Sun, 13 April 2025
Just a few quick subjects this week: We recommend the improv comedy of Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation's Jean-Ralphio!), we look at some Saturday Night Live-related comic books (including when Spider-Man met Belushi), and we take it to the streets. Not because we're Doobie Brothers, but because we're angry. 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: The 42cast!
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Sun, 6 April 2025
If you grew up in or around the bizarro state of Rhode Island, you might remember the Warwick Musical Theatre. For decades, this tent-style venue (with a rotating circular stage in the middle) hosted concerts, comedy, musicals, and even wrestling. (Guess how many times Liberace performed there. No, you're low. Guess again.) And back in the 80s, this is where some of us first saw Weird Al, the Monkees, and oh yeah, Air Supply. So let's take a look at the whole wild history of the Warwick tent, which alas, has been gone for about a quarter century. (These days a giant hardware store is there, in case you need 8,000 hammers.) But in our hearts, Laura Branigan and Billy Ocean are playing there RIGHT NOW. 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: EnterpriseSplaining!
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Sun, 30 March 2025
Continuing our look back at 1975 (which was just about fifty years ago, according to most historians), let's see what was on television. Specifically we're looking at the prime time schedule for March 30, 1975, which just happened to be Easter night. So the three networks offered a mix of special programming (The Ten Commandments, The Wizard of Oz, and a horrifying holiday Waltons rerun) and typical mid-70s action shows (Six Million Dollar Man, McCloud). Watch closely for special guest stars like John Ritter (pre-Jack Tripper) and Gavan O'Herlihy (post-Chuck Cunningham). Was it the greatest night in television history? Absolutely not. But it was 1975, and it was all we had. 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!
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Sun, 23 March 2025
It's a simple enough show this week, kids. We're just looking at a bunch of movies from half a century ago. 1975 was a game-changing year in film. Early 70s trends like blaxploitation and dystopian sci-fi were about to be swept aside, as a certain giant Spielbergian shark ushered in the blockbuster era. But meanwhile, the year still offered some genuine classics (Dog Day Afternoon, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), some cult classics (Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Rocky Horror Picture Show), some Disney for the kids (Apple Dumpling Gang, Escape to Witch Mountain), giant spiders, crazy mamas, blazing stewardesses, switchblade sisters, and plenty of Pam Grier. So pop in a Glen Campbell 8-track and cruise over to your local ugly 1970s movie theater. And grab a big box of Raisinets, even though they're lousy. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!
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Sun, 16 March 2025
As the title suggests, we have illnesses, we have injuries, and we have a quick little listener feedback episode. Including: Blip magazine, Pac-Man high scores, Activision patches, Dig Dug songs, Donkey Kong comics, Mardi Gras chickens, Sewer Sam, An Hour With Bob, Positronic Hypersonic, Sci Fi Journal, Luke Ski's Animation & Stuff Podcast, the Yummy Awards, and pizza pies for Pi Day. Enjoy, as we deal with our various aforementioned ailments. We're podcasting through the pain, just for you. Luke Ski's Animation & Stuff Podcast! And our regular links... 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 Musicology!
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Sun, 9 March 2025
We're just diving into the bizarre world of Rhode Island cable access television of the 80s and 90s. And our special returning guest is Kevin Cafferty! Kevin was there, and remembers it all. If you were anywhere near the Ocean State back in the day, you never knew what you'd find on local cable TV, but you knew it would freak you out. Including: awkward talk shows, befuddling children's shows, ultra-low-budget sketch comedy, backyard wrestling, high school dances, karaoke direct from Woonsocket, the intense legal drama of Providence traffic court, the Star Trek fan show we loved more than Star Trek, the Kiss fan show that was parodied on Family Guy... and the legend of Daphne's Madhouse. Why would you ever look at mainstream TV again? On cable access, your own neighbors were making the weirdest shows in the world. Kevin's podcasts: Gleaming the Tube and The Best Stuff in the World! And our regular links... 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: The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!
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Sun, 2 March 2025
We always enjoy perusing the annual list of nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, because it makes everybody angry. And this year we have a special guest: Michael Gordon, host of the Dragon Con Report, Earth Station Who, and BatChums podcasts! (Clearly Mike isn't podcasting enough. So glad we could help with that.) The nominees include 70s rock (Bad Company), 80s pop (our girl Cyndi!), 90s grunge (Soundgarden), and lots more, including some long overdue legends (Joe Cocker, Mariah Carey) and some oddball surprises. (Phish? Really?) And we somehow get through the whole list without complaining about the Rock Hall's continued snubbing of Air Supply. But we have not forgotten. And follow Michelle on Substack! And our regular links... 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: Dragon Con Report!
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Sun, 23 February 2025
In 1983, Marvel Comics launched a magazine about video games. This was not a comic book; it was a magazine. (Okay, it was a tiny comic book-sized magazine. Happy now?) It lasted just seven issues, utterly failing to make a blip, even though it was in fact called Blip. So today we're flipping through the first issue of Blip, trying to make sense of it all. On the cover is actor Matthew Laborteaux (Little House on the Prairie, Whiz Kids), looking very upset that we interrupted his game of Tron. Inside we learn the favorite video games of more Hollywood stars, assuming you define "star" as "someone who appeared on The Facts of Life once or twice." We also learn about Missile Command, Centipede, Dig Dug, Pitfall, and Bubble Yum. (That last one might just be an advertisement.) Sure, there were much bigger, much better video game magazines around in the early 80s. But only one was Stan Lee-approved. So stick with Blip, true believers. |
Sun, 16 February 2025
Recently we braved the lawless wilderness of New Hampshire to see a show called "Piano Men and Women," celebrating the music of Billy Joel, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, and more. (We were there because our old pal Mike is the guitarist in this show. Mike has come a LONG way since Sponge Awareness...) So now we're throwing all those classic pop stars into a silly FlopFight tournament of randomly selected competitions. Join us as we debate the merits of, say, Freddie Mercury and Barry Manilow in a snow-shoveling contest. Why, there's even a surprise wild card player who has no business in this FlopFight, but just might win the whole thing. Kids, prepare for some thrilling and ridiculous tournament action. The stakes could not be lower. 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: Have Coffee, Will Travel!
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Sun, 9 February 2025
Longtime Flopcast listeners (those poor souls) know that every 100 episodes, we celebrate V66, Boston's own music video TV channel of the mid-80s. This time, however, we have a special guest: Eric Green, director of the V66 documentary, Life on the V! And because this is episode 666, we're looking at the heavy metal and hard rock bands and videos of the V66 era. It was a time when catchy melodies and goofy visuals helped acts like Quiet Riot and Twisted Sister score huge Top 40 hits. The Kiss guys lost the makeup, Van Halen switched from Dave to Sammy, Aerosmith made their (rap-assisted) comeback, Mötley Crüe freaked everybody out, and Bon Jovi opened the floodgates for a cacophony of hair metal. Meanwhile on the local scene, V66 promoted a video filmed at a Boston-area high school by an unknown hard rock band called Extreme. And as the New England Patriots prepared for Super Bowl 1986, V66 was there with a couple of low budget quickie music videos, including the goofy metal tune "Skin the Bears." (Spoiler: The Patriots absolutely did not skin the Bears.) Also: Kevin finds V66 VJ David O'Leary at a Taylor Dayne show! Eric traces the history of Nirvana in Boston! Tom Bergeron gets in touch with the kids on Rap Around! And if you're in the Boston area, you can join us for a special screening of Life on the V at the Somerville Theatre on February 27th! Kids, it's the 40th anniversary of V66. You deserve a night out, surrounded by Junior Mint-chomping 80s nerds who know how to neutron dance. And our regular links... 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 Who!
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Sun, 2 February 2025
It's time for another Top 4 1/2 List, and it's a dumb one! The subject is "Ace." We're just listing characters (from cartoons, movies, TV, etc.) named Ace. And we probably missed your favorite Ace, so let us know! (Unless your favorite is Ace the Bat-Hound. We assure you, we did not forget Ace the Bat-Hound.) The MarsCon 2025 Comedy Music Track and Fund Raiser Album! And our regular links... 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!
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Sun, 26 January 2025
Normally we save our "Too Many Comics" reviews for the ESO Network's Patreon supporters. But this one is for everybody, as Kevin and the Mayor flip through the oldest comic book we have here at the studio. And oh yes, it features a chicken. Published by Quality Comics way back in 1946, it's Egbert #4. In the lead story, Egbert the chicken and his fox buddy The Count enter a pie-eating contest. Try to contain your excitement. And because comic books were much larger back in the Golden Age, we also have stories with Nero Owl, Rollo Raccoon, Picklefoot Pig, the Bunny Boys, Beany Bear, and more. (All this for a dime!) Plus: Weird ads for Pepsi, cap guns, and electric football games. Now according to an online price guide, our Egbert comic is virtually worthless. (And you'll find out why!) But come on, it's a chicken comic from 80 years ago, and you can't put a price on this kind of silliness. 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: The 42cast! This week's other promo: MarsCon 2025!
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Sun, 19 January 2025
As we enter the horrifying year of 2025, we thought we'd roll back half a century and look at the music of 1975. We're perusing Billboard's Top 100 song list for the year, and as you'd expect, it's a weird list. The hippie acts were winding down, disco was ramping up, easy listening schlock was at its zenith, and everybody -- literally everybody -- was kung fu fighting. It was probably also not a bad year to avoid Chevy vans, and that's all right with us. Anyway, break out your Linda Ronstadt 8-tracks, slip into your Captain and Tennille costumes, and enjoy. 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 Boo!
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Sun, 12 January 2025
If your New Year's Resolution was to strengthen your vocabulary with the help of some DC Comics superheroes, we've got you covered. Yes, we're turning back to The Super Dictionary, that bizarre book of words and definitions for the kids of 1978. Our latest batch of Super Dictionary entries features: Supergirl catching flies, Wonder Woman staggering about in a fog, Black Canary vs. a giant owl, Krypto the Super Dog gobbling like a turkey, Penguin being creepy and weird, and Atom's tiny handkerchief. We also learn a bit too much about Comet the Super Horse, and we review the most notorious entry in the whole book. Yes, it's time to discuss Luthor and his forty stolen cakes. Also: Chickens in the News! Want to stay at a massive rooster-shaped hotel in the Philippines? Yeah, we thought so. 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 Trek!
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Sun, 5 January 2025
We're wrapping up our annual two-part memorial show, covering people we lost in the second half of 2024 from TV (Linda Lavin, John Amos, Bob Newhart), movies (Teri Garr, Shelley Duvall, James Earl Jones), music (Quincy Jones, John Mayall, Kris Kristofferson), and more. (Richard Simmons, Dr. Ruth, Famous Amos, the "You've got mail!" guy... our list has a lot of range.) The egg nog is flowing freely here at Chickentown Studios. Select a huge festive beverage for yourself and join us. And our regular links... 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!
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Sun, 29 December 2024
In Part 1 of our two-part memorial show, we look back on people from pop culture (and beyond) who died in the first half of 2024. It's a long list, so it's a long show. Including: People from movies (Cindy Morgan, Carl Weathers, Louis Gossett Jr., Dabney Coleman, Donald Sutherland), comedy (Richard Lewis, Joe Flaherty, Martin Mull), television (Joyce Randolph, Kevin Brophy, David Soul), music (Melanie, Mojo Nixon, Eric Carmen), comic books (José Delbo, Ramona Fradon, Trina Robbins), and many more. (The inventor of Pop-Tarts? But of course.) Next week: Memorial Show Part 2. Meanwhile this week, we also reveal our New Year's Resolution, which you will never guess. 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!
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Sun, 22 December 2024
Welcome to the Flopcast holiday variety spectacular, in which we sip egg nog and nothing happens. But we do pack quite a few festive subjects into this quick little show, including: Weird 1970s Christmas cartoons! (The Fourth King is an obscure one we'd never seen before. And our favorite, A Cosmic Christmas, is now available from RiffTrax!) A Joan Osborne concert! The Air Supply Christmas album! The Figgy Pudding Pages! Drive-in movie theaters! Weird singing bird decorations! And the opening of a glitter bomb Christmas card, ensuring that Chickentown Studios will be nice and sparkly all year. Okay, get out there and be merry or bright (but not both). It's time for our big holiday nap. 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: The 42cast! This week's promo: Modern Musicology!
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Sun, 15 December 2024
Spinning out of last week's review of The Year Without a Santa Claus, this week we're looking at another classic Rankin/Bass Christmas cartoon that debuted fifty years ago: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas! It's set in the bizarre little town of Junctionville, where humans and mice coexist in a way we can't quite figure out. There we meet a humble clockmaker, a nerdy mouse, a clueless wacky mayor, an egomaniacal vindictive Santa, and a selfish materialistic populace dreaming of a huge Christmas payday, if only their giant musical clock doesn't explode. It's magnificent. We also discuss the whole voice cast, including Jennifer Grey's father, Amanda Plummer's mother, one of the Bad News Bears, Franken Berry, Twinkie the Kid, and (according to Wikipedia) an "owl-faced, portly character actor." So knock back an egg nog or six, let up a little on the wonder why, and give this podcast a try. 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!
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Sun, 8 December 2024
The Mayor of Chickentown is here to help us celebrate the 50th anniversary of a Rankin/Bass animated classic, The Year Without a Santa Claus. It's best remembered for Snow Miser and Heat Miser, of course, but we're here to break down the whole thing. We discuss the goofy plot, the goofier characters, the actors behind those characters, the book that inspired the cartoon, the live action remake, the animated sequel, and more. And while everyone knows that Heat and Snow Miser's mother is Mother Nature, we're going to reveal who their fathers are. (This holiday season, we're trying to be more like a trashy daytime talk show, and we could use your support.) And our regular links... 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: EnterpriseSplaining!
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Sun, 1 December 2024
It's the holiday season, which means it's the holiday movie season, which means it's time for us to get to work. Because if you tune your TV to the Hallmark channel (or Lifetime, or Netflix, or anywhere else), you'll be assaulted by dozens of ridiculous new romantic holiday movies. A parade of big city girls will be returning to their quaint home towns to save their families' struggling mistletoe factories, and perhaps fall in love with some flannel-shirted dudes along the way. (And somehow, almost every movie stars Lacey Chabert.) So here on the Flopcast, we try to fix these movies by adding some weird random element. Can Christmas be saved by, for example, a gorilla suit? We sure think so. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!
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Sun, 24 November 2024
As usual, we ring in the stupid holidays with a Letters to Cleo concert report, because our favorite 90s Boston band always comes home for Thanksgiving. (Letters to Cleo once performed on Parks and Recreation, and weirdly, just down the street from the concert, we spotted an actual citizen of Pawnee, Indiana. It was either Jerry, Garry, Larry, or Barry.) Then, as we approach the 100th anniversary of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Kevin and the Mayor look back at some of the odd performances and big freaky balloons in parades past. (The 1974 and 1984 parades included future Flopcast guests! Weird...) Anyway, have a festive holiday, and don't worry about inviting Patty, Marcie, and Franklin. They'll just show up. And our regular links... 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 Musicology!
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Sun, 17 November 2024
Even as we stagger toward a horrifying future, The Flopcast is here with more silly things for you, because we're gonna get through this together. And this week we're celebrating Danny DeVito's 80th birthday (just as we celebrated his 70th birthday about a decade ago), we have a Chickens in the News story about an actual robot chicken... and then we just turn the whole show over to the robots. If you're on the correct side of history, please join us as we resist, persist, take care of each other, and keep going. 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: Dragon Con Report!
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Sun, 10 November 2024
Need a break from, you know, everything? We're just hiding behind a giant stack of Dynamite magazines, and you're welcome to join us. We've pulled out a Dynamite issue from 1980 with the hosts of That's Incredible on the cover. (Cathy Lee Crosby looks lovely, while Fran Tarkenton and John Davidson are missing some teeth... our copy may have been defaced decades ago by some kid with a Bic pen.) Inside we can read about New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain, Gary Coleman's chihuahua, a Billy Joel album that never happened, a vampire maze, Dynamite Bummers, the Dynamite Duo... and an electronic chicken game. We don't know why they kept making magazines after 1980, when it was done to perfection. 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: The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!
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Sun, 3 November 2024
We looked at the TV shows of 1974 (fifty years ago!) a few months back with the Mayor, but now it's Kornflake's turn. Our list again includes some of the usual suspects like Rhoda and The Rockford Files... but ultimately we can all agree that the most important show of that year was Hong Kong Phooey. We also take a quick look at some bands that debuted in 1974; some are still favorites of ours (Blondie! Squeeze!), while we're learning about others for the first time, despite some very intriguing band names. Also: We wish a Happy Birthday to Bonnie Raitt, and we welcome two new podcasts to the ESO Network: Have Coffee Will Travel and BatChums! (One of these shows features two guys discussing Batman, but we can't remember which.) 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: Tales From Hollywoodland!
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Sun, 27 October 2024
It's the terrifying conclusion of our Halloween FlopFight! Leaping into the tournament this week are characters from Nightmare Before Christmas, Hocus Pocus, Bewitched, Happy Days (what?), and more. Each matchup is drawn randomly, and the exact competitions are randomized too. (So for example, it could be Count Chocula against Jack Skellington, but in a pie-eating contest. Stuff like that.) So anything goes, and special guest Blasted Bill is back to keep things nice and silly. We're also wishing a Happy Birthday to 90s singer-songwriter Sophie B. Hawkins, who has something in common with one of our FlopFighters: a mysterious middle initial. Because a certain Tom Hanks SNL character is also competing. Any questions? The Mayor talking Doctor Who on The Best Stuff in the World podcast! And our regular links... 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: Have Coffee, Will Travel!
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Sun, 20 October 2024
Halloween superfan Blasted Bill joins us for a Halloween FlopFight! We're randomly throwing Halloween characters (from horror movies, cartoon specials, cereal boxes, and beyond) into another ridiculous tournament. Why, the very first match has the Great Pumpkin battling Yummy Mummy! Who will win? That depends on the exact nature of the competition, which is also chosen at random. So anything could happen, and this week's winner shall advance to next week's final round. So grab a ringside seat, grab some fun-size Twix bars, and enjoy. And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 13 October 2024
As our Halloween festivities continue, we take a quick look at the horror movies parodied in Mad Magazine in the 1980s. Including: The Shining, Poltergeist, Psycho II, a couple of Alien movies, and Gremlins (with Alfred E. Neuman as Gizmo on the cover). Speaking of Mad and Alfred, we just visited the Norman Rockwell Museum for an amazing exhibit called "What, Me Worry? The Art & Humor of Mad Magazine." And it closes in two weeks, so GO RIGHT NOW. Also: It's World Singing Day. And we are not the world. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 6 October 2024
It's Halloween season, which means it's Monster Cereal season! And while we rarely eat the stuff anymore, we do welcome the return of Count Chocula, Franken Berry, Boo Berry, and the new girl, zombie DJ Carmella Creeper. (Sorry, Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy fans. Those weirdos aren't around this year.) The big news is that the monsters have pets now! Meet the Frightful Friends: Benny the Bat, Igor the Spider, Scratch the Snake, and Meow Berry. (What, no chicken?! Send your letters of complaint to General Mills...) Several Flopcast listeners have even provided photos of this year's cereal boxes, saving us a trip to the grocery store, where we'd just blow all our podcasting profits on Doritos. Also: Happy Birthday to Scott Bakula! He's probably out there Quantum-leaping and Enterprise-splaining right now. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 29 September 2024
With Dragon Con finally out of the way, we can have some real fun! Let's read the dictionary! Specifically we're diving back into The Super Dictionary, a bizarre 1978 book for kids that mixed learning and DC Comics superheroes, and left everyone thoroughly confused. After perusing a few more entries, we have some questions, such as: Is Batgirl a pirate? (Or a mechanic, or a bikini model?) Is Supergirl terrified of mice? And why are Batman and Robin climbing a giant baby? We're equally confused by the villains, as we see Joker planning a dinner party and Catwoman, yes, dusting the tiger. (Not a euphemism.) So join us for a super-weird vocabulary lesson. We promise you will learn nothing. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 22 September 2024
Let's wrap up our look back at Dragon Con 2024, before we have to creep back to Atlanta for Dragon Con 2025! The final two days of our favorite nerdfest included: Sci-Fi Court! (The Mayor defended Beastmaster, and Kevin defended Wonder Woman. But not the Wonder Woman you're thinking of.) A couple of rounds of Roll-A-Panel, in which a giant d20 determined which movies were discussed! (Don't worry, we did not miss Sheena: Queen of the Jungle.) Celebrity Q&A panels with Giancarlo Esposito, Ming Na Wen, Manny Jacinto, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Mike Colter! Script readings of Three's Company and Out of This World, featuring kazoos, a surprise message from space, and a million Helens Roper! The new Dragon Tales book! Retro arcade games! Barbies! Teeth! And yes, screaming bikini chicken ladies. It was magnificent. See you next year, weirdos. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 15 September 2024
The Mayor of Chickentown joins Kevin and Kornflake as our look back at Dragon Con 2024 continues! This time we're covering Friday and Saturday, when the convention was so crowded that we could not have squished one more nerd into Atlanta. Our coverage includes: The Geek Girls Run! The ESO Network's Freaks and Geeks 25th Anniversary panel! More panels on punk rock sci-fi, Office Space, Aquaman, cicadas, and apes! Monty Python's John Cleese! Flute-playing astronaut Cady Coleman! A super-weird (as usual) round of Sci-Fi Explosion! And perhaps a naughty Star Trek puppet show too! It was all quite exhausting, and yikes, we still had two days to go. Stock up on mead and cheese (that's our Dragon Con health plan) and enjoy... And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 8 September 2024
Here we go with the first of three (yikes, hopefully no more than three) Dragon Con review episodes! This week Kevin and Kornflake go over everything that happened Wednesday and Thursday, as our giant Atlanta nerd festival was just getting started. Including: A meeting of the geeks at Logan Airport in Boston! The Dragon Con debut of our pal Blasted Bill! Our third annual meeting with the Muscovy ducks of Piedmont Park! The Dragon Con Newbie Walking Tour! A disgusting beverage! The Council of Kevins! The Sci-Fi Music Video Book Club! The 120 Minutes dance party! And lots more shenanigans and silliness with the greatest collection of nerds and weirdos ever assembled. And this is only the beginning... And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation! This week's promos: The 42cast and Monster Attack! |
Sun, 1 September 2024
It's Dragon Con weekend, but we didn't forget about a weird Flopcast summer tradition: our annual robot-themed Top 4 1/2 List! And we have a special guest to deliver the list: our old pal (and original Sponge Awareness Foundation member) Jim, finally making his Flopcast debut! Jim has a list of surprise robots from movies and TV; that is, robots that we didn't know were robots until the big reveal. Call them androids, call them simuloids, call them replicants, Cylons, fembots, whatever you like. But they're robots in disguise, and they're out there. By the way, the Chickaphant, an alien chicken/elephant hybrid, is also out there somewhere. Please don't leave the house. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 25 August 2024
Dragon Con is just days away, which means tens of thousands of nerds shall soon descend upon the unsuspecting city of Atlanta. (Actually, Atlanta knows we're coming. They're jacking up the price of giant rum drinks at this very moment...) Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown will be busy with panels, presentations, and various bizarre Dragon Con events, so this week we're sharing our schedule with you. Including: Panels on Aquaman, Batman, What If...?, and Freaks and Geeks! The Sci-Fi Music Video Book Club! The return of Sci-Fi Court! A couple of Roll-A-Panels! A not-at-all-silly script reading of a Three's Company episode! The Geek Girls Run! Apes! (So many apes...) And lots more weird stuff, of course. Find us there! We'll have shiny badge ribbons for you. And we'll file our full Dragon Con report here in a couple of weeks, assuming we're not trampled by an inflatable T-rex mob. And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 18 August 2024
Dragon Con, our favorite gigantic nerdfest of the year, is just a couple of weeks away, and we're already exhausted. Today we're looking at Dragon Con's guest list of TV and movie stars, writers, artists, musicians, scientists, podcasters, puppeteers, and miscellaneous weirdos. Including: A trio of Lord of the Rings hobbits, a Monty Python guy, a Robot Chicken guy, a bunch of Fraggles, a bunch of Star Trek actors (including a certain bearded Commander whose birthday we're celebrating), a flute-playing astronaut, Canadian teen pop star Robin Sparkles, and more. We're also thrilled to announce the release of Dragon Tales, a collection of stories and essays all about Dragon Con. (There's even a contribution from Kevin, and believe it or not, it's completely ridiculous.) This is a super-fun book, and all the proceeds go to charity, so we hope you'll pop over to Amazon and order a copy right now. Next week: The dragon talk continues, and it just keeps getting weirder. And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 11 August 2024
Kornflake returns to wrap up the summer song project we started last week! This time we're covering the 1990s, and selecting the songs we most associate with each summer. So we'll probably cover some Mariah, some Paula, and perhaps a Barenaked Lady or two. Along the way, our 90s memories include Kornflake on the radio requesting a Seal song, and Kevin in a church basement insisting that life is not a highway. Kids, it was a weird decade full of weird summers. We're entering the Smash Mouth era. Cover yourselves. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 4 August 2024
As the Hit Parade podcast recently taught us, each year Billboard declares an official "Song of the Summer" based on chart performance. We're taking a more subjective approach, and choosing which songs we most associate with each summer of the 1980s. Of course you'll find some Go-Go's and some Kenny Loggins on our list (come on, it's us), but perhaps we'll surprise you with a choice or two. And which songs would you pick? What reminds you of the summer of 1984, as you biked through the heat to the arcade in search of Donkey Kong Junior? (Is it Huey Lewis? It's probably Huey Lewis.) Let us know! And prepare for next week, when we'll take on the summer songs of the 1990s. It'll be intense. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 28 July 2024
For the first time in four years, Kevin and Kornflake are together at Chickentown Studios! (Kevin brought the coffee, and Kornflake brought the doughnuts, so come on, it's a party.) Kornflake is passing through Chickentown on her summer vacation, so we have a quick vacation road trip quiz! Do we learn anything? Not really. Except that you probably don't want to stay in a yurt. Also: We wish a Happy Birthday to everyone named Greta, and we play a bird-themed round of What's in the Bag! Next week, we'll be recording from separate locations as usual. Our lawyers insisted. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 21 July 2024
Our five-part New Wave Game was just preparation for this week. Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown have a full report on the latest (and longest) retro 80s new wave concert to come to town. The eight (EIGHT!) acts were: The Plimsouls, Tommy Tutone, Bow Wow Wow, Wang Chung, Men Without Hats, Modern English, Thompson Twins, and Thomas Dolby! So we melted with you, we wanted candy, we were blinded with science, we got Jenny's phone number, and we may have even Wang Chunged. But let's keep that our little secret. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 14 July 2024
Based on the advice of our lawyers, your Flopcast hosts rarely meet up in person these days. But it did just happen, because we both showed up at an odd little event called the Hops and Humorous Arts (or HAHA) Festival. This was an evening of short comedy films, and one of the filmmakers was an old friend from the world of funny music: Tom Rockwell, aka Devo Spice! So we got to hang out with Tom, see a bunch of weird little movies, drink a bunch of weird little beverages, and try (but mostly fail) to play some classic arcade games. Also this week: We wish a Happy Birthday to rock legend Dion, and play a quick round of our silly Ranking the 80s game. 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 Trek!
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Sun, 7 July 2024
Time to wrap up our New Wave Game and see if anyone survives! We're down to the final three volumes of the CD series Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80s, and either Kevin or Kornflake could still win. (But come on, our money is on Kornflake...) And we've reached the mid-80s, when there was no shortage of new wave hits in the Top 40. So we're talking about acts like Wang Chung, Thompson Twins, Katrina and the Waves, Animotion, Tears for Fears, Bananarama, and Men at Work. It seemed like nothing was off limits on the pop charts. A musical about chess? Sure. Vietnam-era news clips set to a dance beat? Absolutely. The Dream Academy had a hit that sounded like nothing else. Arcadia had a hit that sounded exactly like Duran Duran, and with good reason. There's even a trio of New England-area new wave bands represented here. (We all know 'Til Tuesday, but do you remember Miracle Legion? How about Rubber Rodeo?) So enjoy one last round of new wave madness, and then we can relax. Just like Frankie said. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 30 June 2024
We start with a quick report from a local nerd convention, where Kevin met up with some heroes of 1970s kids TV: Our old friends Wesley Eure and Kathy Coleman from Land of the Lost, our new friends Doug and Emmy Jo from The New Zoo Revue... and the legendary Sid Krofft. (We're still sort of freaking out about that last one...) Then Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown look at the prime time TV shows that debuted half a century ago, in the year 1974. It's a short list (there were just three networks, kids), but it includes some long-running classics like Happy Days, Good Times, Little House on the Prairie, and Rockford Files. It also includes some short-lived shows that few remember, even if their casts included future stars like Jodie Foster, Penny Marshall, and Mark Hamill. And if you're looking for a show about Swedish immigrants in 1850s Minnesota starring Kurt Russell, the android from Logan's Run, and Bobby Brady's brother... we've got you covered there too. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 23 June 2024
On the longest day of the year, we made the shortest show of the year. Including: Kornflake likes when Aubrey Plaza is weird, Kevin apologizes to a turkey, a rooster named Earl works at an auto shop, and we launch our new Flopcast "Too Many Comics" bonus episodes for ESO Network Patreon supporters. There, that was quick. Time for the longest nap of the year. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 16 June 2024
The struggle continues, as we're still trying to guess each other's favorite songs from the Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80s CD series. By 1983, the radio was bursting with new wave weirdos who never would have dented the Top 40 in the pre-MTV era. But suddenly acts like Madness, Nena, and Taco (TACO!) were scoring huge oddball hits. Culture Club was peaking, while Tears For Fears was just getting started. Spandau Ballet delivered a new romantic classic. Big Country turned their guitars into bagpipes. And even a young Tracey Ullman tossed off a gorgeous throwback pop single. Meanwhile some truly goofy (but still super-fun) acts kept a safe distance from mainstream success. (Casey Kasem never had to introduce "Earthquake Song" by Little Girls.) Let's sort it all out and try to score a few more points in this penultimate edition of our silly New Wave Game. Also: A visit to the ukulele festival with the Unlikely Strummers, the Somerville Ukulele Club, and a thousand more ukulele-wielding humans; Lindsay Wagner's bionic birthday; Kevin's parentheses; Kornflake's "eep" words; and Joe's (possibly successful) attempt to swoop in and win the whole game. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 9 June 2024
Another quick fill-in show? You bet! We're flipping through three old comic books that the Mayor of Chickentown actually owned as a little kid, decades before her rise to poultry-themed political bigwig. Up first is The Wizard of Oz, a giant-sized movie adaptation that was actually the first collaboration between Marvel and DC! (Only a flying monkey could bring these rival publishers together.) We also have an issue of Spidey Super Stories, which was published in conjunction with Spider-Man's segments on The Electic Company. And we even have a Casper the Friendly Ghost comic with a creepy Eddie Munster-type demon child on the cover. Plus: Spider-Man goes to the mall! Richie Rich dies! Morgan Freeman as Easy Reader! Irene Cara and Short Circus! Wendy and Spooky! Sad Sack selling Hostess Cupcakes! And more comic book ads for Grit, onion gum, Witchiepoo masks, and The Bad News Bears! Is this whole episode a sneaky backdoor pilot for a Flopcast spinoff show? Perhaps... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 2 June 2024
Kevin just watched a horrible movie and can't wait to tell the Mayor all about it! So kids, welcome to 1978's Record City. It's purportedly a comedy, but yikes, not a single joke lands. But at least the setting is fun, since the whole thing takes place at a late 70s California record store, and they have the Blondie and Jim Croce posters to prove it. The movie is also notable for its ensemble cast of familiar faces from Flopcast favorites like Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Brady Bunch, Batman, Lost Saucer, and even Pink Lady and Jeff. Get ready for some wacky (and problematic and cringeworthy) record store hijinks that completely fail to entertain. Meanwhile, just outside Record City, there's a big talent show hosted by a certain Disco Duck-singing DJ, and starring a certain Sledge-O-Matic-wielding comedian. Do we recommend that you watch Record City? Absolutely not. Does Record City somehow feature just one single arm from a gorilla suit? Oh yes, it sure does. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 26 May 2024
Our first two installments of the New Wave Game ended in ties, because we were both quite clueless. This week we move even deeper into the Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80s CD series, as we attempt to guess each other's favorite songs on each volume. Among the weirder, more obscure stuff (any other fans of "I Eat Cannibals"?), we find plenty of new wave classics from Duran Duran, Thomas Dolby, The Tubes, The Fixx, Scandal, Dexy's Midnight Runners, and lots more. Can we possibly resist an oddity called "Chicken Outlaw"? Do we just wish we were in Tijuana eating barbecued iguana? Hop on the escalator of life with us to find out. The Best Stuff in the World podcast - Infocom text adventure games! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 19 May 2024
We're not quite sure why, but the subject of our latest Top 4 1/2 List is... Norway! So here's some of our favorite Norwegian stuff, as approved by the gods of Asgard. We have a silly Viking or two, an icy Justice League member, an 80s synthpop band (that was once trapped in a comic book), and lots more. In fact, Kornflake is revealed to be a superfan of Norwegian comedy, and would like you to know that Ylvis is everywhere. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 12 May 2024
Super-quick show this week, as we say Happy Birthday to masked and bucket-headed guitarist Buckethead, unveil our new Flopcast promo (which Kornflake both conceived and despises), and turn to the Pudding Pages to learn about the weird 1990s soda called Surge. (Fun fact: They still love Surge in Norway, where it goes by a slightly different name. Make your summer travel plans accordingly.) Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 5 May 2024
We're back for another round of our New Wave Game! The rules are simple, because the game is stupid. We're listening to the next three volumes in the Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80s CD series, and trying to guess each other's favorite songs. Volumes 4-6 include Flopcast favorites like the Go-Go's, Men at Work, Duran Duran, and Devo. There are also memorable one-or-two hit wonders like Soft Cell, A Flock of Seagulls, the Waitresses, and Bow Wow Wow. And then there are the acts who never really scored a hit, but still made an impression. (Yikes, Jim Carroll knew a lot of people who died...) In New Wave Game Part 1, we both failed miserably. Surely we'll do better this time, if we can only clear our brains of Toni Basil screeching about Mickey. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 28 April 2024
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2024 inductees have been announced, but instead of discussing them like normal humans, we're throwing them into a FlopFight tournament. Our competitors include Mary J. Blige, Foreigner, Frampton, and Ozzy. Our competitions involve cappuccino, penguins, and Smurfs. Anything can happen, and it will probably be ridiculous. Also: Happy Birthday to a Jersey boy who was inducted into the Rock Hall decades ago. Plus: Kevin (and Kevin!) are talking Watchmen on the Best Stuff in the World podcast. Hurm. Watchmen - The Best Stuff In The World podcast! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 21 April 2024
Inspired by a recent viewing of Saturday Night Fever, Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown flip through some comic books from the late 70s, when DC and Marvel tried to cash in on the disco craze. While Dazzler would become Marvel's disco queen of the 80s, first Spider-Man crawled around the dance floor battling the Hypno-Hustler! Then Batman and Flash enjoyed some Bee Gees tunes at the Disco of Death! Even Superman caught disco fever, and Clark Kent's bizarre dance moves must not be missed. Did Peter Parker and Bruce Wayne wear identical white John Travolta suits? Let's find out. We also enjoy a few classic comic book ads for Sea Monkeys, Fruit Stripe gum, Spalding basketballs, Kryptonite rocks, the Micronauts Battle Cruiser, and (of course) Twinkies. And now we just want to see a disco-dancing Twinkie the Kid. We have a problem. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 14 April 2024
Kornflake is back, just in time for a new game! A new WAVE game, specifically! Thirty years ago, Rhino Records released a fifteen volume series of CDs called Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80s. We're looking at the first three of these fantastic compilation albums, and attempting to guess each other's favorite songs. There are some genuine classics (from The Buggles, The Knack, Blondie, Devo, and Squeeze), some bizarro oddities (like "Warm Leatherette" and "Too Young to Date"), a Tim Curry dance number, a surprise Monkees cover, and lots more super-fun but long-forgotten obscurities. (Any other fans of Martha & The Muffins out there?) Who shall emerge victorious from this deep dive into the craziest music of the early 80s? Squish into your old Ultravox t-shirt and join us. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 7 April 2024
Let's wrap up our review of The Krofft Supershow, a super-silly Saturday morning TV show from mad geniuses Sid and Marty Krofft. The second season brought us two weird new segments: Magic Mongo (in which a goofy genie crashes a bikini beach party) and Bigfoot and Wildboy (in which a Sasquatch and a kid with no pants battle aliens and Peter Brady). The show was still hosted by wacky rock band Kaptain Kool and the Kongs, and we also review their appearances on American Bandstand, Donny and Marie, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, and a Saturday Morning preview special with the Bay City Rollers. Of course our favorite Kaptain Kool and the Kongs member is Superchick, played by Debra Clinger, and we conclude our look at Debra's career beyond the Krofft world. Debra appeared on classic 70s/80s TV series like Barnaby Jones, The Hardy Boys, The Love Boat, and Hart to Hart. She starred in her own short-lived series The American Girls, alongside a future Three's Company star. She starred in the silly cult classic movie Midnight Madness, alongside a very young Michael J. Fox. And she even worked on a couple of our beloved Rankin/Bass Christmas specials. Also: 70s Hollywood power couple Lee and Farrah! Yogi Bear in space! Teen runaways and women in prison! The secret of the Dorse! A love connection on the set of Airwolf! Superchick meets the Snow Miser! Superchick meets Colonel Sanders! Krofft Supershow comic books! And the upcoming Super Megafest convention in Massachusetts, with some very special Krofft guests. So join us for more fun Krofft talk here on the Flopcast, where anything goes down, where most of what appears isn't true. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 31 March 2024
With Kornflake away on special assignment, Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown are free to obsess over The Krofft Supershow, a wild 1970s Saturday morning TV anthology series from Sid and Marty Krofft. Specifically we're looking at the career of musician and actress Debra Clinger, who played Superchick in The Krofft Supershow's house band, Kaptain Kool and the Kongs. Pre-Superchick, Debra and her sisters formed the Clingers, one of the very first all-girl rock bands! She was also in the Rock Flowers, a music group created to tie in with a line of Mattel fashion dolls! So it was quite a path to becoming a Kong, and along the way our conversation covers the Osmonds, the Smothers Brothers, Dick Clark, Casey Kasem, Hanna Barbera's Catanooga Cats, and much more. We also run through the Krofft Supershow first season segments: Wonderbug, Dr. Shrinker, Lost Saucer, and (our favorite) Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. And we look at the other members of Kaptain Kool and the Kongs too. (One member became a sitcom star, one was in Three Dog Night, and one performed at Woodstock!) And we're only halfway through this Superchick deep dive; part two is coming soon. So take a trip with us today, and we will lead you through a land of dreams. Weird Krofft dreams. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 24 March 2024
We're diving back into the pages of Dynamite magazine, so we can pretend it's still 1979. (Give it a try. Set the mood with a Gloria Gaynor record.) This randomly selected issue has Erik Estrada on the cover, and inside we learn that the CHiPs star had a problem with chips. Also inside: How to ruin your lunch with weird Dynamite recipes, a bizarre sneak peek at Mrs. Doubtfire, Tony Danza back in the boxing ring, Kiss notebooks vs. Bambi notebooks, Dynamite vs. one of Charlie's Angels, the Dynamite Duo vs. themselves, a decapitated teddy bear, and much more. All we're missing is our free Bee Gees poster, which some kid must have ripped out of the magazine 45 years ago. It's a tragedy. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 17 March 2024
Short show this week! We're sleepy. But during a quick visit to Northeast Comic Con, we find old friends, fancy nerd dice, and members of The Go-Go's, The Cars, and the cast of Growing Pains. We also recommend Enterprisesplaining, a silly new Star Trek podcast that doesn't care if you've ever seen Star Trek. Also: Happy Birthday to Matthew Modine. (Were you more disturbed by Matthew in Full Metal Jacket, Stranger Things, or Private School? Let us know.) And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 10 March 2024
It's the second half of our look at every television series that debuted in the year 1999. And once again, we remember just a few of them, and only saw a couple. (Kornflake was a fan of Judging Amy, while for Kevin, this was the year of Freaks and Geeks.) But the list also includes dozens of obscure short-lived sitcoms, cartoons, talk shows, game shows, and at least one insane cannibalistic Canadian woman in the Amazon jungle. (Maybe it was just her way of preparing for Y2K.) Do you remember any of these shows? Are you still secretly hoping for a reboot of Get Real, Cold Feet, or Oh, Grow Up? Let us know. We'll make some calls. And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 3 March 2024
We're diving into television of the year 1999... which is quite recent by Flopcast standards, but yikes, it was a quarter century ago. We have a giant list of every TV show that debuted that year, and this week we only get halfway through the list. Several long-running cartoons started in 1999, including Family Guy, Futurama, and SpongeBob. But there were also cartoons we don't remember at all, starring ants, hippos, mutant babies, and more. We also don't remember a ton of 1999 sitcoms, dramas, game shows, and something with a lemur puppet. Look, we seem to be pretty clueless about almost everything that happened that year. (Aren't you glad we're here to be your guides?) Let's get through this together. Stay tuned for Part 2, when we'll get into all the 1999 fall season premieres. Meanwhile we can't help thinking that if we'd paid more attention back then, The Chimp Channel would still be on the air today. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 25 February 2024
Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown are celebrating the career of comic book artist Ramona Fradon, who died this week at the age of 97. Ramona was one of the only women drawing comics way back in the early 60s, when she was the premier Aquaman artist for DC Comics, and co-created Aquaman's teen sidekick, Aqualad. Later in the 60s, she also co-created one of DC's oddest heroes, Metamorpho the Element Man. Ramona's 70s comics work included Freedom Fighters (with Doll Man, who wishes you'd stop giggling about his name), Plastic Man (Ramona's art was even seen on the Plastic Man cartoon series), and Super Friends (with your favorite space monkey, Gleek). She then jumped from comic books to comic strips with an impressive fifteen year run on Brenda Starr. And even in recent years, Ramona kept busy with convention appearances and commissions. So we spend the show flipping through a pile of old comics and admiring Ramona's art, but we're occasionally distracted by the ads for Hostess Fruit Pies, Mego action figures, Big Jim's P.A.C.K., ugly Barbie doll knock-offs, and Crazy Crabs. (Yes, back in the day, you could buy actual live crabs through mail order comic book ads. But what we really wanted was Aquaman's octopus pal, Topo...) Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 18 February 2024
It's time for our annual review of the nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame... which means we could start screaming "What about the Monkees?!" at any time. But there are some worthy and long overdue performers up for induction, such as Cher, Mariah, and (finally!) Kool & the Gang. Join us as we go through the whole list for you. (Spoiler: Still no Tiffany. COME ON.) And yeah, if you think Kornflake didn't somehow work a flying cow into the conversation... you don't really know us. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 11 February 2024
After a three year break, we're getting back to The Backs of Life! (As requested by absolutely no one! You're welcome!) Back in 2021, we started reviewing all the "backdoor pilot" episodes of classic 80s sitcom The Facts of Life. Now as we finally revive this very important project, we've brought in a special guest reviewer: friend of the Flopcast, Sci-Fi Explosion mastermind, and certified Factologist Chris Cummins! Kevin, Kornflake, and Chris are looking at the 1988 backdoor pilot episode "Big Apple Blues," in which Natalie moves to New York City to share an apartment with a pack of weirdos, including a pre-21 Jump Street Richard Grieco and a pre-SNL David Spade! Can Natalie make her dreams come true in the big city? Is a margarine spokesperson named King Toast somehow involved? And will it all lead to a successful long-running spinoff series? (Answers: Yes, yes, and absolutely not.) Meanwhile back in Peekskill with our regular cast, Blair has garage sale fever, Pippa might be a robot, and we get a brief but delightful glimpse of Tootie's old roller skates. It's magnificent. Kids, we still have one more Backs of Life episode to go, and we'll try to get to it before 2027. Watch Sci-Fi Explosion on Twitch! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 4 February 2024
It's another goofy random little show this week, including: Kornflake finds an Oompa Loompa at the Chocolate Expo; Kevin finds a rock star at the disco; the secret language of chickens is revealed; we're less than excited about Popcorn Day; and it's almost time to revive our Facts of Life review project, the Backs of Life. Just as Tootie prophesized. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation! This week's promos: |
Sun, 28 January 2024
It's a surprisingly disco-themed episode, because Kevin, Kornflake, the Mayor of Chickentown, and Ed from Sponge Awareness Foundation all met in the middle of New Hampshire for a spectacular ABBA tribute show. We were there because our old pal (and occasional SAF guitarist) Mike was onstage in the band, delivering killer guitar solos like you never heard back in the disco era. We followed the show with a visit to the Red Arrow Diner, where we hadn't been since Kornflake's notorious tooth incident a decade ago. (Longtime Flopcast listeners remember what happened... oh yes, Mr. T was involved...) Also: A meeting with supercool vocalist Militia Vox, weird answering machine messages with Doornail, Plastic Man vs. the Disco Mummy, and Chickens in the News with the great Luke Ski! So slip into something sparkly and enjoy. You can dance, you can jive, having the podcast of your life. Dancing Queens is at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, NH through February 11! Luke Ski's new song "Chicken!" is available at The FuMP! And our regular links... 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 Trek!
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Sun, 21 January 2024
Ready for more vocabulary lessons with the Justice League of America? We're diving back into The Super Dictionary, a 1978 book that attempted to mix learning with superheroes, and succeeded in being completely bizarre. This time we'll look at entries involving: walrus baseball with Aquaman, cleaning an invisible jet with Wonder Woman, nap time with the Man of Steel, people crashing when they try to fly like Hawkgirl, the Batmobile crashing because Robin can't drive, Supergirl weirdly watching kids sleep, Luthor weirdly watching people comb their hair, a stranger in the basement, naked aliens... and multiple entries about Green Lantern's curious obsession with ducks. Study hard, kids, and maybe we'll make you an honorary Wonder Twin. Also: Happy Birthday to Lost in Space's Will Robinson, Bill Mumy! Light a candle on a fish head for Bill. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 14 January 2024
National Whatever Day involves dancing like a cuckoo; our 2024 health and fitness plan is mostly lo mein-based; the Sid and Marty Krofft Saturday morning shows of the 1970s are now streaming (great news for Bay City Rollers fans like us); we somehow connect the Krofft shows to The Love Boat, the Snow Miser, and Chewbacca's creepy dad Itchy; and we finally share our New Year's Resolutions. Spoiler: They're a little stupid. 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!
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Sun, 7 January 2024
Kornflake returns to join Kevin and The Mayor of Chickentown as we finish our look back at those we lost in 2023. Our coverage of the second half of the year includes: sitcom favorites (Chrissy from Three's Company, Bull from Night Court, Kraus from Benson, Chandler from Friends), cartoon favorites (the voices behind Harley Quinn, Solomon Grundy, and some School House Rock classics), musicians (members of The Eagles, Kool and the Gang, The Pogues, and The Association, as well as Tony Bennett and of course, Sinéad), a Smothers brother (who was also The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas), television's original Lois Lane, Lost in Space's original Major Don West, and many more. Then there are a couple of all-time Flopcast favorites who made unforgettable impacts on Saturday morning TV and beyond: Marty Krofft and Paul Reubens. And could the memorial show somehow include some relevant Chickens in the News? Well, sure. It's been a weird year. And it's a long show, because come on. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 31 December 2023
Time to look back on those we lost (from pop culture and beyond) in 2023. This week we're covering the first half of the year, and our list includes people from movies (Raquel Welch, Treat Williams, Alan Arkin), television (Adam Rich, Cindy Williams, Richard Belzer), music (Burt Bacharach, Harry Belafonte, Tina Turner), comics (Al Jaffee, Lee Moder, John Romita Sr.), wrestling (Leaping Lanny Poffo, Superstar Billy Graham, The Iron Sheik), and many more. Kornflake has the week off, but the Mayor of Chickentown is here providing expert commentary. And next week, we'll all be here to wrap up the whole stupid year. Bring very strong beverages. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 24 December 2023
It's a typical holiday episode, in that we're discussing Julia Child, Pop Rocks, and Newsies. But there are some vaguely holiday-themed subjects too, including Kornflake's newfound candy cane addiction, Kevin's recent guest appearance on Gleaming the Tube (discussing old Christmas specials!), and a round or two of the Figgy Pudding Pages. We're keeping it super-short this week and passing the savings on to you. Go do something festive. Gleaming the Tube - Our Favorite Holiday Specials! And our regular links... 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: The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!
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Sun, 17 December 2023
Special guest Blasted Bill joins us for a Very Flopcast Christmas! And we're putting Bill to work on an extra festive Top 4 1/2 List of... Santas! Bill and Kornflake share their favorite Santas from movies, television, ski slopes, bar crawls, and maybe even Canada. (Let's hope at least one of them picked a Santa from a Rankin/Bass cartoon, or Kevin will freak out like the Burgermeister.) Also: Bill is Composite Santa! Kornflake is Lucy Van Pelt! And Kevin is just dizzy and confused as usual! So grab a penguin, name it Topper for no good reason, put one podcast in front of the other, and enjoy. Heavily spiked egg nog, while not mandatory, is highly recommended. And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 10 December 2023
Every year dozens of ridiculous identical made-for-TV holiday movies are forced upon the people. And every year we try to fix these movies by making them weirder. We've selected a few of this year's new releases (from the usual suspects like Hallmark and Lifetime), most of which star Lacey Chabert as a big city lawyer who finds true love after returning to her quaint home town to save her great-aunt's figgy pudding farm. And we're punching up their plots by randomly inserting new elements like Martians, misfit toys, and basketball-playing robots. Don't settle for the same old TV holiday fare. The Flopcast is here to save Christmas. You're welcome. 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: The Soul Forge Podcast!
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Sun, 3 December 2023
Break time is over, and the FlopFight resumes! Ed (from the Sponge Awareness Foundation) is back to help us wrap up our tournament of game show hosts (and associated game show weirdos). The players are drawn at random, and the competitions are drawn at random, so anything could happen. Will Bob Barker face Richard Dawson in a Spam-juggling competition? Drew Carey vs. Paul Lynde at Electronic Battleship? Perhaps! Only one game show legend can Showcase Showdown their way to victory, while everyone else is stuck with a copy of the FlopFight home game. And although he already competed in Part 1, we just can't stop talking about Wink Martindale. Some of us are still running from that Tic Tac Dough dragon... Find Ed at the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 26 November 2023
Our game show-themed FlopFight concludes next week, but first, let's take a quick intermission! Go hit the lobby and grab some unreasonably priced Junior Mints! And for your entertainment while we're waiting for the carnage to resume, this week we have: Cider Monday (a holiday for bizarre apple people); Kornflake's latest (and most ridiculous) lobster trap tree visit; Letters to Cleo and Gigolo Aunts live in Boston (because apparently it's 1993); the East Cambridge Chicken Run (one mile, hundreds of chicken suits); and the WKRP in Cincinnati turkey drop, as weirdly presented by the American Sci-Fi Classics Track. The American Sci-Fi Classics Turkey Drop! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 19 November 2023
Kornflake is back! And Ed, the other half of the Sponge Awareness Foundation, is back too! Because Ed thought we should have a game show-themed FlopFight, and it's not like we had anything better to do! So here we go with another ridiculous tournament, and this time the players are the hosts of classic game shows like Jeopardy and Tic Tac Dough, as well as related game show characters. (Could a Press Your Luck Whammy get to play? Could a Muppet be involved? Can anyone stop Regis?) And because it's a FlopFight, each round involves weird randomly selected competitions like running a marathon or boxing a kangaroo, so anything could happen. (Sure, Vanna White can turn letters, but would she make a good chicken farmer?) This week's winner advances to the final round, unless they get gonged by the Unknown Comic or something. So gather at your backyard Thanksgiving table for pretzels and popcorn and jelly beans and toast, and enjoy our latest FlopFight! It's like a Monty Hall Problem for your soul. And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 12 November 2023
It's the quick fill-in episode to end all quick fill-in episodes! With Kornflake still unavailable (busy at a lobster-and-British-comedy convention, we assume), there's nobody left in the studio except Kevin and a few stray rubber chickens. So we just have a bunch of podcast recommendations for you, because somebody out there must have more going on than us. There are the other fine shows of the ESO Network, of course, including two new ones: 3 Fries Short (all about Stargate) and Tales From Hollywoodland (with special guest STEVE GUTTENBERG)! Beyond ESO, we also recommend: A Podcask of Amontillado, Bizarre Albums, Built to Go, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, Mallwalkin', The Dana Gould Hour, TV Guidance Counselor, Decoder Ring, Dreamland, The Funny Music Podcast, Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, Gleaming the Tube, Hit Parade, The Hustle, Luke and Carrie's Bad Rapport, The Real Brady Bros, The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Strange Animals Podcast, and Who Cares About the Rock Hall. We could go on, but that should get you through the week. And if you'd rather rip out those earbuds and read something instead, we're also enjoying the new book Galloping Around the Cosmos. It's a collection of essays about growing up with Star Trek, and several of the authors are friends of the Flopcast. It makes us want to break out our old Mego Enterprise playset. Next week: We'll either get back to our usual silly business, or we'll turn the whole show over to the chickens. 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 Who!
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Sun, 5 November 2023
For our big milestone 600th episode, we're doing... well, not much of anything. It's just Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown goofing around while we await the triumphant return of Kornflake. Topics include: A correction from last week's show about mall sticker girls! (Oh yes, we heard from the mall sticker girls... they were most displeased...) Weird stuff you could order from the ads in Action Comics issue 600! (Would anyone like a Flexagon? Or perhaps a Roomerang?) How to turn invisible for five dollars! The 600th most popular song of the 1980s! (Is it by Hall and Oates? OF COURSE IT IS.) The 600th biggest movie of all time, when adjusted for inflation! (Hint: It's from the 80s, and it did not involve Eddie Murphy or Billy Ocean, but we drag them into the discussion anyway.) So grab 600 cups of coffee and enjoy. We promise this is the 600th most important podcast you'll hear this week. And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 29 October 2023
Let's go to the mall! But one specific mall that isn't there anymore! (Well, it's sort of still there, but not really.) We're joined by Gleaming the Tube's Kevin Cafferty to look back on the Lincoln Mall in Lincoln, Rhode Island (frighteningly close to Woonsocket). It wasn't the biggest mall, it wasn't the best mall, but it was our mall. And our Lincoln Mall memories include: Waldenbooks, our primary source of X-Men comics, Bloom County collections, and Tolkien; sketchy sausage samples at Hickory Farms; failed attempts to meet girls at the movies; the freaky pet store; the inexplicable organ store; the restaurant no one went to (Roast House); the restaurant everyone went to, because there were two of them in the same mall (Papa Gino's); the neverending weirdness of Spencer Gifts; and the glory of the Dream Machine video arcade. Also: Andre the Giant eating spaghetti! The sticker girl phenomenon! Our first comic book shop experiences! Our first dishwashing experiences! Record store employees with attitudes! Randy the Talking Reindeer! The Challenge of the Checkers Champion! A mall visit from Spider-Man! A ring of car stereo thieves! Rhode Island's own John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band! And yikes, so much more... Even if you never visited the Lincoln Mall, we know there's a mall or two in your past, so you can relate. In a way, we're all still lost among the overflowing bins of cheap junk at Kay Bee Toys. Kevin's podcast about movies with skateboarding, Gleaming the Tube! And our regular links... 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 Musicology!
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Sun, 22 October 2023
It's Halloween season, so we have another terrifying Flopcast for you, starting with some follow-up from last week's Monster Cereals Taste Test. We received a LOT of feedback (from BOTH of our listeners) on Carmella Creeper, since we were wondering if Carmella is indeed the first female cereal mascot. (This somehow leads to our learning way too much about Wheaties. Sorry.) We also just discovered a new monster cereal spin-off product: Monster Mash Spooky Berry Fruit Snacks! All your favorite cereal monsters (even Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy) are represented in chewy candy form, but we might be too frightened to taste-test them during the podcast. Also: Kevin just got back from Vermont, so we break out our handy Vermont Monster Guide and learn all about the Pigman. Plus: It's TV Talk Show Host Day. The Pigman doesn't have his own show yet, but we can dream. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 15 October 2023
Longtime listeners may vaguely recall our legendary Monster Cereals Taste Test, which happened ten years ago this month! And now it's time to do it again, because there's a new monster cereal in town. Frankenberry, Count Chocula, and Boo Berry have been joined by Carmella Creeper! Carmella is a zombie, a DJ, and a girl! (Finally!) And apparently she is Frankenberry's long lost cousin! (Weird!) So we're taste-testing the new caramel apple-flavored Carmella Creeper cereal, as well as the freaky Monster Mash combo cereal, and a bonus wild card non-monster Halloween cereal too. We're chomping on everything, so you don't have to. But we still miss Frute Brute. 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!
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Sun, 8 October 2023
Hang onto your milk money, because we're celebrating National School Lunch Week with a Kornflake Cafeteria Quiz. (Would she eat a Tater Tot? We're still not sure...) Then it's time to dive into another issue of Dynamite, the magazine for weird kids of the 70s and 80s. And we're looking at a Dynamite from 1978 that was provided by our pal Chris from Sci-Fi Explosion! Alfred E. Neuman is on the cover, because the lead story is about the 25th anniversary of MAD magazine. (And yes, someone baked a nightmare-inducing Alfred E. Neuman birthday cake.) Also in this issue: The Dynamite Duo (you know, legendary superheroes Dawnstar and Nightglider), bizarre ways to ruin your bicycle, International Pickle Week, the zombie kites of Nantucket, Count Morbida's puzzle pages, Magic Wanda's awful magic tricks, advice for witches, Dynamite Bummers, and a horse. Enjoy. Watch Sci-Fi Explosion on Twitch! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 1 October 2023
With our Dragon Con coverage finally out of the way (more or less), it's time to focus on what really matters: National Microwave Oven Day. Get ready to party, kids. We also have concert reviews on a couple of music legends: Bruce Springsteen (who never made a music video with dancing turkeys) and Peter Gabriel (who totally did). Plus: Yetis, ALF lunch boxes, and Chickens in the News! Did ancient chicken ancestors lay eggs or not? Let's find out. And then let's see if Peter can work this into his next video. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 24 September 2023
Okay, let's wrap up our coverage of Dragon Con 2023! (Because come on, if this recap goes on much longer, we'll have to include Dragon Con 2024...) Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown (reporting from Maine in the middle of a hurricane) are here to run through every crazy thing that happened over the last two days of the convention. Including: Bionic fun with Lindsay Wagner and Lee Majors, the Battle of the Mad Scientists, the Battle of the Fictional Bands, Christmas Con (with Robot Santa and horrifying holiday Spam), an ALF script reading (with Chris from Sci-Fi Explosion as ALF!), a Wonder Woman script reading (with Kevin as Steve Trevor, the Mayor as Etta Candy, and Joe in a gorilla suit!), panels on Stargirl and Titans with the American Sci-Fi and Fantasy Media Track, more hot Manimal talk with the American Sci-Fi Classics Track, and the upcoming Dragon Con-themed benefit book Dragon Tales! (Kevin wrote a chapter for this book. And it's quite silly, believe it or not.) Plus: Our favorite costumes, including a bizarre giant rubber chicken, a Weird Al group with tiny accordions, an eerily accurate Wilford Brimley, our friend Martha as Booster Gold, a million Mrs. Ropers, and a billion Barbies. We are officially exhausted. See you next year, nerds. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 17 September 2023
Our Dragon Con recap continues, and this time we're just covering Saturday. While everyone else in Atlanta was out on the street for the big Dragon Con parade, Kevin was hiding in the American Sci-Fi Classics Track room for the ESO Network's celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Super Friends. (Were any Wonder Twin powers activated? Perhaps...) The Mayor of Chickentown (our resident Barbie expert) was busy too with an American Sci-Fi/Fantasy Media Track panel about the Barbie movie! (There were approximately 63,000 Barbies at Dragon Con this year, and they were approximately everywhere.) Also: Kevins vs. Michaels, hobbits in the Con Suite, charity screenings of Krull (with the lights on) and Pee Wee's Big Adventure (with the lights off), and Kevin and the Mayor onstage together at Dragon Con for the very first time! (Also, speaking of Mr. Herman, we even ran into our favorite Pee Wee cosplayer, the amazing Remy Dee.) And yikes, there are still two more days of Dragon Con left to cover! This has to end at some point. Next week, hopefully. 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: The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!
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Sun, 10 September 2023
We have apparently survived Dragon Con 2023, and it's gonna take THREE episodes to review everything that happened at our favorite annual gathering of 70,000 nerds and/or geeks. This week we're just covering Wednesday through Friday, including: The amazing costumes of Brandon the Shapeshifter, the muscovy ducks of Piedmont Park, the Dragon Con Newbie Walking Tours, Kate from Strange Animals Podcast, Chris from Sci-Fi Explosion, Kevin from Gleaming the Tube, a tribute to MTV 120 Minutes, the Geek Girls Run, the legendary Marty Krofft (and HR Pufnstuf!), a Twilight Zone "Eye of the Beholder" deep dive with the American Sci Fi Classics Track, weird music video fun with the Jonzun Crew, and much more. We'll try to make you feel as dizzy and confused as if you were really there. Plus: Wherever we go, whatever we do, we will be right here waiting for Kornflake's National Whatever Day. Next week: Dragon Con review continues. And it's a safe bet that things will just keep getting weirder. 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: The Soul Forge Podcast!
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Sun, 3 September 2023
It's Dragon Con week! Alas, Kornflake cannot join us at Dragon Con, but let's just pretend that she can! Kevin has prepared a hypothetical weekend of silly events for Kornflake, based on the actual Dragon Con schedule. Including: robot battles, coloring books and coffee, burlesque, the old Krofft theme park, a tea party for puppets, and more. Plus: It's National Star Trek Day! (Hey, maybe we can just beam Kornflake to Atlanta.) Next week: Our actual review of Dragon Con. Assuming there are any survivors. 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!
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Sun, 27 August 2023
It's time for Dragon Con, so round up all your local weirdos and stick them on a bus to Atlanta! Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown will be there, and we're sharing our whole schedule with you. Come see the Mayor talk about Rocky Horror, Schmigadoon, and Barbie! (Did you know our Mayor is a Barbie expert? There's a lot going on here. It's not just chickens.) Meanwhile Kevin's nonstop schedule of silliness (with the American Sci-Fi Classics track and the American Sci-Fi and Fantasy Media track) includes panels and presentations on The Super Friends, The Twilight Zone, Krull, Titans, Stargirl, Wonder Woman, fictional bands, weird music videos, and much more. (Join us Friday morning for the Geek Girls Run! Don't you want to stomp around in the Atlanta heat? What's wrong with you?) We also take a quick look at the Dragon Con guest list, and we're most excited that the legendary Marty Krofft will be there! You know we'll be looking for Marty. We have 8,000 questions about Lidsville alone. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 20 August 2023
As we frantically prepare for Dragon Con 2023, we're wrapping up our 10-episode look back at the 1980s with a visit to Dragon Con 1989! We weren't actually there (probably too busy watching Batman for the nineteenth time), but we did scrape up some information about the third ever installment of Atlanta's legendary nerdfest. It was held on a different weekend back then (in October instead of Labor Day), at a different location (the Omni Hotel at CNN Center, dangerously close to the former location of The World of Sid and Marty Krofft), and with far fewer humans in attendance. (There were 2400 people at Dragon Con 1989. This year there will be 2400 people at Dragon Con just waiting for an elevator.) But there were still some impressive guests from literature, horror, and gaming. We even found a list of movies and videos that were shown in 1989. (Star Trek: The Next Generation bloopers! Kornflake could have taken a very weird Brent Break.) So it might be too late to attend the 1989 version, but Dragon Con is coming around again very soon. See you there. Also: Kornflake's final pair of 1980s TV commercials! If you think computers don't care about chewing gum, get ready for a shock. Links: Our final 80s commercials: Teach your computer how to chew gum! Then teach Leno how to chomp on Doritos! And our regular links... 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: Epsilon Three!
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Sun, 13 August 2023
The vacationing Kornflake is flopped on a hammock somewhere, but the Mayor of Chickentown is here to celebrate the year 1988. After a quick look at some of the year's least popular movies (Kevin and the Mayor each saw just one of them), we turn to music. Specifically we're looking at the 1988 concert schedule at Great Woods, a beloved outdoor venue that dominated southern New England's summer concert landscape back in the day. The 1988 lineup at Great Woods featured classic rock (here comes Jethro Tull with that crazy flute), hair metal (Def Leppard, Europe, and a blindingly white combo show with Whitesnake and Great White), new wave (we should not have missed Depeche Mode with OMD), and Top 40 (George Michael, Huey Lewis, and more). Guns 'n' Roses opened for Aerosmith. Roy Orbison opened for the Beach Boys. Santana and Herbie Hancock were part of something called "Jazz Explosion," which sounds absolutely terrifying. And Kevin went to Great Woods for the very first time that summer, to see an Australian band that found massive success in the 80s. (And we don't mean Air Supply, or Men at Work, or Midnight Oil. Keep guessing.) Also: Last week we forgot to mention a certain giant robot from 1987. We apologize to giant robots everywhere. 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 Who!
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Sun, 6 August 2023
Go away, soft weak humans! It's time for our annual robot-themed Top 4 1/2 List! And it's also time for our 1987-themed show! So once again we've turned to our pal Chris from Sci-Fi Explosion, because we knew Chris could come up with a magnificent list of 1987 robots. And yikes, he sure did. We have some all-time favorites (a certain Star Trek android debuted that year), some lesser known oddities (yes yes yes, robot french fries), and a poignant tribute to a fallen hero whose faithful robot always knew the secret word. Plus: Greg Hawkes and Eddie Japan are keeping the music of The Cars alive, Kornflake is hunting for bargains, Kevin and Chris are preparing silly things for DragonCon, and Tom Bosley is battling demon plastic wrap. You need Sci Fi Explosion and Chris has it! You need plastic wrap and Bosley has it! And our regular links... 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!
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Sun, 30 July 2023
Welcome back to 1986! (We need you for Hands Across America. Please go stand in the middle of Iowa for nine hours.) Kornflake has a goofy 1986 commercial in which the voice of God screams at you about drain cleaners. Then Kevin has a concert report on one of our favorite singers, who made her solo debut in 1986: Belinda Carlisle! You know we'll see Belinda whenever we can, because go go go go go. Also: Happy Birthday to the original Eddie Munster, Butch Patrick! He went from being a wolf boy to battling Charles Nelson Reilly in Lidsville, the magical world of living hats. Come on, Butch had range. Only Crystal Drano can save us! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 23 July 2023
As we cross the halfway point in our ten-part exploration of the 1980s, we're randomly recasting the movies of 1985, and hopefully making them weirder. We might extract Chevy Chase from Fletch, for example, and drop him into the Kelly LeBrock role in Weird Science. That would free up Kelly to star in Rambo: First Blood Part II, Stallone can replace Cher as the mom in Mask, and so on. Chances of this being a huge disaster: excellent. If you've ever wondered why we don't run Hollywood, this episode may provide some answers. Also: We're watching unsettling 1985 Pizza Hut commercials, and Kornflake is a secret Rush fan. Rita and Martin getting weird about pizza... And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 16 July 2023
Our ten-episode trip through the 1980s continues, and we're looking at some very short-lived sitcoms from 1984. Including: The Duck Factory (starring Jim Carrey and Dippy Duck), Dreams (with John Stamos, Jami Gertz, and breakdancing), E/R (not the medical drama with George Clooney, but the medical sitcom with George Clooney), It's Your Move (with Jason Bateman and the Dregs of Humanity), and a bunch more. The world has moved on from these goofy little shows, but we're staying right here. Plus: Hefty trash bags vs. wimpy trash bags, and Happy Birthday to WandaVision actress Kathryn Hahn. It's been Kathryn's birthday all along. And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 9 July 2023
This week we're back in 1983! Kornflake shares a goofy 1983 commercial for Dial soap, while Kevin takes an absurdly quick look at the pop music of 1983. It was the year new wave conquered the Top 40, and we approved. (For more complete coverage of 1983 music, we refer you to recent episodes of White Rocket Entertainment and Modern Musicology. While the Flopcast covers Kajagoogoo, they take care of everything else.) We also stopped by Northeast Comic Con (aka Music Con) and saw members of the Monkees (Micky), the Runaways (Cherie), the Ramones (Richie), and the Stompers (Sal)! A Monkees cover band called Zilch was there too, as well as old friend of The Flopcast (and, as Flash Gordon, savior of the universe) Sam J. Jones! Plus: A concert report on Elvis Costello and the Imposters (along with Charlie Sexton) and Nick Lowe (along with his Mexican wrestling-masked backup band Los Straitjackets). And best of all, Happy Birthday to America's 1980s sweetheart, Phoebe Cates! Celebrate by watching Private School. It's not Phoebe's best movie, but it is Phoebe's 1983 movie. A bunch of 1983 commercials! (Dial soap ad is at 6:50) White Rocket Entertainment: Music of 1983! Modern Musicology: Music of 1983 Part 1 and Part 2! And our regular links... 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!
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Sun, 2 July 2023
It's 1982 (in our hearts, at least), so we're looking at the Mad magazines of 1982. (Historians agree that for a truly accurate account of the past, you should just read Mad. Plus you get to do the Fold-In.) That year Mad's TV and movie parodies included Raiders of the Lost Ark, Archie Bunker's Place, Family Feud, For Your Eyes Only, The Greatest American Hero, The Fall Guy, M*A*S*H, The Facts of Life, and Rocky III! (Want to see Alfred E. Neuman as Mr. T? Done!) Mad also covered video games (their Man of the Year may have been a Pac-Man) and did some silly stuff with lobsters too, just for Kornflake. And speaking of Kornflake, her pick for 1982 is a Corn Flakes commercial! Also: It's Freezepop Day. So listen to some synthpop and chomp on a weird frozen thing. Mickey Rooney loves Corn Flakes! Australian twins love Corn Flakes! And our regular links... 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!
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Sun, 25 June 2023
Continuing our ten week celebration of the 1980s, we have some silly artifacts to examine from 1981. First Kornflake brings us a couple of Dr Pepper commercials featuring David Naughton (from "Makin' It"), Mickey Rooney (from "One of the Boys"), and the classic two-person horse costume (from our dreams). Kevin's 1981 pick is a Superman comic book produced by Radio Shack to introduce the children to the wonders of the TRS-80 computer. (We're convinced. Here at Chickentown Studios, we're ditching our Commodore VIC-20 and upgrading to a TRS-80.) Also: A surprise concert from Boston 90s alt-rock heroes Kay Hanley and Juliana Hatfield; Eclectic Lee lists a few more TV and movie maids, concluding five weeks of nonstop Flopcast maid and butler action; Kevin is on Earth Station DCU talking about Shazam; and Happy Birthday to Men at Work's Colin Hay! Time to blow out all the candles on your vegemite sandwich. Mickey Rooney whistling about Dr Pepper! Sugar Free Dr Pepper: Back of Horse-approved! And our regular links... 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: The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!
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Sun, 18 June 2023
Episode 580 means we're kicking off another ten weeks of episodes dedicated to each year of the 1980s. (So yes, everybody will be forced to Wang Chung this summer.) We're starting with 1980, and we're looking at some of our favorite albums from that year. There's some new wave (Devo, The Buggles, The Cars), some Top 40 (Air Supply, Billy Joel, REO Speedwagon), some crucial soundtracks (Flash Gordon, Xanadu), and more. Then Kornflake shares a pair of silly 1980 commercials. (Were early 80s waitresses and bowlers completely obsessed with mouthwash? Let's find out.) Plus: A listener-submitted follow-up list of TV and movie butlers (this will end someday, we assure you), and Happy Birthday to Cyndi Lauper. If Goonies are good enough for Cyndi, they're good enough for us. Mouthwash-obsessed bowlers of 1980! Mouthwash-obsessed waitresses of 1980! And our regular links... 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: The Soul Forge Podcast!
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Sun, 11 June 2023
We start with a little follow-up from our recent Maids v. Butlers FlopFight. It's the "honorable mention" list of maids and butlers we couldn't fit in the tournament, including characters from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Hazel, I Married Dora, and more. (Rest assured, we did not forget about We Got It Made. If only we could...) Then Kevin has a concert report, because beloved 80s pop princess Debbie Gibson came to town! Debbie put on a wonderful show including an Abba medley, a pajama party, a small dog, and perhaps even a wardrobe malfunction. Also: Kornflake has a Debbie hat, Kevin found a bin chicken (or something), and Happy Birthday to comedy writer/producer Greg Daniels. (If all he ever gave us was Chris Elliott's Get a Life, we'd still be eternally grateful.) Thanks for listening, kids. You just can't shake our love. 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!
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Sun, 4 June 2023
Let's wrap up the weird tournament we started last week: Our latest FlopFight, featuring maids and butlers from sitcoms, cartoons, and beyond. We have TV characters from the 60s like Lurch (The Addams Family), Mr. French (Family Affair), and Rosie the Robot (The Jetsons). From the 80s we have Mr. Belvedere (from, you know, Mr. Belvedere), Nell (Gimme a Break), and even more maids from Diff'rent Strokes. And once again our special guest judge is Joe Crowe, Co-Director of the DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track! Along the way, Kornflake celebrates Moonshine Day! Kevin has a squouse infestation! (A what?) Joe brings us Tales of the Nedra Volz Appreciation Society! We accidentally create a (perhaps inappropriate) new member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes! And one of us provides a pretty remarkable impression of Leon Redbone! So yeah, it gets a little silly. But only one maid or butler will survive. To make it more interesting, put some money down on your favorite. If you're Richie Rich, either your super-strong butler Cadbury or your robot maid Irona can fetch your wallet. Find Joe at DragonCon's American Sci-Fi Classics Track! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!
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Sun, 28 May 2023
We grew up in a world where seemingly every sitcom included a maid or a butler. Even middle class TV households somehow afforded live-in servants. And this week all those maids and butlers shall do battle in a good old fashioned FlopFight! What would happen if Benson (from Soap) and Florence (from The Jeffersons) were stranded on an island? How about hula-dancing Alice (The Brady Bunch) versus Batusi-dancing Alfred (Batman)? Anything could happen, and this week's winner will advance to the final round next week. And it's gonna get weird, so our special guest judge is a weirdness expert: Co-Director of the DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track, Joe Crowe! So let's get ready to FlopFight. It might get a little messy, but a parade of Diff'rent Strokes maids should come along to mop up. Find Joe at DragonCon's American Sci-Fi Classics Track! And our regular links... 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: DragonCon Report!
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Sun, 21 May 2023
Another quick and silly Flopcast, including: Way too much Scotch tape trivia from Kornflake; this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees (and how they ranked in the 80s); Dolly Parton's new star-studded rock album (hey, where's Tiffany?); Bernie Taupin vs. REO Speedwagon; the Love Boat musical; and a "Chickens in the News" story from Mexico, where there are chickens in the trees and on the subway. 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: Epsilon Three!
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January
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |||
Syndication
