The Flopcast

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.

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This week's promos: Cosmic Pizza! Metal Geeks!

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!

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: The Best Saturdays of Our Lives!

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...)

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This week's promos: Earth Station Trek! Pop Culture Cosmos!

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.

The other half of our holiday crossover event: Kevin joins Brittany and Martha on But First, Let's Talk Nerdy episode 64!

The American Sci-Fi Classics Track "Rankin v. Bass" Sci-Fighters tournament with Kevin, Kevin, Gary, and Joe!

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promos: NerdBliss! The Monster Scifi Show! But First, Let's Talk Nerdy!

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.)

The American Sci-Fi Classics Track "Rankin v. Bass" Sci-Fighters tournament with Kevin, Kevin, Gary, and Joe!

And our regular links...

The Flopcast website!

The ESO Network!

The Flopcast on Facebook!

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The Flopcast on Twitter!

Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: [email protected]

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promos: Blurred Nerds! The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!

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.

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Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: The 42cast!

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...

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Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: [email protected]

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promos: Monster Attack! Epsilon Three!

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.

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Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: [email protected]

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promos: NerdBliss! Thunder Talk!

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!

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The Mayor of Chickentown is on Earth Station Who episode 283!

And our regular links...

The Flopcast website!

The ESO Network!

The Flopcast on Facebook!

The Flopcast on Instagram!

The Flopcast on Twitter!

Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: [email protected]

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Metal Geeks!

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...

The Flopcast website!

The ESO Network!

The Flopcast on Facebook!

The Flopcast on Instagram!

The Flopcast on Twitter!

Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: [email protected]

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promos: Cosmic Pizza! But First, Let's Talk Nerdy!