The Advent Calendar House has awoken early from its long winter’s nap to take the Leap Year challenge as prescribed by Dr. Frasier Crane on one unseasonably warm February morning in 1996. On the way we look up the “Frasier” cast’s Christmas connections, explore the world of complicated opera solos and bad Western ballads, and call in to a PBS pledge drive to try and talk to Big Bird.   ****   ? Guests:   Erin Evans (@mserinevans).   Joey O. (Y-Not Radio, @imgonnadj24).   ****   ? Topics & Tangents:   1. Kelsey Grammer in “Mr. St. Nick” and “The Twelv ..read more

?It’s 1984, and Ebenezer Scrooge is threatening to raise his asking price for a warehouse full of corn.   This Christmas Eve episode not only drops on a Scrooge Sunday, but it’s also the Advent Calendar House’s 150th episode. To celebrate, I let listeners vote for which “Christmas Carol” adaptation to cover, and the winner by a large margin was the 1984 TV movie starring George S. Scott, along with original “Equalizer” Edward Woodward as an exceptionally sassy Ghost of Christmas Present, and we even spotted our favorite Alfred Pennyworth, Michael Gough, as a not-so-portly gentleman s ..read more

?It’s 1980, and my spoiled nephew just got beaten in a ski-jumping contest by a bear who’s never seen winter before.   Join us we fail upward through middle to upper hotel management featuring a simultaneously very mature and very immature conversation about cartoon bears discovering mistletoe. What could be the Jellystone Winter Lodge’s final Christmas carnival manages to wake up Yogi Bear, who hibernates directly underneath it but somehow never knew about it before now.   ****   ? Guest:   Bill Hanstock (@sundownmotel, “We Promised You a Great Main Event: An Unauthorized ..read more

?It’s 1994, and the Jeffersons are poisoning Metropolis with greed spray from toy atomic space rats.   Join us on an unpredictable flight through the first Christmas episode of “Lois and Clark,” written by Dean Cain and starring Sherman Hemsley as the Toyman and Isabel Sanford as his reluctant assistant, plus Denise Richards, Dick Van Patten, Doug Llewellyn, and terrible special effects.   ****   ? Guests:   Gerry Davila (Totally Rad Christmas)   Paxton Holley (Cavalcade of Awesome, Cult Film Club, Hellbent for Letterbox)   Jeeg (Nerd Lunch)   ****   ? T ..read more

?It’s 2001, and a magical partridge is sending me on a coat drive for some kind of Karate Kid-style Santa training.   Hop in our light blue ’54 convertible and buckle up as we take you on a joyride through the very last and most forgotten Rankin/Bass Christmas special, featuring a mostly black cast starring Patti LaBelle, Gregory Hines, and a criminally underused Eartha Kitt as a talking cat.   ****   ? Guests:   Andre Bennett (Cult Cinema Cloister, Philadelphia Championship Rock Paper Scissors).   Tim Babb (Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast).   ****   ..read more

?It’s 1989, and a killer in a Santa suit is making it really hard to hide my dead husband’s body.   You better watch out as we dig up the first filmed episode of “Tales From the Crypt,” a cozy Christmas nightmare directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring his then-wife and talented screamer, Mary Ellen Trainor, and the kid who gets her hoverboard stolen by Marty McFly.   ****   ? Guests:   Jamie Ray (Fave Five From Fans, Complete Disarray with Jamie Ray)   ****   ? Topics & Tangents:   1. Mike on Fave Five From Fans with my Fave Five Christmas TV ..read more

? It’s 1979, by way of 1933 — or the other way around — and the human from Fraggle Rock has broken into my garage with a haunted choir of singing children.   Join us as we turn the dial on our haunted time-traveling radio to find Henry Winkler at the height of his fame as the Fonz hiding under multiple layers of makeup as a Scrooge figure in Great Depression-era New England.   ****   ? Guests:   Tom Coombs (The Pop Daddy)   Scott Leopold (Holly Jolly X’masu)   ****   ? Topics & Tangents:   1. Watch “An American Christmas Carol” on YouTube, court ..read more

? It’s 2003, and a team of Hebrew school basketball players think they’ve found the ghost of Judah Maccabee in a random guy living in a van.   It’s time once again to think about the Seleucid Empire as we watch a Disney Channel Original Hanukkah Movie very loosely based on the true story of former college basketball star Lamont Carr and a yeshiva’s struggling team looking for a leader.   ****   ? Guests:   April Ryley (@where2nextapril, @thefancygeologist).   J.W. Friedman (I Don’t Even Own a Television).   ****   ? Topics & Tangents:   1. “Full-Cour ..read more

? It’s 1987, and someone stole Santa Claus in the middle of his hot dog break.   Join us as we follow a renowned novelist who may or may not be a teenager and her animated mouse writing partner on a quest find out who kidnapped a department store Santa, while we solve the mystery of how anyone remembers this Christmas special that only aired once.   ****   ? Guests:   Lindy Kempe (Bluesky).   Emily Rowley (Threads).   ****   ? Topics & Tangents:   1. Dick Van Patten’s shout-out in “Wayne’s World” and cameo in “Robin Hood: Men In Tights.”   ..read more

? It’s 1991, and Santa Claus is fighting with a talking dog over a park bench.   By some Christmas miracle, this obscure special was rediscovered over 30 years later. For years, people on the Internet tried to identify it on a TV in the background of an old family photo, until finally, thanks to the power of positivity, it was identified as “The Soulmates in The Gift of Light.” Join us as we meet the intergalactic Soulmates in what seems like a pilot that never got off the ground.   ****   ? Guests:   Michael DiGiovanni (Pop Culture Retrofit, @TheyCallMeDiGio).   Jeff ..read more