After Lunch

A Christmas Carol week concludes with Michael talking with his brother Mark about the irreverent remake, Scrooged, starring Bill Murray, Karen Allen, Alfre Woodard, Bobcat Goldthwait, Carol Kane, and a bunch of other stars. As with the rest of this week's adaptation discussions, this originally aired on the former Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast.

A Christmas Carol week continues with another old Sleigh Bell Cinema discussion. This time Michael and Paxton Holley triple the run time of the movie they're talking about when they dig into the short Mickey's Christmas Carol starring a plethora of Disney characters in the various Dickens roles.

Christmas Carol week continues (and we hit Episode 75 of the podcast) with another Sleigh Bell Cinema discussion about one of the world's favorite Christmas Carol adaptations: The Muppet Christmas Carol starring Michael Caine as Scrooge. This was the very first episode of Sleigh Bell Cinema and featured frequent Nerd Lunch and AfterLunch guest Mike Westfall, whose Advent Calendar House podcast was a direct inspiration for Sleigh Bell Cinema in the first place.

A Christmas Carol Week continues with another re-run from Michael's old Sleigh Bell Cinema show. This time Michael and his wife Diane talk about the TV musical The Stingiest Man in Town starring Basil Rathbone as Scrooge. And if you'd like to hear Michael talk about the '70s Rankin-Bass animated remake starring Walter Matthau and Tom Bosley, be sure to check out his guest appearance on Mike Westfall's Advent Calendar House podcast.

A Christmas Carol week continues with this re-run from Michael's former Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast. Michael talks with Carlin Trammel about one of their favorite Christmas Carol adaptations: Clive Donner's TV movie from 1984 starring George C Scott.

Michael and Rob welcome new guest Nikki Rollier to talk about ghost stories, their connection to Christmas, and especially the most famous Christmas ghost story of all, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. They talk about favorite characters, scenes, and adaptations, and even a thing or two that don't work so well for them.

Michael covers Ian Fleming's fourth James Bond novel, Diamonds Are Forever, in another solo episode. Bond returns to the United States to bust up a mob-run diamond smuggling operation, but how do these hoods measure up as a threat to a spy used to taking on mad industrialists and agents of the Soviets' assassination bureau? And what about Tiffany Case?

Back on Episode 15 of the old Fourth Chair Army Invasion show, we imagined a live-action TV version of a DC Super Hero Holiday Special comic. Now it's Marvel's turn as Michael and Rob welcome Michael DiGiovanni, Mike Westfall, and Ben Graham to assign each other super heroes and holiday elements to turn into segments on a Marvelous Holiday Special.

Michael's solo again with a short episode about the third James Bond novel, Moonraker. It's a unique entry in the Bond series, offering a glimpse at Bond's daily life while also sending him to solve a murder at a remote country estate where he meets one of the most remarkable women of his career.

Michael's brother Mark returns to the podcast along with third brother Matt to talk about one of their favorite '80s bands. Starting with The Cure's debut Three Imaginary Boys album and covering up through 1985's The Head on the Door, the brothers talk about their own experiences with the band, favorite and not-so-favorites songs, the group's evolving sound, and the three "genres" of music that the group tends to make. It's a different sort of episode for AfterLunch, but whether you're already a Cure fan or merely Cure-ious, we hope you'll enjoy this detailed look back at the early days of Robert Smith and Company.