The Flopcast

It's the holiday season, which means it's the holiday movie season, which means it's time for us to get to work. Because if you tune your TV to the Hallmark channel (or Lifetime, or Netflix, or anywhere else), you'll be assaulted by dozens of ridiculous new romantic holiday movies. A parade of big city girls will be returning to their quaint home towns to save their families' struggling mistletoe factories, and perhaps fall in love with some flannel-shirted dudes along the way. (And somehow, almost every movie stars Lacey Chabert.) So here on the Flopcast, we try to fix these movies by adding some weird random element. Can Christmas be saved by, for example, a gorilla suit? We sure think so.

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This week's promo: BatChums!

As usual, we ring in the stupid holidays with a Letters to Cleo concert report, because our favorite 90s Boston band always comes home for Thanksgiving. (Letters to Cleo once performed on Parks and Recreation, and weirdly, just down the street from the concert, we spotted an actual citizen of Pawnee, Indiana. It was either Jerry, Garry, Larry, or Barry.) Then, as we approach the 100th anniversary of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Kevin and the Mayor look back at some of the odd performances and big freaky balloons in parades past. (The 1974 and 1984 parades included future Flopcast guests! Weird...) Anyway, have a festive holiday, and don't worry about inviting Patty, Marcie, and Franklin. They'll just show up.

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Email: [email protected]

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Modern Musicology!

Even as we stagger toward a horrifying future, The Flopcast is here with more silly things for you, because we're gonna get through this together. And this week we're celebrating Danny DeVito's 80th birthday (just as we celebrated his 70th birthday about a decade ago), we have a Chickens in the News story about an actual robot chicken... and then we just turn the whole show over to the robots. If you're on the correct side of history, please join us as we resist, persist, take care of each other, and keep going.

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Dragon Con Report!

Need a break from, you know, everything? We're just hiding behind a giant stack of Dynamite magazines, and you're welcome to join us. We've pulled out a Dynamite issue from 1980 with the hosts of That's Incredible on the cover. (Cathy Lee Crosby looks lovely, while Fran Tarkenton and John Davidson are missing some teeth... our copy may have been defaced decades ago by some kid with a Bic pen.) Inside we can read about New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain, Gary Coleman's chihuahua, a Billy Joel album that never happened, a vampire maze, Dynamite Bummers, the Dynamite Duo... and an electronic chicken game. We don't know why they kept making magazines after 1980, when it was done to perfection.

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!

We looked at the TV shows of 1974 (fifty years ago!) a few months back with the Mayor, but now it's Kornflake's turn. Our list again includes some of the usual suspects like Rhoda and The Rockford Files... but ultimately we can all agree that the most important show of that year was Hong Kong Phooey. We also take a quick look at some bands that debuted in 1974; some are still favorites of ours (Blondie! Squeeze!), while we're learning about others for the first time, despite some very intriguing band names. Also: We wish a Happy Birthday to Bonnie Raitt, and we welcome two new podcasts to the ESO Network: Have Coffee Will Travel and BatChums! (One of these shows features two guys discussing Batman, but we can't remember which.)

The Flopcast website!

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The Flopcast on Mastadon!

Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: [email protected]

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Tales From Hollywoodland!

It's the terrifying conclusion of our Halloween FlopFight! Leaping into the tournament this week are characters from Nightmare Before Christmas, Hocus Pocus, Bewitched, Happy Days (what?), and more. Each matchup is drawn randomly, and the exact competitions are randomized too. (So for example, it could be Count Chocula against Jack Skellington, but in a pie-eating contest. Stuff like that.) So anything goes, and special guest Blasted Bill is back to keep things nice and silly. We're also wishing a Happy Birthday to 90s singer-songwriter Sophie B. Hawkins, who has something in common with one of our FlopFighters: a mysterious middle initial. Because a certain Tom Hanks SNL character is also competing. Any questions?

Blasted Bill on TikTok!

The Mayor talking Doctor Who on The Best Stuff in the World podcast!

And our regular links...

The Flopcast website!

The ESO Network!

The Flopcast on Facebook!

The Flopcast on Instagram!

The Flopcast on Mastadon!

Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: [email protected]

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Have Coffee, Will Travel!

Halloween superfan Blasted Bill joins us for a Halloween FlopFight! We're randomly throwing Halloween characters (from horror movies, cartoon specials, cereal boxes, and beyond) into another ridiculous tournament. Why, the very first match has the Great Pumpkin battling Yummy Mummy! Who will win? That depends on the exact nature of the competition, which is also chosen at random. So anything could happen, and this week's winner shall advance to next week's final round. So grab a ringside seat, grab some fun-size Twix bars, and enjoy.

Blasted Bill on TikTok!

And our regular links...

The Flopcast website!

The ESO Network!

The Flopcast on Facebook!

The Flopcast on Instagram!

The Flopcast on Mastadon!

Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: [email protected]

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: BatChums!

As our Halloween festivities continue, we take a quick look at the horror movies parodied in Mad Magazine in the 1980s. Including: The Shining, Poltergeist, Psycho II, a couple of Alien movies, and Gremlins (with Alfred E. Neuman as Gizmo on the cover). Speaking of Mad and Alfred, we just visited the Norman Rockwell Museum for an amazing exhibit called "What, Me Worry? The Art & Humor of Mad Magazine." And it closes in two weeks, so GO RIGHT NOW. Also: It's World Singing Day. And we are not the world.

The Flopcast website!

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The Flopcast on Facebook!

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The Flopcast on Mastadon!

Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: [email protected]

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Earth Station Who!

It's Halloween season, which means it's Monster Cereal season! And while we rarely eat the stuff anymore, we do welcome the return of Count Chocula, Franken Berry, Boo Berry, and the new girl, zombie DJ Carmella Creeper. (Sorry, Fruit Brute and Yummy Mummy fans. Those weirdos aren't around this year.) The big news is that the monsters have pets now! Meet the Frightful Friends: Benny the Bat, Igor the Spider, Scratch the Snake, and Meow Berry. (What, no chicken?! Send your letters of complaint to General Mills...) Several Flopcast listeners have even provided photos of this year's cereal boxes, saving us a trip to the grocery store, where we'd just blow all our podcasting profits on Doritos. Also: Happy Birthday to Scott Bakula! He's probably out there Quantum-leaping and Enterprise-splaining right now.

The Flopcast website!

The ESO Network!

The Flopcast on Facebook!

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The Flopcast on Mastadon!

Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: [email protected]

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Earth Station Trek!

With Dragon Con finally out of the way, we can have some real fun! Let's read the dictionary! Specifically we're diving back into The Super Dictionary, a bizarre 1978 book for kids that mixed learning and DC Comics superheroes, and left everyone thoroughly confused. After perusing a few more entries, we have some questions, such as: Is Batgirl a pirate? (Or a mechanic, or a bikini model?) Is Supergirl terrified of mice? And why are Batman and Robin climbing a giant baby? We're equally confused by the villains, as we see Joker planning a dinner party and Catwoman, yes, dusting the tiger. (Not a euphemism.) So join us for a super-weird vocabulary lesson. We promise you will learn nothing.

The Flopcast website!

The ESO Network!

The Flopcast on Facebook!

The Flopcast on Instagram!

The Flopcast on Mastadon!

Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: [email protected]

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Cosmic Pizza!