Sun, 13 November 2022
Inspired by our recent discussion of synthpop band A-ha and their massive hit "Take On Me," we're making a list of other 1980s songs with iconic keyboard parts. Plenty more synthy new wave acts are on the list (such as Eurythmics, Soft Cell, and Men Without Hats), but several rock bands better known for their guitars actually provided some of the decade's most memorable keyboards. (One obvious example: Van Halen and "Jump.") Check out our list and let us know what we missed. (It would be appropriate for this to be our FINAL COUNTDOWN, but you know we'll keep making more goofy lists around here...) Also: We're frightened by Hug a Runner Day, a delightful "What's in the Bag?" package arrives at the studio, and a "Chickens in the News" item gives us just one more reason to stay out of Florida. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 6 November 2022
Join us as we flip through another old issue of your favorite magazine from the school book club, Dynamite! This one is from way back in 1976, and the cover just might feature an arm wrestling competition between the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman. We have so many questions. Inside the magazine we'll find Robolar's cousins, the truth about mummies (and baboon mummies), disco with KC and the Sunshine Band, a freaked out turkey, gymnast Nadia Comaneci, piles of disgusting hamburgers, a Donny Osmond lookalike, a card trick from Magic Wanda, and lots more Dynamite weirdness. Also: The Hillbilly Bears; a Fruit Brute review; a surprise Top 4 1/2 List; and Happy Birthday to Peter Brady himself, Christopher Knight. You know it's time to change. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 30 October 2022
It's a good old fashioned Flopcast Top 4 1/2 List, and the subject is bears. We have bears from TV (remember Grizzly Adams and his pal Ben?), cartoons (you know the Care Bears, but what about the Wuzzles?), songs (in case you were wondering how Lyle Lovett feels about bears), breakfast cereal (Sugar Bear really wanted to fatten up the children), and more. This is the goofiest bunch of bears you've seen since the Super Bowl Shuffle. And some very important bears are missing from our list, so let us know your favorites! (Send them over to the studio with a pic-a-nic basket.) Also: Happy Birthday to A-ha keyboardist Magne Furuholmen. Kornflake even tries to pronounce his name, because it's no better to be safe than sorry. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 23 October 2022
More goofy Halloween fun this week, as we flip through the book An Old School Halloween and learn about the costumes of Ben Cooper Inc. This was the company that sold those quick simple Halloween costumes (a cheap plastic mask and vinyl smock) at discount department stores for decades. We discuss the odd history of Ben Cooper's Spider-Man costume, why Yoda was blue, how Fonzie's catchphrase was bungled, why Scooby Doo looked like Scrappy Doo, and the awesomeness of the Sleestak costume. Also: Another new Halloween book called Full Moon, written by friends of Kornflake; scary 1970s Halloween stories from Power Records; Matt's Count Chocula review; a concert report on folk rock musician (and camping enthusiast) Brett Dennen; the spooky return of our sister podcast But First, Let's Talk Nerdy; and Happy Birthday to Annie Potts, star of every Ghostbusters movie. Now have a creepy yet festive week, and hand over the Reese's. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 16 October 2022
Our pal Blasted Bill returns to the Flopcast for some Halloween talk! Bill shares his memories of Halloweens past as well as the 8,000 Halloween events he has planned for this year. (That certainly beats our big Halloween plan to do nothing...) Including: Superman, Ghostbuster, and red crayon costumes; hay rides vs. straw rides; trick-or-treating aboard the beer tractor; a defense of Necco wafers; scary cousins in the cemetery; Hocus Pocus drinking games; building your own coffin; freaking out your Uber driver; butter beer vs. Zima; Scooby Doo-costumed bar crawls; a peanut butter pumpkin possum; and lots more seasonal silliness. Plus: Matt concludes his Boo Berry review, Bill is on TikTok, Kevin is on The Batcave Podcast (talking Electra Woman and Dyna Girl) and Gleaming the Tube (talking The Commitments), and Kornflake might be a Yip Yip. Our latest Electra Woman review on The Batcave Podcast! Reviewing The Commitments on Gleaming the Tube! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 9 October 2022
Welcome to a very special Flopcast, because for the first time in almost three years, Kevin and Kornflake are together in person! We're not on Zoom! It's a weird outdoor recording session on a chilly October night up north at Chickentown Outpost! But we have coffee, so it's just like old times. Including: National Decorate a Cake Day (which we celebrate by devouring a couple of boozy cupcakes), another monster cereal review from Matt (this time it's Boo Berry part 1 - more next week), the official presentation of all the Flopcast badge ribbons Kornflake has missed since 2020 (so much Potsie Panic), a concert report on Letters to Cleo frontwoman Kay Hanley (strangely including thousands of Lizzo fans), Kevin's big plan to lose a half marathon, Kornflake's remarkable quest for the perfect lobster roll, and our visit to a giant outer space-themed light show (we were just looking for Robolar from Mars). Okay, that was about enough human interaction for now, so next week, it's back to Zoom... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 2 October 2022
It's a weird mix of topics for this quick little show, including: Kornflake mini-golfing in a hockey uniform; fun with standing desks (we've cleared the studio of silly old-fashioned chairs); International Teachers Day (just an excuse to celebrate Welcome Back, Kotter); the new season of Cobra Kai (and Kornflake's controversial Swank theories); ESO Network updates (300 episodes of Earth Station DCU! Monkeeing Around, a fun new Monkees podcast! And a Modern Musicology interview with an actual member of The Go-Go's!); a bizarre Chickens in the News story from a Florida garage; and a shockingly enthusiastic review of Frankenberry. Next week: Something special is happening here on The Flopcast. Not Go-Go's-level special, but something... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 25 September 2022
Let's wrap up our review of our long wacky weekend in Atlanta for DragonCon! Including: More Sci-Fi Explosion (with Fonzie, Spider-Woman, and maybe even Robolar from Mars); more Flash Gordon panels with Sam J. Jones and Melody Anderson; the return of the Manimal Panimal; the cast of Doom Patrol; the George Pérez memorial panel; the 10th anniversary of the ESO Network; more late night fun with Good Enough Cosplay, Deena the "Last DragonCon" lady, and the falafel truck; the science of multiverses; a very Needless Things Christmas (with a mechanical Santa and a peppermint pig); a charity screening of Legends of the Superheroes (in which the audience must pay to escape from the American Sci-Fi Classics Track room); and a whole bunch of muscovy ducks. It was weirder than the New Zoo Revue, and we loved it. See you next year, nerds. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 18 September 2022
We survived DragonCon 2022, more or less, so it's time to review the first half of that wacky weekend! Including: Kevin's Flash Gordon panel with Sam J. Jones and Melody Anderson; Kevin's other panels on Cowboy Bebop, Lost in Space, and Upload; The Mayor's Severance panel (and Severance costume!); Kornflake's Elton John panel; Sci-Fi Explosion fun with Billy Ocean; the Geek Girls Run; an Aquaman-style visit to the Georgia Aquarium; late night pizza pie with Kate from Strange Animals Podcast; late night fun with Good Enough Cosplay; a late night movie with Dr. Strange and the American Sci-Fi Classics Track; and how to avoid obnoxious parking lot DJs. Next week: The rest of DragonCon. It just kept getting weirder. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 11 September 2022
We're back from DragonCon, but not quite ready for our DragonCon review show. (Hey, we were surrounded by Yip-Yips for several days. Readjusting to reality is a process.) Meanwhile, we have this special episode previously available only to ESO Network Patreon members. And the subject is appropriate, considering our favorite guests at DragonCon this year. For you see... Kornflake had a deep dark secret. She had never seen the 1980 sci-fi classic Flash Gordon. So tonight, Kornflake joins Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown (who have each seen the movie about six thousand times) to right this terrible wrong. Armed with coffee and pizza pie, we all watch Flash Gordon together, and discuss. Along the way we cover: The amazing sets and costumes, the less-than-amazing special effects, the killer Queen soundtrack, the football fight, our encounters with stars Sam Jones and Melody Anderson, the rest of the wonderful cast (Brian Blessed! Max von Sydow! Topol!), other versions of the story (don't miss the Filmation cartoon), and just why we've been so obsessed with it all for forty years. (A certain talking teddy bear seems to be a fan too.) Whether you're a longtime Flash Gordon fan or a new one (like Kornflake), please enjoy our silly little show, and check out the movie too. It will save every one of us. A bunch more extra Flopcast episodes (as well as Earth Station DCU Classics, ESO Board Silly, and lots more) can be found at the ESO Network Patreon! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 4 September 2022
It's DragonCon weekend! So while we're flopping around our favorite convention, please enjoy the return of Movies With the Mayor! This time Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown are watching and discussing the 1987 made-for-TV movie The Spirit! It's based on Will Eisner's classic Golden Age comic book character, and it stars Sam J. Jones (Flash Gordon!) and Nana Visitor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine!)... and since Sam is a guest at DragonCon this year, we just had to check it out. Is there a secret headquarters in a cemetery, a femme fatale in a hot tub, a kid selling stolen Whitney Houston records, and a finale involving topless Flash Gordon and a giant cake? Come on, what do you think? It's magnificent. Kornflake is here too with National Whatever Day, celebrating a certain 80s Heather who starred in The Fall Guy and Zapped! Next week: Our DragonCon review. If we survive. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 28 August 2022
With DragonCon just days away, here is your guide to finding Team Flopcast at the convention! Kevin will be absurdly busy as usual (that's how we like it), appearing on panels and presentations about old stuff (1978's Dr. Strange, 1979's Legends of the Superheroes), new stuff (the sci-fi comedy series Upload, and the reboots of Cowboy Bebop and Lost in Space), podcasting, and more. Kevin also has the honor of hosting Flash Gordon stars Sam J. Jones and Melody Anderson for a series of Q&A panels all weekend! (We're so excited that we might start screaming like in the Queen theme song.) Meanwhile The Mayor of Chickentown has a panel on the compelling (and disturbing) new series Severance, and... could Kornflake be participating in DragonCon this year too? Oh my. So find us in Atlanta! We have new badge ribbons for you, and they're completely ridiculous, of course. Also: Happy Birthday to Deborah Van Valkenburgh! Deborah starred in The Warriors, Streets of Fire, AND Too Close For Comfort, which probably makes her the most important human who has ever existed. 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, 21 August 2022
Laverne & Shirley actress Cindy Williams turns 75 this week, which inspired Kornflake to surprise Kevin with a Laverne & Shirley pop quiz! (This is why the kids love The Flopcast.) Can Kevin identify quotes from various characters, despite not having seen the show in literally decades? And is there a bonus round dedicated to our favorite weirdos, Lenny and Squiggy? Let's find out, as we revisit those wacky 1950s Milwaukee girls at the Shotz brewery and the Pizzabowl, before they pack up and move to Hollywood along with everyone they ever met. Also: Kornflake rides the Boston Harbor booze bike. She's gonna make our dreams come true, for me and you. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 14 August 2022
We're getting ready for DragonCon, the biggest craziest nerdfest of the year! It's so big that it's divided into dozens of separate programming tracks, and we're going through the whole track list. Including: Kevin's favorites (American Sci-Fi Classics! American Sci-Fi and Fantasy Media!), Kornflake's favorites (Brit Track! Kids Track!), and everyone's favorites (PUPPETRY!). We also take a quick peek at the guest list, which just happens to include the saviors of the universe, Flash Gordon's Sam J. Jones and Melody Anderson! Also: Kornflake has crab whiskey, Kevin has stolen pizza, and Steve Carell has space chickens. More DragonCon talk is coming soon. Get ready, nerds. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 7 August 2022
It's a super-short super-silly summer show! Kevin is exhausted and weirdly terrified of movie trailers; Kornflake is baking and flopping on a hammock; it's Book Lovers Day, and our friends are writing too many really good books; we're preparing for DragonCon with School House Rock and Electra Woman face masks; and our Ranking the '80s random song game finally lands on a song that we like. So get on the yacht and let's go. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 31 July 2022
Over the years, there have been more comic book series based on TV shows than you'd think. Back in the 60s, if your newsstand was sold out of Batman comics, you could still read My Favorite Martian or Petticoat Junction comics, you lucky kid. This week we're diving into the weird world of television-based comics, using the new book American TV Comic Books as our guide. And yes, we made a dumb game out of it. Kornflake is guessing which TV shows were also comic books (The Flying Nun? Welcome Back, Kotter? Laverne and Shirley?), and her competition is the random flip of a shiny Rhode Island state quarter. Listen as these grizzled warriors face off on a battlefield of sitcom reruns and obscure old funnybooks. Only one shall survive. And our money is on the money. Kornflake is talking Barenaked Ladies on Earth Station One! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 24 July 2022
Taylor Dayne is still telling it to our hearts; Maya Rudolph is a Rental; West Virginia is overrun by surfing chickens; and thanks to the DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track, Mork and Mindy are now soldiers of fortune. It's a short show, but it's a goofy show. Enjoy. We last discussed Taylor Dayne three years ago in episode 361! What If Gilligan Met Gomez? Classic TV Mash-Ups! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 17 July 2022
It's the middle of stupid summer, so here in Chickentown, it's time for more hot robot talk. But we've turned our annual robot-themed Top 4 1/2 List over to a special guest: it's Chris, creator of the wonderful show Sci-Fi Explosion! (Having someone else make the robot list just means more nap time for us. Why didn't we think of this years ago?) Chris has assembled a crazy fun list of favorite pop culture robots, including robots from Buck Rogers (but not the one you're thinking of), Logan's Run (a robot that collects frozen naked people, just like in your dreams), Canadian PSAs (a favorite topic of ours, of course), and more. And if you think Chris got out of here without discussing the sci-fi triumph that is the Billy Ocean "Loverboy" video, you don't really know us at all. Also: Happy Birthday to Don Henley. If you've never experienced a weird robot list before, this is the end of the innocence. Our special guest is Chris of Sci-Fi Explosion! 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: |
Sun, 10 July 2022
We're talking about the goofy MTV game show Remote Control, because recently we got to play it! Not the MTV version, but the (also goofy) home game version! We played Remote Control live online with our pals at the DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track, and you can watch the whole crazy thing on YouTube. Meanwhile we're looking back at the original show, live from Ken Ober's basement, with Marisol, Kari, pre-SNL Colin Quinn, pre-SNL Adam Sandler, and even an occasional appearance by Weird Al. Brush up on your Brady Physics and join us. Also: More Electra Woman and Dyna Girl talk on The Batcave Podcast, and a National Whatever Day/Trapped in the House combo game that's beyond human comprehension. Kevin and Kornflake playing Remote Control with the American Sci-Fi Classics Track! Our latest Electra Woman review on The Batcave Podcast! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 3 July 2022
One more concert report, this time on a fine evening of synthpop and rock from Freezepop, Carissa Johnson, The Daylilies, and Telelectrix! (We were lurking in the corner, hiding behind a Sleestak mask, but we were there.) And the rest of the episode is also quite musical, including: Happy Birthday to Joan Osborne, Kornflake's weird recipes for Bananarama (and Shakespears Sister) pancakes, another losing round of our Ranking the '80s game, and our exciting new business venture. (We're gonna sell John Denver-themed car air fresheners. Don't tell anyone. We thought of it first.) And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 26 June 2022
It's another concert report, because legendary Australian band Midnight Oil came to Boston. Find out if their beds are still burning, if frontman Peter Garrett is still very tall and very bald, and why we expected to be crushed by an anvil during the show. Also: Happy Birthday to Blues Brother/Conehead/vodka enthusiast Dan Aykroyd, Grape Ape talk with Kornflake and the American Sci-Fi Classics Track, and how to tell if Ally Sheedy is really in Boston. Meanwhile, this is Midnight Oil's final tour, and we'll miss them... but we'll always have Air Supply. Funshine Saturday - Saturday Morning Cartoons of 1976! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 19 June 2022
We have a special concert report this week, because the pioneering German electropop band Kraftwerk came to Boston! Kevin was there, wearing official Kraftwerk 3-D glasses, because this was not a normal show. We also recall the time Kornflake saw a very different German act in Boston many years ago. (We wish we could say it wasn't Lou Bega, but it was TOTALLY LOU BEGA.) Also: We check out that new Ally Sheedy show Single Drunk Female, National Whatever Day is all about Brian Wilson (he's a Beach Boy, not a Barenaked Lady), and a round of Pudding Pages about large TV families leads to some disturbing Smurf talk. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 12 June 2022
We just noticed that 1997 was a quarter century ago, so we thought we'd celebrate with a FlopFight tournament of 1997 pop songs. (It's not quite an official FlopFight; we've relaxed the rules a bit, because we're sleepy.) The competing songs are a mix of pure pop (Spice Girls, Hanson), alt-rock (Cranberries, Third Eye Blind), Lilith ladies (Sheryl Crow, Paula Cole), and crazy goofy weird stuff (get ready for some "Barbie Girl"). Kevin is randomly drawing the contestants, and Kornflake is picking the winners. This won't end well, but neither did the 90s. Also: In honor of a certain Brat Packer's birthday, we're comparing Sheedy notes. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 5 June 2022
Inspired by our friend Jon Sloan's comic book series Jim & Celeste, we have a Top 4 1/2 List of movies to watch while stranded on an island. The catch is that the movies must be from 1975-1985. Which should be fine, because that's when all the good stuff happened. But we still manage to make some terrible choices. (How many blaxsploitation, vansploitation, car wash, and Gary Coleman movies would you pack for a three hour tour? Probably not as many as us. Although speaking of Gilligan's Island, two of our picks do star Jim Backus. Oops.) Also: We wish a Happy Birthday to a Jedi, and we're sleepy. As usual. Cartoonist Jon Sloan brings you webcomics The Do-Jahng and Jim & Celeste! The Earth Station One podcast: All About Streming! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 29 May 2022
While Kevin relaxes in the background making sarcastic comments, Kornflake presents a Top 4 1/2 List of weird superheroes! Including: a rejected Legionnaire (even goofier than Chlorophyll Kid), a Perhapanaut, a Mystery Man, an Aquabat, and more. Along the way Kevin chimes in with Captains Carrot and Marvel (Split!), as well as Turnipman (a hero so obscure he was invented by us). Not weird enough for you? Well, it's also Global Running Day, and Kornflake is running through the ocean. Aquaman is not amused. Kevin and John are back discussing Electra Woman and Dyna Girl on the Batcave Podcast! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 22 May 2022
Kevin and Kornflake have concert reports from two different "Weird Al" Yankovic concerts! (That's right, we actually left the house. Still a rare event these days...) This is Weird Al's Ridiculously Self-Indulgent Ill-Advised Vanity Tour, with a constantly changing set list of obscure album tracks, so we saw two very different shows. Included in our reports: The remarkable Emo Phillips opens the show by making fun of a Flopcast guest; Weird Al has his own brand of coffee (and so does Green Day); Kornflake has her own row of seats, plus the best parking space in New Hampshire; Kevin once bought a velvet Elvis painting; drummer Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz impersonates Amanda Palmer; and Weird Al covers Little Richard and The Doobie Brothers, just like in your dreams. Also this week: Happy Birthday to a soap opera star who also appeared in Weird Al's movie UHF, Kornflake teaches water aerobics to a dog, and Kevin stops toasting marshmallows and breaks into a stranger's house instead. It's Decade Two of The Flopcast. Get comfortable. This will take about ten years. 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: |
Mon, 16 May 2022
It's our big silly tenth anniversary show! Yes, we have released a Flopcast episode every week for TEN YEARS. (Also, yes, we're sleepy, and yes, we're completely out of ideas. But here we are.) And we're celebrating with a special tenth anniversary FlopFight! Kornflake provided the contestants, and it's a bizarre randomized assortment of characters from sitcoms, movies, cartoons, and more. The competitions are equally ridiculous, involving jug bands, ant farms, and an Etch A Sketch. The results will shock you! Unless you've been listening all these years. Then it's pretty much what you'd expect. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 8 May 2022
After a too-long break from the show, the Mayor of Chickentown is back as our special guest co-host! (It's more court-ordered community service, we assume.) We start with a look at the recently-announced 2022 inductees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (We're happy about Lionel, Dolly, Pat Benatar, and all those Durans. On the other hand, still no 38 Special, but we can dream...) Then Kevin reports on this year's Watch City Steampunk Festival, where amongst all the geared and goggled humans, we found old friends Jessica, Sergio, and Panda! (Jessica gave a stunning performance as festival queen, she and Sergio are working on new music with their metal band Anaria, and Panda is actually Draculina in the comic books now. Our friends are pretty ridiculously amazing.) Kevin also picked up some weird old paperback books, including Mad books by Al Jaffee and novels based on Leave It to Beaver and The Brady Bunch. (Just try to keep us away from a Brady book. We'd read one about Fake Jan alone.) Also: A surprise caller on the Flopcast Hotline! (You'll probably recognize the voice.) Next week: Our tenth anniverary episode. Do not get excited. A correction from this episode: Kevin gave the wrong name for that excellent comic book shop in Waltham, Massachusetts! It is actually The Outer Limits! Sorry about that! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 1 May 2022
Kevin is being watched by enemy birds; Green Day coffee is on the way; Hit Parade celebrates five years of podcasting (with a quote from the Mayor of Chickentown!); The Flopcast celebrates ten years of podcasting in a couple of weeks (but we don't know what we're doing); we lightning-round through a bunch of TV talk (about Atypical, Picard, Derry Girls, Stranger Things, Girls5eva, Russian Doll, Umbrella Academy, Bridgerton, Is It Cake?, Vegetable Soup, The Monkees, This Is Us, Taskmaster, and especially Diff'rent Strokes); and things get weirdly musical when Kornflake breaks out... the Orba. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 24 April 2022
One again we've let the Chickentown Studios Supercomputer randomly determine our discussion topics, which means we're talking about "Talking Out of Turn" (an obscure 1980s single from a classic rock band), Action Jackson (the 1988 movie sadly not based on the Mego action figure line), The Young Rebels (a 1970s Revolutionary War-era TV series with Louis Gossett Jr.), and The Young Riders (a 1980s western TV series totally not inspired by Young Guns). Also: Classic rock keyboardist Chuck Leavell has a birthday, and Kornflake rides the prog rock school bus. And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 17 April 2022
It's a Chickens in the News follow-up report! We're revisiting the rogue hen that tried to break into the Pentagon a few weeks back, but now we have the official incident report to examine. (Has the Freedom of Information Act ever been put to better use?) And we've unearthed some startling new details, which may or may not involve a parking lot salad bar. Also: Kornflake is reading about a lost dog, Kevin is reading about Dazed and Confused, Ricardo Montalbán is reading to the children, comic book creators are stealing Kornflake's dreams, and there's a surprising connection between rare insect species and the stars of Baywatch. Just a typical Saturday morning here in Chickentown. The 42cast - Bill and Ted Panel with the Mayor! Earth Station One - more comic book trivia, and Fred Hembeck! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 10 April 2022
Special guest Blasted Bill is still here, and our favorite vehicles from 1980s pop culture are still doing battle in our latest FlopFight tournament. Some major players were knocked out last week (farewell, A-Team van) as Airwolf flew straight into the finals. Can anything stop that high-tech TV helicopter? The train from Silver Spoons and the station wagon from Nation Lampoon's Vacation are sure gonna try. Surprise upsets and random moments of silliness are guaranteed. Also: Happy Birthday to legendary voice actor Billy West! If the Red M&M were a 1980s vehicle, Billy would easily win the FlopFight. See Blasted Bill at Penguicon in Southfield, Michigan, April 22-24! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 3 April 2022
Our old pal Blasted Bill returns, and Bill is here for a FlopFight! The subject is 1980s vehicles, so your favorite cars, trucks, vans, and bikes from 80s movies and TV shall do battle. (Mr. T has the van. And if Jan Michael Vincent brings the helicopter, Hasselhoff will supply the talking car.) And it's a FlopFight, so the battles will be weird. (Which vehicle would make the superior birdwatcher? Let's discuss.) Also: Happy Birthday to Billy Dee Williams! Time to party on Cloud City. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 27 March 2022
It's just more random silliness, just for you. We imagine a world in which Kornflake is in control (it'll be all Howard Jones concerts, all the time), and Kevin recalls racing a turkey through the mean streets of Chickentown (the turkey won, of course). Then our supercomputer forces us to discuss Capitol Critters (the short-lived cartoon series with Doogie Howser as a field mouse in Washington DC), Arcade (a Tron-like movie starring Q from Star Trek and Ralphie from A Christmas Story - how did we miss this?), and another mystery pop song from the 1980s. Can you guess the song before Kornflake? Probably. The DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track's "Novelization Readings" panel, including Tron! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 20 March 2022
Another quick random show, including: Happy Birthday to Matthew Broderick (star of Ladyhawke) and Elton John (star of the "Nikita" music video); Kevin has a pile of 80s movie promo buttons ("Free Johnny Dangerously!"); Gloria Estefan is a cat; Madonna is not a mermaid; the American Sci-Fi Classics Track hosts another Battle of the Fictional Bands (former champion Dr. Teeth was excused this time); they're rolling D&D dice on But First, Let's Talk Nerdy; and of course, we're celebrating Pi Day. With pie. Battle of the Fictional Bands 2022! But First, Let's Talk Nerdy - the Dungeons & Dragons edition! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 13 March 2022
Time for a hugely important correction: Last week we got a couple of obscure Julian Lennon videos mixed up. (The "we" means Kevin. Kornflake was innocent this time...) But it's an excuse to revisit the wonderfully ridiculous "Stick Around" video, featuring cameos by stars from Square Pegs, Family Ties, The Karate Kid, and Saturday Night Live. Then we look at the week that "Stick Around" peaked on the pop chart in May 1986. Julian only reached number 32, while Flopcast favorites like The Outfield, OMD, Whitney, and Janet had top ten hits. If you managed to look away from MTV that Saturday night, your options included Gimme a Break, The Facts of Life... and the 1986 Miss Hollywood beauty pageant. (We checked - the whole thing is on YouTube, and it's hosted by Alan Thicke. You know what to do.) Meanwhile the Brat Pack continued to dominate the big screen, with Ally Sheedy starring in two of the top four movies. (Johnny 5? Yeah, he's still alive.) So pop in a Pet Shop Boys cassette and flop back 36 years with us. Also: World Frog Day is this week. Celebrate by hopping into traffic. Julian Lennon's goofy fun "Stick Around" video (watch for Jami, Joe, and Michael)... And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 6 March 2022
This week we let the Chickentown Studios supercomputer randomly determine our discussion topics. (Does this mean we're completely out of ideas? Oh, that happened six or seven years ago...) The result is an even weirder show than usual. Including: The 40th anniversary of Pac-Man Fever; songwriter Carole Bayer Sager's tribute to Mac and Me; Julian Lennon music videos (Correction: Kevin confused "Say You're Wrong" with "Stick Around"); how Wayne and Garth inspired Kornflake to pierce her ears; a 1980s sitcom Kornflake does not remember but hates anyway; Michael J. Fox's stunt double; Sheena's sugar walls; and oh yeah, a mystery date with a bowling chicken. Clearly our little experiment was a huge success, and humans should not be in charge of podcasts anymore. Eclectic Lee brings you 52 Weeks of Pac-Man Fever! (Also on Twitter!) 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: |
Sun, 27 February 2022
It's a Tuesday spectacular! This episode was recorded on Tuesday, 2/22/22, so we're looking at the 2nd, 22nd, 222nd, and 2222nd biggest 1980s pop songs, according to the amazing book Ranking the '80s. You'd better believe Billy Ocean is involved, and he's gonna get out of our dreams and into our podcast. Also: A chicken tried to break into the Pentagon; Insane Ian is on HBO; Kevin is on Pop Culture Cosmos (discussing the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), Earth Station One (discussing comic book trivia), ESO Board Silly (discussing the Olympics), and Earth Station DCU Classics (discussing Beppo the Super Monkey); and Happy Birthday to Jennifer Warnes, queen of the 80s pop duets. Yes, we swear it's the truth, and we owe it all to Jennifer. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Talk on Pop Culture Cosmos! Comic book trivia on Earth Station One! 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: |
Sun, 20 February 2022
Another weird mix of stuff from our latest Saturday morning recording session (for which we keep forgetting the Cocoa Puffs): For National Whatever Day we're celebrating a forgotten 1920s silent movie (and also guys named Mike); a box of wine was shipped to the studio from Washington state (or possibly Mars); Kornflake witnesses the miraculous birth of a shrimp; a miraculous newborn shrimp receives an inappropriate name; we zip through a lightning round of TV talk (covering Derry Girls, Bridgerton, The Book of Boba Fett, Peacemaker, Pen15, and Norwegian game shows); and Kornflake is back on Twitter for an online concert by Jim's Big Ego. Now enjoy, while we spend the rest of our Saturday flopping around doing nothing. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 13 February 2022
Just a weird mix of stuff this time: Kornflake learns that a former New England Patriots quarterback (no, not that one) is now in the wine business, and takes appropriate action; a giant Asian sea eagle has been hanging around Massachusetts, and we're trying to lure it to Chickentown Studios for an interview; Kornflake recommends a new webcomic about high school kids in the 80s (of course); and our friends at Rubber Chicken Comics brought an amazing 1974 anti-smoking PSA to our attention, and suddenly it's all we care about. (It's connected to Happy Days AND The Brady Bunch, so, you know...) Here it is, the bizarre 1974 PSA "Let's Call It Quits"... Kornflake's favorite new webcomic is Jim & Celeste! 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: |
Sun, 6 February 2022
It's a quick but fun show this week, as we review this year's nominees for induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Now if it were up to us, the list would include The Monkees, Weird Al, Men Without Hats, Martika, and The New Monkees. (There's a reason no one trusts us with anything.) But the actual list isn't bad! Some of our favorites from the 80s have been nominated again (come on, Pat Benatar and Devo). Dionne Warwick is back on the list too, because that's what psychic friends are for. Dolly Parton is a surprise first time nominee, and we certainly approve. (Why, we pour ourselves a cup of ambition here every week.) But we're probably most excited about Lionel Richie. Get off the floor, get on the ceiling, and let's do this. Hello. It's Lionel we're looking for. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 30 January 2022
We love Canada, and we love goofy public service announcements, so Kornflake has rounded up a bunch of Canadian PSAs to watch and discuss. And while nothing can replace Schoolhouse Rock and Robolar from Mars in our hearts, these videos (mostly from the 80s, of course) are pretty fantastic. They include: anti-smoking cartoon aliens, puppet geese in hot air balloons, puppet mice with a giant mousetrap, Canadian pop stars and hockey players, a freaky bear from space, a mystery in the woods, a beheaded kid (don't worry, he's fine), a depressed television, an angry furnace, an amputated robot (also fine), and an astonishing "Drugs, Drugs, Drugs" conga line. Links to all these weird and wonderful PSAs are in the show notes, so we can all play along together. We might even learn a valuable lesson or two. But probably not. Here you go, all the Canadian PSAs discussed in the show... Canadian geese in hot air balloons... Crazed anti-smoking bear with a rock band... TV that doesn't want you to watch TV... Canadian pop star Luba wants you to break free... Drugs, Drugs, Drugs conga line... Puppet mice and giant mousetrap... Something will happen to you in the woods. We just don't know what... Boating safety - just pretend you're on the water... Beware the freaky singing furnace in your basement... Puppets shouldn't put things in their puppet mouths... 1970s appliances are very angry about hot water... And the return of Astar, the frequently amputated robot... 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: |
Sun, 23 January 2022
Our first Top 4 1/2 List of the year was perhaps inspired by how crazy cold it's been here in Chickentown. The topic is... ice. We have some ice-themed 80s music (remember Australian band Icehouse?), some Karate Kid ice-breaking action, several ice-powered superheroes (from Marvel, DC, and even Pixar), and a bunch more icy oddities. So stay inside and enjoy. Have some coffee. But not iced coffee, unless you're as weird as Kornflake. 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, 16 January 2022
Way too cold to leave the house, so today we're just flipping through another old issue of Dynamite, that classic magazine for kids of the 70s and 80s. (You could get Dynamite through the school book club or by subscription, so either your teacher or your mailman would know you're a huge nerd.) This issue is from 1981, and features an exclusive interview with Rick Springfield! (Rick is on the cover AND on a giant fold-out poster. Somebody's bedroom wall just got a lot dreamier.) Also inside: a Dark Crystal sneak preview, Brooke Shields and her Calvins, useless video game tips (your Gorf score is not likely to improve), the DynaMates pen pal service (surely a disaster in the making), more Dynamite Bummers (as lame as ever), a horse raffle (?), and a horrifying recipe for a rolled-up white bread pizza abomination. There, we read the whole thing for you, probably saving you 75 cents. Go buy a Twinkie or something. 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, 9 January 2022
Let's wrap up our annual two-part memorial show by getting through a long list of everyone we lost in the second half of 2021. From television, we have stars from The Andy Griffith Show, Night Court, Quantum Leap, Newhart... and a couple more (!) from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. From the world of music, we have members of ZZ Top and Kool & The Gang, rapper Biz Markie, a Rolling Stone, an Everly Brother... and yeah, a Monkee. And on and on it goes... there's the founder of Hands Across America... the voices behind Charlie in the Box and Billina the talking chicken... the writer of "I'm Just a Bill"... the Big Ragoo from Laverne and Shirley... the forgotten older brother from Happy Days... the World Wrestling Federation's Mr. Wonderful... and many more, including a certain beloved goddess from Saturday morning TV. Once again we recommend listening with a beverage close at hand. Kevin is sticking with coffee, while Kornflake has switched to the hard stuff. Because that's what Betty White would have wanted. Links: Speaking of Betty White, one of Kornflake's favorite animal rescue organizations is Almost Home Rescue - throw them a few bucks! 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: |
Sun, 2 January 2022
As usual we're kicking off the new year by looking back on everyone we lost in the old year. This week's show covers the first half of 2021, with many of our favorites from the world of pop culture and beyond. Including: The voice of Hermey the Elf, the designer of our all-time favorite Muppets (Yipyipyipyipyip), two of the stars of Midnight Run, two Saturday morning TV genies (Jambi and Weenie), a Supreme, a Bay City Roller, one of the greatest songwriters in rock history, the man inside Twiki the Buck Rogers robot... and Herb from WKRP. And of course, hitting especially close to home here at The Flopcast, we have a couple of stars from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, although we knew them better from later projects: Gavin MacLeod (The Love Boat's Captain Stubing) and Cloris Leachman (The Facts of Life, School House Rock, and everything else). Next week we'll wrap this up with Part 2. But for now, grab a beverage and join us. (Kevin has coffee and Kornflake has tea, but something a bit stronger would be appropriate too...) 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, 26 December 2021
It's our final show of 2021! So we're just relaxing and looking back on another ridiculous year of Flopcasting. (Yikes, we spent a lot of time obsessing over The Facts of Life. And we're not quite done.) But we also have a couple of special guests, because this is our second annual holiday crossover with Brittany and Martha of But First, Let's Talk Nerdy! Kevin is on their show this week (BFLTN episode 64) discussing favorite Christmas songs. (Spoiler: It gets silly.) Meanwhile Brittany and Martha are here on The Flopcast talking about Christmas in Las Vegas, Mariah vs. Wham, Hermey vs. Yukon, White Elephants vs. Yankee Swaps, and what to do with all the wrapping paper. (Spoiler: Also silly.) Then we wrap up the show with another annual tradition, as Kevin and Kornflake reveal their New Year's Resolutions. Okay, see you in 2022. Bring coffee. 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: |
Sun, 19 December 2021
Every year we're bombarded with dozens more ridiculous (and nearly identical) Christmas movies from Hallmark, Lifetime, Netflix, etc. It's a never-ending parade of big city ladies back in their quaint little home towns for the holidays, dealing with awkward high school reunions, struggling family businesses, lame Christmas pageants, secret cookie recipes, the occasional prince or princess, country music stars, miscellaneous Brady Bunch cast members, and handsome dudes in flannel who work at the local tinsel factory or whatever. Just can't take it anymore? Worry not. The Flopcast is here to save Christmas. We're taking these Christmas movies and randomly inserting classic Saturday morning cartoon characters to make them better. Or at least weirder. (Do we care about a Christmas movie starring Brooke Shields? Not really. But what if we added Captain Caveman? Ah, now we're in business...) So grab your remote and a giant cup of boozified egg nog, and let's get to work. Also: Kornflake recommends new holiday cartoons from Aardman Animations, while Kevin is still watching the old stuff. In fact, this week Kevin joins our friends at the DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track for a Rankin/Bass character tournament that gets a little silly. (Will a Miser Brother end up in a duet with David Bowie? Hey, miracles happen most every day.) 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: |
Sun, 12 December 2021
Let's wrap up our look at the Saturday morning TV landscape of 1971! ABC's lineup was probably the strongest of the three networks, but it's still quite weird. There were classics like Road Runner and Jonny Quest, alongside oddities like Filmation's Jerry Lewis cartoon, the Rankin/Bass animated version of the Jackson 5, and more psychedelic Krofft craziness with the living hats of Lidsville. Hanna Barbera recycled its Scooby Doo "traveling teen" format with Funky Phantom, starring a ghost who sounded just like Snagglepuss. We're very curious about Curiosity Shop, of which little video evidence survives. But all we really need are live action secret agent apes... and we'll always have Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 5 December 2021
To celebrate (just barely) our 500th episode, we decided to shove every single Flopcast segment into one extra-goofy show! Including: Chickens in the News (with more giant chicken topiary drama), our dumbest Top 4 1/2 List ever, National Whatever Day with one of the kids from Fame, a boozy edition of the Figgy Pudding Pages, a mini-FlopFight (starring Dionne Warwick and friends), an extra-festive round of Trapped in the House, a silly game hiding in a bag, the return of Capes or Apes, comic book trivia on Earth Station One, ElectraWoman and DynaGirl on The Batcave Podcast, a concert report starring Niki Luparelli and the Harvard Square Turkey, a convention report from Northeast Comic Con (with the stars of Lost in Space, Meatballs, and TV Guidance Counselor), a Facts of Life report that (shockingly) does not involve a backdoor pilot, and how The Sponge Awareness Foundation plans to rake in the big bucks for the holidays. It's a fast-paced, action-packed show in which you will learn absolutely nothing. But hey, thanks to everyone who has spent some or (yikes) all of the last 500 episodes being weird with us! Will we do another 500? Oh, yes. According to our parole officer, we sort of have to. Comic book trivia with Kevin and the Council of Michaels on Earth Station One! More ElectraWoman and DynaGirl talk on the Batcave Podcast with Kevin and John! 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: |
Sun, 28 November 2021
Our examination of Saturday morning TV from fifty years ago continues with the NBC schedule, and it's one of the weirdest lineups we've found so far. Among familiar old favorites like Woody Woodpecker, Pink Panther, and Deputy Dawg, we encounter psychedelic Krofft reruns, a two-headed llama, a comeback from Mr. Wizard, an odd live action import from Australia, and not one but TWO rock bands of hippie insects. Pour yourself a giant bowl of Lucky Charms and join us. Also: Kornflake loves socks but never wears them, Letters to Cleo is back in Boston, Max Weinberg is taking requests, Kornflake used to set things on fire, Kevin used to work with a muskrat, and one of us enjoyed some pre-show martinis. 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, 21 November 2021
We started our ridiculous Brat Pack tournament last week, and now it's time to settle things once and for all, like Swayze in Road House. A couple more Breakfast Club members enter the competition this time, along with the stars of 80s classics like Pretty in Pink, The Outsiders, Dirty Dancing, Red Dawn, and more. And because it's a FlopFight, we've added some weird twists involving Devo, Kenny Rogers, and Cap'n Crunch. If you've always dreamed of a world in which Demi Moore does battle with Anthony Michael Hall, then here you go. It's gonna get silly. And yes, DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track co-director Gary Mitchel is our special guest once again! And nobody puts Gary in the corner. Follow Gary on Twitter and Instagram! Follow Gary and Joe's American Sci-Fi Classics Track antics on YouTube and Facebook! The Mayor of Chickentown is on Earth Station Who episode 283! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 14 November 2021
Back in the 80s, whether you were hanging around St. Elmo's Bar or stuck in Saturday detention with the Breakfast Club, you could not avoid the Brat Pack. Those crazy kids were running wild in Hollywood, breaking hearts, listening to Simple Minds, and starring in every single John Hughes movie. And today we're throwing them all in a FlopFight tournament to determine the ultimate Brat Pack champion. Rob Lowe is an early favorite... Ally Sheedy could get some help from her Short Circuit robot buddy... but can anyone defeat Teen Queen Molly? We'll figure this out. In fact, we have a special guest expert on board: DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track co-director Gary Mitchel! And the silliness continues next week in Brat Pack FlopFight Part 2. So stay gold, and don't you forget about us. Follow Gary on Twitter and Instagram! Follow Gary and Joe's American Sci-Fi Classics Track antics on YouTube and Facebook! 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: |
Sun, 7 November 2021
We're way overdue for another look at an old Saturday morning TV schedule, so let's see what the kids watched on CBS half a century ago while chomping on their Count Chocula. The CBS 1971 Saturday morning lineup included classics like Bugs Bunny (of course), Scooby Doo (the original version), and The Flintstones (reformatted to feature Pebbles and Bamm Bamm, and their modern stone age rock band). The Harlem Globetrotters had their own goofy cartoon, and were still a decade away from battling robots on Gilligan's Island. There were THREE separate cartoons based on Archie characters! (One had an odd connection to Dick Tracy, while another featured the singing voice of a future Charlie's Angel star.) Meanwhile, Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch! starred a freaky cartoon bear wearing a belt but no pants. And there's even a weird Hair Bear/Brady Bunch connection. So we are officially delighted. (We might even have a 50-year-old lunch box from one of these shows here at Chickentown Studios...) Plus: Our second concert review of the whole stupid year, because the farewell Monkees tour may be coming to your town! Also: Happy Birthday to Lou Ferrigno. We do actually like him when he's angry. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 31 October 2021
It's one of our dumbest ideas ever: This is episode 495, so we're discussing Interstate 495, the Massachusetts highway we've spent our whole lives driving up and down like idiots. 495 starts near Rhode Island (look out!) and ends near New Hampshire (oh no!). In between are lots of weird Massachusetts towns, which bring back lots of weird Massachusetts memories. So today's silly road trip includes: fake Pilgrims, the Thermometer Man, nerds at a football stadium, the early days of The Sponge Awareness Foundation, Kevin's 1990s open mic night (hope you like Jewel covers), Rubber Chicken Comics, midnight Snapple, the quest for clam cakes, apple orchards with free booze, the upcoming Northeast Comic Con (yikes, A.L. from Meatballs will be there), Kornflake's school days, mysterious pineapple glop on the beach, and zorbing. Also: Happy Birthday to The Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio. If he doesn't actually start to age sometime soon, we're gonna have to sweep the other leg. 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, 24 October 2021
It's Halloween, but why not ignore the creepy neighbor kids and just enjoy our silly little show? (That sack of Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins you've been eyeballing all week? ALL YOURS.) Including: A festive round of "What's in the Bag," compliments of our friend Blasted Bill; Halloween Chickens in the News with Elvira, Mistress of the Dark; more Halloween Chickens in the News involving the secret history of candy corn; and Happy Birthday to the star of many seasonally appropriate movies, Winona Ryder. She was absolutely terrifying in Mermaids. 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, 17 October 2021
We just can't stop reviewing "backdoor pilot" episodes of The Facts of Life, so here we go again. This time Blair and Jo are graduating from Eastland, and perhaps this could have led to a spinoff series set at nearby Langley College. It didn't, of course, but it's still a fun two-part episode. We meet several new girls: Alexandra could have been a new Blair-type character at Eastland, while the graduating Emily, Bonnie, and Lisa could have joined a new cast at Langley. (For Lisa, life is a series of shoe problems. She could have become the most psychologically troubled sitcom character since Jan Brady.) We also have Mrs. Garrett juggling dozens of Jello molds and hundreds of pineapples, Roy the creepy bread delivery boy, a bizarre flashback sequence, Tootie seemingly in charge of the whole graduation ceremony, and the trouble with tassels. Also: We wish a Happy Birthday to Mork & Mindy's Pam Dawber, Kevin is on Gleaming the Tube and Earth Station One, and Kornflake is hiding under a giant pile of blankets. Kevin, Kevin, and Mike talking Wonder Woman on Gleaming the Tube! Kevin, Mike, and Mike talking Monkees on Earth Station One! 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: |
Sun, 10 October 2021
Just a silly mix of subjects this week, including: The new Monster Mash cereal (we might not eat it, but we still love it), Kornflake's concert report on Lindsey Stirling (she plays the violin while hanging upside down blindfolded; what more do you want?), Daryl Hall's birthday, Clint Eastwood's chicken movie, a correction from last week (sorry, Woonsocket), and the plan for next week. (Hint: Blair and Tootie are involved.) 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, 3 October 2021
Our friend Kevin Cafferty is back for a Top 4 1/2 List dedicated to our favorite weird city: Woonsocket, Rhode Island! Both Kevin and Kevin (lot of Kevins on the show this week) spent way too much time in Woonsocket back in the 80s, and remember it all too well. Our conversation includes: Fine Woonsocket dining (weiners and coffee milk, fish and chips, egg rolls and jazz), movies at the Stadium Theatre and Cinemas 1-2-3 (and 4), thrift shopping at the flea market and Joe's Moldy Oldies, Pac-Man at Pizza Hut, Donkey Kong Junior at Social Donut, crazy Rhode Island cable TV shows, the majesty of Autumnfest, and lots more northern Rhode Island weirdness. (When you've had enough, you can slip right over the border to Massachusetts. It's pretty weird there too.) Check out Kevin Cafferty's podcasts: 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: |
Sun, 26 September 2021
The subject of today's Top 4 1/2 List is, uh, whistling. We're still not sure why. But it's a fun list, including a classic TV theme song, a Bangles song, a bizarre Boston clown, a Muppet, a Guardian of the Galaxy, and lots more whistling weirdness. (We somehow missed the Frosty the Snowman traffic cop who swallows his whistle. Oops.) And we assure you, this show contains no actual whistling, so you may proceed with confidence. Your dog won't freak out. Also: National Drink Beer Day is this week! So go ahead and wet your whistle. Or your whistlepig. Your choice. 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, 19 September 2021
Our ten-part celebration of the 80s concludes, just as the 80s did, with 1989. Top 40 radio was ruled by Milli Vanilli, the New Kids, and hair metal. It was a problem. But at least we had telepathic Australian dolphins, thanks to Kornflake's favorite short-lived TV show, Dolphin Cove. Kornflake also has a list of celebrities who showed up for 1989's Circus of the Stars. (Was the cast of Growing Pains mauled by a tiger? Hey, we can dream...) And we're celebrating the 50th birthday of Alfonso Ribeiro, star of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Silver Spoons, and goofy breakdancing ads. Also: Chickens in the News brings us all the way to a New Zealand preschool, where the safety of the children has been entrusted to a clueless hen. We approve. Kevin's defense of Legends of the Superheroes in Classic Sci-Fi Court! 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: |
Sun, 12 September 2021
Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown are back from Atlanta with a full report on DragonCon, where they joined all the masked and vaccinated nerds for a long silly Labor Day weekend. They had a busy schedule of panels, presentations, and events, and our discussion includes: The Suicide Squad, Smallville, Doctor Who, Pennyworth, DragonCon mead, Saturday Morning Live Roll-a-Panel, Classic Sci-Fi Court, burrito detectors, Fargo, John Scalzi, Louis Gossett Jr., Howard the Duck ribbons, The Geek Girls Run, A Discovery of Witches, The Justice Society of America, the Battle of the Fictional Bands, pizza pie with Kate from Strange Animals Podcast, Kevin's Digital Media panel mishap, and a million Loki variants everywhere you look. But the highlight for us was spending time onstage and offstage with Land of the Lost's original Will and Holly, Wesley Eure and Kathleen Coleman. (And an actual Sleestak too!) Hopefully the world will be less horrifying in time for DragonCon 2022, but meanwhile the geeks figured out how to make it work. Also this week: Happy Birthday to Amy Poehler, and the only part of 1988 that Kornflake remembers is Kylie Minogue. 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, 5 September 2021
Our ten-part celebration of the 80s brings us back to 1987 this week. For most of us, 1987 means Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise... and that's all. But the year had even more to offer, if you poke around enough. So first we take a quick look at the Billboard chart from this week in 1987, and find more questions than answers: Did Diane Warren write every hit song in the 1980s, or just most of them? Who had better hair, Richard Marx or the guy from Europe? And can most of society's ills be blamed on Starship? Then we examine the TV shows that debuted in 1987, and it's quite a list. Some long-running shows got started, such as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Full House, and Married... with Children. (The entire Fox Network started this year, actually, including those crude early Simpsons shorts...) Then there's the short-lived weird stuff: Max Headroom, My Two Dads, Beauty and the Beast, The Charmings, Out of This World (this is the one with the alien girl, not the robot girl), Roomies (Burt Young and Corey Haim, together at last), The Highwayman (Flash Gordon as a futuristic trucker), She's the Sheriff (Suzanne Somers as... you know), and lots more. Next week we'll be back from Atlanta to report on every crazy thing that happened at DragonCon. Meanwhile, enjoy 1987. Say hi to Debbie and Tiffany for us. 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, 29 August 2021
DragonCon, our very favorite annual gathering of the geeks, was a virtual-only event last year. But this year we're creeping back down to Atlanta and doing it for real! It'll be (mostly) business as usual: five days of nonstop panels, concerts, gaming, costumes, and all manner of nerdy fun. Celebrity guests include actors from Doctor Who, Star Trek, Smallville, Batwoman, Pinky and the Brain, Superman and Lois, and (our favorite) Land of the Lost. Safety protocols are in place, so if you're masked, vaccinated, and know how to play well with others, come on down. Kevin will be busy again this year with lots of silly panels and presentations, and we run through his whole schedule. (Warning: Since this episode was recorded, that schedule has already changed. Check our social media posts for the corrected version.) And we have new Flopcast badge ribbons for you too! (Also on this week's episode: Television of 1986, the Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon, and Barry Gibb's beard.) See you at DragonCon! Beware of Sleestak. And, you know, everything else. 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, 22 August 2021
Our ten-episode salute to the 80s creeps along with a quick look at the pop chart from this week in 1985! Dire Straits were computer-animated movers, Phil Collins was an Ocasek-style housefly, Wham met a weird kid in China, and Casey Kasem was very angry about the Pointer Sisters. Then we flip through a summer 1985 issue of Mad magazine, featuring a movie parody (Witness), a TV parody (Kate & Allie), a song parody (We Are the World), hippies vs. yuppies, Beta vs. VHS, Don Martin vs. the Boston Celtics, and lots of cartoon naked people. Also this week: For the first time in a million years, we sneaked out of our underground Chickentown bunker for some actual live music! We were double-masked and socially distant, but we attended the long-delayed album release show from our favorite synthpop band, Freezepop! (Also performing were impressive local metal band Worshipper and our glam rock heroes Sidewalk Driver!) Plus: Stifler's mom's birthday, more Suicide Squad talk with Earth Station DCU, and the Flopcast couch-to-5K-to-intense-pain training program. More Suicide Squad talk on Earth Station DCU! 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: |
Sun, 15 August 2021
Welcome to our TENTH annual summer robot Top 4 1/2 List! (It's an odd tradition, but it's all we have.) This year's theme is... 80s robots. Of course, lots of notable 80s robots have appeared on previous lists, so they're not included this time (sorry, Johnny 5) to make room for some all-new, all-weird entries. We have robots from 80s cartoons, 80s television, 80s movies, 80s commercials, and even a bizarre 80s PSA from Canada. In the 1980s, robots were completely ridiculous, and we loved them, so let's count them down. Also: The music and movies of 1984, Earth Station One's review of The Suicide Squad, and nerds on a roller coaster. Earth Station One reviews The Suicide Squad! 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: |
Sun, 8 August 2021
We're celebrating 1983, which the history books already call "the year of Mr. Roboto, and not much else." But we did notice that a bunch of actors who played comic book characters (Spider-Man, Thor, Superman, Lois, Luthor, Wonder Woman, and more) were born that year. And we run through some our favorite 1983 movies (DC Cab, The Outsiders, Wargames), 1983 comics books (Batman and the Outsiders, Omega Men, Alpha Flight), and 1983 music (new wave, new wave, and new wave). Also: The Kiss guys take the makeup off, the Teen Titans replace Robin with the Protector, Kornflake rides a party bus to Hooters, and we have questions about the anatomy of the Kool-Aid Man. 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, 1 August 2021
We're up to 1982 in our series of 80s-themed episodes, and it's time to review another Facts of Life backdoor pilot! This one looks eerily similar to a previous backdoor pilot, as the boys of Stone Academy get another shot at a spinoff series! But this time instead of a school dance, the plot involves a school boxing tournament. (Back in 1982, viewers probably thought they were watching Rocky III.) And the cast has been expanded to include a pretty nurse, a scary kid named Mongo (probably working for Ming the Merciless), a cameo by (then unknown) Crispin Glover, and 80s supernerd Eddie Deezen! (You know Eddie from Grease, Wargames, and a billion other things. He out-nerds us all.) Did it all work? Of course not. But it's magnificent. Also: 80s trivia with the ESO Network Board of Directors, and Happy Birthday to Tootie's real life mom. Next week: 1983. Of course. 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, 25 July 2021
Our ten-part series about the 1980s continues with a look at all the TV shows that debuted in 1981! Prime time soaps were on the rise (Dynasty, Falcon Crest), the Six Million Dollar Man became the Fall Guy, and Hill Street Blues premiered alongside 600 other (instantly forgotten) detective shows. We had a Brady Bunch spin-off (with Marcia, Jan, and their goofy husbands), a Jeffersons spin-off (Florence gets her own show... for a month), and an almost-but-not-quite Little House on the Prairie spin-off (the even-weirder-in-retrospect Father Murphy). Only one long-running sitcom started in 1981, and it was... Gimme a Break! (Congratulations to Ms. Carter and Mr. Sweet.) Love, Sidney and Private Benjamin lasted a couple of years, which isn't bad compared to the stuff only Kevin remembers, like Best of the West and Open All Night. Then there were some truly obscure short-lived oddities starring Gabe Kaplan, Sam Jones, and the Smothers Brothers. It was a weird year, but that's how we like it. And we give special attention to our favorite 1981 series, The Greatest American Hero. Kornflake saw the extra-long pilot episode for the first time just this week. Believe it or not. 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, 18 July 2021
We're kicking off ten weeks of 80s-themed shows... because when do we ever get to talk about the 80s around here? And this week we're looking at the year 1980. It was the year that brought us Flash Gordon, Caddyshack, Pac-Man, the Rubik's Cube, and a cheater in the Boston Marathon. (Some of us also cheated at the Rubik's Cube...) We also review the Billboard pop chart for this week in 1980, and find Billy Joel's first number one song, a couple of Xanadu favorites from Olivia and ELO, country rock from Eddie Rabbitt, early new wave from Gary Numan, and just a massive heap of yacht rock. (So... much... Ambrosia.) Also this week: Taskmaster is a Black Widow villain AND Kornflake's favorite game show; Baby Yoda is a Chia Pet; and Happy Birthday to our favorite Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter. All the world is waiting for you. More Flopcast 1980 talk! Kevin and the Mayor covered new 1980 TV shows in Flopcast 408 and 409! And Kevin and Kornflake reviewed 1980 Saturday morning TV in Flopcast 417, 419, and 421! 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: |
Sun, 11 July 2021
With the long-delayed release of Black Widow this week, many humans finally returned to actual movie theaters, where the $14 boxes of Raisinets had been waiting patiently since last year. Meanwhile Kevin and Kornflake are flopping back to 35 years ago, when the only Marvel movie in theaters was... Howard the Duck. We run through a big crazy list of movies from 1986, including some all-time favorites (Stand by Me, Karate Kid Part II), science fiction classics (Aliens, Star Trek IV), fantasy classics (Big Trouble in Little China, Labyrinth), and random oddities (Maximum Overdrive, My Chauffeur). The Brat Pack was out of control, Molly was pretty in pink, Kevin Bacon was a bike messenger, Jeff Goldblum was a fly, Johnny 5 was alive, Rodney went back to school, Ferris did not, Peggy Sue got married, and Audrey II just wanted to be fed. Yikes. In 1986, the only time we left the theater was when the government forced us to participate in Hands Across America. Also this week: Kornflake brings you... the Weird Eyeball Game. Talk to your favorite optician before playing. 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, 4 July 2021
Just some miscellaneous silly talk this week, including: Kickball with Kornflake; cursing your enemies with R2D2 ceramics; TV talk (we recommend Girls5eva, Rutherford Falls, We Are Lady Parts, and This Way Up); punk rock with The Linda Lindas; crazy screaming peacocks; fun with a giant book of 80s pop chart stats; fun with Wallace and Gromit on Earth Station One; Happy Birthday to the kid from One Day at a Time and Jennifer Slept Here; and after an entire year (!), as demanded by absolutely no one... the return of Chickens in the News. Kornflake talking Wallace and Gromit on Earth Station One! 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: |
Sun, 27 June 2021
Kevin and Kornflake are enjoying the new comic book-based Netflix show Sweet Tooth (we like hybrids), and we have an entire "sweet"-themed Top 4 1/2 List just for you. Our list includes cheap Halloween candy (of course), as well as a Sweet sitcom star, a cartoon dog, 90s music, a giant Muppet, and lots more silly sweet stuff. Your dentist will hate this episode. (Except for the part about Air Supply, based on the music they play in their waiting room.) Also: We have a major correction from last week (sorry, Family Ties star Michael Gross), we've seen a combined total of two Mel Brooks movies (are you impressed?), and we've been hanging around the DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track again. Flopcast Train Talk with Ed! Part 1 and Part 2 American Sci-Fi Classics panels: 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: |
Sun, 20 June 2021
For the first time in a billion years, we have actual live human guests at Chickentown Studios! (Remember talking to people not on Zoom? Yeah, it's weird.) Brittany and Martha are here, from our sister podcast But First, Let's Talk Nerdy! We're celebrating their first year of podcasting by recalling some of the silliest moments in But First, Let's Talk Nerdy history. Including: The Coast Guard vs. the Sea Police, Archie vs. Gumby, eating your twin, fake movie blood recipes, squished pennies, Luna the Dragon, Rudolph bleeps, disturbing kangaroo videos, the man in your ceiling, and an impromptu Britney Spears parody about an evil wrinkly purple guy. So crack open a hard seltzer (we sure did) and hop aboard this train to Memory City (what?) before our favorite nerdy girls head back to Vegas. (Hey, Kevin is a guest on their show this week too! And before you ask: Yes, of course we talk about sentient pants.) Also: Kornflake is here with National Whatever Day, and she has some startling Family Ties trivia. Sha la la la. But First, Let's Talk Nerdy Episode 55 - Kevin joins Brittany and Martha for a cryptid-themed show! 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: |
Sun, 13 June 2021
Yes, we're still examining every "backdoor pilot" episode of The Facts of Life, and we've arrived at "Jo's Cousin," which features, you know, Jo's cousin. She's 14-year-old aspiring mechanic Terry, played by the star of Kornflake's beloved Anne of Green Gables! We also meet Terry's angry father (you know him from Soap and Battlestar Galactica), her goofy brothers (including the star of Meatballs Part II), and their creepy friend (from the creepy classic Hardbodies). Armed with a Laura Ingalls dress and makeup advice from Blair, Terry arrives at her birthday dinner, everybody freaks out, and hilarity sort of ensues. Did this episode launch a successful spin-off series? Of course not. But do we love it anyway? You bet. Also discussed along the way: Jo vs. Amtrak, short-lived Italian family sitcoms (Mama Malone, The Tortellis, The Fanelli Boys), Birdie the Early Bird, mailing your children, and the horrors of early 80s frozen pizza. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation! |
Sun, 6 June 2021
We'd been meaning to do a roller-skating-themed show for years, and it's finally here, in convenient Top 4 1/2 List format! We're listing our favorite roller-skating scenes and characters from movies and TV of the last half century. Plenty of skating humans, of course, but also some goofy Hanna Barbera skating birds, and one big weird wildebeest who is absolutely a zoo animal on wheels. And if you think there's a chance we forgot to include a certain Facts of Life girl, this must be your very first Flopcast. Welcome. Time to lace up those stupid skates, hit your favorite rink, and wander in circles all night like it's 1983. Birthday girl Bonnie Tyler will supply an appropriate soundtrack, and Dazzler (the roller-disco queen of Marvel Comics) has a mutant-powered light show just for you. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 30 May 2021
As a follow-up to our recent look at the Boston music scene of the 80s, let's move on to the 90s! And let's also move slightly south, to Rhode Island! (State motto: We're tiny, but we're also quite odd.) Another special guest is here too: filmmaker (It's a Bash!), podcaster (Gleaming the Tube), and longtime friend of the Flopcast Kevin Cafferty! Kevin and Kevin (this is gonna get confusing) both spent the 90s lurking around the filthy rock clubs of Providence, and recall long crazy nights at places like The Living Room, The Strand, Club Babyhead, and Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel. We saw a million local punk bands, spent time with several soon-to-be-famous performers (Green Day, Joan Osborne, Elliott Smith), and attended some ridiculously 1990s concerts (Spice Girls, No Doubt, Better Than Ezra). Meanwhile Kornflake was a couple of states away, figuring out how to sneak into Barenaked Ladies shows. Also: Late nights at Haven Brothers Diner (serving non-sober Rhode Islanders since 1893); Kevin Cafferty in a John Cafferty music video; Weird Al all alone on a Rhode Island roller coaster; and the mysterious connection between Rob Liefeld, The Aquabats, and Kenny G. Gleaming the Tube is Kevin and Mike's podcast about skateboarding in movies! There is indeed a movie about Providence's legendary Haven Brothers Diner! "Small Town Girl" by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band - with Kevin Cafferty cameo! 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! |
Sun, 23 May 2021
If you were a 70s/80s kid who wanted to know what was really going on, you ordered Dynamite magazine through your school book club. Today we're flipping through the December 1979 issue of Dynamite, with Steve Martin on the cover. And hey, Steve's first (and come on, best) movie The Jerk premiered that same month! Which 70s celebrity did Steve enjoy playing horseshoes with? The answer will shock you. Also in this issue of Dynamite: world record grape-catching; disgusting popcorn beverages; Hollywood gossip about Superman, Miss Piggy, Kiss, and Erik Estrada; disco vs. rock; how to levitate with Magic Wanda; an especially lame batch of Dynamite Bummers; and lots more late 70s silliness. Also: The ESO Network's Doctor Geek has a new vaccination PSA, Kevin AND Kornflake are talking science fiction dogs with the American Sci-Fi Classics Track, rare video from the Sid and Marty Krofft theme park has resurfaced, Baby Yoda is a Chia Pet, and Happy Birthday to Paul Bettany (aka Vision in a turkey suit). Kevin and Kornflake together at last on a Classics Track panel, to discuss DOGS IN SCIENCE FICTION! The long lost Krofft theme park documentary! 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! |
Sun, 16 May 2021
Happy Anniversary to us! (If you can hear Barney Rubble singing, our work is done.) We've been Flopcasting for nine long silly years, and we're celebrating with a special guest: Earth Station One co-host (and Tiki Zombie writer/publisher) Mike Gordon! Mike is from Massachusetts just like us, so we discuss growing up around the Boston music scene. Including: Boston radio (the Top 40 of Kiss 108 vs. The Rock of Boston, WBCN); our early concert experiences (were Kevin and Mike at the same concert way back in 1987, and was a giant robot there too?); the 70s Boston bands that conquered the world (Aerosmith, J. Geils, The Cars, and you know, Boston); the 80s music video era (experienced pre-cable through Friday Night Videos, obscure UHF shows, and our beloved V-66); the alt-rock scene of the 90s, when the women took over (Juliana Hatfield, Letters to Cleo, Belly); and our Boston favorites these days (such as Freezepop, Sidewalk Driver, and Carissa Johnson). Also: New stuff in the ESO Network TeePublic store from our sister podcast But First, Let's Talk Nerdy, and Kornflake reminds us that it's a very good idea to drink with chickens. Find Mike Gordon on Earth Station One, Earth Station Who, and The DragonCon Report! Tiki Zombie and more from Mike at New Legend Productions! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 9 May 2021
Our ongoing analysis of every "backdoor pilot" episode of The Facts of Life continues, and we're creeping back to March 1982. "Pac-Man Fever" was on the radio, Porky's ruled the box office, and our Facts of Life girls met the boys at Stone Academy. The plan was to launch a spinoff series set at this military school. That didn't happen, of course, despite a strong cast of young actors from 70s/80s classics like The Bad News Bears, Silver Spoons, James at 16, Soap, Jennifer Slept Here, and Kornflake's beloved Combat Academy. Will one of the boys sneak out of the big dance with Blair and squish into Mrs. Garrett's tiny VW Bug? And then will absolutely nothing happen? Let's find out. Also: Happy Birthday to Facts of Life stars Mackenzie Astin (Andy) AND Kim Fields (Tootie)! (By the way, Tootie's giant fancy dress from this episode deserved its own backdoor pilot.) Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 2 May 2021
Time for some bike talk, because spring is here, and we've taken to the mean streets of Chickentown on our shiny new bikes, like Kevin Bacon in Quicksilver and Nicole Kidman in BMX Bandits. We're not quite as accessorized as Pee Wee Herman, but hopefully we'll find some goofy license plates in our next box of Honey Comb cereal. Also: Our first vaccination appointments somehow involved turkeys and kangaroos; National Cartoonists Day has us pondering the weirdness of Heathcliff; the ESO Network Board of Directors is bored silly about The Love Boat (you're welcome!); and Happy Anniversary to our sister podcast But First, Let's Talk Nerdy, where they've been furious about the Marvel Cinematic Universe for an entire year. But First, Let's Talk Nerdy anniversary rant episodes 50-M and 50-B! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 25 April 2021
Time to wrap up our latest exciting and stupid FlopFight tournament! Only one member of the Love Boat cast shall survive! Your classic Love Boat crew is here, of course, including Isaac the bartender, Julie the cruise director, and Gopher the... whatever it is that Gopher does. A few lesser known characters get to play too, including stars from Happy Days, Spenser: For Hire, and, uh, Blame It on Rio. And because it's a FlopFight, things get a little weird, and the competition also involves superheroes, variety shows, robots, and kangaroos. Once again we're joined by your ship's DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track Director, Joe Crowe! Hey, maybe Joe will favor us with another impression of Tattoo from Fantasy Island! It's the Love Boat, kids, and all your crazy piña colada-fueled dreams are coming true. DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track on Facebook and YouTube! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 18 April 2021
Come aboard, we're expecting you for a Love Boat edition of our ridiculous tournament, the FlopFight! And we're joined by a special guest who knows a thing or two about ridiculous tournaments: DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track Director Joe Crowe! With Joe on board, we'll figure out which Pacific Princess crew member will survive to celebrate on the Aloha deck with a 1970s cocktail from Isaac's bar. Captain Stubing is an easy favorite, of course -- a respected commander, despite the silly white shorts. But perhaps the Captain's daughter Vicki can sneak in with a surprise victory. And let's not forget... the Charo factor. Anything goes in a FlopFight, so Gopher only knows what's gonna happen. This week's winner advances to the final round next week. Set a course for adventure and join us. Just don't let any weird celebrity guests into your cabin. DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track on Facebook and YouTube! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 11 April 2021
It's another "66" episode, which always reminds us of V66, Boston's late great 1980s music video channel. (You've all seen the documentary Life on the V, right? RIGHT?) This time we decided to party like it's 1985 and watch a bunch of music videos from the V66 era. If you want to jump on YouTube and watch along with us, VJ Kornflake's playlist is: "Obsession" by Animotion, "Invincible" by Pat Benatar, "Live is Life" by Opus (???), "Dancing on the Ceiling" by Lionel Richie, "Goonies R Good Enough" by Cyndi Lauper, and "A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran. Or just relax and enjoy our idiotic commentary. V66 didn't last long; it was soon replaced by the Home Shopping Network, because Bostonians desperately needed cubic zirconia. But we'll keep staring at these goofy videos forever, even if Rowdy Roddy Piper only appears in some of them. Also this week: Comic book trivia with Earth Station One, a DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track panel about rabbits (?), and Happy Birthday to 80s naughty girl Samantha Fox. The V66 documentary, Life on the V! Eric's latest short documentary, Video Visions! Kevin is back on Earth Station One for comic book trivia! The American Sci-Fi Classics Track bunny panel! VJ Kornflake's 1985 music video playlist: "Dancing on the Ceiling" by Lionel Richie "Goonies R Good Enough" by Cyndi Lauper "A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran 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! |
Sun, 4 April 2021
For no good reason, the name "Johnny" is the subject of our latest Top 4 1/2 List. (Has it been a slow week around here? What do you think?) We have characters named Johnny from movies, TV, songs, and even more goofy DC comic books. There might even be a robot on the list, since Ally Sheedy assures us that Johnny 5 is very much alive. Plus: Dueling Johnny songs from Chuck Berry and Men at Work, dueling Johnny songs from El DeBarge and "Weird Al" Yankovic, Greg Brady vs. Johnny Bravo, Charlie the Tuna vs. Mr. Peanut (?), and more. Did we miss your favorite Johnny? Let us know! The best way to reach us is by canal. Just ask Johnny Canal. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 28 March 2021
Our examination of every "backdoor pilot" episode of The Facts of Life continues... because we know what the people want. "Brian and Sylvia" was an odd 1981 attempt at a Facts of Life spinoff series. The premise: Tootie's Aunt Sylvia is a Buffalo TV news anchor, and Brian is her husband, a hockey coach played by pre-MacGyver Richard Dean Anderson. So if you're looking for early 80s mixed-marriage jokes that have not aged particularly well, this sitcom delivers the goods. Our conversation somehow also includes Willona from Good Times, the short-lived Sanford and Son spinoff Grady, a weird Thanksgiving at Plimoth Plantation, suffering through Godspell in junior high, and Tootie's aunt as a space princess on Jason of Star Command. Also: Kornflake is on Earth Station One (to discuss The Commitments), Kevin is on The DragonCon Report (to discuss, you know, DragonCon), and it's World Backup Day. So back up. Kornflake on Earth Station One! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 21 March 2021
Quick show this week (because we're exhausted), including: Kornflake at virtual MarsCon; Kornflake and Kevin in a silly new music video (from Power Salad and the great Luke Ski); baseball, blues, and spider movies with William Shatner; old TV talk (Facts of Life, Leave It to Beaver); new TV talk (WandaVision, Ted Lasso, Taskmaster); and for the first time in eight years, Kevin was right about something. MarsCon Comedy Music Track: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! "Red Beans and Rice" video by Power Salad and Luke Ski (with a cameo by your goofy Flopcast hosts)! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 14 March 2021
For more than 80 years, DC Comics has brought us legends like Wonder Woman and Batman... as well as sillier characters like Kite Man and Bat Mite. There's a long rich history of goofy characters at DC, and we love them all. So that's the subject of our latest Top 4 1/2 List: goofy DC characters. And we invited an expert to play along: Drew, co-host of the Earth Station DCU podcast! Our goofy list includes some Bat-villains, of course, as well as a crime-fighting chimpanzee, a teen president, a hippie mannequin, dogs in space, cab drivers in space, and more. This could have been a Top 400 List, because we didn't even get around to Matter Eater Lad, Mr. Tawky Tawny, Quisp, Bird-Boy, Mer-Boy, and all the residents of the Bizarro World. In fact, this episode just might go on forever... unless you can trick us into saying "Kltpzyxm." Drew and Cletus talk DC Comics every week on Earth Station DCU! 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! |
Sun, 7 March 2021
Twenty years ago, Kevin and Kornflake first visited the great state of Michigan for the comedy music convention Dementia 2001! (Kevin's band The Sponge Awareness Foundation performed, then quickly returned to their rightful place in total obscurity.) And our guest this week is the organizer of Dementia 2001, our old friend Blasted Bill! We're talking weird Michigan trivia with Bill, and the conversation includes the invention of breakfast cereal (all thanks to Cornelius the Corn Flakes rooster), fun with soda (or "pop," as the locals call it), Yoopers vs. Trolls, a post office that floats, painted turtles, angry dentists, Freaks and Geeks, Dave Coulier, and lots more Upper Midwest silliness. Blasted Bill is largely responsible for The Flopcast even existing (though he's understandably reluctant to admit it), so we're happy he could join us and help Michiganify the show. (Here's one more fun fact just for you: Michigan is not actually the most mitten-shaped state. That honor goes to Wyoming. Assuming you have freakish rectangle-hands. And we think you do.) Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation! |
Sun, 28 February 2021
"The Backs of Life" is our stupid new project for the stupid new year! The plan is to examine each "backdoor pilot" episode of The Facts of Life in excruciating detail. (You know backdoor pilots. It's when an episode of an existing TV show is used to introduce a potential new spin-off show. This happened on The Facts of Life... a lot.) But we're starting with a 1979 episode of Diff'rent Strokes (season 1, episode 24, "The Girls School"), because The Facts of Life itself started there as a backdoor pilot. Thrill to Mrs. Garrett making the move from housekeeper (for a rich dude) to housemother (for a bunch of crazy girls). We meet some future Facts of Life regulars (Blair with a cigarette! Tootie on rollerskates! MOLLY RINGWALD!), some girls we'd never see again (Jennifer? Laura?), and a headmaster played by the cranky guy from The Bob Newhart Show. We also get generic disco music, a frog named Leon, Dana Plato as a ballerina (sort of), Gary Coleman in a donkey costume, and another mysterious Fake Brady Girl connection. Also: More TV talk with ESO Board Silly, more Rock and Roll Hall of Fame talk with Pop Culture Cosmos, Happy 100th Episode to The 42cast, and Happy Birthday to a Cobra Kai sensei. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation! |
Sun, 21 February 2021
Inspired by the discovery of some ancient Sponge Awareness Foundation music, we're flashing back to the very early 90s - specifically, this week in February 1990. Top 40 radio was dominated by pop/R&B ladies like Janet Jackson, Expose, and (along with our hero MC Skat Kat) Paula Abdul. At the movies, your options ranged all the way from Clive Barker horror to a Disney mermaid. And a weird week of television included a Love Boat reunion movie (with Rowdy Roddy Piper!), a very special Saturday Night Live (Wayne and Garth meet Aerosmith!), episode six of The Simpsons (introducing Bleeding Gums Murphy!), and a bizarre Brady Bunch revival (with Martha Quinn and Fake Marcia!). Our beloved 1980s were just a few weeks behind us, but there was no turning back. Before long, we'd settle into a steady diet of Crystal Pepsi and Zima, and hope for the best. Also: We unveil a Flopcast project that starts next week and includes a homework assignment for you. (Most homework assignments do not involve goofy old sitcoms, but this one totally does.) Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 14 February 2021
Longtime Flopcast listeners (those poor souls) know that every year we examine the new list of nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, even though it's stupid. But this year's list is surprisingly strong and diverse, and includes some Flopcast favorites. (Our beloved Go-Go's are way overdue for induction. And as society collapses right on schedule, we must acknowledge Devo. They warned us.) And hey, Tina Turner had better make the final cut, or we'll see you in the Thunderdome. Also: William Katt has a greatest American birthday, the Mayor of Chickentown returns to Oz, and the retro video game-style Flopcast t-shirt is suddenly a thing that exists. The American Sci-Fi Classics Return to Oz panel, with the Mayor of Chickentown! The ESO Network TeePublic store has a new Flopcast t-shirt! 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! |
Sun, 7 February 2021
Let's wrap up our Facts of Life FlopFight, the tournament that somehow captures all the excitement of a girls' school and/or a gourmet food shop. Our combatants include the classic four Facts of Life girls (Blair, Jo, Natalie, Tootie), the lesser known Facts of Life girls (if you can possibly consider Molly Ringwald "lesser known"), and even a couple of Facts of Life guys (one of whom may have become a huge movie star). Only one shall survive; for the rest, the world never seems to be living up to their dreams. And because it's a FlopFight, this tournament involves chicken suits, submarines, candlepin bowling, ducks, and other perfectly normal competitions. Also: Happy Birthday to a Canadian pop star, Kornflake makes her DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track panel debut, and we say farewell to the legendary Cloris Leachman. And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 31 January 2021
Our latest FlopFight brings us to Peekskill, New York, home of (in '80s sitcom land, at least) Eastland School for Girls, Langley College, Edna's Edibles, and Over Our Heads. Yes, this is a Facts of Life FlopFight. We're taking the good, taking the bad, and putting the Facts of Life cast through a series of bizarre competitions in a silly tournament of our own design. Will Blair come out on top, thanks to another one of her brilliant ideas? Will Tootie roller-skate her way to victory? Let's find out. Also: Happy Birthday to the star of Kornflake's favorite goofy made-for-TV movie! Kevin is on Earth Station One to discuss the Justice Society of America! Kornflake and Jacob's album (appropriately titled I Don't Know What You're Talking About!) is now on Bandcamp! And their songs can also be heard on Manic Mondays and the MarsCon Comedy Music Track fundraiser album! Next week: Our competition continues, as suddenly we're finding out that this FlopFight is all about you. Kevin is back on Earth Station One to discuss the Justice Society of America! Hear a Kornflake and Jacob song on Manic Mondays episode 710! Kornflake and Jacob's album is now available on Bandcamp! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 24 January 2021
Let's flip through another old issue of Dynamite, the magazine all the cool kids of the 70s and 80s faithfully ordered through the school book club. (Ah, the book club... the reason your teacher had to spend half the day counting nickels...) And for no particular reason, we're looking at a 1980 issue with a cover story about Benji ("Hollywood's Top Dog"). At this time Benji was starring in a Chevy Chase movie, but would soon conquer Saturday morning TV with the bizarre dog-robot-alien series Benji, Zax & the Alien Prince. Also in this issue: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, The Fonz, Erik Estrada, Cheap Trick, Dynamite Bummers, and the true (?) story of a sea monster vs. a chicken. Plus: "What's in the Bag" makes our Kenny Rogers dreams come true, Kornflake almost fronts a cover band for a certain 80s superstar, Kevin meets a sleepy hot dog vendor, and the DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track gives us another excuse to scream about The Cat from Outer Space. Links: Another weird American Sci-Fi Classics panel: Cats in Science Fiction! Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 17 January 2021
Okay, let's wrap up our 2020 memorial list, with everyone we lost in the second half of the longest year in history. (As with last week's show, strong beverages are strongly recommended.) Including (and this isn't the whole list): Our skeptic hero (James "The Amazing" Randi), professional old dude Wilford Brimley, the creators of Scooby Doo (Joe Ruby and Ken Spears), the Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), a Mythbuster (Grant Imahara), a Bond girl (Diana Rigg), an actual Bond (Sean Connery), a bunch of classic musicians (from Fleetwood Mac, Kool and the Gang, Van Halen, The Outfield, and Midnight Oil), a couple of classic Star Wars actors (David Prowse and Jeremy Bulloch), a Gilligan's Island castaway (Dawn Wells), and... Squiggy. Plus: Kevin pesters an NBA legend and juggles Spam for Regis Philbin, Kornflake may have thrown a camcorder in a washing machine, and we recall the margarine wars of the 1970s. Because it's not nice to fool Mother Nature. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 10 January 2021
Have a strong beverage standing by, because it's that time again. The Mayor of Chickentown joins Kevin and Kornflake as we recall everyone we lost in 2020, from the world of pop culture and beyond. This is a long list, including members of Monty Python, Rush, and the Pointer Sisters; the actors behind Leave It to Beaver's Eddie Haskell, Flash Gordon's Ming the Merciless, and Wonder Woman's Steve Trevor; the legendary Little Richard; and the funniest guy in the history of everything, Fred Willard. And don't worry, we didn't forget the voice of Cindy Bear, the singer of The Jeffersons theme song, the puppeteer of the Caddyshack gopher, and the president of the Hair Club for Men. And this show only covers the first half of the year. By the time we're done next week, you'll have a big gray beard, just like the late, great Kenny Rogers. Kevin will be a panelist at (virtual) Arisia, January 15-18! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 3 January 2021
Just in time for Cobra Kai season 3, Kevin and Kornflake take a quick spoiler-free look at seasons 1 and 2! Of course we're longtime Karate Kid fans, so we're waxing on and off about Billy Zabka (not just an 80s bully anymore), Ralph Macchio (who somehow hasn't aged since the first movie), the All Valley Tournament, Golf N' Stuff, Bananarama pancakes (it's a cruel, cruel breakfast), the Facts of Life/Karate Kid connection, and why we're naming a Boston subway station after Hilary Swank. And when you're caught up on all this Cobra Kai/Miyagi-Do action, we recommend a few more shows (about Tasmanian real estate agents, Irish schoolgirls, and crazy kids from Brockton, Massachusetts). Also, we watched a certain new movie on Christmas day, and we have a question about Wonder Woman and Waldenbooks. From Donkeys to Otters: Christmas Gets Weird (American Sci-Fi Classics panel) Earth Station DCU Episode 220: Wonder Woman 1984 And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 27 December 2020
It's our final show of 2020, so let's look back at the BEST YEAR EVER. Okay, maybe it wasn't... but we still managed to keep our goofy show flopping along by Zoom every week. (Of course we miss having Kornflake live in Chickentown Studios... but on the other hand, we're saving a fortune on coffee...) As the stupid year wraps up, we reflect on our convention appearances (all from the beginning of the year, wonder why), our podcast guests (huh, our most frequent - and most bleeped - guests were a couple of nerdy girls), and all our silly Flopcast segments (National Whatever Day, Chickens in the News, The Top 4 1/2 List, What's in the Bag, The Pudding Pages, FlopFight, Capes or Apes, and of course, new for 2020... Trapped in the House). And since it's become a beloved Flopcast tradition, we also reveal our New Year's Resolutions! (Kornflake came up with a good one. Kevin's will shock you.) So hang in there and keep being festive, kids. See you in 2021. Prepare to giggle. Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
Sun, 20 December 2020
Like an unwanted box of ribbon candy from your great-aunt, here's an assortment of holiday (and non-holiday) weirdness, just for you. Flopcast superfan Arturo has another amazing "What's in the Bag" for us (and yes, chickens are involved); Flopcast superfan Lee reminds us to celebrate the career of wrestling's biggest baldest bad guy, King Kong Bundy; original Kiss drummer Peter Criss turns 75 this week (so sorry, Beth, he'll probably be out late again); the DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track recommends funny holiday songs (including singing dogs, Christmas chickens, a new one from Whitney Avalon, a classic from Niki Luparelli, and maybe a little Sponge Awareness Foundation); and our epic holiday podcast crossover event concludes with But First, Let's Talk Nerdy episode 34, as Kevin joins Martha and Brittany to scream about Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. Razzleberry dressing not included. But First, Let's Talk Nerdy episode 34 - a Flopcast crossover event! American Sci-Fi Classics Funny Holiday Songs panel! Whitney Avalon's (explicit!) new Christmas song, "WTF 2020?!" A special Christmas wish (also explicit!) from Niki Luparelli! And our regular links... Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net |
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