The Flopcast

From the middle of a horrifying Chickentown heatwave, we present a Top 4 1/2 List of summer songs of the 80s! (Yes, this is ground we've covered before. If you thought we were ever going to stop yammering about Belinda Carlisle, you really don't know us.) And for more 80s summer music action, we also have a Sammy Hagar concert report! Sammy's show featured plenty of Van Halen classics, Joe Satrian...

As promised/threatened, we're looking at all the TV series that can be considered spinoffs of Happy Days. And yikes, there are so many that we're splitting them into two episodes. So this week, we're covering: Laverne and Shirley! (Remember when Laverne, Shirley, and everyone they knew all moved from Milwaukee to Los Angeles together?) Mork and Mindy! (Remember when Mork gave birth to a weird old...

Our series of Wizard of Oz adaptation reviews brings us to 1978's The Wiz, an ambitious reimagining with an all-star all-Black cast led by the great Diana Ross. Also featuring: Richard Pryor, Lena Horne, Nipsey Russell, Mabel King, graffiti Munchkins, crow monsters, poppy girls, and way more long slow musical numbers than anyone really wanted. (Seriously, they could have cut the running time in ha...

Flopcast episode 736! It's another quick fill-in show as we await the return of the Mayor! Including: Kevin's recent guest appearance on Monkeeing Around to discuss a weird obscure Micky Dolenz movie! The new book Raised on Radio, an oral history of the arena rock bands of the 70s and 80s! (Worried that you don't know quite enough about REO Speedwagon? Well, here you go.) And we just saw Devo live...

Sixty years ago, The Monkees debuted as a TV show about a band, quickly grew into a real band, were wildly successful for just a few years, then faded away. Forty years ago, reruns on MTV inspired a new generation of Monkeemania, and so Micky, Davy, and Peter hit the road for the big 1986 Monkees reunion tour. Kevin saw them on that tour, and our guest this week did too! We're joined by Elaine, co...

In the early 80s, video games were so popular that they inspired a weird pack of Saturday morning cartoons. The Pac-Man cartoon was first, and was soon followed by Saturday Supercade, Dragon's Lair, and Pole Position. Saturday Supercade featured short segments based on several games: Donkey Kong (both original and Junior), Frogger, Kangaroo, Pitfall, Q*Bert, and Space Ace. And this week we're join...

Our ongoing series of Wizard of Oz adaptation reviews reaches Journey Back to Oz, an animated movie that Filmation started producing in 1962. However, they ran out of money, and the movie sat around unfinished for a full decade, until Filmation had some cash rolling in from their cheapo Saturday morning cartoons. Was Journey Back to Oz worth the wait? Yeah, sort of. It boasts an all-star cast led...

Inspired by last week's Happy Days cast reunion event (which we attended as part of our court-ordered community service), we're finally taking a deep dive into this classic goofy sitcom of the 70s and 80s. Including: How Happy Days and American Graffiti sort of created each other! The Happy Days pilot episode of Love, American Style! Tom Bosley on Wait Till Your Father Gets Home! The mystery of Ch...

We actually left the studio a few times this week, so this show is just a quick recap of our various silly activities. Including: Beloved folk singer-songwriter Dar Williams live in concert! The Footloose musical live from New Hampshire! Losing at trivia to Britney Spears's lower back tattoo! And a live Happy Days cast reunion with Henry Winkler, Anson Williams, and Donny Most! This is The Flopcas...

The Flopcast Book Club is back in session as we discuss Even the Good Girls Will Cry, the new memoir from Melissa Auf der Maur. Melissa was just a young photography student in Montreal when she was recruited to play bass in Courtney Love's band Hole, and suddenly found herself in the eye of the 90s alt-rock storm. And yikes, she has stories. We'll learn about life on the road with Hole (yeah, it w...

A few months before the debut of their classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer cartoon, Rankin/Bass produced their very first prime time animated TV special. And it was very, very different. So this week we're looking at yet another Wizard of Oz adaptation: 1964's Return to Oz. The animation was simple, but a little of that classic Rankin/Bass weirdness was already present. Including: Munchkins who...

It's another extra-quick show because we're extra-sleepy. But we do cover: Running with turkeys! Old comic books starring Superman and Supergirl! A new comic book starring a decapitated chicken! Celebrating Record Store Day with German disco Christmas music! And celebrating the 40th anniversary of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns with the American Sci-Fi Classics Track! Next week we'll have more go...

We've been poking through our stack of old Dynamite magazines again, and we fished out a good one. This issue is from 1982, and the cover features Aileen Quinn, star of Annie. Inside we learn that Annie auditions were held in Boston! We should have slipped into a curly red wig and tried out. Also: Weird sherbet recipes! The Mayor at the Baseball Hall of Fame! The Dynamite Duo at summer camp! A fut...

Say, what was on TV fifty years ago this week? Let's check our local listings and find out. Okay, the answer is: Lots of sitcoms, lots of variety shows, and about 6,000 detective shows. But as we go through the week, we'll also find: Weird cartoons about Noah's Ark and the Easter Bunny! Carl Reiner as an angel who grants wishes! Joanie loves Potsie! Gerald Ford loves truckers! A pilot about pilots...

In yet another Flopcast Top 4 1/2 List, we're counting down our favorite movies about bands. And since we've ruled out documentaries and biopics, that leaves movies about fictional bands. Some of our picks are obvious, as Jake and Elwood get the band back together, some wacky Irish kids bring soul to Dublin, and Eddie, you know, cruises. But one or two lesser known films also make the list. (Did a...

A few weeks ago, we reviewed the 1925 silent black and white version of The Wizard of Oz, and it was... not great. So this week, we're watching the 1939 version, which has sound and color (you know, mostly), and is arguably the superior film. And we're here to talk about it. Our discussion includes: Professional show chickens, crullers, how people are still suckered by psychics, Dorothy's red hair...

While poking through a box of old magazines at Rubber Chicken Comics, we found something called Superstars of Soul. It's an odd little educational workbook from 1986, and it taught vocabulary and reading comprehension to the kids while they learned about their favorite soul acts. So we're flipping through the whole book today, and our conversation includes: Chaka Khan on The Love Boat! Prince punc...

In the wake of last week's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame episode, Kevin and the Mayor check out documentaries about two of the nominees: Luther Vandross and Jeff Buckley. (Kevin also stumbled upon a 1985 movie starring Tatum O'Neal and Irene Cara that we suspect has never been seen by anyone else ever.) And we brave the mean streets of Allston, Massachusetts (featuring poorly shoveled sidewalks and d...

The new list of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees was just released, and as usual we spend a whole episode kicking it around. And once again we're joined by writer, publisher, and podcaster (BatChums, Dragon Con Report, Earth Station Who) Michael Gordon! Join us as we recall seeing INXS live, wonder if this will finally be Mariah's year, and try to figure out what a "sussudio" is. Of course, Air...

Back in the 70s and 80s, the television broadcast of The Wizard of Oz was a hugely anticipated annual event. The kids had their Wizard of Oz dolls from Mego, and their Wizard of Oz comic book from Marvel and DC, just to get them through the long year between viewings. But that was the classic movie from 1939. Have you ever seen the 1925 version? Kevin and the Mayor just did, so we're here to file...

The Mayor is back in Chickentown with a full report on her trip to Los Angeles for Gallifrey One, the long-running annual Doctor Who convention! Including: The 1986 Doctor Who USA Tour! The Mayor's panel about the Doctor's companions! A quick bonus visit to the Comic-Con Museum in San Diego! A special appearance by Flash Gordon! And the return of a long lost Flopcast segment, What's in the Bag! An...

It's been over a year, but we're finally returning to The Super Dictionary, that bizarre book from the 70s that taught vocabulary to the children using DC Comics superheroes. This time we're learning (sort of) about words starting with H, I, and J. But because this book is so weird, we're really learning that Batgirl is fascinated by geese, whales love Wonder Woman's shoes, Atom rides hummingbirds...

Were you listening to the radio half a century ago? And was it ridiculous? We're looking at a list of the Top 100 songs of 1976, and it sure seems that way. But it's a fun mix of classic rock, disco, easy listening, disco, novelty songs, and a little more disco. There's even a TV theme song on the list, and it just might involve a Sweathog or two. If you remember when the Bay City Rollers ruled th...

This is a short one, because here in Chickentown, we're all a bit under the weather. (And the weather is not good. A massive snowstorm approaches, and we may be trapped in the studio until June. Please send coffee.) But we do have a quick concert report on The Monkee Men, an excellent Monkees tribute band we learned about from our friends at the Monkeeing Around podcast. This leads to a discussion...

With the Mayor away on special assignment, it's a quick solo show with Kevin just yammering about comic books from 1976. Our collection of goofy 50-year-old comics includes: An evil space cowboy riding Superman, Harvey Pekar on the streets of Cleveland, the Joker and his pet hyena, Alfred E. Neuman as George Washington, Ronald McDonald in the Olympics, super heroes battling super gorillas, Andy Pa...