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. On the way we look up the “Frasier” cast’s Christmas connections, explore the world of complicated opera solos and bad Western ballads, and call in to a PBS pledg…

🎄It’s 1984, and Ebenezer Scrooge is threatening to raise his asking price for a warehouse full of corn. This Christmas Eve episode not only drops on a Scrooge Sunday, but it’s also the Advent Calendar House’s 150th episode. To celebrate, I let listeners vote for which “Christmas Carol” to cover, and the winner is the 1984 TV movie starring George S…

🎄It’s 1980, and my spoiled nephew just got beaten in a ski-jumping contest by a bear who’s never seen winter before. Join us we fail upward through middle to upper hotel management featuring a simultaneously very mature and very immature conversation about cartoon bears discovering mistletoe. What could be the Jellystone Winter Lodge’s final Christ…

🎄It’s 1970, and Santa’s been locked up in an underground cave with 2 giant Muppet monsters. Join us as we venture through the tunnels under Santa’s workshop to uncover Jim Henson’s first ever TV holiday special, presented by The Ed Sullivan Show and featuring the first Muppet performances by Richard Hunt, Fran Brill, Marilyn Sokol, and John Lovelad…

🎄It’s 1983, and the Worst Kids in the World are taking over the church Nativity play, smoking in the ladies’ room, and helping themselves to the sacramental grape juice. Join us as we meet the Herdmans in a classic Christmas story turned TV movie starring Loretta Swit from M*A*S*H and a young Fairuza Balk in her on-screen debut. **** 🎙 Guests: Scot…

🎄It’s 1994, and the Jeffersons are poisoning Metropolis with greed spray from toy atomic space rats. Join us on an unpredictable flight through the first Christmas episode of “Lois and Clark,” written by Dean Cain and starring Sherman Hemsley as the Toyman and Isabel Sanford as his reluctant assistant, plus Denise Richards, Dick Van Patten, Doug Ll…

🎄It’s 2001, and a magical partridge is sending me on a coat drive for some kind of Karate Kid-style Santa training. Hop in our light blue ’54 convertible and buckle up as we take you on a joyride through the very last and most forgotten Rankin/Bass Christmas special, featuring a mostly black cast starring Patti LaBelle, Gregory Hines, and a crimina…

🎄It’s 1989, and a killer in a Santa suit is making it really hard to hide my dead husband’s body. You better watch out as we dig up the first filmed episode of “Tales From the Crypt,” a cozy Christmas nightmare directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring his then-wife and talented screamer, Mary Ellen Trainor, and the kid who gets her hoverboard stole…

🎄 It’s 1979, by way of 1933 — or the other way around — and the human from Fraggle Rock has broken into my garage with a haunted choir of singing children. Join us as we turn the dial on our haunted time-traveling radio to find Henry Winkler at the height of his fame as the Fonz hiding under multiple layers of makeup as a Scrooge figure in Great De…

🕎 It’s 2003, and a team of Hebrew school basketball players think they’ve found the ghost of Judah Maccabee in a random guy living in a van. It’s time once again to think about the Seleucid Empire as we watch a Disney Channel Original Hanukkah Movie very loosely based on the true story of former college basketball star Lamont Carr and a yeshiva’s s…

🎄 It’s 1987, and someone stole Santa Claus in the middle of his hot dog break. Join us as we follow a renowned novelist who may or may not be a teenager and her animated mouse writing partner on a quest find out who kidnapped a department store Santa, while we solve the mystery of how anyone remembers this Christmas special that only aired once. **…

🎄 It’s 1991, and Santa Claus is fighting with a talking dog over a park bench. By some Christmas miracle, this obscure special was rediscovered over 30 years later. For years, people on the Internet tried to identify it on a TV in the background of an old family photo, until finally, thanks to the power of positivity, it was identified as “The Soul…

🎄 It’s 1977, and Happy Gilmore’s grandmother is surrounded by dancing chickens. It’s a beautiful day for a podcast, and this season of the Advent Calendar House begins with a visit to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in a Christmas special that hadn’t been available for more than 40 years until it resurfaced in 2022. It’s surprisingly less festive than …

This holiday season, experience the joy of rewatching the same TV specials you watch every year in podcast form! It’s the Advent Calendar House: A salute to all holiday specials, but mostly the Christmas ones. Revisit 12 holiday TV classics and not-so-classics each December and July. Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost. Full show notes and social links a…

🎄 After spending 3 months locked in a water tower, the Advent Calendar House has escaped in time for Christmas Podcast Day, a fake holiday originally made up for a hashtag back when social media was slightly less stupid. It’s not Scrooge Sunday, but the theme for this year’s Christmas Podcast Day is “A Christmas Carol,” so I’m playing a long, but a…

🎄 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 W…

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…

🎄 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 Chr…

🎄 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 Fierst…

🎄 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. **** 🎙 Guests: Adam Pope (WIZARDS The Podcast Guide t…

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 t…

🎄 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…

🎄 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 …

🫓 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. **** 🎙 Guests: Sarah Shay (sarah…

🎄 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. **** 🎙 Gu…