After Lunch

Rob, Pax, Evan, and Christian Nielsen form teams and test their superhero knowledge as Michael asks them questions from a card game he got in his Christmas stocking. There is triumph and there is defeat, but mostly there's a lot of laughter.

Michael continues exploring Ian Fleming's James Bond books with Thunderball , a controversial novel with complicated origins that finally introduces Ernst Stavro Blofeld and SPECTRE to the series.

Michael continues exploring Ian Fleming's James Bond books with the eighth in the series.  For Your Eyes Only  isn't a novel, but a collection of five short stories. Elements of all five have turned up in various films though, whether it's the titles of "Quantum of Solace" and "From a View to a Kill" or the villains of "Risico" and "The Hildebrand Rarity" or the revenge-seeking daughter of "For Yo...

Michael, Rob, Evan, and Delaney wrap up their look at Star Trek: Enterprise . The show tried some new things in its final season, so the panel talks about whether or not that worked to improve things for them. And then there's that series finale...

Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax chit chat about The Beatles, The Morning Show , the post- Endgame MCU, and whether or not the Supernatural is real.

Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax gather again to talk about what they've been listening to and reading. And their favorite flowers. Lots of recommendations, but in the process of meandering the conversation occasionally settles into topics like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , the Fast and Furious movies, and gritty super hero comics.

Michael continues exploring Ian Fleming's James Bond novels with the seventh in the series,  Goldfinger . Like with the film version, the novel introduces a lighter tone than had been in the series so far. But is that a good thing or bad?

Michael, Rob, Evan, Pax, Kay, and Robert Zerbe reconvene to see how they all did on their pop culture resolutions and predictions from 2021. And to make new ones for 2022.

Michael continues exploring Ian Fleming's James Bond novels with the sixth in the series,  Dr. No . It's the pulpiest so far, but also has big character development for Bond and a surprising thematic connection with Pierre Boulle's novel, Planet of the Apes .

Michael asks Dave, David, Erik, Evan, and special guest Rob Graham to find the hidden connection between A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968), Running Scared (1986), and V for Vendetta (2005). If you haven't seen one or more of the movies, feel free to skip to the discussions of your choice: 00:02:36 - Review of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968) 00:33:31 - Review of Running Scared (1986) 00:52:25 - Rev...

The AfterLunch Star Trek Council reconvenes to discuss Enterprise 's attempt at a serialized story in its third season. Michael, Rob, Evan, and Delaney talk about the Xindi, the Expanse, and spatial anomalies in addition to Archer's darkening, Reed's insecurity, and whether there's such a thing as too much time travel.

Michael discusses the fifth Bond novel by Ian Fleming and it's a bold entry in the series. Fleming spends the first half of the book on the villains and their plan, not introducing Bond until halfway through. And then ends the story on a cliffhanger. 

One, last Christmas episode of the year and it's about  Last Christmas . Michael and Rob talk about Paul Feig's film from a couple of years ago, co-written by Emma Thompson and starring Emilia Clarke, Michelle Yeoh, Emma Thompson, and Henry Golding. And also featuring of course the music of George Michael.

Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax continue their conversation from last episode. They talk about (and unwrap) Christmas presents, break a tie, discuss shows like Hawkeye  and  Cowboy Bebop , share some Christmas traditions, and address the Bitsy McBitserson in the room.

Just before the Christmas holiday, Michael, Rob, Evan, and Pax gathered to talk about what they've been listening to and reading. As always with these Lounge discussions, the conversation goes its own way, but major topics include how to read short story collections, irritating things about interview podcasts, The Force Awakens and the whole Star Wars sequel trilogy, and of course lots and lots of...

A Christmas Carol week concludes with Michael talking with his brother Mark about the irreverent remake,  Scrooged , starring Bill Murray, Karen Allen, Alfre Woodard, Bobcat Goldthwait, Carol Kane, and a bunch of other stars. As with the rest of this week's adaptation discussions, this originally aired on the former Sleigh Bell Cinema podcast.

A Christmas Carol week continues with another old Sleigh Bell Cinema  discussion. This time Michael and Paxton Holley triple the run time of the movie they're talking about when they dig into the short Mickey's Christmas Carol starring a plethora of Disney characters in the various Dickens roles.

Christmas Carol week continues (and we hit Episode 75 of the podcast) with another  Sleigh Bell Cinema  discussion about one of the world's favorite  Christmas Carol  adaptations:  The Muppet Christmas Carol  starring Michael Caine as Scrooge. This was the very first episode of  Sleigh Bell Cinema  and featured frequent Nerd Lunch  and  AfterLunch  guest Mike Westfall, whose Advent Calendar House...

A Christmas Carol  Week continues with another re-run from Michael's old  Sleigh Bell Cinema  show. This time Michael and his wife Diane talk about the TV musical  The Stingiest Man in Town  starring Basil Rathbone as Scrooge. And if you'd like to hear Michael talk about the '70s Rankin-Bass animated remake starring Walter Matthau and Tom Bosley, be sure to check out his guest appearance on Mike W...

A Christmas Carol week continues with this re-run from Michael's former  Sleigh Bell Cinema  podcast. Michael talks with Carlin Trammel about one of their favorite  Christmas Carol  adaptations: Clive Donner's TV movie from 1984 starring George C Scott.

Michael and Rob welcome new guest Nikki Rollier to talk about ghost stories, their connection to Christmas, and especially the most famous Christmas ghost story of all, Charles Dickens'  A Christmas Carol . They talk about favorite characters, scenes, and adaptations, and even a thing or two that don't work so well for them.

Michael covers Ian Fleming's fourth James Bond novel,  Diamonds Are Forever , in another solo episode. Bond returns to the United States to bust up a mob-run diamond smuggling operation, but how do these hoods measure up as a threat to a spy used to taking on mad industrialists and agents of the Soviets' assassination bureau? And what about Tiffany Case?

Back on Episode 15 of the old Fourth Chair Army Invasion show , we imagined a live-action TV version of a DC Super Hero Holiday Special comic. Now it's Marvel's turn as Michael and Rob welcome Michael DiGiovanni, Mike Westfall, and Ben Graham to assign each other super heroes and holiday elements to turn into segments on a Marvelous Holiday Special.

Michael's solo again with a short episode about the third James Bond novel, Moonraker . It's a unique entry in the Bond series, offering a glimpse at Bond's daily life while also sending him to solve a murder at a remote country estate where he meets one of the most remarkable women of his career.

Michael's brother Mark returns to the podcast along with third brother Matt to talk about one of their favorite '80s bands. Starting with The Cure's debut Three Imaginary Boys  album and covering up through 1985's The Head on the Door , the brothers talk about their own experiences with the band, favorite and not-so-favorites songs, the group's evolving sound, and the three "genres" of music that...