Advent Calendar House

🎄 Hey, remember the Christmas episode of that show on ABC where Snow White and Prince Charming are transported by the Evil Queen to a land without magic and have to adjust to modern-day America? No, you don’t, because you’re thinking of “Once Upon a Time,” which didn’t have a Christmas episode, which was rude.  🎙️ Kristi and Bri from Bad Princess Movies join us as we go back an even longer time a...

🎄 Cowabunga! In nearly 40 years of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series, 2004’s “The Christmas Aliens” is somehow their only animated Christmas episode.  🎙️ Anthony Strand , Shawn Robare , and Jaime Hood join the ride as we follow Michelangelo and a kitty named Klunk on a Christmas Eve car chase to save a truckload of stolen Little Orphan Alien dolls meant for a group of little orphan human Ear...

🐰 It’s Easter in July, and those two things together are the least confusing thing about today’s episode.  🎙️ It’s a race across the calendar with Michael May and Sammy Hain as we follow Peter Cottontail through time on his quest to reclaim the title of Chief Easter Bunny from the evil January Q. Irontail, voiced by Vincent Price, in Rankin/Bass’s first non-Christmas holiday special from 1971. ...

🎄 We’re snowed in a bit earlier than expected, so we’ve hunkered down to have a Christmas feast from around the world with the WJM TV family in a 1974 non-Christmas Christmas episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”  🎙️ Joining the party is film critic and author Alonso Duralde , who recommended this episode. A newly Revised and Updated edition of Alonso’s book, “ Have Yourself a Movie Little Chri...

🌴 In Part 2 of our “Futurama” Xmas double-header, we meet the only thing worse than an evil robot Santa… two evil robot Santas.  🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni , Erin Evans , Joey O. , and Donnie Storms return for 2001’s “A Tale of Two Santas.” ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:   “ Box Car Blues ” (1930).  Santa’s Death Fortress sure looks like Elsa’s ice palace.   Coolio’s final acting role before his deat...

🌴 The Advent Calendar House has awoken from what feels like a thousand-year slumber and a lame April Fool’s joke. As a peace offering, here’s the first of two back-to-back episodes celebrating Xmas as imagined by “Futurama.”  🎙️ It’s extra crowded in the cryogenic chamber as Michael DiGiovanni , Erin Evans , Joey O. , and Donnie Storms drop in for 1999’s “Xmas Story,” in which we’re introduced to...

🕎 It’s the year 2000, and Christmas and Hanukkah have crossed paths at my doorstep in the form of Santa Claus and his part-Jewish friend… a weird turtle man.  🎙 Becca Petunia and April Ryley join us as we revisit some old Friends in honor of Christmas Day and the first night of Hanukkah sharing a day on the calendar this year. Plus: An escaped tarantula, a restaurant we may never be allowed in or...

🎄 It’s Christmas Eve 1986, and the only way Drew Barrymore can save her new friends is to believe in the magic of toys… and Cincinnati.  🎙 Molly Patton , Becca Petunia , and Adam Pope join us for a bonkers adaptation of “Babes in Toyland” from director Clive Donner and starring Drew Barrymore, Keanu Reeves, and Richard Mulligan as a weird, evil guy who lives in a bowling ball.  📺 You can watch “...

🎄 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...

🎄 It’s 1970, and a couple of bear cubs have jumped through my window and are eating all my marshmallows.  🎙️ Gerry Davila and Ethan “The Hungry Reader” join us on a deeper than expected dive into a Christmas special by former Hanna-Barbera animator Tony Benedict that almost wasn’t released till the owner of a now-defunct Florida theme park swooped in and saved it.  🚨 No animals were harmed in th...

🎄 It’s 2003, and nothing puts me in a festive mood quite like a bar fight.  🎙 Joey O. and James Riley join us for Christmas break with the Justice League — well, most of it. Wonder Woman’s off doing something else, and Batman… you know, smells.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:   Mike talks “Comfort and Joy” on Tis the Podcast .  Paul Dini’s notes on “Comfort and Joy,” including what where Wonder...

🎄 It’s 1986, and Santa looks different after arriving late to the mall due to a flat reindeer.  🎙 Joe Fulton , the Christmas Aficionado , joins us for a semi-festive Christmas episode of “Mama’s Family” that will have you believing in either Santa or ghosts at the end of it.  📺 You can watch “Santa Mama” on the Internet Archive .  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:   A Mama’s Family reunion on “Vic...

🎄 It’s 1990, and Santa’s lost in my confusing network of chimneys.  🎙 Adam Parker Sibun from Merry Britsmas join us for a more silly than spooky Christmas special that takes us from Castle Duckula to a concussion-induced space adventure and back.  📺 You can find “A Christmas Quacker” on the Internet Archive (it’s mislabeled as another episode).  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:   “Count Duckula”...

🎄 It’s 2020, and a gift-wrapped puppy licked my face and made my skin turn blue.  🎙 Michael DiGiovanni and Sammy Hain join us for a charming stop-motion Christmas special from the Chiodo Brothers about how an alien invasion of the North Pole almost ruined Christmas — and the entire planet’s gravity, but also Christmas. Plus: A “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” Easter egg, some cameos from “Elf,” a...

🎄 It’s 1982, and I’m trapped at sea while Mickey Rooney butts into everyone’s conversation.  🎙 Guy Hutchinson and William Bruce West join us as we embark on a Christmas cruise aboard the Pacific Princess for a very merry episode of “The Love Boat” featuring Maureen McCormick, Donny Osmond, and Mickey Rooney as an angel in disguise as your nosy neighbor.  📺 You can find “The Christmas Presence” o...

🎄 It’s 1988, and the Spirit of Christmas just broke down my bedroom door to say hello.  🎙 Jack Ford from the Total Christmas Podcast joins us for an edition of Scrooge Sunday that turns everyone’s favorite festive tale of redemption on its head and blows it out its enormous, muscular backside as great philanthropist and all-around softy Ebenezer Blackadder learns from watching his ancestors and d...

🎄It’s 2001, and a rock giant is chasing us across the ocean, which has been entirely frozen over by fairies with minty fresh breath.  🎙 Kristi and Bri from Bad Princess Movies join us for Barbie’s first feature-length movie, from the makers of “ReBoot” and Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” music video, complete with motion capture of the New York City Ballet, revolutionary hair animation, and Tim...

🎄 It’s 1984, and Santa’s in front of a firing squad because his executioner didn’t appreciate the socks he got last Christmas.  🎙 Shawn Robare and Steven join us as the slime is in an extra festive shade of green for a Christmas episode of the show that defined Nickelodeon’s early years, featuring an all-star cast of the 5 most featured kid actors of “You Can’t Do That on Television.”  📺 You can...

🎄 The Advent Calendar House is back in time for a freakin’ country bear jamberoo as a family of Muppet mice risk their lives to bring home the top of the top of the top of the top of a Christmas tree fit for an eccentric future Iron Man. 🎙 Anthony Strand from ToughPigs.com and Tim Babb from the Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast join us for a waltz back to 1995 as Robert Downey Jr. may or may not b...

🎄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 Chris...

🎄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 S...

🦃 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+ .  **...

🎄 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...

🎄 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 .  ****...

🎃 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...