The Story of Santa Claus

🎄 This podcast was created as part of a seemingly endless life debt that resulted in a wish to give the world the gift of a bunch of nerds with microphones talking about old TV holiday specials. And now you know my dark origins. 

🎙️ Collin Murr from Scrooge: A Christmas Carol Podcast and Jeff Loftin from the Lost Christmas Podcast join us as we get violently tossed off course back to 1996 and rediscover “The Story of Santa Claus,” or at least a story of Santa Claus, the first to star Ed Asner as the big man, featuring Betty White as Mrs. Claus and Tim Curry as a very annoyed elf wizard. 

📺 We found “The Story of Santa Claus” with commercials on the Internet Archive. 

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(00:00) - Intro 
(02:31) - Guest and Special Histories 
(06:39) - Act 1 
(36:35) - Act 2 
(43:31) - Retro Commercial Break 
(45:05) - Act 3 
(1:17:21) - Final Thoughts

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💬 Topics & Tangents: 

Why Ed Asner accepted the titular role in The Story of Santa Claus (MeTV, 2025) 

Jim Cummings takes over as Scar in the last part of “Be Prepared” in “The Lion King.” 

Kate Zaremba (Aurora) as Annie in the sequel musical “Annie Warbucks,” and her present-day art studio. 

Today’s TV Tropes: Slipped on the Wheels and Villainy-Free Villain. 

There’s a whole debate elsewhere about whether Clement Moore was the true author of “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” 

Mr. Meeseeks from “Rick and Morty.” 

Dark Heart from “The Care Bears Movie II.” 

Lois Lane’s poem in “Superman: The Movie.” 

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📼 Commercials: 

True Value Hardware Christmas Commercial (1997) 

Closer to Christmas 

Tiger Electronics Name That Tune Handheld Game (1997) 

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“The Story of Santa Claus” © 1996 CBS, Inc. 

Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost. 
Find us at adventcalendar.house. 
Hosted by The Retro Network. 

#s16 #1990s