” © 1978 The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1970s #chuckjones

🎄 It’s 1995, and a cozy Christmas at X-Mansion has quickly turned into a risky blood transfusion in a sewer.  🎙 I call upon the raging wind and the retired hosts of The Hourchive — Drew Crowley, John Dedeke, Adam Jurotich, and Nick Main — to send us flying into the Marvel Animated Universe as we size up the X-Mansion Christmas tree, praise Storm’s fashion sense, and berate her leadership skills.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The Hourchive on The X-Men (2013) and ReduX-Men (2019).  “California Dreams.”  “Saturday Morning Cartoons’ Greatest Hits” home video starring Drew Barrymore.  “Have Yourself a Morlock Little X-Mas” on the Marvel Animated Universe Wiki.  Ross Petty (Ape) and his annual holiday pantomime theatre.  “Captive Hearts,” featuring the introduction to the Morlocks, Rogue and Gambit in swimsuits, and the Wolverine Crush meme.  ****  📼 Commercials:  The Uncanny X-Men ToyBiz Action Figures.  Lit for Christmas.  “The Christmas Book: The Ultimate Guide to Your Favorite Holiday” by Ed Daly.  ****  “X-Men” and “Have Yourself a Morlock Little X-Mas” © 1995 Filmation Associates.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1990s #marvel

🎄 It’s 1986, and we’re hiding out in a cabin in the mountains with modern-day Snow White and real-life Christmas angel Dolly Parton.  🎙 April Ryley joins us as we try to wrap our heads around this Henry Winkler-directed TV movie that gets really weird really quickly.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “Dolly Parton Meets the Kids.”  Muppet doppelgänger Polly Darton.  Dolly Parton saved a girl’s life on the set of “Christmas on the Square.”  Gennie James (Cindy) in “The Hugga Bunch Movie.”  Claude Earl Jones (Bartender) in the Seinfeld episode, “The Race.”  Lee Majors (Mountain Dan) and Jean Speegle Howard (Old Woman Jezebel) in “The Night the Reindeer Died,” the movie-within-a-movie from “Scrooged.”  How South Jersey Keeps Muskrat on the Menu (Gastro Obscura)  ****  📼 Commercials:  Dollywood Commercial (1988)  Christmas Clatter.  Santa by the Minute.  ****  “A Smoky Mountain Christmas” © 1986 Sandollar Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1980s

🎄 It’s 1984, and the most 1984 pair I can think of, Mr. T and Emmanuel Lewis, are taking us on the most romantic date through New York City on the way to a Christmas party at Radio City Music Hall.  🎙 Guy Hutchinson joins us as we spoil David Copperfield’s magic tricks, leave our emergency contact information with Willie Tyler and Lester, share our favorite Christmas songs with Maureen McGovern, and fall asleep while watching the Rockettes rehearse.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  I Pity the Yule: Remembering A Christmas Dream, Mr. T and Emmanuel Lewis’s Lost Holiday Special (Mental Floss, 2020)  “Be Somebody… or Be Somebody’s Fool.”  New York Mayor Ed Koch in “The Muppets Take Manhattan.”  David Copperfield makes the Statue of Liberty disappear.  Sesame Street’s Don Music.  Willie Tyler and Lester on Letterman.  Vintage Christmas tree color wheels.  The other verses of “Silent Night” you’ve never heard.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Soft Scrub Cleaner.  The GE 2800 Dishwasher commercial that reminds me of the last scene of Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress.  Masters of the Universe: The Fright Zone Play Set.  Behind the Bells.  Totally Rad Christmas.  ****  Mr. T and Emmanuel Lewis in A Christmas Dream” © 1984 Radio City Music Hall Television Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1980s

🎄 It’s 1996, and we’re holding our football-shaped heads high on a quest to find our neighbor’s long-lost daughter… but first, a pair of highly sought after Nancy Spumoni snow boots!  🎙 Anthony Caruso from Tis the Podcast and Matt Eurich from TGI Podcast join us for a very special Christmas episode that solidified “Hey Arnold!” as an unforgettable Nicktoon.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The story behind the iconic Vietnam Episode of ‘Hey Arnold!’ (NBC News, 2021)  Arnold’s Claymation origins: “Arnold Escapes from Church” (1988)  Arnold Uses His Imagination on “Sesame Street.”  Helga in “Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.”  The “Pollyanna,” Philadelphia’s hyper-local Secret Santa.  Mr. Hyunh’s banana wallpaper.  Mr. Hyunh’s flashback includes the iconic helicopter image from the Fall of Saigon.  One-Legged Bob, the Affable Railroad Tramp.  Hey, grown-ups, remember dot matrix printers?  Hiep Thi Le’s life could’ve been a movie; instead the refugee became a star playing someone else (Los Angeles Times, 2018)  ****  📼 Commercials:  Talkboy Voice Recorder from “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.”  ****  “Hey Arnold!” and “Arnold’s Christmas” © 1996 Viacom International, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1990s #nickelodeon

🎅 It’s the 100th episode of the Advent Calendar House, and what better day than Christmas Eve to return to the World of Rankin/Bass?  🎙 Erin Evans, Michael DiGiovanni, Michael May, Brandon Medley, and Joey O. join us as we put one foot in front of the other back to 1970 to revisit a Christmas classic that dares to answer children’s questions about Santa Claus while illegally opening his mail.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Both IMDb and Wikipedia had the premiere date wrong because of a typo in an old book. Rich Goldschmidt’s “The Making of Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town and The Daydreamer” gets it right.  Former pro-wrestler Special Delivery Jones (no relation).  Burgermeister Meisterburger is a dead ringer for Mauser from “Police Academy 2.”  Hey, IMDb, I highly doubt the Greg Thomas voicing young Kris Kringle grew up to play the saxophone in Parliament Funkadelic.  For a while, Topper was renamed Waddles.  Kris’s weird face he makes after being caught by the Winter Warlock’s angry trees.  Save the Earth from Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster.  Weddings on Christmas Day used to be popular.  The first known recording of the song “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” and our favorite versions.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Folgers Coffee: Peter Comes Home for Christmas (1982)  ****  “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” © 1970 Rankin/Bass Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1970s #rankinbass