It’s 1978, and celebrities pretending to be ghosts are gaslighting Oscar the Grouch into participating in Christmas. Also, Michael Jackson shows up. This Scrooge Sunday, witness the other Sesame Street Christmas special from 1978, featuring 3 whole, entire Muppets.

Full show notes with links at https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/a-special-sesame-street-christmas.

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🎙 Guests:

• Alan Johnson (@AlanJ) from Two Bad Neighbors in the 31st Century, now a Futurama Podcast.

• Donnie Storms (@boxcar45) from Bronwen’s Ghost.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• Our episode on Christmas Eve on Sesame Street.

• I thought Tough Pigs made up this special in 2001 to be funny, but nope, it’s real.

• Sesame Street lost an Emmy to Sesame Street.

• Muppet Wiki on A Special Sesame Street Christmas.

• Elmo’s Delicious Christmas.

• Anne Murray Sings for the Sesame Street Generation, an American re-release of There’s a Hippo in My Tub.

• Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street.

• Michael Jackson inadvertently saved Sesame Street from a lawsuit.

• Just One Person at Jim Henson’s memorial service.

• Mike talks about Snoopy! The Musical on A Special Presentation, or ALF Will Not Be Seen Tonight.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• Sesame Place, 1984.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

• Kringle Talks Kristmas.

A Special Sesame Street Christmas © 1978 Bob Banner Associates.

Find the Advent Calendar House on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.

It’s 1988, and we’re staring intensely at the totally nuts series finale of The Care Bears Family, the Care Bears’ last TV appearance for 16 years.

Full show notes with links at https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/care-bears-nutcracker-suite.

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🎙 Guests:

• Lindy Kempe (@ieatvideogames).

• Karen Flieger (@karenflieger8) from The Retro Network.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• The World’s Smallest Tenderheart Bear.

• Karen’s awesome Nutcracker socks.

• Abby Hagyard on Twitter (Ms. Walker, and also Mom on You Can’t Do That on Television).

• The Wild Puffalumps.

• Billie Mae Richards, the voice of Rudolph, as Tenderheart Bear in The Care Bears Movie.

• That time a goose flew into Fabio’s face on a roller coaster.

• Today’s TV Tropes: Identity Amnesia, Evil Chancellor, Rail-Car Separation.

• The Sad Story of Henry from Thomas the Tank Engine.

• The train runs on soda, like the time machine in the first draft of Back to the Future.

• This special’s Wikipedia entry is oddly specific about setting this story in 1967.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• Care Bears Drinking Glasses from Pizza Hut, 1984.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

• The Christmas Book: The Ultimate Guide to Your Favorite Holiday.

• Snow in Southtown.

Care Bears Nutcracker Suite © 1988 Nelvana Ltd.

Find the Advent Calendar House on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.

It’s 1963, and we’re watching a show about a show within a show putting on a show for Christmas. Don’t ask us to make sense of it. We can’t stop tripping over our own home furniture.

Full show notes with links at https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/dick-van-dyke-show-christmas.

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🎙 Guest:

• Tim Babb from the Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast (@TimBabbComedian, @ChristmasPod).

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• Dick Van Dyke as Tubby the Tuba.

• 8 great little details you never noticed in The Dick Van Dyke Show Christmas episode (MeTV).

• Every Episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Ranked (Vulture).

• 92-year-old Dick Van Dyke dancing to Step in Time.

• Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins Returns.

• John Brown’s Body.

• Key & Peele’s Negrotown sketch and the trope of interrupting someone’s song.

• The Dick Van Dyke Show cast reunites on Comic Relief, 1992.

• The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book’s history of I Am a Fine Musician.

• The theme song’s secret lyrics.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• Learn Not to Burn: Holiday Fire Safety PSA, 1977.

• Also mentioned, this Fire Safety PSA with Dick Van Dyke pretending to be a door.

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The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Alan Brady Show Presents © 1963 Calvada Productions.

Find the Advent Calendar House on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.

We close out another countdown to Christmas in July with a sleigh ride back to the Stone-Age Year of Our Lord 1977 to watch Santa fall off the roof and a guy who acts like a caveman take over his job.

Full show notes with links at https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/a-flintstone-christmas.

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🎙 On This Episode:

• Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), loudly demanding an audience with Santa Claus.

• Gerry Davila (@RadChristmas), who has season’s greetings in his soul and yummy Fruity Pebbles in his bowl, from Totally Rad Christmas.

• Sean Sotka (@xander0527), who tied whiskers tied onto his hat, or at least that’s what it looks like on the cover of the Christmas Podcasts Podcast.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• Our episode on the Fruity Pebbles Christmas Commercial.

• I found a Flintstones chronology on, of all places, Flickr.

• The Internet Archive’s VHS Vault.

• Domino Rally.

• I want to know more about Santa’s reindeer turn signals.

• Daze Before Christmas for Super Nintendo and Mega Drive (Genesis).

• Virginia Gregg (Mrs. Claus) was the uncredited voice of Norman Bates’s mother in the first 3 Psycho movies.

• Santa’s workshop should have gotten Flintstone Theming.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• Fruity Pebbles: Rapping Barney (1988)

• Voice Command Crusher RC Car (1993)

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

• Behind the Bells.

“A Flintstone Christmas” © 1977 Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Find the Advent Calendar House on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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Get your frying pan ready and join us on a journey to what feels like 60 million years ago back to 1991 to observe the most wonderful time of the year for the Jim Henson Company’s Dinosaurs, which by some Fridge Day miracle is the Advent Calendar House’s first TGIF episode.

Full show notes with links at: https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/dinosaurs-refrigerator-day

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🎙 On This Episode:

• Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), unidentified furry creature about to become breakfast.

• Lindy Kempe (@ieatvideogames), the hot toddy serving middle manager of my dreams.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• The Dinosaurs parody on The Simpsons.

• We go from talking about the Økėÿ Døkęÿ Køøkïñ segment of Muppets Now to Netflix’s Nailed It!

• Sally Struthers (Charlene) for International Correspondence School.

• A brief history of the Christmas bonus, or “thirteenth salary.”

• Sam McMurray in the very short-lived A League of Their Own TV sitcom, and my own pitch for a TV adaptation on Nerd Lunch’s Fourth Chair Army Invasion.

• Pons Maar (Roy’s body actor) as the original voice of The Noid.

• Unisaurs: The Dinosaurs equivalent to the Anything Muppet.

• The biggest gifts we ended up returning.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• Talking Baby Dinosaur and Dinosaurs Figures (1991).

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

• TGI Podcast.

“Dinosaurs” and “Refrigerator Day” © 1991 The Walt Disney Company.

Find the Advent Calendar House on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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It’s Garbage Day! Join us as we look happily deranged back to 1996 to follow Pete and Pete’s brother, Pete, on their mission to keep the Christmas spirit alive for as long as possible, and keep their Christmas tree safe from the evil Garbageman.

Find full show notes and links at: https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/adventures-of-pete-and-pete-o-christmas-pete

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🎙 On This Episode:

• Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), pile of garbage slowly and steadily growing at the front curb.

• Tom Coombs (@classictomedy), armed with a flamethrower I got him for Christmas to help clean his room.

• Chad Young (@HorrorMovieBBQ), crusher of dreams, from the Horror Movie BBQ.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• Michael C. Maronna (Big Pete) in Home Alone, and in a series of Ameritrade commercials circa 1999.

• Snow Day was originally conceived as a Pete & Pete movie.

• The first Pete & Pete short, “What Would You Do for a Dollar?”

• The Pete & Pete 20th Anniversary Reunion.

• Danny Tamberelli (Little Pete) as Jimmy De Santa in Grand Theft Auto 5.

• Judy Grafe’s (Mom) résumé, and her current work for FEMA.

• Hardy Rawls (Dad) as the Maytag Repairman circa 2005.

• Sludge Central on Pete & Pete filming in New Jersey.

• Chad and Michael May talk Silent Night, Deadly Night on Sleigh Bell Cinema.

• David Johansen sings “Garbageman’s Ballad.”

• Garbageman’s hijacking of Little Pete’s Yule Log reminds us of the Max Headroom Pirating Incident.

• A mini ode to character actress Marilyn Dobrin as the Wrigleys’ notably loud neighbor.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• The Adventures of Pete & Pete: “Mom’s Plate” (1991).

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

• Christmas Clatter.

“The Adventures of Pete & Pete” and “O’ Christmas Pete” © 1995 Viacom.

Find the Advent Calendar House on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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The Adventures of Pete & Pete: O’ Christmas Pete

Happy Back to the Future Day! Set your time circuits to 1845 by way of 1991 for a special Christmas in July episode of the Back to the Future Saturday morning cartoon, featuring hologram clothes, the hoverboard equivalent to texting while driving, and Bill Nye the Science Guy.

The actually animated segments of the animated series feature Dan Castelleneta as Doc, plus the return of Thomas F. Wilson (Batman: The Animated Series) as various Tannens throughout history, and Christmas movie all-star Mary Steenburgen (Elf, One Magic Christmas) as Clara.

Full show notes with links at https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/back-to-the-future-dickens-of-a-christmas

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🎙 On This Episode:

• Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), leaving greasy footprints all over the ceiling.

• Joey O. (@ImGonnaDJ24), whom I’d entrust with the keys to my DeLorean anytime, from Y-Not Radio.

• Joseph Wade, the hoverboarding ghost of Christmas All of the Above, from Christmas Creeps and The O/S/T Party.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• Mary Steenburgen playing Informer on the accordion in Last Man on Earth.

• Series art director James S. Baker storyboards his own blog.

• The Back to the Future pinball game and its random movie quotes.

• Futurepedia on how Doc’s clothing converter camera works.

• Weird things we did as kids to show our parents we were responsible.

• Some toys in Fedgewick’s shop shouldn’t be there yet in 1845.

• Did We Wish You a Merry Christmas exist in 1845? Possibly, but not the version we know.

• Doc’s wad of cash vs. England’s bank notes circa 1845.

• Wilkins’s dog looks like 1980s T-shirt icon Rude Dog.

• My Back to the Future-themed Good Friday and Easter Sunday tweets.

• The closest thing we could find to a Kaiju Christmas movie is 1962’s Gorath.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• Back to the Future: The Ride at Universal Studios Florida (1996).

• Hi-C Ecto Cooler Commercial, starring David Kaufmann, the voice of Marty (1989).

“Back to the Future,” the Animated Series, and “Dickens of a Christmas” © 1991 Universal Cartoon Studios / Amblin Television.

The Advent Calendar House can also be found hoverboarding while distracted on Twitter (@adventcalhouse) and Instagram (@adventcalendarhouse).

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Hop, hop, hop with us back to 1981 for our first trip to Bear Country, which it turns out was built on top of the Easter Bunny’s industrial nightmare factory.

Find full show notes and links at https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/berenstain-bears-easter-surprise

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🎙 On This Episode:

• Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), a giant vat of chocolate shaped like an enormous baby chick.

• Alan Johnson (@AlanJ), about to hook up his candy conveyor belt to an old car and knock us all off the Skype call, from Two Bad Neighbors – A Simpsons Podcast and Talespin Trivia.

• Emily Rowley (@mlerowley), TV’s sassiest Easter Bunny.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• The Berenstain Bears’ Easter Surprise on the official YouTube channel.

• Yes, we all collectively mispronounced “Berenstain.”

• The VHS cover, for reference.

• The Berenstain Bears: The Very First Easter, being the story of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus, who is also a bear.

• Inside the Berenstain Bears’ Tree House.

• The widest tree in the world, for comparison.

• Things this special has in common with Steel Magnolias: Knowl Johnson and dozens of broken Easter eggs.

• An ode to the Bear Family’s tiny, antique, circular porthole TV set.

• Today’s TV Trope: Packed Hero.

• Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video, featuring young Zachary Danziger (Bill Bunny) and a host of way more familiar names.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• Kellogg’s Raisin Bran: Morgan the Mockingbird Commercial (1981), preserved from the original airing of this special.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

• Mike on the Two Bad Neighbors podcast for Marge Be Not Proud and Monty Can’t Buy Me Love.

• Jingle Jank.

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“The Berenstain Bears’ Easter Surprise” © 1981 Joseph Cates Co., Inc.

The Advent Calendar House can also be found daydreaming about jellybeans on Twitter (@adventcalhouse) and Instagram (@adventcalendarhouse).

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By special request, this episode of the official podcast of teaching aliens about Christmas takes you on a domesticated goose chase back to 1977 through the first fully animated feature by Canadian studio Nelvana.

Full show notes with links at: https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/a-cosmic-christmas

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🎙 On This Episode:

• Mike Westfall (@fallwestmike), excitable mayor shouting at everyone else to remain calm.

• Jeff Fox (@chrspecials), the Internet’s foremost expert on this special, from Name That Christmas  Special.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• Jeff’s collection of A Cosmic Christmas music and scanned promotional items.

• Joanna Wilson’s Christmas TV History.

• This special got George Lucas’s attention and led to Nelvana producing the animated segment of the Star Wars Holiday Special.

• The Nelvana Story: Thirty Animated Years.

• Today’s TV Trope: Big Ball of Violence.

• Jellybean looks like the red-eyed Pac-Man on the side of the arcade cabinet.

• Duncan Regehr (Amalthor) as Dracula in The Monster Squad.

• Marian Waldman, Mrs. Mac from Black Christmas, also has a quick line or two.

• The Castle Thunder stock sound effect.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• Burger King Doll Christmas Commercial (1977).

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

• Weird Christmas.

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“A Cosmic Christmas” © 1977 Nelvana Enterprises, Inc.

The Advent Calendar House can also be found tap-dancing with geese on Twitter (@adventcalhouse) and Instagram (@adventcalendarhouse).

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