The Flopcast

It's a quick holiday music-themed show to get you through Christmas week, featuring a Top 4 1/2 List of Kornflake's favorite Christmas cover songs! (Kevin didn't bother making a list, but he did check Kornflake's list. Twice.) You'll know some of these acts (Hall and Oates make the list with their goofy holiday classic), while others may be new to you (such as Rogue Lobster, a band seemingly created just for us). The dogs singing "Jingle Bells" somehow didn't make the cut, but otherwise Kornflake has your holiday playlist ready to go; tune out your family and enjoy. Also: New holiday music from The Monkees, Barnes and Barnes, and The Dollyrots; the creepiness of mistletoe; pepper pot soup at Valley Forge; why we love Taylor Dayne, Lynne Thigpen, and Christmas chickens; and Kornflake's attempt at Whamageddon. Stay festive, kids, and maybe next week we'll wrap up the whole stupid year.

The Mayor of Chickentown joins us for one of our favorite subjects/obsessions: animated holiday specials. Seriously, we spend a stupid amount of time thinking about them all year. So this week we present a Top 4 1/2 List of our favorite supporting characters from holiday cartoons! (Not just cartoons, actually; Muppets count too.) Join us as we pit Miser Brother against Miser Brother, ponder the sleeping arrangements in Whoville, explore which versions of Jack Frost are part of the Rankin Bass shared universe, revisit our weird theories about Hermey the Elf, defend the eating habits of the Bumble, celebrate the musical genius of the Riverbottom Nightmare Band, engage in a bizarre bit of holiday matchmaking (perhaps involving a Wookiee), and much more. So even if you're a creepy winter warlock, put one creepy foot in front of the other and join us. Bring your own nog.

It's our final Flopcast movie night of the year, and Kornflake is finally suffering through the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special! (Kevin has seen it already, of course, but is doomed to repeat it again and again...) If you've experienced it too (either forty years ago on TV, or more recently on bootleg DVD), you know what's coming. Long scenes of nothing but Wookiees growling at each other! Art Carney lying to Stormtroopers! Harvey Korman as a robot, a cantina drunk, and a four-armed alien Julia Child! A Wookiee grandpa watching naughty videos! (Yikes, that part is disturbing.) A song from Jefferson Starship, because why not! The Nelvana cartoon that introduces Boba Fett! Princess Leia singing! R2D2 smoking! Harrison Ford somehow agreeing to participate! And of course, the supreme awesomeness of Bea Arthur! The whole thing is just bizarre and wrong, and we love it. Our DVD also has the original 1978 commercials, a surprising number of which are for underwear. Other commercial breaks feature the Reggie Jackson candy bar, a backward robot, cheap wine endorsed by the guy from Land of the Lost, and a weird news report about the Blizzard of '78. Hey, it's Life Day. You know what to do. Growl at your loved ones incoherently.

Gather around the Flopcast lobster trap tree, kids, because it's time for another Top 4 1/2 List! (Sorry that we've been neglecting this beloved segment since our summer robot list...) And the subject is "Geek Blind Spots," as we list all the hugely popular geeky stuff about which we are completely clueless. Warning: The Doctor Who and Harry Potter fans (that is, approximately everyone) are about to be very disappointed in us. Also, along the way, we just might share some wildly inaccurate information about Huey Lewis, Little House on the Prairie, potato chips, the Spice Girls, the Grinch, naked Twister, Gopher from The Love Boat, and what they're really doing in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It's a longer show than usual, but considering the subject, that's completely understandable.

Kevin and Kornflake ring in the holidays with our favorite 90s Boston band, Letters to Cleo! (You may recall their hit song "Here and Now," or their appearances in 10 Things I Hate About You and Parks and Recreation, or singer Kay Hanley's vocals for Josie and the Pussycats... or if you don't know them, look them up. You're welcome.) We were in the front row for Letters to Cleo's holiday homecoming shows (both of them!), and have a full report, including: Dangerously close guitar solos! Surprise guests! Opening band American Hi-Fi! Kay Hanley approving of Kevin's shirt! No one approving of Kornflake's weird coffee! (Not even Kornflake!) It was a festive time, and you should all join us next year. Bring ear plugs. Also: Thanksgiving Spam-juggling, running with lobsters and dogs, mason jars of moonshine, and a Flopcast holiday tradition... The Figgy Pudding Pages.

It's movie night in Chickentown once again, because Kornflake waited a quarter of a century to see one of Kevin's all-time favorites, 1993's The Nightmare Before Christmas. So while chomping on some festive pizza pie, we watch this festive stop motion-animated classic from Tim Burton and Henry Selick, and discuss. Mentioned along the way: The cluelessness of everyone in Halloween Town, the awesomeness of Behemoth ("Bunny!"), the amazing cast (by the way, we got one of the voice credits wrong, because we are us), the allure of the turkey tree, the crowing of the skeleton rooster, Kornflake's favorite character (probably the same as Edie Brickell's), Kevin's search for Nightmare toys back in the 90s, live shadowcast and burlesque versions of the story, and our dream of remaking the whole thing using the Brady Bunch cast. (Maureen McCormick is playing Lock, Shock, AND Barrel, because Marcia Marcia Marcia.) Also: Kevin Nealon turns 65! We're hiring Tonto, Tarzan, and Frankenstein to attempt a round of "Happy Birthday."

It's mid-November, but we're still discussing our Halloween activities. (The Flopcast is as timely as ever.) Including: Halloween parties, a Halloween concert, a Halloween wedding, underwater pumpkin carving, the worst candy, road trips through Connecticut and Vermont, jug bands, sea lions, a chicken-themed cidery, a pug-themed restaurant, a creepy bird mask, and Lili Taylor. Also: Kornflake finds a chicken-suited friend of the Flopcast at the Extra Life gaming event, and Kevin tries to survive Yacht Rock Night. (Next year we're dressing as Michael McDonald for Halloween. Please send beards.)

Grumpy old music fans, rejoice! It's time for our annual review of the nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! This is a fun list, including one of Kevin's all-time favorites (Devo, at last), and one of Kornflake's all-time least favorites (sorry, Stevie Nicks). Hey, maybe this will be the year the Bay City Rollers finally get inducted, despite not even being nominated. We can dream. And speaking of beloved Scottish pop stars, Kevin finally saw Sheena Easton live in concert, and has a full report, for your ears only. (Good luck getting "Morning Train" out of your head for the next several months. You're welcome!) Also: A weird Kevin the Turkey update, a turkey-themed What's in the Bag, and an obscure aquatic DC Comics hero that Kornflake should totally cosplay.

Kevin reports from one of our favorite local geek conventions (now back in its beloved original location), Super Megafest! Including: The stars of Lost in Space and Leave it to Beaver, 80s movie buttons from Rubber Chicken Comics (Free Johnny Dangerously!), Jonathan Winters trash bags (?), and a whole lot of Britneys, compliments of Good Enough Cosplay. And of course, there was the solo acoustic concert by TV's Will Robinson, Bill Mumy... which means we have the results of our Fish Heads bet! Did Bill perform "Fish Heads," as Kornflake predicted, thus dooming the Flopcast to a winter of iced coffee? All shall be revealed. Also this week: Halloween stuff (but not much), hockey masks, Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live in Boston (hi, Grant!), a High Feather video from Blasted Bill (or should we say Broccoli Bill?), the Extra Life charity gaming event (find Kornflake and Mousey there!), and Kevin's latest appearance on Pop Culture Cosmos to complain about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Next week: More complaining about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, right here on the Flopcast.

It's National TV Talk Show Host Day, which makes us realize we don't really watch TV talk shows anymore. Let's move on. Next we have a long-delayed edition of Chickens in the News, in which an Australian chicken helps to build a sidewalk. Hey, maybe someday the guys from Air Supply will stroll down this chicken sidewalk; Australia is magical. And Kevin reports from the world of competitive running, which somehow involves bibs, mysterious coffee cakes, and chinchillas with attitudes. Next week: The results of our Fish Heads bet. Yum.