A Very Special Podcast

Episode #44: Julie Brown - "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" Original Release Date: June 8, 2016 No trip to the 80s is complete without Julie Brown's classic teen tragedy parody, "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun." This is a jovial tale of a popular chick named Debbie that goes on a shooting spree during a high school dance, oddly predating the mass shooting hysteria that is currently plaguing ou...

Episode #43: Charles in Charge - "Pilot" Original Release Date: April 23, 2016 The Pembroke family allows this new boy in the neighborhood, who lives down stairs and it's understood; kind of. He decides to take a date back to his workplace, and well, things don't go so great. We can only be talking about the one and only Charles in Charge , right? Plus, Scott Baio guns for Trump, bangs a lot of 80...

Episode #42: Cybill - "Regarding Henry" Original Release Date: March 8, 2016 Cybill Shepherd bounced back onto the television landscape in 1995 with her CBS sitcom, Cybill ; which followed the lives of struggling actress Cybill Sheridan and her rich, martini-swilling best friend, Maryann Thorp. Together, they navigated the streets of Hollywood looking for their next big break. In this episode of A...

Episode #41: Newhart - "The Nice Man Cometh" Original Release Date: February 1, 2016 After being fed up with the hustle and bustle of New York City living, Dick Loudon and his wife Joanna head to an unnamed town in Vermont to run an inn while spending the 80s dealing with its wacky inhabitants. Seven-ish years later, Don Rickles and Ed McMahon pop into town in a very special episode of Newhart ! P...

Episode #40: The Dick Van Dyke Show - "It May Look Like a Walnut" Original Release Date: January 13th, 2016 [ download the mp3 ] Rob and Laura Petrie stay up late and watch an Invasion of the Body Snatchers-esque film about an alien race taking over Earth with a sackful of walnuts. Plus, Patrick and Kat answer the at least fifty year old question, can you type without thumbs? Website: http://avery...

Episode #39: That 70s Show - "That 70s Finale" Original Release Date: January 1st, 2016   It's less than 24 hours until the end of the 70s and Kitty gets smashed and regrets her decision to move to Florida. Plus, Red gets seasons tickets to the Green Bay Packers, Jackie and Fez have their first smooch, Kelso falls off the water tower (again), and Eric may or may not show up. Well, he shows up and...

Episode #38: A Muppet Family Christmas (1987) Original Release Date: December 26, 2015 A pre-dead Jim Henson rounds up all of his creations for one night of holiday cheer; plus raging late-80s Miss Piggy hair. If you like musicals, then this is right up your alley because it's 80% song and dance; if not, then listen to our horrible regrets to select this as podcast fodder. We kid, we kid. We loved...

Episode #37: The O.C. - "The Best Chrismukkah Ever" Original Release Date: December 23, 2015   Seth Cohen's bi-religious holiday Chrismukkah comes to Orange County and things go from awful to horrendous. Nerdy Seth faces a dilemma when two foxy babes are super into him, Marissa gets drunk (again), and some crazy shit goes down involving the adult characters that revolves around a land deal. The on...

Episode #36: I'll Be Home for Christmas Original Release Date: December 22, 2015 A late 90s romp down Jonathan Taylor Thomas lane lands us straight into I'll Be Home for Christmas territory, otherwise known as the holiday themed classic produced by the fine folks at Walt Disney. Patrick went into this with a skeptical viewpoint, but the Christmas fairies struck again and his heart grew three times...

Episode #35: Saved by the Bell - "Home for Christmas" Original Release Date: December 20, 2015 Christmas comes to Bayside and the gang all get jobs at the mall to buy gifts for their friends and family, but, Zack realizes the latest gal he has a crush on his homeless. Will Zack and Co. save the day? Probably, but as they say, life's a journey not a destination. Plus, Patrick and Kat reveal their d...

Episode #34: Babes in Toyland (1986) Original Release Date: December 14, 2015 Babes in Toyland was a 1986 made for television film starring Drew Barrymore, Richard Mulligan, Keanu Reeves, the wonderful Pat Morita, and a bunch of extras in weird costumes. It was originally broadcast on NBC on December 19, 1986 and subsequently released on VHS. Patrick and Kat tracked down a shoddy copy on YouTube a...

Episode #33: Beverly Hills, 90210 - "It's a Totally Happening Life" Original Release Date: December 6, 2015 Supernatural elements enter the 90210 franchise when a pair of angels set their sights on the West Beverly gang in a bizarre early 90s homage to It's A Wonderful Life . It's somewhat poignant, somewhat cheesy, but totally ripe for a podcast roundtable discussion.  We have some great stuff co...

Episode #32: Doogie Howser, M.D. - "What Makes Doogie Run" Original Release Date: November 29th, 2015   Childhood genius, Doogie Howser, finds himself on The Jenny Jones Show and the tables quickly turn against him when the audience suggests that boy geniuses often grow up to be unstable adults; sending Doogie into a whirlwind of stress in the final episode of Doogie Howser, M.D . ever. Plus, Patr...

Episode #31: Friends - "The One with the Rumor" Original Release Date: November 24th, 2015 Jennifer Anniston convinced her then-husband Brad Pitt to stop by Friends for an uncredited appearance and the world goes haywire; unless you're the St. Petersburg Times , who ranked Pitt as one of the worst guest stars in the show's history. Anyway, Pitt portrays the role of Will Colbert, a once chubby teen...

Episode #30: Dennis the Menace - "Dennis Goes to the Movies" Original Release Date: November 16, 2015 Trouble-prone and mischievous Dennis Mitchell from Hank Ketcham's comic strip Dennis the Menace landed himself a sitcom in the fall of 1959. Dennis' shenanigans such as burying a garden hose in the backyard and trying to repair a table leg but only causing it to come crashing down was deemed wild...

Episode #29: Day By Day - "A Very Brady Episode" Original Release Date: November 10, 2015 In the late 80s, NBC spun-off Family Ties with a series that centered around Steven Keaton's old college roommate, Brian Harper. Brian and his wife, Kate, lived through the excessiveness of the 80s with their high profile careers and miss out on their son Ross' upbringing (who's now a teenager). When Kate bec...

Episode #28: Hocus Pocus Original Release Date: November 2, 2015 Here it is! A Halloween hangover! The 2015 Halloween season comes to a crashing end and Patrick watches Hocus Pocus for the first time while Kat fills him in on the zany details. This is the one where Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy are witches who were sentenced to death hundreds of years ago and now they have b...

Episode #27: Roseanne - "Trick or Treat" Original Release Date: October 26th, 2015 Hello lame brains! The 2015 Halloween season is still in full swing over here at   A Very Special Podcast and this week Patrick and Kat discuss the Roseanne episode entitled "Trick or Treat". This is the one where Roseanne dresses up like a butch man and struts around the local watering hole in hopes of diving into...

Episode #26: My So Called Life  "Halloween" Original Release Date: October 19, 2015 The definitive one season wonder, My So-Called Life , debuted in 1994 to high praises but mediocre ratings; but not even one of the world's first online campaign could save the show. Legend had it that Claire Danes no longer wanted to be part of the show, fueling teenage angst everywhere, but it was revealed in a 2...

Episode #25: Halloween is Grinch Night Original Release Date: October 11, 2015 The whimsical world of Dr. Seuss has its dark corners and one of those is Halloween is Grinch Night , the prequel to the beloved How the Grinch Stole Christmas . This time around, The Grinch's plot is to not rob the citizens of Whoville of the spirit of Halloween, but rather drug them with the contents of his parapherne...

Episode #24: The 'Burbs  Original Release Date: October 4th, 2015 Hello neighbors! Welcome to another installment of A Very Special Podcast ! This week Patrick and Kat head back to the magical year of 1989 and watched the cinematic classic The 'Burbs . This is the one where Tom Hanks and his rag-tag team of neighbors begin to suspect their kooky neighbors are up to something sinister. Fair warning...

Episode #23: Full House - "Stephanie's Wild Ride″ Original Release Date: September 28, 2015 Full House needs no introduction, unless you were one of those children who grew up reading books; but even then there are at least 100 licensed books that pre-teens in the early 1990s would have come across in those monthly Scholastic Reading Club flyers that teachers handed out like they were prescription...

Episode #22: I Dream of Jeannie  - "Jeannie's Beauty Cream″ Original Release Date: September 20, 2015 [ download the mp3 ] After being highly jealous of ABC's Bewitched , CBS commissioned producer Sidney Sheldon to concoct up his own mystical enchantress; and thus I Dream of Jeannie was born. When astronaut Tony Nelson is marooned on a deserted island in the South Pacific, he comes across a curiou...

Episode #21: Small Wonder  - "The Shoplifter″ Original Release Date: September 13, 2015 In the 1980s, it seemed like every family in the cul-de-sac had their fare share of secrets; and the Lawson family was no different than the Joneses. Ted Lawson, the patriarch and super intelligent engineer/inventor, whips himself up a Voice Input Child Identicant; or Vicky the Robot for us layman. Ted Lawson's...

Episode #20: The Munsters Today - "Vampire Pie″ Original Release Date: September 6, 2015 When The Munsters disappeared from Mockingbird Heights in the mid-60s, the residents of the small tight-knit community had quickly forgotten about the oddly shaped family who occupied the terrifying eyesore at 1313 Mockingbird Lane. Unbeknownst to the townsfolk, Grandpa Munster unwittingly trapped his entire f...