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🎄 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 1971, and Alastair Sim is delivering an even more animated performance as Scrooge.  🎙️ Michael May and Rob Graham join us as we invade your personal space for salute an animated adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” that bent the rules and became the last TV special to win an Oscar, directed by Richard Williams and executive produced by Chuck Jones.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Michael May’s Christmas Carol Project entries on 1971’s “A Christmas Carol.”  CED Magic’s “Christmas Carol” screen adaptation directory.  John Leech’s original illustrations for the Dickens story.  AfterLUNCH on Christmas Ghosts (And One Carol in Particular).  The rarely seen Phantom Hearse.  Visions of Young Scrooge’s favorite stories dancing in his head.  Alex Williams’s website and blog post about his memory of voicing Tiny Tim at age 4.  One notable businessman from the future and his gross nose.  The Making of Richard Williams’s “A Christmas Carol.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  NyQuil Scrooge Commercial, circa 1968.  Bell Telephone Christmas Commercial (1978)  “The Christmas Book: The Ultimate Guide to Your Favorite Holiday,” by Ed Daly.  ****  “A Christmas Carol” (1971) © Richard Williams Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #1970s #scroogesunday

🎄 It’s 1979, and no one wants to go to Pat Boone’s lame Christmas party, but everyone’s here to dunk on him.  🎙 Guy Hutchinson extends an invitation to discover this bizarre but wholesome special featuring the Hudson Brothers, the stars of “The Ropers” as themselves but also still as the Ropers, and a criminally brief appearance by Yogi Bear and his Hanna-Barbera friends.  📺 You can watch the “Pat Boone and Family Christmas Special” on Tubi.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Pat Boone’s album of heavy metal covers from 1997.  TV Guide’s ad for the special, prominently featuring Yogi Bear and friends.  “The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show,” as seen in a “Family Guy” cutaway gag.  “The Seventh Python,” Brett Hudson’s 2008 documentary about frequent Monty Python collaborator Neil Innes.  “Largo al Factotum,” the “Figaro” song from “The Barber of Seville.”  Dinah Shore’s giant belt buckle.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Master Charge Christmas Commercial (1979)  Season’s Eatings.  ****  “Pat Boone and Family Christmas Special” © 1979 Cooga Mooga Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #1970s #hannabarbera

🎄 It’s 1990, and a little girl’s Christmas wish is about to get shot out of the sky.  🎙 Joey O. join us for the podcast’s first voyage into the Disney Afternoon as Baloo the cargo pilot bear attempts to save his boss’s daughter’s belief in Santa.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Joey’s Christmas TV lineup that he wrote on a piece of paper around 1991 and found again 30 years later.  The TaleSpin/Quantum Leap joke.  Disney’s “The Jungle Book,” the animated one, is somehow Germany’s biggest box office draw ever.  “Tales of the Gold Monkey,” a single-season TV show that inspired “TaleSpin.”  “What a Dummy,” an even shorter single-season TV show featuring Janna Michaels (Molly) and a living ventriloquist’s dummy.  Joey’s Interview with Pat Fraley (Wildcat), again!    Today’s TV Trope: String-on-Finger Reminder.  Cape Suzette and Louie’s Place on the Disney Wiki.  Flunkey, the Einstein-haired monkey from “The Jungle Book” whose “TaleSpin” counterpart appears to be Santa Louie’s “elf,” Waldo.  ****  📼 Commercials:  McDonald’s TaleSpin Happy Meal Toys (1990)  Snow in Southtown.  ****  “TaleSpin” and “Jolly Molly Christmas” © 1990 The Walt Disney Company.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #1990s #disney

🎄 It’s 1975, and a shepherd boy just lost his sight after staring directly at a lightning bolt.  🎙️ Mike Troxell joins us as we return to enchanted world of Rankin/Bass Christmas specials for an overlooked, underrated, and redundantly titled hidden gem about neither the first Christmas, nor the first Christmas snow.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Vox’s Emily St. James ranks all the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials.  A very brief history of the Christmas card.  Was There Really Any Winter’s Snow at the Time of the Nativity in Bethlehem?  Flash blindness is real.  Arthur Rankin Jr. recalling how Irving Berlin really, REALLY didn’t want “White Christmas” in the special.  This exact sound of a wolf howling (or, actually, a coyote) is heard over and over again.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Toys “R” Us Time of Year Christmas Commercial (1976)  Christmas Creeps.  ****  “The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow” © 1975 Rankin/Bass Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #1970s #rankinbass

🎄 It’s 1997, and Tim Curry as an evil pipe organ is literally bringing down the house.  🎙 Kristi and Bri from Bad Princess Movies join us as we journey into the depths of Disney’s direct-to-video library for an unnecessary but charming midquel that explains why the Beast hates Christmas and raises even more questions about the curse on his castle.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Bad Princess Movies on Disney’s original “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Enchanted Christmas.”  Coming Soon previews from the original VHS.  Kathie Lee Gifford sang the soundtrack for “Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin.”  Behind “Prince Adam,” the Beast’s real name Disney never made official but keeps occasionally using.  Tim Curry as Darkness in “Legend”  and as Hexxus in “FernGully: The Last Rainforest.”  How tall is the Beast’s castle compared to the real world’s tallest castle?  Disney can’t keep the Feather Duster’s name straight, either.  The West Wing at Be Our Guest Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom.  The terrifying air conditioner in “The Brave Little Toaster.”  The loudest organ ever built.  Belle wears her dress from this special during Christmastime at Disney parks.    Lisa Temming on designing Belle’s Christmas dress.  ****  📼 Commerciasls:  Disney Home Video Collection (1997)  Tiger Electronics Beauty and the Beast handheld game (1994)  Holidays After Dark.  ****  “Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas” © 1997 Disney Enterprises, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #1990s #disney

🎄 It’s 1970 by way of 1990, and I just noticed the Santa Claus at the mall is actually my gym teacher.  🎙 Andy Gattis joins us on a revealing trip back to The Wonder Years as we salute Robert Picardo’s standout performance as Coach Cutlip… and Santa.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Joe Cocker’s version of “With a Little Help from My Friends” over the opening credits was replaced for streaming with a soundalike, only they don’t sound alike.  Almost all the original music is replaced, including a surf rock cover of “Sleigh Ride” by The Ventures.  Fred Savage in “Dinosaurs! A Fun-Filled Trip Back in Time,” featuring Rex and Herb from “Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration.”  Coach Cutlip’s drawing of the female reproductive system.  Oops, Wikipedia linked to the wrong Jay Lambert (Tommy). Here’s the right guy.  Brandon Crane’s (Doug Porter) new podcast, “The Errorist.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  Pepsi “Love Letter” Commercial with Fred Savage (1990)  TGI Podcast.  ****  “The Wonder Years” and “A Very Cutlip Christmas” © 1990 New World Television.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #1990s

🎄 It’s 1973, and a musical cricket is about to save the Christmas spirit during New York City’s quietest power failure.  🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni join us for a one-cat open sleigh ride into Chuck Jones’s beautifully animated sequel to “The Cricket in Times Square.”  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  A very insightful Letterboxd review.  Name That Christmas Special’s screenshot gallery for this special.  Today’s TV Trope: Bully Bulldog.  Mel Blanc’s voice for the Alley Cat sounds his voice for Clarence the Cat in “Birds Anonymous.”  DiGio introduces me to Yorkshire pudding.  “Down by the Old Mill Stream.”  The similar “Joy to the World” segment from “Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration.”  The final Classic Film Jerks movie, “Babes in Toyland (March of the Wooden Soldiers).”  ****  📼 Commercials:  Mel Blanc American Express Card Commercial (1971)  Rediscover the 80s podcasts, including The 80s Weekly and Memory Jogger.  ****  “A Very Merry Cricket” © 1973 Chuck Jones Enterprises.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #1970s #chuckjones

🎄 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 1998, and we’re praying for a miracle after getting stuck in a snow bank on the side of a dark highway with only an eighth of a tank of gas.  🎙 April Ryley joins us on an enlightening revisit to the Flashy Girl from Flushing on her first Hanukkah as a married woman. Also, Ray Charles is here!  📺 You can watch “The Hanukkah Story” for free on Facebook.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  April visits the Sheffield residence, and so can you.  Fran Drescher in “UHF.”  Fran Drescher says she had to fight to let ‘The Nanny’ be Jewish (L.A. Times, 2020)  Benjamin Salisbury (Brighton) on “Teen Celebrity Jeopardy” in 1997.  Daniel Davis (Niles) on “The Fran Drescher Tawk Show” in 2010.  Max’s childhood memory of his dad at Christmas reminded me of Bruce Wayne’s long dining room table.  What to do if you’re stranded in a car during a winter storm.  Kenny Rogers Roasters still exists, but only in Asia.  ****  📼 Commercials:  3 Musketeers Commercial starring Fran Drescher (1998)  Hyrule Podcasters, an audio “Let’s Play” through The Legend of Zelda.  ****  “The Nanny” and “The Hanukkah Story” © 1998 Global Entertainment Productions GmbH & Co. Medien KG.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #1990s #hanukkah

🎄 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 2002, and we’re trapped in a horrifying world where Kermit the Frog doesn’t exist.  🎙 Lindy Kempe, Adam Jurotich, and Erik Johnson join us for a spectacular, spectacular Christmas Eve extravaganza starring Kermit in the George Bailey role of the Muppets’ perfectly silly take on “It’s a Wonderful Life,” also featuring Joan Cusack, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, the cast of “Scrubs,” and Whoopi Goldberg as God, Herself.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Muppet Wiki’s list of similarities between this special and 2011’s “The Muppets.”  Joe Snow.  Hoggle from “Labyrinth” at the Unclaimed Baggage Center.  Director Kirk Thatcher as the punk on the bus in “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” and ”Picard.”  Jonathan Bruce, who’d later appear in “Elf.”  Deleted scenes include more of Carson Daly, Santa, and a lost cut scene with Snoop Dogg.  The giant Bossmen Muppets.  A scheduling conflict robbed this movie of actual Steve Irwin.  Fozzie as “that green guy who stole Christmas.”  Today’s TV Tropes: Celestial Bureaucracy, Laser Hallway, and Lampshade Wearing.  The Yoda Muppet has his own Muppet Wiki entry.  So does Amy, the Dancing Brick!  The World Trade Center in alternate timeline Piggy’s apartment window, and that’s not the worst part of that scene.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Mastercard Priceless Getaway Sweepstakes Commercial starring The Muppets (2002)  Acid Washed Memories, a retro pop-culture celebration podcast starting January 9, 2023.  ****  “It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie” © 2002 The Jim Henson Company.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #2000s #muppets #itsawonderfullife