The Flopcast

As we frantically prepare for Dragon Con 2023, we're wrapping up our 10-episode look back at the 1980s with a visit to Dragon Con 1989! We weren't actually there (probably too busy watching Batman for the nineteenth time), but we did scrape up some information about the third ever installment of Atlanta's legendary nerdfest. It was held on a different weekend back then (in October instead of Labor...

The vacationing Kornflake is flopped on a hammock somewhere, but the Mayor of Chickentown is here to celebrate the year 1988. After a quick look at some of the year's least popular movies (Kevin and the Mayor each saw just one of them), we turn to music. Specifically we're looking at the 1988 concert schedule at Great Woods, a beloved outdoor venue that dominated southern New England's summer conc...

Go away, soft weak humans! It's time for our annual robot-themed Top 4 1/2 List! And it's also time for our 1987-themed show! So once again we've turned to our pal Chris from Sci-Fi Explosion, because we knew Chris could come up with a magnificent list of 1987 robots. And yikes, he sure did. We have some all-time favorites (a certain Star Trek android debuted that year), some lesser known oddities...

Welcome back to 1986! (We need you for Hands Across America. Please go stand in the middle of Iowa for nine hours.) Kornflake has a goofy 1986 commercial in which the voice of God screams at you about drain cleaners. Then Kevin has a concert report on one of our favorite singers, who made her solo debut in 1986: Belinda Carlisle! You know we'll see Belinda whenever we can, because go go go go go....

As we cross the halfway point in our ten-part exploration of the 1980s, we're randomly recasting the movies of 1985, and hopefully making them weirder. We might extract Chevy Chase from Fletch, for example, and drop him into the Kelly LeBrock role in Weird Science. That would free up Kelly to star in Rambo: First Blood Part II, Stallone can replace Cher as the mom in Mask, and so on. Chances of th...

Our ten-episode trip through the 1980s continues, and we're looking at some very short-lived sitcoms from 1984. Including: The Duck Factory (starring Jim Carrey and Dippy Duck), Dreams (with John Stamos, Jami Gertz, and breakdancing), E/R (not the medical drama with George Clooney, but the medical sitcom with George Clooney), It's Your Move (with Jason Bateman and the Dregs of Humanity), and a bun...

This week we're back in 1983! Kornflake shares a goofy 1983 commercial for Dial soap, while Kevin takes an absurdly quick look at the pop music of 1983. It was the year new wave conquered the Top 40, and we approved. (For more complete coverage of 1983 music, we refer you to recent episodes of White Rocket Entertainment and Modern Musicology. While the Flopcast covers Kajagoogoo, they take care of...

It's 1982 (in our hearts, at least), so we're looking at the Mad magazines of 1982. (Historians agree that for a truly accurate account of the past, you should just read Mad. Plus you get to do the Fold-In.) That year Mad's TV and movie parodies included Raiders of the Lost Ark, Archie Bunker's Place, Family Feud, For Your Eyes Only, The Greatest American Hero, The Fall Guy, M*A*S*H, The Facts of...

Continuing our ten week celebration of the 1980s, we have some silly artifacts to examine from 1981. First Kornflake brings us a couple of Dr Pepper commercials featuring David Naughton (from "Makin' It"), Mickey Rooney (from "One of the Boys"), and the classic two-person horse costume (from our dreams). Kevin's 1981 pick is a Superman comic book produced by Radio Shack to introduce the children t...

Episode 580 means we're kicking off another ten weeks of episodes dedicated to each year of the 1980s. (So yes, everybody will be forced to Wang Chung this summer.) We're starting with 1980, and we're looking at some of our favorite albums from that year. There's some new wave (Devo, The Buggles, The Cars), some Top 40 (Air Supply, Billy Joel, REO Speedwagon), some crucial soundtracks (Flash Gordo...

We start with a little follow-up from our recent Maids v. Butlers FlopFight. It's the "honorable mention" list of maids and butlers we couldn't fit in the tournament, including characters from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Hazel, I Married Dora, and more. (Rest assured, we did not forget about We Got It Made. If only we could...) Then Kevin has a concert report, because beloved 80s pop princess Deb...

Let's wrap up the weird tournament we started last week: Our latest FlopFight, featuring maids and butlers from sitcoms, cartoons, and beyond. We have TV characters from the 60s like Lurch (The Addams Family), Mr. French (Family Affair), and Rosie the Robot (The Jetsons). From the 80s we have Mr. Belvedere (from, you know, Mr. Belvedere), Nell (Gimme a Break), and even more maids from Diff'rent St...

We grew up in a world where seemingly every sitcom included a maid or a butler. Even middle class TV households somehow afforded live-in servants. And this week all those maids and butlers shall do battle in a good old fashioned FlopFight! What would happen if Benson (from Soap) and Florence (from The Jeffersons) were stranded on an island? How about hula-dancing Alice (The Brady Bunch) versus Bat...

Another quick and silly Flopcast, including: Way too much Scotch tape trivia from Kornflake; this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees (and how they ranked in the 80s); Dolly Parton's new star-studded rock album (hey, where's Tiffany?); Bernie Taupin vs. REO Speedwagon; the Love Boat musical; and a "Chickens in the News" story from Mexico, where there are chickens in the trees and on the su...

It's a quick Sunday brunch edition of The Flopcast! Except we forgot to have brunch! Anyway, Kevin has tales from the cold and rainy Margarita Half Marathon (with margaritas and shiny blankets), and the hot and grueling Providence Marathon (with Mickey Mouse hands and Jeff Goldblum heads). We also have some comic book recommendations: the new Shazam and Peacemaker series from DC Comics, and the ne...

For just the second time in three horrifying years, Kevin and Kornflake are together in the same place for the Flopcast! And that place is... a hotel room in New Hampshire! (This is Kornflake's home state, and that explains A LOT.) To celebrate, we're learning some weird New Hampshire facts involving UFOs, old libraries, state songs, and a shopping mall where Kornflake may have gone to college. We...

It's another concert report, as we leave the house and creep down to Rhode Island to see Flopcast favorite Joan Osborne! And since Joan's big hit album (and that song - you know the one) came out way back in 1995, we're looking at the other albums we bought that year. There were lots of 1995 records from the women of the Boston rock scene (Juliana Hatfield, Mary Lou Lord, Belly, Letters to Cleo),...

We're just sipping Green Day coffee and yipping through a few miscellaneous subjects. Including: A reunion of Slipnutz (one of the greatest bands ever to specialize in slipping on nuts); Disney animator Ron Clements (we're looking forward to his version of DC's goofy robot team the Metal Men); a concert report on the last Monkee standing, Micky Dolenz; a look at the debut albums of 1967 (including...

1978's The Super Dictionary attempted to teach kids vocabulary using DC Comics superheroes. We don't know if it succeeded as a learning tool, but it sure succeeded in being super weird. (If you've ever seen that silly image of Lex Luthor stealing forty cakes, it comes from this very book.) This week we're examining a few Super Dictionary entries, which involve Wonder Woman sneezing, a banana for A...

We haven't reviewed a weird school book club magazine from the 80s since... oh wait, it was three weeks ago. Thanks for your patience. This time we're looking at a 1984 issue of Maniac, a short-lived Dynamite-type magazine aimed at a slightly older audience, with an added twist of Mad-style humor. This issue includes: Maniac holiday stickers; caricatures of Brooke Shields, Boy George, Mr. T, and S...

A quick springtime mixed bag of weirdness: April has arrived, and Kornflake is celebrating with a sugary holiday of her own making, Maple Fools Day. Speaking of sugar, National Whatever Day finds us wishing a Happy Birthday to the writer of The Archies' greatest hit. Our impromptu Funko Pop game is so shocking that you won't believe your cold dead black vinyl eyes. Kevin races through Salem, Massa...

As suggested/threatened last week, we're doing a Top 4 1/2 List of 1980s dogs. (Kornflake is obsessed with dogs, Kevin is obsessed with the 80s... this had to happen.) Including: Several cartoon dogs, a Muppet dog, a WWF wrestling dog, a rock star dog, a certain beer-chugging dog who did NOT know when to say when, and much more. Yes, we've gone to the dogs, but for our show, that's probably an upg...

It's about time for another Dynamite magazine review, but to mix things up, we're looking at a different (but eerily similar) magazine called Winner. A single issue of Winner was sold through school book clubs in 1982, and it's essentially a sports-themed version of Dynamite. Our discussion includes: John McEnroe's hair; Chris Evert on SNL; KangaROOS, the sneakers with pockets; how Kevin learned t...

It's another Flopcast tribute to V66, Boston's music video TV channel of the mid-80s! (We do this every one hundred episodes. It's all we have.) This time we thought we'd look at Billboard's Top 66 songs of 1986, an amazing list of absolutely classic 80s pop. (Flopcast favorite Billy Ocean made the list twice, and no, that's not nearly enough Billy Ocean.) And Kornflake has even pared the Top 66 l...

The Flopcast Book Club is finally back in session, and we're discussing Bill Mumy's new memoir Danger, Will Robinson: The Full Mumy. Best known for Lost in Space and The Twilight Zone, Bill was one of the busiest child actors of the 1960s, and has stayed busy with television, film, and music projects ever since. We cover Bill's Disney movies co-starring seals and raccoons; his experiences on The M...