Advent Calendar House - TV Holiday & Christmas Specials
A salute to all TV holiday specials, but mostly the Christmas ones. Revisit 12 holiday classics and not-so-classics each December and July.
Episodes
🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we watched a cavemen take over Santa’s job after he fell off the roof in “A Flintstone Christmas.”
This time, our reunion tour of previously podcasted-about characters makes its final stop of the season in Bedrock, where Fred Flintstone is letting the lead role of “Ebonezer” Scrooge go to his head, while Wilma is doing the workload of I lost count of how many victims of the highly contag...
Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we let the goofy alien puppet with the jokes toy with our emotions in “ALF’s Special Christmas.”
🦃 This time, join us around the Fappiano table as we aim a spoonful of squash back to 1988 for a special, 2-part Thanksgiving episode of “ALF.” Too bad he’s already eaten the turkey, but there might still be some sweet potato pie in the garage, with the homeless man.
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🎙 Guests:
🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we went on an apocryphal adventure with the story of The Little Drummer Boy.
This time, Rankin/Bass drums up an unnecessary sequel from 1976, its busiest year for holiday specials. Join Aaron on a side quest to retrieve the stolen silver bells from a troop of greedy Roman soldiers in the “Rogue One” of Christmas stories.
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🎙 Guests:
Brandon Medley (@brandmed, 📸 @blesseda...
🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we spent Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Hanukkah on “Shalom Sesame,” and even uncovered the oddity, “A Special Sesame Street Christmas.”
This time, join us as we fly faster than time backwards around the globe to 1996 to watch Elmo save, then ruin, then fix Christmas, featuring Maya Angelou, Harvey Fierstein as the Easter Bunny, and “Doc Hopper,” himself, Charles Durning as Santa.
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🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we saved Punky Brewster’s Christmas spirit in “Yes, Punky, There Is a Santa Claus.”
This time, join Punky in 1985 on an animated adventure to the North Pole, courtesy of Glomer, her new magical leprechaun-gopher Ewok lookin’ friend. The ’80s were weird.
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🎙 Guests:
Adam Pope (WIZARDS The Podcast Guide to Comics, @hojukoolander).
Steven (UFO Club).
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💬 Topics & ...
Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we flew a sleigh made out of a dumpster into space with the California Raisins in “Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration.”
🎃 This time, we’re reanimating a creepier creation of his from 1991 — a Halloween special that premiered in May for some reason — starring the scheming Wilshire Pig on a quest to uncover the secret lab of Dr. Frankenswine.
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🎙 Guests:
🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we were Dreaming of a White Ranger with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
This time, they’re away helping Santa, so Zordon surprises Alpha by teleporting in a bunch of children for a Christmas party. Join us for this very bonkers Power Rangers home video, plus our mini tribute to the late Jason David Frank, who’s seen as both the Green and White Ranger here because nobody cares about co...
🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, our hearts and golden harmonicas went out to “A Chipmunk Christmas.”
This time, it’s Scrooge Sunday, and our Christmas in July reunion tour arrives in Hollywood — or at least a nearby cartoon suburb where Alvin turns his greed up to 11 and blames it on his lonely old neighbor who doesn’t know how to plant a garden. So get set to have some fun in this Dickens of an episode of “Alvin and t...
🫓 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we helped our favorite talking babies stop a true meanie in “A Rugrats Chanukah.”
This time, we’re ignoring the rules of another long-standing tradition as we travel by baby basket back to 1995 to witness grown men throwing temper tantrums and ending up locked in the attic.
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🎙 Guests:
Sarah Shay (sarahshay.com, Bandcamp, Pilot House Podcast, @thesarahshay).
🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we witnessed goodness make the badness go away in “The Smurfs’ Christmas Special.”
This time, we’re taking a one giant puppy open sleigh ride back to 1987 to help the Smurfs save Christmas for a poor human toymaker and his gravely ill wife, while Brainy and Hefty get lost in medieval Crime Alley.
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🎙 Guests:
Lindy Kempe (@ieatvideogames).
Donnie Storms (Bronwen’s Ghost, ...
💝 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we visited the Easter Bunny’s underground nightmare factory in “The Berenstain Bears’ Easter Surprise.”
This time, it’s 1982, and love and hockey are in the air as Brother Bear gets stalked by a secret admirer, and his Papa’s public displays of affection send him into orbit.
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🎙 Guest:
Gerry Davila (Totally Rad Christmas).
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💬 Topics & Tangents:
1. Watch “Th...
🎄 It’s the Advent Calendar House’s 10th season, and to celebrate, every episode is revisiting familiar faces and places already covered on the podcast.
Previously, we spent Christmas with the Joker in “Batman: The Animated Series.” This time, we’re on a festive tour of Gotham City through the Joker’s hideously redrawn eyes in the 1997 premiere of the redesigned, rebranded “New Batman Adventures.”
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🎙 Guests:
🎄 It’s 2002, and we’re trapped in a horrifying world where Kermit the Frog doesn’t exist.
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.
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🎙 Guests:
Lindy Kempe (@ieatvideo...
🎄 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?
Join 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.
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🎙 Guest:
Adam Parker Sibun (Merry Britsmas).
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💬 Topics & Tangents:
🕎 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.
Join us on an enlightening revisit to the Flashy Girl from Flushing on her first Hanukkah as a married woman. Also, Ray Charles is here!
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🎙 Guest:
April Ryley (@Where2NextApril).
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💬 Topics & Tangents:
1. Watch “The Hanukkah Story” on Facebook.
2. Apr...
🎄 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?
Join us for a Scrooge Sunday canter through a “Christmas Carol” adaptation set in Equestria, the world of “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.”
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🎙 Guests:
Jon and Bin (Bin’s Toy Bin, Santa by the Minute).
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💬 Topics & Tangents:
🎄 It’s 1973, and a musical cricket is about to save the Christmas spirit during New York City’s quietest power failure.
Join us for a one-cat open sleigh ride into Chuck Jones’s beautifully animated sequel to “The Cricket in Times Square.”
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🎙 Guest:
Michael DiGiovanni (Pop Culture Retrofit, Classic Film Jerks, @TheyCallMeDiGio).
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💬 Topics & Tangents:
1. A very insightful Letterboxd review.
2. Na...
🎄 It’s 1970 by way of 1990, and I just noticed the Santa Claus at the mall is actually my gym teacher.
Join us on a revealing trip back to The Wonder Years as we salute Robert Picardo’s standout performance as Coach Cutlip… and Santa.
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🎙 Guest:
Andy Gattis (Straight Chilling, AndyGattis.com).
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💬 Topics & Tangents:
1. Joe Cocker’s version of “With a Little Help from My Friends” over the opening cr...
🎄 It’s 1997, and Tim Curry as an evil pipe organ is literally bringing down the house.
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.
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🎙 Guests:
Kristi (@BadPrincessMov) and Bri (@wallabri) from Bad Princess Movies.
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💬 Topics & Tang...
🎄 It’s 1975, and a shepherd boy just lost his sight after staring directly at a lightning bolt.
Join 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.
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🎙 Guest:
Mike Troxell (@Prune_Tracy, Mastodon: PruneTracy@sharetron.com).
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💬 Topics & Tangents:
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