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Let’s all go to the taco show!  The Advent Calendar House has awoken early from its long winter’s nap to take the Leap Year challenge as prescribed by Dr. Frasier Crane on one unseasonably warm February morning in 1996.  🎙 Erin Evans and Joey O. get dressed up in buttons and boys to look into the “Frasier” cast’s Christmas connections, explore the world of complicated opera solos and bad Western ballads, and call in to a PBS pledge drive to try and talk to Big Bird.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Kelsey Grammer in “Mr. St. Nick” and “The Twelve Days of Christmas Eve.”  Our adventures on the mid-1990s internet, when it was All About the Pentiums.  “Frasier” episodes ranked on Variety, Frasier Online, and Thrillist.  “When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold” from “The Pirates of Penzance,” in which Leap Day becomes a plot point.  Oleg Cassini and the worst title card gag.    KACL is a real radio station, but not in Seattle.  “Rigoletto” and the aria “Ella mi fu rapita / Parmi veder le lagrime.”  Kelsey Grammer sings “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1996 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Philadelphia.    “Buttons and Bows,” as sung by Bob Hope in “The Paleface” and by Leap Day baby Dinah Shore.  Adam “Edge” Copeland talks “Money Plane” on Hey! (EW).  ****  📼 Commercials:  McDonald’s “Morning Break” Commercial starring Kelsey Grammer (1995)  Remember That Show?  ****  “Frasier” and “Look Before You Leap” © 1996 Paramount Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s12 #1990s #leapday

🎄It’s 1979, and an evil king is having abandonment issues after his entire kingdom left, so he made an army of robots instead of going to therapy.  The Advent Calendar House has once again emerged from hibernation after declaring 4 more months of winter to pretend it’s still winter.  🎙 Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas, Matt Spaulding from North Pole Radio, and Jeff Loftin from the Lost Christmas Podcast join us as we encounter what might be the least Christmassy Rankin/Bass Christmas special, featuring a friendlier version of Jack Frost, a groundhog dressed like a pro wrestling manager, and the wintry weather neighbors of those angels your grandmother told you were bowling whenever there was a thunderstorm.  📺 You can watch “Jack Frost” on Tubi.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Toei Animation’s “The Little Mermaid” (1975)  Gilbert Gottfried on his favorite death scene: Buddy Hackett as Lou Costello in “Bud and Lou.”  Today’s TV Trope: Inevitable Waterfall.  The Christmas tradition of “dream presents” is like the dinner scene from “Hook.”  February 2 is Candlemas, the 40th day of Christmas.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Pennsylvania Lottery: Like Holiday Morning, starring Gus, the 2nd most famous groundhog in Pennsylvania (2018)  Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Hedgehog Day (1992)  ****  “Jack Frost” © 1979 Rankin/Bass Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s12 #1970s #rankinbass

🎄 It’s 1983, and my emotional support jack-in-the-box is not providing much help for my Imposter Syndrome.  🎙️ Tommy Coombs, Jayme Kilsby, and Chad Young join us for a deep dive into another pre-ALF puppet special from Paul Fusco starring a very depressed elf in training trying to find where he belongs in Santa’s workshop by first finding everywhere he doesn’t belong.  Plus: Santa’s Swedish Chef-like human hands!  A three-eyed purple teddy bear we never get to see!  Paul Fusco inserting himself into his own Christmas fan fiction!  📺 You can watch “Santa’s Magic Toy Bag” on Tubi.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Sherman looks like A Gnome Named Gnorm.  The hot dog puppet from “Funland.”  The History of the Nickelodeon Hotel (Defunctland)  The keeper of Santa’s Magic Toy Bag reminds me of the presidential designated survivor.  Superman impales some jerk’s truck on a telephone pole in “Man of Steel.”  Cracked: We Ruined Santa With Math.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Sears Video Game Arcade Christmas Sale (1983)  The Studio Demands It!  ****  “Santa’s Magic Toy Bag” © 1983 Imagicom Productions, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s12 #1980s #puppets

🐰 It’s 2004, and a stuffed toy rabbit voluntold me to clean his house.  🎙 Sammy Hain and Matt Spaulding join us to celebrate both Easter in July and Scrooge Sunday with a trip to the Hundred Acre Wood as Rabbit does double duty as both the Easter Bunny and Scrooge, all while Christopher Robin is somewhere else entirely.  📺 You can find “Springtime with Roo” on Disney+.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Ads from the 2004 DVD, plus a video of some dude walking through the menu screen.  Why do Christopher Robin’s toys have American accents?  John Fiedler (Piglet) in “The Golden Girls” and “12 Angry Men.”  “Christmas in the Stars,” the Star Wars Christmas album.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Sears Video Game Arcade Christmas Sale (1983)  ****  “Winnie the Pooh” and “Springtime with Roo” © 2004 Disney Enterprises, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s12 #2000s #easter #scroogesunday #disney

🎄 It’s 1981, and a jolly swagman who may or may not be Santa Claus is flying me around the world in a sleigh built out of a bench and some rope we had lying around to search the globe for a lost baby kangaroo.  Today’s Christmas in July episode begins where it’s actually winter in July, and only gets stranger and more inappropriate from there.  🎙 Dan MacPherson joins us for “Around the World with Dot,” also known as “Dot and Santa Claus,” starring the title character from an 1899 Australian children’s book, “Dot and the Kangaroo.”  📺 You can find “Around the World with Dot” on YouTube. You may want to watch “Dot and the Kangaroo” first.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Director Yoram Gross endured World War II in Poland; his family was on Schindler’s list. His studio, now Flying Bark Productions, more recently animated “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and Marvel’s “What If…?”  Barbara Frawley (Dot) singing “The Black Cat” on “Play School.”  Today’s TV Trope: Magical Homeless Person.  “Sakura Sakura,” which I recognized from Punch-Out!!  How a White Lie Gave Japan KFC for Christmas. (Gastro Obscura)  “The Real World of the Circus” opens similarly to the movie “Chaplin.”  “Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.”  “Alouette” is about plucking the feathers off a lark.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Mortein “Louie the Fly” Commercial (1980s)  Myer “Celebrate Christmas” Commercial (1980s)  Bad Princess Movies. ****  “Dot and the Kangaroo” © 1981 Yoram Gross Filmstudio Pty Ltd.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s12 #1980s

🎄 It’s 1977, and the cast of Broadway’s hottest new musical is taking drastic measures to convince 4 different unions keep the theater open for a Christmas party because they forgot to book a venue.  🎙️ Guy Hutchinson joins us to watch the original Broadway cast of “Annie” play somethings in between themselves and their characters in a unique TV Christmas special that may very well have been many TV viewers’ first exposure to the musical.  📺 You can watch “The Annie Christmas Show” on the Internet Archive.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The original Broadway version of “Annie” ends on Christmas; the 1982 movie ends on the 4th of July.  Andrea McArdle in “Christmas at Walt Disney World.” (Full Episode)  Danielle Brisbois (Molly) in “All in the Family,” and she was a founding member of the band New Radicals.  “It’s Christmas” on the Annie 30th Anniversary Production Cast Recording, featuring multiple Annies and Miss Hannigans.  “I Don’t Care” in “In the Good Old Summertime” and “Back to the Future: The Game.”  “There’s a Broken Heart for Every Light on Broadway” in “Bullets Over Broadway.”  Today’s TV Trope: I Have a Family.  Ethel Merman sings “Tomorrow” in “A Special Sesame Street Christmas.” (Full Episode)  How The Twelve Days of Christmas’ days 9 through 12 got reordered.  Members of the cast reunited in 2019 to perform this Christmas special.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Kinney Shoes (1977)  Fotomat (1977)  Festive Foreign Film Fans.  ****  “The Annie Christmas Show” © 1977 Martin Charmin Productions / NBC Universal Network.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s12 #1970s

🎃 It’s 1986, and one student at a magical boarding school is struggling to fit in while having to deal with a hard-nosed potions teacher and bullying from a golden child whose father will hear about this, but finds comfort in broom flying and encouragement from the kindly old headmaster.  No, not that one.  🎙️ Becca Petunia and Lindy Kempe join us for “The Worst Witch,” adapted from the original beloved series of books about a quirky boarding school for witches. This Halloween special stars a young Fairuza Balk, featuring Dianna Rigg, Charlotte Rae in a dual role, and Tim Curry in the trippiest ’80s music video.  📺 You can watch “The Worst Witch” on the Internet Archive.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Find “The Worst Witch” book at your local library.  St. Michael’s College is for sale.  Pam Jones (Donna) — formerly Kate Buckley before another actress took that name while she was on hiatus — is now a ceramic artist.  The kitten ceremony background music sounds kind of like Zelda’s Lullaby.  Mildred and Ethel’s rivalry gave us “Owl House” vibes.  Toonces the Driving Cat.  One student is a future Teletubby!  Becca on Movin’ Right Along discussing Tim Curry singing in “Muppet Treasure Island.”  Both Tim Curry and Sebastian from “The Little Mermaid” sing “begin the Beguine.”  Tim Curry in “Red Alert 3.”  Other “Worst Witch” TV adaptations, including a college spinoff and a Netflix series.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Carvel Halloween Ice Cream Cakes Commercial (1986)  Hyrule Podcasters, an audio “Let’s Play” through The Legend of Zelda.  ****  “The Worst Witch” © 1986 Central Independent Television Plc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s12 #1980s #halloween

🎄 It’s 1988, the monsters under my bed are real, and they’re stealing Christmas.  🎙 Ethan “The Hungry Reader” follows us under the covers through a wormhole to the home of ’80s kids’ bedding sensation the Pillow People in a Christmas special so obscure, it’s not even listed on IMDb. But it’s real, and it’s ironically nightmarish.  📺 You can watch “Pillow People Save Christmas” on YouTube.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Pillow People on the toy collectors’ website Ghost of the Doll.  Toot Sweet Toys, or what’s left of it.  TV listing in New York magazine (November 1988)  Victor DiMattia (Billy) on filming “The Sandlot.”  Window Rattler as seen on “Full House.”  The Who Cares Bears.  Today’s TV Trope: Introdump, example: the worst Rob Liefeld drawing.  Cheryl Chase (Sweet Dreams) mentions working with Cree Summer (Rock-a-Bye Baby) on this special in a 2004 interview about the “Rugrats” spinoff “All Grown Up.”  The Far Side: “…He’s taking it with him!”  Nightmara looks like a cross between Mother Brain in “Captain N: The Game Master” and Madam Hecuba from the 1974 anime adaptation of “Jack and the Beanstalk.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  Pillow People: Pillow Valley Commercial (1988)  Holidays After Dark.  ****  “Pillow People Save Christmas” © 1988 TMS Entertainment, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s12 #1980s 

🎄 It’s 1992, and my daydreams of snow are melting into a bucket of water getting dumped on my head from an airplane.  🎙 Kit Quinn, Randee Martin, and Tyler Green from Channel KRT join us as we dive down the rabbit hole to the strange world of The Disney Channel’s “Adventures in Wonderland,” where the White Rabbit wears Rollerblades and the halls are decked with fresh produce, the way Christmas was meant to be celebrated.  📺 You can find “Christmas in Wonderland” on Disney+, or this copy with a commercial bumper in front of it.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Channel KRT on the episodes “Pie Noon” and “Wonderland: The Movie.”  “White Rabbits Can’t Jump,” an unaired episode guest starring O.J. Simpson.  One Movie Later: Alice Through the Looking Glass.  Deadline’s obituary for Armelia McQueen (The Red Queen) uses a photo from this special.  Armelia McQueen on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and… “The Fesh Pince of Blair.”  Patrick Richwood (White Rabbit) lied to the casting director about knowing how to rollerblade.  Cast members on The Tiara Talk Show.  The Christmas Pickle.  Harry Waters Jr. (Tweedle Dee) in “Back to the Future,” and Wesley Mann (Caterpillar) in “Part II.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  Disney Channel Holiday Preview Bumper with Jane Seymour (1992) Juicy Fruit Skiing Commercial (circa 1989)  Cool Kids Club, a nostalgia-filled trip back to childhood.  ****  “Adventures in Wonderland” and “Christmas in Wonderland” © 1992 The Walt Disney Company.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.  #s12 #1990s #disney

🦃 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 1990… or 1962… and a quantum physicist forgot to powder his boss’s underwear.  🎙 Erin Evans and Joey O. join us for a Scrooge Sunday involving time travel of a different sort as we follow Dr. Sam Beckett on a mission to save a mission, and the soul of the man trying to tear it down.  🚨 Warning: This episode briefly discusses the death of actor Charles Rocket and the would-be death of his Scrooge-like character, Michael Blake.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Episode guide on Al’s Place.  A Christmas story from the Quantum Leap comic: “He Knows If You’ve Been Bad or Good.”  Charles Rocket drops an F-bomb on “Saturday Night Live.”  “Bringing in the Sheaves” on “The Simpsons” and “Batman” (1966).  Polish Christmas desserts piernik and makowiec.  Al’s Ghost of Christmas Future costume looks more like Jacob Marley mixed with the Ghost of Christmas Past from “Scrooged.”  Goldie Wilson III from “Back to the Future Part II.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  Squarbles (circa 1987)  Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast.  ****  “Quantum Leap” and “A Little Miracle” © 1990 Universal City Studios, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s12 #1990s #scroogesunday

🎄It’s 1992, and there’s no such thing as Buster Bunny.  🎙 Adam Pope, William Bruce West, and Chad Young help the Advent Calendar House wrap up Christmas in July with the unofficial series finale of “Tiny Toon Adventures,” when Buster wishes he’d never been on the show, and the horrors within Montana Max’s Biff Tannen Pleasure Palace or whatever.  📺 I found this special hiding in a 4-hour Christmas special compilation on the Internet Archive.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “Meet the Tiny Toons” in the special edition magazine “Bugs Bunny: He’s 50, Folks” (1990).  “The Chipmunks Go to the Movies.”  Tony Pope (God) as Goofy in “Watch Out for Goofy” (the theme song for Adam’s 2 Goofs Podcast) and as the first voice heard in “Back to the Future.”  John Kassir (who voices Buster in this episode) as the Crypt-Keeper in RD’s Retro Detention Halloween Specials in 2019 and 2023.  Today’s TV Trope: Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal.  Jacoby & Meyers and a 2-minute-long tangent about personal injury lawyer commercials.  Arnold Schwarzenegger’s upcoming role as Santa in “The Man with the Bag.”  American Express Commercials with Mel Blanc and Jim Davis.  Bugs Bunny may have been voiced by an uncredited Noel Blanc, Mel’s son, for a single line at the end.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Godzilla: The Series Promo (1998)  Toy Story: Holiday TV Spot (1995)  ****  “Tiny Toon Adventures” and “It’s a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special” © 1992 Warner Bros.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s12 #1990s #itsawonderfullife #warnerbros