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🎄 Joey O. returns to the Advent Calendar House bearing the gift of his favorite regional holiday commercial. Join us as we spend 17 times the length of a 30-second lottery commercial talking about the spot that had a whole commonwealth singing “Five Cash Fives!”  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The original Pennsylvania Lottery Christmas Commercial from 1992.  The updated commercial from 2012, remade shot-for-shot like 1998’s Psycho.  PA Lottery’s Holiday Ad Gets Makeover (CBS Philly, 2012)  “Move Closer to Your World,” the greatest broadcast news theme song ever composed.  Philadelphia Eagles fans’ longing for kelly green football uniforms.  Major League Baseball’s endless array of ugly hats for every holiday.  ****  “Snowfall” © 1992, 2012 PA Lottery.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s1 #1990s #2010s #commercials

🎄 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.  #s2 #1960s #2000s #2010s #drseuss

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.  #s3 #2010s #leapday

🎄 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

🎄 It’s the Advent Calendar House’s 5th anniversary, so instead of celebrating one Christmas special, we watched three!  🎙️ Jeff Somogyi and Paxton Holley help us clear the runway as we salute Disney’s trilogy of 2009’s “Prep & Landing,” 2010’s “Operation: Secret Santa,” and 2011’s “Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice.”  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Disney’s Prep & Landing Website from 2009 is still up with character and gadget profiles.  “Tiny’s Big Adventure,” a minute-long short starring Magee’s assistant.  Super Golden Crisp Cereal’s Sugar Bear musical Christmas ornament.  Prep & Landing Easter eggs.  Santa’s castle looks familiar.  Noel’s early cameo in “Operation: Secret Santa.”  A hat tip to the Classic Film Jerks.  Captain Avalanche and Snowball’s poster looks like a Batman and Robin Detective Comics cover.  “Naughty, Naughty Children” by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.  “Nuttin’ for Christmas” by the Plain White T’s.  “The Ballad of Nessie,” who makes 2 cameos.  Ralphie from “A Christmas Story” appears.  “Mansion: Impossible,” featuring Wayne and Lanny prepping the Avengers Mansion.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Coca-Cola: Santa Packs are Coming (1994)  Campbell’s Soup: Snowman (1995)  Can’t Wait for Christmas’s reminder to play “Underneath the Tree” by Kelly Clarkson more.  ****  “Prep & Landing,” “Operation: Secret Santa,” and “Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice” © Disney.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #2000s #2010s #disney

🎄 It’s 2016, and a Scrooge-like unicorn is brewing a potion to eliminate Hearth’s Warming Eve from the calendar. That’s how potions work, right?  🎙 Jon and Bin from Bin’s Toy Bin and Santa by the Minute join us for a Scrooge Sunday canter through a “Christmas Carol” adaptation set in Equestria, the world of “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.”  📺 You can watch “A Hearth’s Warming Tail” for free on YouTube.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Mike on Santa by the Minute.  The first My Little Pony special, from 1984: “Rescue at Midnight Castle.”  Patton Oswalt on My Little Pony.  Patton Oswalt literally on My Little Pony.  “It’s a Pony Kind of Christmas,” featuring characters who don’t celebrate Christmas singing Christmas songs, so the show’s composer had to clarify it wasn’t canon.  The mysterious “Derpy,” a.k.a. Muffins.  A short tangent about “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” air fresheners.  Today’s TV Trope: And You Were There.  A scene was cut featuring Discord in the Jacob Marley role.  He’s not in this episode, but there’s a character named Cheese Sandwich who is literally “Weird Al” Yankovic as a pony.  Bin takes roll call at the Hearth’s Warming Eve party.  ****  📼 Commercials:  My Little Pony Dream Castle Commercial (1983)  The Hub Network: 12 Days of Ponies Promo (2014)  ****  “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic” and “A Hearth’s Warming Tail” © 2016 Hasbro Studios.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #2010s #scroogesunday #hasbro

🎄 It’s 2012, and I found a 60-year-old tangerine under a floorboard in my bedroom that’s the perfect size for a snowman’s nose… or is it?  🎙 Adam Parker Sibun from Merry Britsmas joins us for another walk in the air back to 2012 for the charming sequel to the British Christmas classic, “The Snowman,” by the now-late Raymond Briggs.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  I finally got a copy of the original Raymond Briggs book!  UK Christmas’s “The Snowman” TV listing history.  Raymond Briggs hails Christmas sequel to his Snowman classic (The Guardian, 2012)  Billy has a picture of Fungus the Bogeyman in his room.  The Snowman finds a 1960s toy Batmobile in the shed. Maybe it lost a wheel.  A newer version of Andy Burrows’s “Light the Night.”  An older version of Andy Burrows’s  “Hometown.”  “Funny Looking Angels,” a 2011 Christmas Album by Smith & Burrows.  ‘Walking In The Air’ composer told to send a demo tape for The Snowman sequel (NME, 2012)  London landmarks seen in the special.  Let’s start building more creative snowmen with orange slices for ears and asparagus spear mustaches.  The Snowdog Art Trails around the UK, including Snowdog sculptures displayed in Brighton.    ****  📼 Commercial:  IRN-BRU Snowman Advert, 2011.  ****  “The Snowman and The Snowdog” © 2012 Snowdog Enterprises Ltd.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #2010s

🦃 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.  #s12 #2010s #thanksgiving #muppets

🎄 It’s 2010, and I’m hiding in a closet from a flying shark that ate half my screwdriver.  I’ve finally caught up with the timeline of people who have been requesting that I watch the “Doctor Who” Christmas specials.  🎙 Andre Bennett, Jack Ford from the Total Christmas Podcast, and Anthony Strand from ToughPigs.com join me for a twisted take on “A Christmas Carol” starring Michael Gambon in the Scrooge role and the 11th Doctor as at least 2 ghosts of Christmas.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Andre’s review of this episode from 2011.  Anthony ranks all of Steven Moffat’s “Doctor Who” episodes.  Amy and Rory’s outfits may or may not be but probably are a nod to a similar scene in a 2001 “Only Fools and Horses” Christmas special.  Michael Gambon in “Toys,” as the Ultragorgon on Jim Henson’s “Monster Maker,” and as the Ghost of Christmas Present in 2001’s “Christmas Carol: The Movie.”  Abigail is basically Nora Fries from Batman.  Katherine Jenkins on “Dancing with the Stars.”  Danny Horn (Young Adult Kazran) on Bandcamp.  Greenland sharks could live for hundreds of years.  “Abigail’s Song (Silence Is All You Know)”  ****  📼 Commercials:  Tesco Christmas Advert: “Mrs. Belcher” (2010)  Tinsel Tunes: The Christmas Music Podcast  ****  “Doctor Who” and “A Christmas Carol” © 2010 BBC.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s13 #2010s #scroogesunday

🍍 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.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s15 #2010s #itsawonderfullife

🎄 It’s been 10 years since the Muppets’ 2015 TV series gave us the gift of a Christmas episode, so it’s time to stay Up Late with Miss Piggy and find out if we can take it seriously, or if it left us because we couldn’t stop making jokes about it.  🎙️ Becca Petunia and J.D. Hansel of ToughPigs.com join the chaos including, but not limited to: a rigged Secret Santa! Gross and unhelpful mistletoe strategy! And, of course, Echosmith!  📺 You can find “Single All the Way” on Disney+.  Becca’s also on A Prairie Dawn Companion and Here Comes Tomorrow.  J.D. is also on The Great Muppet Fandom Panel and Stick to Shorts.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  ToughPigs’ review of “Single All the Way” (2015)  The Muppets at Midseason: The Good, the Bad, and the Deadly (ToughPigs.com, 2016)  70 Years, 70 Muppets: Yolanda the Rat and Chip.  The Muppets’ a cappella cover of “Cool Kids” by Echosmith.  “Bright” by Echosmith.  Sam the Eagle’s paintball-themed minigame in “Muppets Party Cruise.”  The Swedish Chef is married because one time Steve Whitmire forgot to take off his wedding ring and they just decided it’s canon now.  Chip has synesthesia.  An extremely rare one-on-one scene with Miss Piggy and Fozzie.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Pizza Hut “4 for All” Pizza Commercial starring the Muppets (2004)    ****  “The Muppets” and “Single All the Way” © 2015 ABC Studios / The Muppets Studio.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.  #s15 #2010s #muppets #disney