🎃 It’s 1989, and Rue McClanahan is trapped in an underground castle inhabited by a bunch of Gremlin-looking puppets called Greevils — and for some reason wants to leave.

Join us for a Halloween in July celebration of The Wickedest Witch, co-written and produced by ALF creator Paul Fusco, and starring Blanche from The Golden Girls as the evil Avarissa. As far as we know, this Halloween special only ever aired once, but somehow managed to capture our hearts and burrow itself into the cavernous depths of our memories.

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🎙 Guest:

Matt from Dinosaur Dracula (The Purple Stuff Podcast, @dinosaurdracula).

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📺 Watch It:

There are 3 copies on YouTube — some include commercials, others hit record a second too late. For the closest we can get to a full picture of the special, here are all 3, courtesy of:

1. Dinosaur Dracula,
2. Jared’s VHS Treasures,
3. trivialord.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

1. The Wickedest Witch on Dinosaur Dracula.

2. Rue McClanahan on Entertainment Tonight, October 27, 1989 (Interview starts at 6:57).

3. Ronn Lucas (Sammy), creator of Scorch and the 1988 Disney Channel channel special, Who’s in Charge Here?

4. Judge Doom murdering a clown shoe in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

5. Free Stuff for Kids.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

McDonald’s Halloween Gift Certificate Books, 1989 during the airing of The Wickedest Witch.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

Weird Christmas, all things holly, jolly, and odd-ly.

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“The Wickedest Witch” © 1989 Boo You Productions.

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

🎄 It’s 1984, and all we want for Christmas is our mom back. Join us as we turn around back to 1984 with Punky Brewster during her very special, very crucial first Christmas with her new family.

WARNING: This episode contains Santa spoilers from 23:45 to 27:31.

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🎙 Guests:

Adam Pope (The Retro Network, @hojukoolander).

Steven (UFO Club).

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

1. I totally missed the 2021 Punky Brewster revival series on Peacock.

2. Ami Foster (Margaux) in Wrinkles in Need of Cuddles.

3. The Punky Brewster Wiki exists and is very helpful.

4. What do you mean, “Nobody would want A Bomb for Christmas?”

5. “Santa Claus Lives in Santa Cruz” is a very obscure single that may or may not have been written for this episode.

6. “I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning” from Annie Get Your Gun.

7. Today’s TV Trope: Santa’s Existence Clause.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

NBC’s One to Grow On interstitial with Soleil Moon Frye, circa 1984.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

Wizards! The Podcast Guide to Comics.

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“Punky Brewster” and “Yes, Punky, There Is a Santa Claus” © 1984 NBC Productions.

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

🎄

It’s 1990, and we’re looking a gift horse in the mouth. Join us on a wild ride to the Bar None Ranch for a Very Special Episode™ of Nickelodeon’s Hey Dude disguised as a barely festive Christmas in July special.

WARNING: This episode contains Santa spoilers from 27:07 to 28:58.

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🎙 Guest:

Justin O’Connor (@jm_oconnor).

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

1. An ode to our childhood friends who lied about having an Uncle Who Worked For Nintendo.

2. Hey Dude Reviewed’s episode rankings and review of Ride, She Said.

3. Kelly Brown (Brad) in Danger Zone 4: Mad Girls, Bad Girls (NSFW).

4. Kelly Brown’s boutique on Long Island.

5. Christine Taylor (Melody) in Showdown.

6. Susan Sindelar (Cindy) in the background of a fight scene in Smokey and the Bandit.

6. TROT (Therapeutic Riding of Tucson) is a real place.

7. The Hey Dude set is still somewhat standing in a secluded area of another, actual ranch.

8. The Hangin’ Out Gang.

9. The Huron Carol, believed to be the oldest North American Christmas carol, was written in an indigenous language.

10. The poster for Miracle on 34th Street gives no indication that it’s a Christmas movie.

10 . You know what? I’ll just let y’all search for “star registry” on your own if you want to actually look naming a star after someone.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

California Games for Nintendo, 1987.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

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

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“Hey Dude” and “Ride She Said” © 1990 MTV Networks.

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

It’s 1984, and it’s time to let the music play down in Fraggle Rock as we ring in Christmas in July on a quest to find the true meaning of the Festival of the Bells. On the way, we’ll visit Outer Space as Doc teaches Sprocket — and us — about the Winter Solstice, Saturnalia, and Christmas around the world.

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🎙 Guests:

Tom Coombs (The Pop Daddy, @thepopdaddy).

Donnie Storms (Bronwen’s Ghost, @boxcar45).

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

1. A clip from the British airing of The Bells of Fraggle Rock, in which Doc is replaced by a lighthouse captain.

2. Gerald Parkes (Doc) in An American Christmas Carol as the Ghost of Christmas Present.

3. Doc’s tool-themed Christmas tree.

4. Macy’s Christmas Light Show and Dickens Village in Philadelphia.

5. The Weebabeast, in pictures.

6. Gobo’s maze-like map to the Cave of the Great Bell.

7. St. Nicholas Day.

8. Mokey and the Festival of the Bells, a Christmas-themed Fraggle Rock storybook.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

Fraggle Rock Book Club, 1985.

McDonald’s Fraggle Rock Happy Meal Toys, 1988.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

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

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“The Bells of Fraggle Rock” © 1984 Jim Henson Productions.

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

It’s 1996, and we’re holding our football-shaped heads high on a quest to find our neighbor’s long-lost daughter… but first, a pair of highly sought after Nancy Spumoni snow boots. Join us for a very special Christmas episode that solidified Hey Arnold! as an unforgettable Nicktoon.

Full show notes with links at https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/hey-arnold-christmas.

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🎙 Guests:

• Anthony Caruso (@ACaruso929) from Tis the Podcast.

• Matt Eurich (@MattEurich) from TGI Podcast.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• The story behind the iconic Vietnam Episode of ‘Hey Arnold!’ (NBC News, 2021).

• Arnold’s Claymation origins: Arnold Escapes from Church, 1988.

• Arnold Uses His Imagination on Sesame Street.

• Helga in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.

• The “Pollyanna,” Philadelphia’s hyper-local Secret Santa.

• Mr. Hyunh’s banana wallpaper.

• Mr. Hyunh’s flashback includes the iconic helicopter image from the Fall of Saigon.

• One-Legged Bob, the Affable Railroad Tramp.

• Hey, grown-ups, remember dot matrix printers?

• Hiep Thi Le’s life could’ve been a movie; instead the refugee became a star playing someone else (Los Angeles Times, 2018).

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• Talkboy Voice Recorder from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

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Hey Arnold! and Arnold’s Christmas © 1996 Viacom International, Inc.

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

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.

It’s 1986, and we’re hiding out in a cabin in the mountains with modern-day Snow White and real-life Christmas angel Dolly Parton. Join us as we try to wrap our heads around this Henry Winkler-directed TV movie that gets really weird really quickly.

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

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🎙 Guest:

• April Ryley (@Where2NextApril, @motherchristmascosplay).

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• Dolly Parton Meets the Kids.

• Muppet doppelgänger Polly Darton.

• Dolly Parton saved a girl’s life on the set of Christmas on the Square.

• Gennie James (Cindy) in The Hugga Bunch Movie.

• Claude Earl Jones (Bartender) in the Seinfeld episode, The Race.

• Lee Majors (Mountain Dan) and Jean Speegle Howard (Old Woman Jezebel) in The Night the Reindeer Died, the movie-within-a-movie from Scrooged.

• How South Jersey Keeps Muskrat on the Menu (Gastro Obscura).

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• 1988 Dollywood Commercial.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

• Christmas Clatter,

• Santa by the Minute.

A Smoky Mountain Christmas © 1986 Sandollar Productions.

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

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.

It’s 1978, and we’re glued to the TV… whether we like it or not. Join us as we catch the next reindeer flight to save Santa’s workshop from being taken over by a palette swapped Wile E. Coyote.

Full show notes with links at https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/raggedy-ann-and-andy.

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🎙 Guests:

• Molly Patton (@molly_patton, @MoMakesStuffUp), author, artist, and LEGO builder at MollyPatton.com.

• Adam Pope (@hojukoolander) from RetroDaze and Wizards: The Podcast Guide to Comics.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure and The Greedy.

• Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog, in example: A Sheep in the Deep.

• The Gloopstik Corporation’s address on Google Maps.

• Santa’s Reindeer species profile by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

• The Star-On and Star-Off machines from The Sneetches.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• 1978 M&M’s Christmas Commercial.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

• A Cozy Christmas.

Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Great Santa Claus Caper © 1978 The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.

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

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.

It’s 1980, and we’re having a hiccuping fit that can literally move mountains. Join us on a trip back to the World of Filmation for a barely Christmassy Snow White sequel featuring Seven Friendly Giants, each with their own involuntary reflexes.

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

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🎙 Guests:

• Kristi (@BadPrincessMov) and Bri (@wallabri) from Bad Princess Movies.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• Bad Princess Movies on Happily Ever After.

• Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation.

• Cash-grab home videos including The Reef, Ratatoing, and Toei Animation’s The Little Mermaid, which I discovered in a Toys “R” Us in 1989.

• Larry Mann (Yukon Cornelius) as the Magic Mirror vs. Dom DeLuise as the Looking Glass in Happily Ever After.

• The Thief and the Cobbler.

• Am I Hot or Not?

• The word CLINK appears as a key is dropped onto a table, but this is the only time that effect happens in the whole special.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• Barbie Dreamhouse, 1982.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

• Weird Christmas.

A Snow White Christmas © 1980 Filmation Associates.

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

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.

It’s 1988, and we’re getting lit at Bubbe’s Boarding House for Hanukkah. Take a spin with us as we meet a bunch of puppets you’ll never hear from again.

Full show notes with links at https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/chanuka-at-bubbes.

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🎙 Guest:

• April Ryley (@Where2NextApril, @motherchristmascosplay).

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• A Simpsons animator designed the puppets for this weird, wonderful ’80s Hanukkah special (Splinter).

• Caps for Sale.

• Anton and his Easter Island head.

• April’s very non-kosher latke recipe.

• Mayim Bialik explains the letters on the dreidel and other Hanukkah facts.

• Calvin getting trolled by his dad in Calvin and Hobbes.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• 1970s/’80s PBS Logo ID.

• 1985 Teddy Ruxpin “Frankenstein” Commercial, preserved by Dinosaur Dracula. Teddy Ruxpin voice actor Phil Baron co-wrote this special.

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🎤 And Now, These Messages:

• Cool Kids Club.

Chanuka at Bubbe’s © 1988 Pan-Imago, Inc.

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

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.