Advent Calendar House

🦃 This Thanksgiving in July, I’ve put out some extra table settings for some old friends. 

Previously, on the Advent Calendar House, we watched Zack Morris be trash but still manage to find a girl and her dad a Home for Christmas. Now, thankfully, we get to see him a tiny bit more grown-up as we get wheeled directly into a wall back to 1993 for a special Turkey Day episode of “Saved by the Bell: The College Years&...

🎄 It’s another Scrooge Sunday, which means we’re about to be haunted by a series of spirits as we ride the airwaves back to 1980 for a version of “A Christmas Carol” set in the studios of “WKRP in Cincinnati.” 

🎙️ Gerry Davila, Scott Leopold, and Michael May join us on a trip through time that definitely wasn’t fueled by special brownies, so stop asking. 

📺 You can find “...

⚠️ Warning: Our wartime yuletide takes a grimmer turn in this episode, which includes the death of a man hit by a sniper. But since it’s Christmas, we’re all going to do the best we can to find a bit of hope, joy, and laughter in the face of tragedy. 

🎙️ Tim Babb from the Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast and Jamie Ray from Fave Five From Fans join us as we report for duty to the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical H...

🎄 Today’s adventure finds us caught in the middle of a battle for the North Pole in multiple dimensions. 

🎙️ Sammy Hain and Jeff Loftin join the march back to 1997 to witness the Christmas clash of Santa vs. the Snowman, a TV special from creator Steve Oedekerk and director John A. Davis, who’d later team up to write and direct “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.” 

📺 You can find “Santa vs. the Sn...

🎃 It’s Halloween in July, and it’s time to spookalize! 

🎙️ Becca Petunia joins us as we creep back to 1997 for a howling good time at the spookiest address on Sesame Street, as Elmo pays a visit to Count von Count with one mission: To tell him a bunch of funny, scary jokes! 

📺 You can find “Elmo Says BOO!” on YouTube. 

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(00:00) - Intro 
(02:19) - History of the Special an...

🎄 It’s Christmas time for teddy bears in this 1992 prequel to what I thought until very recently was a one-off special called “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic.” 

🎙️ Ethan “The Hungry Reader” and Anthony Strand join us as we meet the title teddy from a later cartoon series called “The Secret World of Benjamin Bear,” his first encounter with his friend, Wally, and a new, but familiar set...

🎄 It’s that time of year again: Time to deal with smarty-pants 4th-graders who think they know how Santa Claus works. 

🎙️ The Advent Calendar House welcomes Caleb Cote from Insert Reference Here and Robert Nicholas from Behind the Bells as we watch a very special 1998 Christmas episode of Disney’s “Recess,” featuring elementary school hierarchy, a globally televised Christmas pageant, and the dulcet t...

🐰 This Easter in July, we’ve hopped back to 1994 on a rather stressful and dangerous trip through Jellystone Park. 

🎙️ Sammy Hain and Gerry Davila join us for a visit to the Easter Bunny, the Magical Easter Chicken, and the world’s least eco-friendly plastic factory, all of which somehow call Jellystone Park home. 

📺 You can find “Yogi the Easter Bear” on the Internet Archive. 

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🎄 Well, them podcast boys have run into another Scrooge Sunday, and this time, the ghosts from “A Christmas Carol” are haunting Boss Hogg in the Dukes of Hazzard’s Saturday morning cartoon counterpart. 

🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni and new guest Ken Kessler from The Sounds of Christmas join the ride through Christmas past, present, and future as the Dukes take a holiday from their race around the world in an episo...

💝 We’re celebrating Valentine’s Day in July with a deep dive into a 1990 “DuckTales” special that aired on “The Magical World of Disney.” 

🎙️ Erin Evans and Joey O. join us as we tune our heart-shaped TVs to watch Scrooge McDuck search for the lost treasure of Aphroducky, which nearly ends in him marrying the avian goddess of love and angering her Honeymooner of a husband. 

📺 You can...

🎄 Somehow Frosty returned. 

🎙️ The Advent Calendar House is back open for Christmas in July as Donnie Storms and new guest Collin Murr from Scrooge: A Christmas Carol Podcast drop in seeking shelter from “Frosty Returns,” which despite the title, is not a sequel, and not even a Christmas special. From Lorne Michaels and Kermit the Frog’s ghostwriter comes a message about the environment delivered by the voi...

🎄 It’s the 200th episode of the Advent Calendar House, but more importantly, it’s Christmas Eve! So we’re celebrating with a salute to the last remaining special we have left to talk about in the Rankin/Bass Christmas canon: 1974’s “The Year Without a Santa Claus.” 

🎙️ It’s a packed party with Tim Babb, Michael DiGiovanni, Joey O., and Matt Spaulding as we spread Christmas cheer over...

🎄 Rise and shine while you still can! Since this year’s December Solstice falls on a Sunday, I’ve come bearing the gift of an unexpectedly very merry Scrooge Sunday episode of “Xena: Warrior Princess” from 1996. 

🎙️ April Ryley and Sammy Hain join the mission to warm the cold heart of a king who’s banned all Solstice celebrations on an almost wibbly-wobbly timeline that manages to smash together...

🎄 Fresh from 1996 comes a Christmas tale that’ll make you cry, but only because it’s being told by an onion. 

🎙️ Anthony Strand hops along for the ride as we buzz back to the VeggieTales’ first Christmas special, in which the only children’s toy that comes with a working circular saw embarks on a quest to find the true reason for the season. 

📺 You can watch the official version of “The To...

🎄 What if Mr. Christmas was on the naughty list this entire time, thanks to a curse on his family for generations? 

🎙️ Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas and Guy Hutchinson from Pointless Nostalgia join us on a Christmas quest back to 1985 as Andy Williams leads a dozen “true believers” on a trip to Finland to find Santa and answer for his totally-not-made-up ancestor. 

📺 You can watch “Andy Will...

🕎 Celebrate Hanukkah with a community talent show we don’t even get to watch. 

We’ve miraculously found another Hanukkah special — with yet another spelling of it — so join us as we instantly reappear back in 1991 with a bunch of Canadian animal puppets to discover the magic of the holiday Under the Umbrella Tree. 

🎙️ April Ryley is our lovely assistant as we meet a humble shopkeeper and former m...

🎄 It is once again Scrooge Sunday, and the time has come to awkwardly smoosh our spirits through the walls of our bedchamber and float back to 2004 for a special TV movie based on Alan Menken’s musical adaptation of “A Christmas Carol,” starring Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge, Jason Alexander as Marley’s Ghost, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Belle, and Jane Krakowski as the Ghost of Christmas Past. 

🎙️ Michael Ma...

🎄 Your podcast feed or burst! Join us as we dance joyfully back to 1988 for a very special episode of “Perfect Strangers,” in which Balki invites his grouchy boss to a Christmas Eve party, whether Cousin Larry and their co-workers like it or not. 

🎙️ Shawn Robare and William Bruce West join the party which, despite IMDb’s summary, is not a “Christmas Carol parody.” If anything, Mr. Gorpley&rsquo...

🎄 Put on your cute little helmet and join us on a journey back to 1984 for a Christmas special based on the toy craze that turned holiday shopping from a winter wonderland to a warzone. 

🎙️ Julia (Tis the Podcast) and Steven (The Bigfoot Club) join the adventure from the hidden home of the Cabbage Patch Kids to the unnamed but totally identifiable big city in search of the Christmas spirit, while we evade 2 nearly identical ...