🎄 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:

Andre Bennett (Cult Cinema Cloister, Philadelphia Championship Rock Paper Scissors, @AndreBennettGO).

Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, Words With Nerds, @imgonnadj24).

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

1. The Batman Adventures Holiday Special original comic.

2. “Welcome to Our OOL.”

3. Dark Night: A True Batman Story, by Paul Dini.

4. Arleen Sorkin on “America’s Funniest People,” a her appearance as a jester on “Days of Our Lives” that inspired her casting as Harley Quinn.

5. Kevin Conroy on being recognized while volunteering after 9/11.

6. “Finding Batman,” by Kevin Conroy, from DC’s Pride 2022.

7. Paul Dini’s original cel from Harley and Poison Ivy’s shopping spree.

8. Tim Drake’s animated debut, and a shocking Muppet tangent.

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📼 Commercial Break:

Batman and Alfred Diet Coke Commercial, 1989.

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

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“The New Batman Adventures” and “Holiday Knights” © 1997 Warner Bros.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.

Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎁 This is a Regift — an episode from the Advent Calendar House’s back catalog shared again for a limited time to spread even more holiday cheer.

Our first Regift episode, originally published in February 2019, is a salute to “The Muppets Valentine Show,” a 1974 pilot of what would eventually become “The Muppet Show,” guest-starring a pregnant Mia Farrow.

Guests: Brian Arnold, Joey O.

Full show notes with links and credits on the original episode:
https://adventcalendar.house/muppets-valentine-show

🎄 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:

1. I finally got a copy of the original Raymond Briggs book!

2. UK Christmas’s “The Snowman” TV listing history.

3. Raymond Briggs hails Christmas sequel to his Snowman classic (The Guardian, 2012).

4. Billy has a picture of Fungus the Bogeyman in his room.

5. The Snowman finds a 1960s toy Batmobile in the shed. Maybe it lost a wheel.

6. A newer version of Andy Burrows’s “Light the Night.”

7. An older version of Andy Burrows’s  “Hometown.”

8. “Funny Looking Angels,” a 2011 Christmas Album by Smith & Burrows.

9. ‘Walking In The Air’ composer told to send a demo tape for The Snowman sequel (NME, 2012).

10. London landmarks seen in the special.

11. Let’s start building more creative snowmen with orange slices for ears and asparagus spear mustaches.

12. The Snowdog Art Trails around the UK, including Snowdog sculptures displayed in Brighton.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

IRN-BRU Snowman Advert, 2011.

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“The Snowman and The Snowdog” © 2012 Snowdog Enterprises Ltd.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.

Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 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:

1. Watch “A Hearth’s Warming Tail” on YouTube.

2. Mike on Santa by the Minute.

3. The first My Little Pony special, from 1984: “Rescue at Midnight Castle.”

4. Patton Oswalt on My Little Pony.

5. Patton Oswalt literally on My Little Pony.

6. “It’s a Pony Kind of Christmas,” featuring characters who don’t celebrate Christmas singing Christmas songs, so the show’s composer had to clarify it wasn’t canon.

7. The mysterious “Derpy,” a.k.a. Muffins.

8. A short tangent about “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” air fresheners.

9. Today’s TV Trope: And You Were There.

10. A scene was cut featuring Discord in the Jacob Marley role.

11. He’s not in this episode, but there’s a character named Cheese Sandwich who is literally “Weird Al” Yankovic as a pony.

12. Bin takes roll call at the Hearth’s Warming Eve party.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

My Little Pony Dream Castle Commercial, 1983.

The Hub Network: 12 Days of Ponies Promo, 2014.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

Santa by the Minute, covering “Santa Claus: The Movie” one minute at a time.

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“My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic” and “A Hearth’s Warming Tail” © 2016 Hasbro Studios.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.

Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 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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🎙 Guests:

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 credits was replaced for streaming with a soundalike, only they don’t sound alike.

2. Almost all the original music is replaced, including a surf rock cover of “Sleigh Ride” by The Ventures.

3. Fred Savage in “Dinosaurs! A Fun-Filled Trip Back in Time,” featuring Rex and Herb from Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration.

4. Coach Cutlip’s drawing of the female reproductive system.

5. Oops, Wikipedia linked to the wrong Jay Lambert (Tommy). Here’s the right guy.

6. Brandon Crane’s (Doug Porter) new podcast, “The Errorist.”

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

Pepsi “Love Letter” Commercial with Fred Savage, 1990.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

TGI Podcast, diving into Christmas, Halloween, and Thanksgiving episodes from the 1990s era of TGIF and more.

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“The Wonder Years” and “A Very Cutlip Christmas” © 1990 New World Television.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.

Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 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:

1. Vox’s Emily St. James ranks all the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials.

2. A very brief history of the Christmas card.

3. Was There Really Any Winter’s Snow at the Time of the Nativity in Bethlehem?

4. Flash blindness is real.

5. Arthur Rankin Jr. recalling how Irving Berlin really, REALLY didn’t want “White Christmas” in the special.

6. This exact sound of a wolf howling (or, actually, a coyote) is heard over and over again.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

Toys “R” Us Time of Year Christmas Commercial, 1976.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

Christmas Creeps, keeping the Christmas spirit alive through the magic of terrible holiday films.

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“The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow” © 1975 Rankin/Bass Productions.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.

Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1979, and no one wants to go to Pat Boone’s lame Christmas party, but we hope you’ll accept our invitation to discover this bizarre but wholesome special featuring the Hudson Brothers, the stars of “The Ropers” as themselves but also still as the Ropers, and a criminally brief appearance by Yogi Bear and his Hanna-Barbera friends.

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🎙 Guest:

Guy Hutchinson (GuyHutchinson.com, Drunk on Disney).

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

1. Watch the Pat Boone and Family Christmas Special on Tubi.

2. Pat Boone’s album of heavy metal covers from 1997.

3. TV Guide’s ad for the special, prominently featuring Yogi Bear and friends.

4. The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show, as seen in a “Family Guy” cutaway gag.

5. “The Seventh Python,” Brett Hudson’s 2008 documentary about frequent Monty Python collaborator Neil Innes.

6. “Largo al Factotum,” the “Figaro” song from “The Barber of Seville.”

7. Dinah Shore’s giant belt buckle.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

Master Charge Christmas Commercial, 1979.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

Season’s Eatings, exploring the origins and history of your favourite Christmas foods.

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“Pat Boone and Family Christmas Special” © 1979 Cooga Mooga Productions.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.

Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s the Advent Calendar House’s 5th anniversary, so instead of celebrating one Christmas special, we watched three! Clear the runway as we salute Disney’s trilogy of 2009’s “Prep & Landing,” 2010’s “Operation: Secret Santa,” and 2011’s “Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice.”

SANTA SPOILER WARNING: This episode contains Santa-adjacent spoilers from 1:24:28 to 1:26:49.

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🎙 Guests:

Jeff Somogyi (Linktree: @sommerjam).

Paxton Holley (Cavalcade of Awesome, Cult Film Club, Hellbent for Letterbox).

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

1. Disney’s Prep & Landing Website from 2009 is still up with character and gadget profiles.

2. “Tiny’s Big Adventure,” a minute-long short starring Magee’s assistant.

3. Super Golden Crisp Cereal’s Sugar Bear musical Christmas ornament.

4. Prep & Landing Easter eggs.

5. Santa’s castle looks familiar.

6. Noel’s early cameo in “Operation: Secret Santa.”

7. A hat tip to the Classic Film Jerks.

8. Captain Avalanche and Snowball’s poster looks like a Batman and Robin Detective Comics cover.

9. “Naughty, Naughty Children” by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.

10. “Nuttin’ for Christmas” by the Plain White T’s.

11. “The Ballad of Nessie,” who makes 2 cameos.

12. Ralphie from “A Christmas Story” appears.

13. “Mansion: Impossible,” featuring Wayne and Lanny prepping the Avengers Mansion.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

Coca-Cola: Santa Packs are Coming, 1994.

Campbell’s Soup: Snowman, 1995.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

Can’t Wait for Christmas’s reminder to play “Underneath the Tree” by Kelly Clarkson more.

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“Prep & Landing,” “Operation: Secret Santa,” and “Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice” © Disney.

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.

Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s 1997, and we couldn’t decide which holiday to end the season with, so we’re celebrating them all. Pack up your accordion and join us on a journey 20 miles below the surface of the Earth to the very Pee-wee’s Playhouse-like split-level cave of “Weird Al” Yankovic as he learns to listen to his friends and family.

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🎙 Guests:

Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, Words With Nerds, @imgonnadj24).

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

1. Weirdle, the “Weird Al”-themed offshoot of Heardle, the music-themed offshoot of Wordle.

2. The Weird Accordion to Al, by Nathan Rabin.

3. Joey interviews Ben Kweller about his appearance with Radish on The Weird Al Show.

4. Al’s got a thing for the number 27, which makes its way into this episode.

5. Stan Freberg’s Christmas Dragnet, which I know from a compilation CD from Philadelphia radio station WOGL.

6. Ed Marques (Varna) as the Surf Guru on ZDTV’s Internet Tonight.

7. I had no idea I Lost on Jeopardy! was a full parody of an actual song.

8. “Weird Al,” Paul Reubens, and Danny Elfman singing Kidnap the Sandy Claws.

9. National Hamster Day exists. It’s May 10.

10. Funny or Die’s original fake trailer for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

11. “Weird Al” Yankovic: There’s No Going Home, part of The Disney Channel’s Going Home concert/documentary series.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

1990 Encyclopedia Britannica commercial starring Donavan Freberg (Baby Boolie).

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“The Weird Al Show” and “The Obligatory Holiday Episode” © 1997.

Say hi on Twitter and Instagram.
Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.
Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.