Advent Calendar House

🎄 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 Toy That Saved Christmas” for free on YouTube, or the original 1996 version on the Internet Archive.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Differences between the original and the reanimated version from 1997.  “Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus.”  “Most folks call ’em green onions, but they’re really scallions.”  This Mr. Nezzer is not the previously seen Nebby K. Nezzer, but his brother, Wally P. Nezzer, who’s not as cleverly named.  The original vs. the new, improved Bunny Song.  The shelves of Buzzsaw Louies predate the shelves of Buzz Lightyears in “Toy Story 2.”  Ken Cavanagh (Buzzsaw Louie) may have authored this Medium post from 2020: “Leave Jesus Out of It. Viruses don’t care what you believe.”  “The Dead Sea Squirrels,” by Mike Nawrocki.  Today’s TV Trope: Blatant Burglar.  Doctors in the hallway in “Muppets From Space.”  What do you call a group of penguins?  Two More Eggs: CGI Palz.  ****  📼 Commercials:  VeggieTales: “The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree” album (2005)  The Incredible, Edible Egg: Wisecracks (1991)  Mouse Trap (1990)  The Studio Demands It!  ****  “VeggieTales” and “The Toy That Saved Christmas” © 1996 Big Idea Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.

🎄 What if Mr. Christmas was on the naughty list this entire time, thanks to a curse on his family for generations?  Gerry Davila (Totally Rad Christmas) and Guy Hutchinson (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 Williams and the NBC Kids Search for Santa” on the Internet Archive.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The NBC Kids are: Soleil Moon Frye, Cherie Johnson, Ami Foster, and Casey Ellison from “Punky Brewster”; Lisa Bonet, Tempestt Bledsoe, Keshia Knight Pulliam, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner from “The Cosby Show”; Alfonso Ribeiro from “Silver Spoons”; and Joey and Matthew Lawrence from “Gimme a Break!” But not Mindy Cohn from “The Facts of Life,” who shows up, sings half a line, and that’s it.  Guy visits New York City’s Christmas cinematic landmarks, including the locations from “Mr. T and Emmanuel Lewis in A Christmas Dream.”  Not Just Theo: Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s Surprising Career.  Alfonso Ribeiro’s Pepsi Commercial with Michael Jackson (1984)  The painting supposedly featuring Lars Sven Olaf Williams, from 1863.  The Sàmi.  “Sea for Catwoman!”  Porvoo Cathedral (pronounced like “Borga”).  ****  📼 Commercials:  NBC “Let’s All Be There” ID with Santa (1985)  Polaroid: “Christmas – Santa Claus” (1985)  Tinsel Tunes - The Christmas Music Podcast.  ****  “Andy Williams and the NBC Kids Search for Santa” © 1985 Pierre Cossette / Barnaby Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.

🕎 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 magician once known as “The Great Goldberg,” played by the equally great Harvey Atkin.  📺 As of this recording, you can watch “Hanukah Under the Umbrella Tree” on YouTube.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Holly Larocque in “The Big Band Broadcast” (2008)  Stephen Brathwaite’s (Jacob) artwork portfolio.  Bob Stutt (Iggy) as Wander McMooch on “Fraggle Rock.”  David Copperfield makes the Statue of Liberty disappear.  “Peoples is peoples.”  Today’s TV Trope: Magicians Are Wizards.  A Star is Borscht: The Harvey Atkin Young Jewish Performer Competition (2022)  “Under the Umbrella Tree: The Mask Special” (2020)  ****  📼 Commercials:  Happy Holidays from “Under the Umbrella Tree” (CBC)  Hallmark “Old Friends” Hanukkah Card Commercial (1993)  Remember That Show?  ****  “Hanukah Under the Umbrella Tree” © 1991 Noreen Young Productions, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.

🎄 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 May and Rob Graham from After Lunch join the celebration of abundance, charity, and good will toward men as we forge this podcast link by link and dumb joke by dumb joke.  📺 You can watch “A Christmas Carol: The Musical” for free on YouTube.  Plus: After this episode, listen to the 3 of us on After Lunch review “A Christmas Carol” on “Shower of Stars” from 1954.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Julian Ovenden (Fred) in “Downton Abbey.”  Today’s TV Trope: And You Were There.  Jacob Collier (Tiny Tim) on YouTube, including his Grammy-winning arrangement of “The Flintstones” theme.  Brian Bedford (Fezziwig) on “Frasier” and as Disney’s Robin Hood.  Ebenezer Scrooges Ranked by How Redeemed They Are (FilmHounds, 2024)  ****  📼 Commercials:  KFC “Christmas with Jason Alexander” (2001)  Merry Britsmas.  ****  “A Christmas Carol: The Musical” © 2004 Hallmark Entertainment Distribution, LLC.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.

🎄 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’s the Grinch. And hey, a pre-“Family Matters” Harriette Winslow is here! But why isn’t she with her own children?  📺 As of this recording, “The Gift of the Mypiot” (Season 4, Episode 9) is available for free on Pluto TV.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “The Gift of the Mypiot” on Perfect Strangers Reviewed, and the gift of assswing.gif.  This is just 3 episodes before we’d meet Carl Winslow. I guess he was busy this Christmas at Nakatomi Plaza.  Kate Finlayson (Allyson) “Dancing the Enneagram.”  The mystery of Nora Trueblood Adams.  Geraldo opens Al Capone’s vault.  Our personal stories of getting the same gift twice and having to play it cool.  ****  📼 Commercials:  “Perfect Strangers” Cast Christmas Greeting (1988)  Circuit City Christmas Sale (1988)  WIZARDS The Podcast Guide to Comics.  ****  “Perfect Strangers” and “The Gift of the Mypiot” © 1988 Lorimar Television.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.