Socially Distanced

Welcome to the most crowded edition of the Socially Distanced Podcast! Your hosts Al Mannarino and Bill Bodkin are rejoined by Kat Manos, Ken Grand-Pierre and Lucas P. Jones for another edition of the "Mando & Music" Series. This week they're talking about "The Jedi" aka Chapter 13. This chapter features the long-awaited debut of Ahsoka Tano (played by Rosario Dawson) and the gang discusses th...

We celebrate 9 months of the Socially Distanced Podcast with special guest -- comedian Taylor Allen (host of Callin' the Shots and Hon, Take My Side podcasts). Taylor joins Al Mannarino, Bill Bodkin and returning guest -- our producer Lucas P. Jones for a most beardy episode of the show. We talk Thanksgiving food, Metallica "infused" whiskey and of course, The Mandalorian ! In this episode, we dis...

Welcome to the third week of our weekly reviews of Disney+'s The Mandalorian . This week we discuss "Chapter 11 -- The Heiress" along with Pop Break comic book and anime editor Rachel Freeman and the returning Ken Grand-Pierre, the host of The New Exchange  with Ken Grand-Pierre . In this episode we talk about the star-studded episode.  The episode does stray a little from Star Wars as t...

Welcome to the second week of our weekly reviews of Disney+'s The Mandalorian. This week we discuss "Chapter 10 -- The Passenger" along with Pop Break staff writer and podcaster engineer Lucas P. Jones and the returning Ken Grand-Pierre, the host of The New Exchange  with Ken Grand-Pierre . In this episode we talk about Baby Yoda eating eggs, space spiders, The Frog Lady, Star Wars Squadrons...

The Socially Distanced Podcast is ushering a new concept for the remainder of 2020 -- weekly reviews of the second season of Disney+'s The Mandalorian . Each week Al Mannarino and Bill Bodkin welcome in guests to review the latest episode. This week the unofficial/official third host of the show, Pop Break music editor Kat Manos rejoins the guys to talk about Mando. But she's not alone! Her partne...

Longtime Pop Break staff writer and Comic-Con correspondent, Ryan DeMarco joins Al and Bill on the podcast this week. This week's "Seriously WTF" segment focuses on the announcement that San Diego Comic-Con will be honoring all 2020 passes for the 2021 event. The obvious discussions of "can this happen?" pop up as well as virtual alternatives the con may have to consider in order to stay solvent f...

Comedian and Pop Break Staff Writer Melissa Jouben joins Al Mannarino and Bill Bodkin on the latest episode of The Socially Distanced Podcast. On this episode they discuss the idea of comedy in a quarantine -- how the pandemic has changed their thoughts on what's funny and what's not, how it's been difficult to find humor in what they used to, the future of sketch and stand-up as well as comedians...

The spooky season is upon us and the gang heads to the Black Lodge in Twin Peaks, Oregon to speak with one of their favorite past guests, Kelly McGovern. Kelly joins Al and Bill to talk about Disney's news that they're putting a major focus on streaming content and what that means for not only their own future in regards to movies, but how this will impact the entire movie theater industry in gene...

Note: If you're not into politics and you don't want to hear people being angry about the current political situation, this probably isn't the episode for you. Episode 29 of The Socially Distanced Podcast sees the monthly return of Pop Break's music editor Kat Manos and Pop Break contributor Cole Rothacker aka The California Connection.  In this episode, our favorite Californians join Al and...

This is a special episode of the podcast as the guys celebrate the 11th Anniversary of ThePopBreak.com! Your hosts Al Mannarino and Bill Bodkin are joined by the original co-founder of the site, Brent Johnson, to discuss the humble and odd beginnings of the site. The trio reminisce about Pop Break live shows, covering concerts, New Brunswick vs. Asbury Park and the legacy of the site. After the no...

A special mid-week episode of The Socially Distanced podcast focuses on the 2020 Emmy Awards. Al and Bill are joined this week by Pop Break's television editor and Emmy expert Alex Marcus. Alex deftly breaks down the history Schitt's Creek made with all its Emmy wins, as well as the not-so surprising win for Billy Crudup ( The Morning Show ). The gang goes onto wax poetic about HBO's Watchmen once...

The 26th Episode of The Socially Distanced Podcast goes to SPACE! Well, technically Al Mannarino, Bill Bodkin and special guest Alisha Weinberger (Social Media Manager of ThePopBreak.com) are all in New Jersey but we're talking a ton of science fiction. The episode begins with a brief discussion of the second DC Fandome and how it failed to live up to the hype of the first. From there, the bulk of...

It's Episode 25! That means we're finally here. The moment has arrived. Al and Bill sat down, watched the pilot for the failed 2005 FOX sci-fi/horror/drama/soap -- Point Pleasant. Yes, Point Pleasant, a show supposedly set in the Jersey Shore town Al and Bill know extremely well, but in actuality was probably shot on the same sets The O.C. used. The series was created by Buffy the Vampire Slayer p...

Welcome to the 24th Episode of the Socially Distanced Podcast...the one where Al went AWOL. That's right Bill Bodkin flies solo this week, but is thankfully joined by the unofficial (but actual) hosts of the podcast -- Pop Break music editor Kat Manos and staff writer Cole Rothacker. Amidst Bill's terrible attempts at dad jokes and pseudo-intellectualism, the episode revolves around Disney+'s deci...

The 23rd episode (we're two weeks from our Point Pleasant watch-a-along!) finds Al and Bill bringing former Pop Break film editor Dan Cohen out of retirement to talk about his favorite thing the world (outside of Tom Brady) -- Batman the films of the DCEU. The reason our heroes dusted the moth balls off of Dan was because the DC Fandome event which premiered trailers and teasers for The Batman (st...

This week The Socially Distanced Podcast heads to the golden fields of Iowa as Al and Bill are joined by Pop Break staff writer, Christian Bischoff.  Christian gives us the insight on a phenomenon called The Corn Sweats, and if you thinking we're kidding you're dead wrong. Once the science lesson ends, we dive into the big story -- Disney's decision to move Mulan to Disney+ at $30 price tag....

Special guest Tommy Siegel (Jukebox the Ghost) joins Al and Bill to talk about his upcoming book (I Hope This Helps) and debut solo album (Another Century Wasted).  They also discussed the current state of the music industry, the genesis of his daily comics project, recording music during a pandemic, and much much more.  This Week's Music in a Time of Quarantine: Al's Pick: MTV Unplugged...

Al and Bill are joined this episode by senior music writer for ThePopBreak.com, Anthony Toto ... and there's a lot to talk about. First, The Rock bought The XFL? Yeah, the XFL. The trio discuss the weird history of the XFL and how Dwayne Johnson's involvement could only mean big things for them. Also, in the world of sports, they discuss the return of baseball, basketball and hockey and how it's b...

Our heroes (Bill and Al) are joined by The Pop Break’s Music Editor, Kat Manos and writer Cole Rothacker as they continue their streak of visiting the pod once a month to discuss the lackluster buzz surrounding Comic Con @ Home, the return of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in Amazon Prime Video’s Truth Seekers, and an Adam McKay produced limited series focusing on the race to cure COVID-19. In the reco...

The 18th episode of The Socially Distanced Podcast finds Bill and Al talking with longtime senior Pop Break writer, the man who redesigned the site and plays a mean Attack! Attack! cover -- Mr. Nick Porcaro. On this episode - Bill, Al and Nick discuss the very real and very devastating news that (according to a head organizer of Lollapalooza) that live music may not return until 2022. The trio dis...

The 17th episode of The Socially Distanced Podcast was a wild one! Al Mannarino and Bill Bodkin are joined, once again, by Pop Break's social media manager, Alisha Weinberger. In the episode, the "WTF" segment deals with the absolutely mind-boggling decision that Disney World made to re-open during the massive increase of COVID-19 cases in the state of Florida. They discuss if they would go to Dis...

Al and Bill celebrate the four-month anniversary of the podcast with a very special guest (and their first non Pop-Break guest), Kelly McGovern. Kelly is a social media ambassador for a number of independent movie houses in New Jersey and is one of Bill and Al's favorite people to pop culture with. In this episode, the trio talk about Kanye West's announcement via Twitter on July 4 that he will be...

Happy Fourth of July Weekend and Welcome to the 15th Episode of the Socially Distanced Podcast. This week Al and Bill are joined by Pop Break's first-ever intern, former TV editor and current "senior human who does podcasts" -- Matt Taylor.  In this episode the trio talk about the potential of Michael Keaton returning as Batman for the upcoming (maybe?) Flash film. The conversation takes a tu...

Pop Break's podcast producer, engineer and editor Lucas P. Jones returns to the Socially Distanced Podcast mostly to talk about meat and beer. Well, that's not exactly true. Lucas, Al and Bill do talk meat and beer, but they also break down the very important topic of wearing masks in public. The crux of their conversation comes from AMC Movie Theaters initial decision to not require masks when th...

Pop Break's music editor Kat Manos returns for her third guest appearance on the Socially Distanced podcast -- and she's not alone. Joining Kat once again is Pop Break film contributor, Cole Rothacker. The duo join Bill and Al to discuss Hollywood (fitting since they live a few minutes north of it) -- in particular the news of the Oscars expanding to 10 Best Picture nominations in 2022 and the Aca...