The Flopcast

For our final show of 2018, we're just relaxing in the studio, enjoying our crazy black coffee, and looking back at a long strange year of Flopcasting. This year we covered a bunch of conventions (while dressed like Cloris Leachman, of course), even more concerts (yes, we saw Christopher Cross, because we're so cool), several Top 4 1/2 Lists (sometimes involving giant robots, as all lists should), and even a few old issues of Dynamite magazine (especially when they put Shaun Cassidy on the cover). Also: Kornflake's movie project, one more National Whatever Day, the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, our Fish Heads bet, the new Earth Station One: Tales of the Station anthology, a beverage mishap, and our weird new plan involving frog suits. This should have been a sitcom-style clip show, with harp music transitions, as we recall past episodes while trapped in a walk-in freezer. But it's not. Yikes, that would have taken a lot of effort to produce... and we are us. See you in the goofy new year.

Direct download: Flopcast_347.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:15am EST

It's a quick holiday music-themed show to get you through Christmas week, featuring a Top 4 1/2 List of Kornflake's favorite Christmas cover songs! (Kevin didn't bother making a list, but he did check Kornflake's list. Twice.) You'll know some of these acts (Hall and Oates make the list with their goofy holiday classic), while others may be new to you (such as Rogue Lobster, a band seemingly created just for us). The dogs singing "Jingle Bells" somehow didn't make the cut, but otherwise Kornflake has your holiday playlist ready to go; tune out your family and enjoy. Also: New holiday music from The Monkees, Barnes and Barnes, and The Dollyrots; the creepiness of mistletoe; pepper pot soup at Valley Forge; why we love Taylor Dayne, Lynne Thigpen, and Christmas chickens; and Kornflake's attempt at Whamageddon. Stay festive, kids, and maybe next week we'll wrap up the whole stupid year.

Direct download: Flopcast_346.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:32am EST

The Mayor of Chickentown joins us for one of our favorite subjects/obsessions: animated holiday specials. Seriously, we spend a stupid amount of time thinking about them all year. So this week we present a Top 4 1/2 List of our favorite supporting characters from holiday cartoons! (Not just cartoons, actually; Muppets count too.) Join us as we pit Miser Brother against Miser Brother, ponder the sleeping arrangements in Whoville, explore which versions of Jack Frost are part of the Rankin Bass shared universe, revisit our weird theories about Hermey the Elf, defend the eating habits of the Bumble, celebrate the musical genius of the Riverbottom Nightmare Band, engage in a bizarre bit of holiday matchmaking (perhaps involving a Wookiee), and much more. So even if you're a creepy winter warlock, put one creepy foot in front of the other and join us. Bring your own nog.

Direct download: Flopcast_345.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:04pm EST

It's our final Flopcast movie night of the year, and Kornflake is finally suffering through the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special! (Kevin has seen it already, of course, but is doomed to repeat it again and again...) If you've experienced it too (either forty years ago on TV, or more recently on bootleg DVD), you know what's coming. Long scenes of nothing but Wookiees growling at each other! Art Carney lying to Stormtroopers! Harvey Korman as a robot, a cantina drunk, and a four-armed alien Julia Child! A Wookiee grandpa watching naughty videos! (Yikes, that part is disturbing.) A song from Jefferson Starship, because why not! The Nelvana cartoon that introduces Boba Fett! Princess Leia singing! R2D2 smoking! Harrison Ford somehow agreeing to participate! And of course, the supreme awesomeness of Bea Arthur! The whole thing is just bizarre and wrong, and we love it. Our DVD also has the original 1978 commercials, a surprising number of which are for underwear. Other commercial breaks feature the Reggie Jackson candy bar, a backward robot, cheap wine endorsed by the guy from Land of the Lost, and a weird news report about the Blizzard of '78. Hey, it's Life Day. You know what to do. Growl at your loved ones incoherently.

Direct download: Flopcast_344.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:58am EST

Gather around the Flopcast lobster trap tree, kids, because it's time for another Top 4 1/2 List! (Sorry that we've been neglecting this beloved segment since our summer robot list...) And the subject is "Geek Blind Spots," as we list all the hugely popular geeky stuff about which we are completely clueless. Warning: The Doctor Who and Harry Potter fans (that is, approximately everyone) are about to be very disappointed in us. Also, along the way, we just might share some wildly inaccurate information about Huey Lewis, Little House on the Prairie, potato chips, the Spice Girls, the Grinch, naked Twister, Gopher from The Love Boat, and what they're really doing in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It's a longer show than usual, but considering the subject, that's completely understandable.

Direct download: Flopcast_343.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:45am EST

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