The Flopcast (general)

Last show of the year! So it's a quick one, as we look back on another goofy year of Flopcasting, including our 2022 Flopcast guests (all four of them), our strict cupcake and lobster roll diet program, and our ongoing obsession with Canadian PSAs. Plus: Happy Birthday to Ted Danson! Part 2 of our holiday podcast crossover with But First, Let's Talk Nerdy! (Warning: May contain Sponge Awareness music.) One last Electra Woman and Dyna Girl review on The Batcave Podcast! (Yes, it's the bizarre Markie Post pilot.) And A Very Pac-Man Christmas with the DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track! (Also A Very Manimal Christmas and A Very Turbo Teen Christmas. Someone probably should have stopped us.) And finally... our New Year's Resolutions. Sort of. See you in 2023, nerds.

The second half of our holiday crossover with But First, Let's Talk Nerdy!

Our final Electra Woman review on The Batcave Podcast!

Christmas Comes to Pac-Land: The American Sci-Fi Classics table read!

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_555.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

Lots of weird holiday mirth and/or merriment this week! First we celebrate National Hard Candy Day with a True Tale of Ribbon Candy. Then Kornflake's annual pilgrimage to the Trap Tree yields startling results. Kornflake also has a new favorite holiday special, and of course the star of Footloose is involved. We also flip through Holly Jolly, a wonderful book of pop culture Christmas history, and learn that the first store Santa appeared in 1890 in nearby Brockton, Massachusetts. (We assume he was as cranky and unpleasant as the rest of us locals.) Then it's time for The Figgy Pudding Pages, and Kornflake has a True Tale of Holiday Air Hockey Injuries. And for our main event, we welcome back Martha and Brittany, the hosts of our sister podcast But First, Let's Talk Nerdy! Reporting live from Las Vegas, they tell us about Christmas at Disneyland, miserable Christmas decoration vandals, and their recent discovery of a Hallmark Christmas movie that actually wasn't bad. Then it's time for a silly little game, as Martha and Brittany take our Christmas Cartoon Quote Quiz! We assume you've been studying all those classic Rankin/Bass shows, so you can play along too! Grab an egg nog, feel free to spike it until you're properly nogified, and enjoy. This week's show is so festive that you'll feel like Jack Frost is nipping at you inappropriately.

Find the second half of our holiday crossover on Episode 79 of But First, Let's Talk Nerdy!

And our regular links...

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Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: info@flopcast.net

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Monkeeing Around!

Direct download: Flopcast_554.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:25pm EDT

It's no secret that we're obsessed with holiday cartoons, and this week we're diving into Frosty the Snowman and its sequels. Everyone knows the 1969 Rankin/Bass original, in which Frosty and Karen hitch a train to the North Pole so Frosty can melt away while Karen freezes to death. Then there's Frosty's Winter Wonderland from 1976, with Jack Frost serving as Best Man at a bizarre snow-person wedding. 1979 saw the ultimate Rankin/Bass crossover event: Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. (Worlds will live, worlds will die, Ethel Merman will sing, and the RBU will never be the same.) Things get even weirder in 1992 with Frosty Returns. John Goodman is the voice of Frosty, SNL's Lorne Michaels is the producer, music is by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh, and director Bill Melendez makes the whole thing look like a Charlie Brown special. Finally we have 2005's The Legend of Frosty the Snowman, which brings it all back to the original cartoon with a cameo from long-suffering magician Professor Hinkle. And if you've been waiting for a Frosty cartoon narrated by Burt Reynolds, this is it. (Also this week: Kevin Geeks Out About Christmas. Seriously.) So slip into your favorite magic hat and we'll all go belly-whopping together. Happy Birthday.

Kevin Geeks Out!

And our regular links...

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Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: info@flopcast.net

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Earth Station DCU!

Direct download: Flopcast_553.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:48pm EDT

For our holiday shopping, we're traveling back to 1981 and looking through an advertisement flyer from Child World, a toy store chain that just happened to have a Woonsocket, Rhode Island location. Kevin and Kornflake have selected 4 1/2 gifts for each other, but we used very different shopping strategies. Kornflake thoughtfully chose classic video games, Star Wars toys, and super hero action figures. Meanwhile Kevin was just looking for strange stuff, so we have a freaky doll with hair that really grows, a forgotten (but possibly awesome) game called Baboon Ball, a forgotten (but possibly terrifying) playset called the Clown House, and more. Cover yourselves; things are about to get weird under the tree.

The 1981 Child World flyer, compliments of Plaid Stallions!

And our regular links...

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Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: info@flopcast.net

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Earth Station One!

Direct download: Flopcast_552.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:56pm EDT

As is tradition around here, we're taking a bunch of those Hallmark-style made-for-TV holiday movies, and we're fixing them. Over 150 goofy new holiday movies are debuting this year, and they're all the same: random big city career women are returning to their hometowns to save their grandfathers' stuggling figgy pudding shops while also falling in love with flannel-shirted dudes who run kitten orphanages. Our plan is to randomly insert some weird new element to each movie, thus creating an instant holiday classic. Can these movies be redeemed by adding stuff like roller disco, giant starfish, or actors from Happy Days? We think you know the answer. Hang on, kids, we're gonna save Christmas.

Earth Station One's Geek Holiday Gift Guide!

And our regular links...

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Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Drinking With Authors!

Direct download: Flopcast_551.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:26pm EDT

We're creeping into the holiday season with a concert report, because Boston rock heroes Letters to Cleo are back for their annual homecoming shows. This year they brought along super-cool Brooklyn-based band Thick to open the show, and Cleo frontwoman Kay Hanley is clearly a fan. Throw in a surprise Cleo horn section, and a festive time was had by all. We're also looking ahead at the goofiness of the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. This year's balloons include the Pillsbury Doughboy, Baby Yoda, and (thanks to recent exposure here on The Flopcast, we assume) Smokey Bear. There's also a giant acorn balloon, because why not. And if you've been secretly hoping for a bread-themed parade float, with hundreds of giant foam bread slices rising into the sky, this is your year. Also: On The Batcave Podcast, Kevin and John finally wrap up their review of the 1970s Saturday morning series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl! So there, you finally have something to be thankful for.

More Electra Woman talk on The Batcave Podcast!

And our regular links...

The Flopcast website!

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Email: info@flopcast.net

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: The Best Saturdays of Our Lives!

Direct download: Flopcast_550.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:02am EDT

Inspired by our recent discussion of synthpop band A-ha and their massive hit "Take On Me," we're making a list of other 1980s songs with iconic keyboard parts. Plenty more synthy new wave acts are on the list (such as Eurythmics, Soft Cell, and Men Without Hats), but several rock bands better known for their guitars actually provided some of the decade's most memorable keyboards. (One obvious example: Van Halen and "Jump.") Check out our list and let us know what we missed. (It would be appropriate for this to be our FINAL COUNTDOWN, but you know we'll keep making more goofy lists around here...) Also: We're frightened by Hug a Runner Day, a delightful "What's in the Bag?" package arrives at the studio, and a "Chickens in the News" item gives us just one more reason to stay out of Florida.

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Con Guy!

Direct download: Flopcast_549.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:23am EDT

Join us as we flip through another old issue of your favorite magazine from the school book club, Dynamite! This one is from way back in 1976, and the cover just might feature an arm wrestling competition between the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman. We have so many questions. Inside the magazine we'll find Robolar's cousins, the truth about mummies (and baboon mummies), disco with KC and the Sunshine Band, a freaked out turkey, gymnast Nadia Comaneci, piles of disgusting hamburgers, a Donny Osmond lookalike, a card trick from Magic Wanda, and lots more Dynamite weirdness. Also: The Hillbilly Bears; a Fruit Brute review; a surprise Top 4 1/2 List; and Happy Birthday to Peter Brady himself, Christopher Knight. You know it's time to change.

The Flopcast website!

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Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: info@flopcast.net

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Monster Attack!

Direct download: Flopcast_548.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:41pm EDT

It's a good old fashioned Flopcast Top 4 1/2 List, and the subject is bears. We have bears from TV (remember Grizzly Adams and his pal Ben?), cartoons (you know the Care Bears, but what about the Wuzzles?), songs (in case you were wondering how Lyle Lovett feels about bears), breakfast cereal (Sugar Bear really wanted to fatten up the children), and more. This is the goofiest bunch of bears you've seen since the Super Bowl Shuffle. And some very important bears are missing from our list, so let us know your favorites! (Send them over to the studio with a pic-a-nic basket.) Also: Happy Birthday to A-ha keyboardist Magne Furuholmen. Kornflake even tries to pronounce his name, because it's no better to be safe than sorry.

The Flopcast website!

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Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: info@flopcast.net

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Cosmic Pizza!

Direct download: Flopcast_547.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:29am EDT

More goofy Halloween fun this week, as we flip through the book An Old School Halloween and learn about the costumes of Ben Cooper Inc. This was the company that sold those quick simple Halloween costumes (a cheap plastic mask and vinyl smock) at discount department stores for decades. We discuss the odd history of Ben Cooper's Spider-Man costume, why Yoda was blue, how Fonzie's catchphrase was bungled, why Scooby Doo looked like Scrappy Doo, and the awesomeness of the Sleestak costume. Also: Another new Halloween book called Full Moon, written by friends of Kornflake; scary 1970s Halloween stories from Power Records; Matt's Count Chocula review; a concert report on folk rock musician (and camping enthusiast) Brett Dennen; the spooky return of our sister podcast But First, Let's Talk Nerdy; and Happy Birthday to Annie Potts, star of every Ghostbusters movie. Now have a creepy yet festive week, and hand over the Reese's.

The Flopcast website!

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The Flopcast on Facebook!

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The Flopcast on Twitter!

Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: info@flopcast.net

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Modern Musicality!

Direct download: Flopcast_546.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:24pm EDT