🎄 It’s 1992, and my daydreams of snow are melting into a water getting dumped on my head from an airplane.

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 was meant to be celebrated.

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🎙 Guests:

Channel KRT:

Kit Quinn (@missi0nbreakout, Letterboxd)

Randee Martin (@NeonTailzz, YouTube)

Tyler Green (@TylerFG, Bluesky, The Mask: Gone Viral)

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

1. Watch “Christmas in Wonderland” on Disney+, or this copy with a commercial bumper in front of it.

2. Channel KRT on the episodes “Pie Noon” and “Wonderland: The Movie.”

3. “White Rabbits Can’t Jump,” an unaired episode guest starring O.J. Simpson.

4. One Movie Later: Alice Through the Looking Glass.

5. Deadline’s obituary for Armelia McQueen (The Red Queen) uses a photo from this special.

6. Armelia McQueen on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and… “The Fesh Pince of Blair.”

7. Patrick Richwood (White Rabbit) lied to the casting director about knowing how to rollerblade.

8. Cast members on The Tiara Talk Show.

9. The Christmas Pickle.

10. Harry Waters Jr. (Tweedle Dee) in “Back to the Future,” and Wesley Mann (Caterpillar) in “Part II.”

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📼 Commercial Break:

Disney Channel Holiday Preview Bumper with Jane Seymour (1992)

Juicy Fruit Skiing Commercial (circa 1989)

Cool Kids Club, a nostalgia-filled trip back to childhood.

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“Adventures in Wonderland” and “Christmas in Wonderland” © 1992 The Walt Disney Company.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1988, the monsters under my bed are real, and they’re stealing Christmas.

Follow 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.

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🎙 Guest:

Ethan (The Hungry Reader, A Special Presentation or ALF Will Not Be Seen Tonight, Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head)

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

1. Watch “Pillow People Save Christmas” on YouTube.

2. Pillow People on the toy collectors’ website Ghost of the Doll.

2. Toot Sweet Toys, or what’s left of it.

3. TV listing in New York magazine, November 1988.

4. Victor DiMattia (Billy) on filming “The Sandlot.”

5. Window Rattler as seen on “Full House.”

6. The Who Cares Bears.

7. Today’s TV Trope: Introdump, example: the worst Rob Liefeld drawing.

8. Cheryl Chase (Sweet Dreams) mentions working with Cree Summer (Rock-a-Bye Baby) on this special in a 2004 interview about the “Rugrats” spinoff “All Grown Up.”

9. The Far Side: “…He’s taking it with him!”

10. Nightmara looks like a cross between Mother Brain in “Captain N: The Game Master” and Madam Hecuba from the 1974 anime adaptation of “Jack and the Beanstalk.”

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📼 Commercial Break:

Pillow People: Pillow Valley Commercial (1988)

Holidays After Dark, exploring the strange, unusual, and dark sides of the holidays.

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“Pillow People Save Christmas” © 1988 TMS Entertainment, Inc.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎃 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.

Before Harry Potter, there was “The Worst Witch,” which was adapted into a TV Halloween special starring a young Fairuza Balk, Dianna Rigg, Charlotte Rae in a dual role, and Tim Curry in the trippiest ’80s music video.

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🎙 Guests:

Becca Petunia (ToughPigs.com, Hubba-Wha?!)

Lindy Kempe (@ieatvideogames.bsky.social)

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

1. Watch “The Worst Witch” on the Internet Archive.

2. Find “The Worst Witch” book at your local library.

2. St. Michael’s College is for sale.

3. Pam Jones (Donna) — formerly Kate Buckley before another actress took that name while she was on hiatus — is now a ceramic artist.

4. The kitten ceremony background music sounds kind of like Zelda’s Lullaby.

5. Mildred and Ethel’s rivalry gave us “Owl House” vibes.

6. Toonces the Driving Cat.

7. One student is a future Teletubby!

8. Becca on Movin’ Right Along discussing Tim Curry singing in “Muppet Treasure Island.”

9. Both Tim Curry and Sebastian from “The Little Mermaid” sing “begin the Beguine.”

10. Tim Curry in “Red Alert 3.”

11. Other “Worst Witch” TV adaptations, including a college spinoff and a Netflix series.

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📼 Commercial Break:

Carvel Halloween Ice Cream Cakes Commercial (1986)

Hyrule Podcasters, an audio “Let’s Play” through The Legend of Zelda.

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“The Worst Witch” © 1986 Central Independent Television Plc.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1977, and the cast of Broadway’s hottest new musical is taking drastic measures to convince 4 different unions keep the theatre open for a Christmas party because they forgot to book a venue.

Join the original Broadway cast of “Annie” as somewhere in between themselves and their characters starring in a unique TV Christmas special which may very well have been many TV viewers’ first exposure to the musical.

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🎙 Guest:

Guy Hutchinson (Pointless Nostalgia, GuyHutchinson.com).

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

1. Watch “The Annie Christmas Show” on the Internet Archive.

2. The original Broadway version of “Annie” ends on Christmas; the 1982 movie ends on the 4th of July.

3. Andrea McArdle in “Christmas at Walt Disney World.” (Full Episode)

4. Danielle Brisbois (Molly) in “All in the Family,” and she was a founding member of the band New Radicals.

5. “It’s Christmas” on the Annie 30th Anniversary Production Cast Recording, featuring multiple Annies and Miss Hannigans.

6. “I Don’t Care” in “In the Good Old Summertime” and “Back to the Future: The Game.”

7. “There’s a Broken Heart for Every Light on Broadway” in “Bullets Over Broadway.”

8. Today’s TV Trope: I Have a Family.

9. Ethel Merman sings “Tomorrow” in “A Special Sesame Street Christmas.” (Full Episode)

10. How The Twelve Days of Christmas’ days 9 through 12 got reordered.

11. Members of the cast reunited in 2019 to perform this Christmas special.

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📼 Commercial Break:

Kinney Shoes (1977)

Fotomat (1977)

Festive Foreign Film Fans, a podcast covering festive movies and music from around the world.

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“The Annie Christmas Show” © 1977 Martin Charmin Productions / NBC Universal Network.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.