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🎄 It’s 1977, and Happy Gilmore’s grandma is surrounded by dancing chickens.  It’s a beautiful day for a podcast, and this season of the Advent Calendar House begins with a visit to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in a Christmas special that hadn’t been available for more than 40 years until it resurfaced in 2022. It’s surprisingly less festive than some might expect, but it makes up for that with some extremely bizarre adventures.  🎙 Guy Hutchinson from Pointless Nostalgia and Tim Lybarger from The Neighborhood Archive join us for the wacky adventures of a mysterious Music Man and A Very Young Dancer.  📺 You can watch “Christmastime with Mister Rogers” at MisterRogers.org.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “Christmastime with Mister Rogers” on The Neighborhood Archive.  “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood: A Visual History,” co-written by Tim.  Frances Bay (Mrs. Hamilton) in “The Karate Kid.”  Today’s TV Trope: Hollywood Giftwrap.  Mr. Rogers and François Clemmons sharing a wading pool.  Lesser-known Christmas hymns “The Friendly Beasts,” “Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow,” and “My Sheep Were Grazing.”  Was Music Man Stan from “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” inspired by the Music Man from this special?  “The Littlest Angel” (1969)  Chuck Ozeas (Andrew) is now a director of photography.  “A Very Young Dancer” and The Life That Followed (2011)  Stephanie Selby’s obituary (2022)  ****  📼 Commercials:  Hershey’s Kisses Christmas Bells Commercial (1989)  Dirt Cheap Liquors Chicken Commercial.  Closer to Christmas.  ****  “Christmastime with Mister Rogers” © 1977 Family Communications, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s11 #1970s

🎄 It’s 1991, and Santa Claus is fighting with a talking dog over a park bench.  By some Christmas miracle, this obscure special was rediscovered over 30 years later. For years, people on the Internet tried to identify it on a TV in the background of an old family photo, until finally, thanks to the power of positivity, it was identified as “The Soulmates in The Gift of Light.”  🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni and Jeff Somogyi join us as we meet the intergalactic Soulmates in what seems like a pilot that never got off the ground.  📺 You can watch “The Soulmates in The Gift of Light” for free on YouTube, courtesy of the special’s creator, Gabrielle St. George.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The original Tumblr post: “Can You Figure Out Who This Is?” by Sophie Campbell (2016)  Will Sloan’s tweet of the screenshot, September 2022.  CBC News: Canadian cartoon mystery finally solved after 6 years, thanks to the internet (2022)  “The Littles,” for comparison.  Today’s TV Trope: Mind-Control Eyes.  Soulmates Productions, Inc. defaulted in 2007.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Canadian Tire: Scrooge / Nintendo Action Set Commercial (1991)  Pop Tarts Commercial starring Dan and Dave (1990)  Remember That Show?  ****  “The Soulmates in The Gift of Light” © 1991 Soulmates Productions, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s11 #1990s

🎄 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.  #s11 #1987 #rubyspears

🕎 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.  #s11 #2000s #hanukkah #disney

🎄 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.  #s11 #1970s #scroogesunday

🎄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.  #s11 #1980s

🎄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.  #s11 #2000s #rankinbass

🎄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.  #s11 #1990s #dc #comics #warnerbros

🎄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.  #s11 #1980s #nativity

🎄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.  #s11 #1970s #muppets

🎄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.  #s11 #1980s #hannabarbera

🎄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.  #s11 #1980s #scroogesunday