Tis the Podcast

It's The Holiday Armadillo! (Friends)

Our annual television month concludes this week, and the elves could think of no better show to cover as a "last hoorah" than Friends! In this episode they discuss the four most Christmassy episodes of the hit-comedy ("The One Where Rachel Quits", "The One With The Routine", "The One With The Holiday Armadillo", and "The One With Christmas In Tulsa"), but do these yuletide stories reach the heights of the iconic Thanksgiving episodes that the show is famous for? For that matter, does this sampling of episodes represent the very best that Friends in general had to offer? Whether or not they do, the hosts have a blast talking about and quoting one of their favorite shows, and they reach a peak that hasn't been reached since they discussed Elf! So grab a cup of hot chocolate, sit back, and relax, because this is one episode you definitely don't want to miss!  

Christmastime Will Always Be, Just As Long As We Have Glee. (Glee)

Television month continues this week, and we're discussing the four Christmas episodes of the musical, comedy-drama Glee! Between "A Very Glee Christmas", "Extraordinary Merry Christmas", "Glee, Actually", and "Previously Unaired Christmas", there's plenty to like, plenty to dislike, and - of course - plenty of music! (Which, let's face it, is the real reason most of us watched Glee in the first place!) So kick-back with your favorite holiday-related beverage, blast that air-conditining to make this hot summer month feel like winter, and get ready for some lively, sometimes gleeful (yet always funny) discussion and plenty of Christmas music!  

We Need To Show Them Just How Lonely Christmas Can Be. (The X-Files: How The Ghosts Stole Christmas)

Television month continues with this week's installment in which the elves discuss The X-Files episode "How The Ghosts Stole Christmas". (Season 6, Episode 6.) Not since A Charlie Brown Christmas has anything we covered demonostrated as well as this one  just how lonely and depressing the holiday season can be for certain people. As huge fans of Mulder and Scully's early adventures, Julia, Thom, and Anthony have a lot of fun dissecting this story and talking about their histories with the show overall, in addition to debating just how successful the episode was at bringing out those Christmas feelings. Enjoy, everyone! And remember: "The Truth Is Out There"! 

Merry Christmas from the Simpsons! (The Simpsons)

It's May which means it's time for our inaugural Month of TV Christmas specials, and we're kicking it off with a look at The Simpsons' first five Christmas specials. Grab a cup of hot chocolate and sit down for some conversation irreverent enough for America's favorite yellow family!

Why Do I Always Think Gettin' You Home For Life Day Is Gonna Be Easy? (Star Wars Holiday Special)

Happy Life Day! This is our last episode to drop before the fourth of May, so to celebrate "May the Fourth" - a.k.a. "Star Wars Day" - the elves decide to tackle the infamous "Star Wars Holiday Special"! Besides asking themselves the usual question - "Does this movie pass the Linus Test?" - the hosts also debate two other questions with regards to this holiday adventure in a galaxy far, far away: is it a Christmas movie, and who exactly is the audience for this film? This episode isn't completely devoid of holiday joy, however, for it features the return of the "Christmas questions" segment of the show, and Anthony comes prepared with three to ask Julia, Thom, and the audience. 

Moms Don't Enjoy, They Give Joy. That's How Being A Mom Works. (A Bad Moms Christmas)

This week, the elves cover another Christmas comedy film filled with sophomoric humor, sexual innuendo, and implied nudity in the form of A Bad Moms Christmas, written by the same people who came up with the story for Office Christmas Party - the first film we covered that was filled with sophomoric humor, sexual innuendo, and nudity. Does this one contain more heart and Christmas feelings than that one, or will it flounder and place below it on the list? Longtime listeners can probably guess in advance where Julia, Thom, and Anthony all fall on this movie, but that makes the episode no less fun to listen to! So enjoy this wide-ranging discussion about the star-studded 2017 film, and buckle-up in preparation for next week's foray to spend the holidays in a Galaxy, Far, Far Away. 

Where There's Goodness, And Kindness, And Love, That's Where You'll Find Him. (TLC's The Secret Santa)

Christmas Cheer is in high supply this week as the elves tackle TLC's 2014, made-for-television mockumentary "The Secret Santa." Julia, Thom, and Anthony are all on the same page with this film, and absolutely gush over its emotional sentimentality as they discuss reporter Nancy Cameron's quest tracking down all of the Christmas miracles that Lucas A. Nast - a.k.a. Santa Claus - has brought to people throughout the years. In addition, the hosts talk about the various ways that our listeners keep the Holiday Season alive during the long, hot summer months. So if you're feeling your supply of Christmas Spirit beginning to dwindle as we continue hurtling through Spring, this is definitely an episode you don't want to miss! 

He's Better Than A Doctor, He's Santa Claus! (The Brady Bunch: The Voice of Christmas/A Very Brady Christmas)

In this episode, the elves discuss the one and only Christmas episode that The Brady Bunch ever made – 1969’s The Voice of Christmas – in addition to the 1988, CBS, made-for-TV reunion movie A Very Brady Christmas. Similar to the last time the elves discussed two pieces of Christmas entertainment in one episode (in the contentious Grinch episode), Anthony is once again pitted against Julia and Thom who don’t share the nostalgia, which imbues him with a strong love of the grown-up Brady Christmas story. The three of them are much more aligned when it comes to the original series’ holiday episode, however, and despite plenty of disagreements – and plenty of riffing on the absurdity of the plots featured in both Christmas specials – the hosts keep this conversation light and fun, regardless of their own personal opinions on the material. So pour yourself a cup of hot cocoa and relax because “here’s the story” of one very famous family who Anthony, Julia, and Thom track from the late ‘60s as they figure out its “time to change” on their way back to one another to celebrate Christmas in the late ‘80s.

Merry Christmas! Happy Easter! And Don't Forget To Floss! (Rise of the Guardians)

Happy Easter everybody! In an effort to inject a little bit of Christmas into the Bunny’s time of year, this week the elves decided to discuss Dreamworks Animation’s 2012 feature-film, Rise of the Guardians, which brings together Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost in order to take on the evil Boogeyman, Pitch. There is a lot of love to go around between Julia, Thom, and Anthony in an episode that is infinitely more cheerful than last week’s, as the hosts gush over these new interpretations of the icons of childhood and the lore that surrounds them. There is one big question mark that looms over the episode this week, however: is this movie actually a Christmas film? And if not, how will that factor into where this holiday mashup fits into the official Christmas Canon Ranking?

Saving Christmas(?) (Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas)

This week, the elves discuss “what may well be the single most self-indulgent tripe ever written, produced by and starring a self-righteous narcissist: Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas.” There is no love for this film at all as Julia, Thom, and Anthony stand united in their anger and frustration against what is easily the worst film we’ve reviewed yet. It’s so bad, in fact, that none of us can recommend in good conscious watching this offensive film and wasting 79 minutes of your lives. Nonetheless, despite Christmas Cheer being in low supply this episode (Spoiler Alert: there is unanimous agreement that this film is not a Christmas movie!) the conversation is fun and wide-ranging as the hosts express their disbelief in how something so bad could ever have been made, dub a new term (The Anti-Linus Test), and make a pact to end the show if a movie worse than this ever comes up for us to review.