Pop Culture Yearbook

Send us a text We're getting literary this month. Sure David Fincher's Gone Girl, starring Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck is a great movie, but it's also based on a fantastic book by Gillian Flynn. Brad shares his love for both versions before the gang discusses the movie and all its brilliant twists and turns up to and including the bonkers third act! There is so much to say about this movie it's...

Send us a text Yeah, you betcha we're talkin' Fargo. Not the movie, that was from 1996, but the terrific TV series that started in 2014 with an all-star cast including Billy Bob Thornton, Colin Hanks, Alison Lohman, Martin Freeman, Adam Goldberg, Bob Odenkirk, Oliver Platt, Glenn Howerton, and more. This was a wonderful reimagining of the spectacular source material. We break it down the PCY way....

Send us a text We're going back almost a decade to 2014 this month. Relive the year with us as Brad describes the greatest road trip since the Griswolds set off for Wally World. Then kick back and criticize our drafts of the best movies, music, and TV from 2014. We'll place you back in time and unlock memories you may have already forgotten! If you enjoy the show, please rate and review us on the...

Send us a text With the extra Monday this month and the Halloween holiday, we thought we'd have some fun this week. Giff has made one of his famous Initials Games (credit to Cory Cove and KFAN radio for the great game). To play, we invited old pal Dave and two of our best supporters in Brian Rappe and Johnny Mulkern. You can play along with us! It's always a good time! If you enjoy the show, pleas...

Send us a text There's no crying in baseball! There's no crying at PCY either. Just a good time whenever you listen. This time it's the 1992 Penny Marshall film A League of their Own, starring Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, and Tom Hanks. Telling the important story of the Professional Women's Baseball League started during WWII, it's considered one of the best sports movies ou...

Send us a text Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut was in 1992 with Reservoir Dogs. We liked this movie so much as 16 year olds some of us made a club called the Reservoir Doggs and had t-shirts made. What a time to be alive! We'll tell that story and break down this seminal film for your enjoyment. While QT hasn't directed a large number of movies, he has been associated with many movies, TV sh...

Send us a text Surprise! We've got a very special episode for you.  Thaao Penghlis is most famously known for playing Tony (and Andre) DiMera on Days of our Lives. Growing up, especially in college, some of your PCY hosts were huge fans of the show and Thaao's work. In this wonderful interview, you'll hear stories about the show, his new podcast, and much much more. Thaao is a spectacular intervie...

Send us a text First up for 1992: Brad's all-time favorite band R.E.M. and their masterpiece album Automatic for the People. Even though it is filled with themes of death, this album is beautiful in every way and was a creative peak for one of America's best ever bands. From Everybody Hurts to Man on the Moon to Nightswimming and more, we break it all down and sing its praises throughout. In addit...

Send us a text All this month we're cooking up one of the most formative years of our lives: 1992. To help us kick it off we've invited fellow podcaster (and native Minnesotan) Ryan Pak from the Soundtrack Your Life podcast to join us. Learn about his show, relive 1992 with us, and follow along as we draft the very best movies, music, and TV from a year filled with grunge bands, flannel shirts, an...

Send us a text It's happening! After close to three years, we're finally talking about maybe our collective favorite movie ever: 1980's Caddyshack! No movie has been more quoted, more watched, and more important to bringing us together with our friends than Caddyshack. In this episode, we talk all about what makes it great in our opinion. One of the reasons Caddyshack is so wonderful is the perfor...

Send us a text If there is one thing we love at PCY more than nostalgia, it might be trivia. The arrival of Trivial Pursuit in the 80s took the board game world by storm. At least that's how we remembered it. We talk about our first memories of the game (Spiro Agnew) and even pit Brad against Giff in a quick trivia match. After the exciting mano a mano, we finish the episode by drafting our favori...

Send us a text Dave is back! When our sometime host Dave heard we were doing 1980, he requested we discuss one of his favorite movies, Flash Gordon. None of the rest of us had seen this movie, and it is quite an experience. While it may not be the best movie ever made, it definitely has found its way into pop culture still today, thanks in no small part to the movie Ted. It also doesn't hurt that...

Send us a text Surprise! Instead of cramming so much into one episode, we splitting it up and giving you a special episode. In this one, we remember 1980 and draft all the best movies, TV shows, and music from the year. This is a fun look back you don't want to miss! If you enjoy the show, please rate and review us on the iTunes/Apple Podcasts app or wherever you listen. Or better yet, tell a frie...

Send us a text We were 4 years old in 1980, so when we started this show we figured that would be as far back as we'd go. But now that we're actually focusing on the year 1980, we are making an exception. And you can ALWAYS make an exception for Steve Martin. The Jerk was released in December of 1979. But it was such a great and important movie (especially for Brad) that we're including it now. It...

Send us a text We're closing the yearbook on 2018 with a criminally underappreciated TV series, Life in Pieces. This show contained a fantastic cast including James Brolin, Dianne Wiest, Colin Hanks, and Betsy Brandt, among others. And if you liked Modern Family, you would be sure to love this too. We break down the cast, a classic episode, and much more.  While fantastic, the series only ran 3 1/...

Send us a text in 2018 YouTube Red introduced a show called Cobra Kai. Filled with nostalgia, camp, and fun, this renewal of The Karate Kid series eventually took off when it became a Netflix show. Returning stars Ralph Macchio and William Zabka made Pete's choice for 2018 a sensation for Gen Xers and a new generation alike. It is a show that also contained many (maybe over the top) violent scenes...

Send us a text The Harry Potter series has always been huge in Brad's family, and in 2018 they took a family trip to Universal Orlando, mostly for the Harry Potter parts of the park. It was  fantastic time and led to this week's topics. We start with an overview of the HP series and a draft of our favorite HP characters. We then talk about theme parks like Universal and Disney. We share memories,...

Send us a text Shelley Herman is the author of the book My Peacock Tale: Secrets of an NBC Page. We interview her this week, and boy does she have secrets! The book spills all the beans, but you can get a great preview by listening to this episode. She discusses Johnny Carson, being a contestant on The Dating Game, writing for game shows, and much more Hollywood dish. Buckle up and enjoy! Since we...

Send us a text Did you know you can be on our show? If you support us with money, we'll let you do almost anything you want. This week we have one of our best supporters back with us again: Brian Rappe! He has chosen the 90s classic Swingers, a choice that is so money. We're like big bears with claws, and we cover it all. Skinny Vince Vaughn, skinny Jon Favreau, the quotes, the movie references, t...

Send us a text Pete's choice for a second chance is the Tom Hanks / Dan Aykroyd Dragnet reboot from 1987. While not well-received critically, we still love this movie which also stars Oscar winner Christopher Plummer and a host of PAGANs. We give you just the facts on this 80s classic. Hanks is in his prime comedic form at this time, and the goofy/funny Hanks is still our favorite Tom Hanks. So we...

Send us a text In 1989, Janet Jackson released the monster album Rhythm Nation 1814. This just so happened to be the first CD Brad ever bought. We'll bring you back to that time in this episode and and break down one of the classic albums of the 80s...and 90s...and all-time really. Since this album was one of last huge releases of a great decade in music, we honor the decade by drafting our favori...

Send us a text Giff's 2nd Chance is from 1994, what he describes as minute-for-minute the funniest movie ever: Dumb and Dumber. Jim Carrey was on a roll in 1994 and Jeff Daniels stepped out of his usual style to create a comedy classic. It's also the movie that got the Farrelly brothers off and running to dominate comedy in the 90s. In our minds, this is also one of the most quotable movies ever,...

Send us a text We're closing out 2007 with the high school classic Superbad. This small budget movie made big money with many stars who are still big today: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Seth Rogen, Bill Hader, and Emma Stone were all in the early stages of their careers at the time. How does it hold up? How controversial will Brad be on this one? Superbad was just one of man...

Send us a text After years of rumors and discussion, The Simpsons was finally turned into a movie in 2007. Did it meet the high expectations? Does it have the spirit of the show still in tact? We break down the movie and whether it lived up to the hype. More importantly, though, are our memories of the series. So we finish things up by drafting our top five favorite episodes. This one is a fun loo...

Send us a text It's time to Walk Hard. In the 2000s the music biopic was big, and Dewey Cox skewered the format brilliantly. Wickedly funny, insane moments, and fantastic music all made this movie great. It was also littered with stars: John C. Reilly, Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows, Harold Ramis, Jenna Fischer, Chris Parnell, Jack White, Jonah Hill, and more. But it was a total flop at the box office....