The Latchkey Kids

Do you have a guilty pleasure movie? The 1980s were chock full of movies - like Ishtar, Mac and Me, or Leonard Part 6 - that maybe sounded appealing ON PAPER, but were complete and total flops at the box office. For Aaron, the pinnacle of 1980s bad movies is a certain cult classic that involves Lea Thompson (Marty McFly's mom from Back to the Future) making out with an animatronic duck.

In this second installment of the "Bad Entertainment" series, Aaron and Dr. Amy turn their attention to the almighty television (aka our babysitter and third parent)! Of course, we all love and still fondly remember classic TV shows of the 1980s like Cheers, The Golden Girls, and Dallas ... but what about the BAD TV shows? Does anyone remember Small Wonder? Or The Brady Brides? Or Supert...

For a description of this week's episode of The Latchkey Kids, please click this link: https://tinyurl.com/yx4kxfm6

Over the years, the great people of Great Britain have exported a great many things to the USA, including the Beatles, Yorkshire pudding, and sexy but difficult-to-maintain automobiles like the Jaguar. But perhaps Britain's most influential export is the unabashed silliness of Monty Python. Do you - like Dr. Amy - have a favorite Monty Python quote you like to use in semi-appropriate situation...

If you're a regular Latchkey Kids listener, chances are you've experienced the following scenario: you and your spouse/sibling/urologist have been chatting away and (INSERT RANDOM CELEBRITY HERE) comes up in conversation. And straight away, the question on your mind is ... is that person still alive? Well, in true Latchkey Kids tradition, Aaron and Dr. Amy have turned this question into a...

Alternative titles for this truly wild Latchkey Kids exploration of drugs and alcohol in the 1980s include "Blood Is Thicker Than Zima" and "Only Commit One Crime at a Time." Cheers, everyone!

Under normal circumstances, education was the LAST thing children of the 80s wanted when they sat down with their bowls of cereal to watch Saturday morning cartoons. But tucked in between Inspector Gadget and Thundercats was a little slice of learning called Schoolhouse Rock! In short bursts, these musical cartoons accomplished their goal of teaching America's youth about adverbs, astronomy, a...

For all the archeologists in the Latchkey Kids audience, we have a question: when you are seeking important artifacts from world history, how common is it to experience tumbling boulders, pits of snakes, deadly spikes, blowgun attacks, and high-speed car chases? And also ... do you all wear fedoras to work every day, or is that look just for weekends?

Were you a 1980s metalhead? Were you rockin a mullet, faded jeans, and a black T-shirt proudly displaying your love for Metallica, Guns N' Roses, or Motorhead? If your musical tastes go a little harder than Tiffany and Debbie Gibson - or if you really want to hear Aaron perform an inordinate amount of terrible singing - today's episode is the episode for YOU!

It's the 1980s and the OG of TV talent shows - Star Search - has invited you to compete for the grand prize! Ed McMahon has introduced you and the spotlight is bright! What talent will you be sharing with America? Singing? Dancing? Stand-up comedy? Spokesmodeling? Whatever you choose, make sure you come in second place, because that's where stars are born.

When you were a kid growing up in the 1980s, which superstar athlete did you love the most? Did you want to master the floor routine for a perfect 10 like Mary Lou Retton? Did you want to be like Mike? Or did you, like Aaron, pretend to catch Super Bowl touchdowns by tossing throw pillows into the air and jumping into an overstuffed bean bag chair?

From the coming-of-age classic 'Stand By Me' to the dreamy fantasy world of 'The Princess Bride' to the GOAT of all rom-coms 'When Harry Met Sally,' Rob Reiner's films always emphasized humanity, and the breadth of human emotion. Join Aaron and Dr. Amy as we celebrate the life of one of the world's most unique and talented filmmakers.

As we start off a new year full of hope and promise (?), it's time to hop in the DeLorean with Aaron and Dr. Amy as we head back 40 years to January 1986! Join us as we relive the music, movies, toys, and cultural events that made that month so special, including Dr. Amy's PTSD-inducing experience of being home sick from school on the day of the space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Yikes!

Picture this: it's a random Thursday night in 1983, and you have an hour to kill before your parents kick you out of the living room to watch Simon & Simon. What do you do? Well, you consult the TV Guide, of course! This most important of sacred texts will soon let you know what's happening on the latest episodes of Gimme A Break, Family Ties, and Magnum, P.I., so that you can optimize your TV...

What are your time-honored holiday traditions? Do you bedazzle your Christmas tree with scratch-off lottery tickets, like Aaron's family? Do you leave personalized awards for neighborhood light displays like Dr. Amy? The 1980s were a simpler time, when all we had to do to ensure a perfect Christmas was listen to "Last Christmas" by Wham! 9,000 times and watch all of the very special...

In 1972, as the Vietnam War wore on, a military-themed sitcom debuted on CBS. M*A*S*H was based on the 1970 film of the same name, which was based on the 1968 novel "MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors." The show featured an ensemble cast of characters who drank and flirted and played pranks on each other when they weren't tending to casualties and otherwise experiencing the daily...

PARENTAL ADVISORY: This episode, which contains references to gerbils, rib removal, and certain questionable sexual practices, is not approved for all audiences, including Best Friend Doug, Jake, Mimi and Kristin, and ESPECIALLY COUSIN JANA!

What music do you think of when you hear the term "New Wave?" Is it the blistering post punk of Elvis Costello? The synthesizer-driven, radio-friendly pop of New Order? Blondie? Talking Heads? Devo? Whatever your flavor, New Wave was everywhere in the 1980s, and Aaron and Dr. Amy are here to sing about it!

If there's somethin' strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? The Latchkey Kids! If there's somethin' weird, and it don't look good, ho you gonna call? Aaron and Dr. Amy!

If you listened to our last episode (and if you haven't, do so immediately!), you know that Oscar winning actor, comedian, and superstar Robin Williams got his start playing the lovable, eccentric alien Mork from Ork in a one-off episode of Happy Days in 1978. On this episode, Aaron and Dr. Amy dive deep into the brilliant movie career of Robin Williams - including star turns in "Dead Poe...

In 1978, a new comedic actor from the San Francisco Bay roared into our national consciousness "like a hurricane," in the words of David Letterman. In the red spacesuit that he would soon make famous, Robin Williams guest starred as the wild and lovable alien Mork from Ork in a single episode of "Happy Days." Williams was an overnight sensation and before the year was out, TV p...

Raising children is tough no matter the time period, and perhaps that's why 80s parents seemed to let their kids parent themselves. Were you free range when you were a kid? Did you have to be home before the street lights came on? Join Aaron and Dr. Amy as they relive the best - and maybe not so best - parenting styles of the past few generations.

Wax on! Wax off! We hope you've been training hard because it's time to dive deep into the surprise sleeper hit of 1984, "The Karate Kid," starring baby-faced Ralph Macchio and the great Pat Morita as a pair of unlikely friends. Join Danny LaRusso as he fights off bullies (so many bullies!), falls in love with Elizabeth Shue, and learns the ancient art of karate from the sly, wis...

Do you remember weddings in the 1980s? Thanks to the absolutely unattainable fairytale precedent set by Princess Diana and Prince Charles in 1981, weddings took a turn for the big and bold, with multi-tier cakes, chocolate fountains, and poofy hair that was only outdone by poofy sleeves! Let's reminisce about weddings of old and take a look at which traditions (DJs) have survived and which (th...

What was your soundtrack in 1987? For Aaron and Dr. Amy, '87 was the year of our parents' divorce (see Episode 100 for all the gory details on that) so we sought solace in fun pop hits like "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by the great Whitney Houston or "Walk Like An Egyptian" by The Bangles. But 1987 was a great year for rock, too, with classic albums like "Appetite...