The Flopcast

Have a strong beverage standing by, because it's that time again. The Mayor of Chickentown joins Kevin and Kornflake as we recall everyone we lost in 2020, from the world of pop culture and beyond. This is a long list, including members of Monty Python, Rush, and the Pointer Sisters; the actors behind Leave It to Beaver 's Eddie Haskell, Flash Gordon 's Ming the Merciless, and Wonder Woman 's Stev...

Just in time for Cobra Kai season 3, Kevin and Kornflake take a quick spoiler-free look at seasons 1 and 2! Of course we're longtime Karate Kid fans, so we're waxing on and off about Billy Zabka (not just an 80s bully anymore), Ralph Macchio (who somehow hasn't aged since the first movie), the All Valley Tournament, Golf N' Stuff, Bananarama pancakes (it's a cruel, cruel breakfast), the Facts of L...

It's our final show of 2020, so let's look back at the BEST YEAR EVER. Okay, maybe it wasn't... but we still managed to keep our goofy show flopping along by Zoom every week. (Of course we miss having Kornflake live in Chickentown Studios... but on the other hand, we're saving a fortune on coffee...) As the stupid year wraps up, we reflect on our convention appearances (all from the beginning of t...

Like an unwanted box of ribbon candy from your great-aunt, here's an assortment of holiday (and non-holiday) weirdness, just for you. Flopcast superfan Arturo has another amazing "What's in the Bag" for us (and yes, chickens are involved); Flopcast superfan Lee reminds us to celebrate the career of wrestling's biggest baldest bad guy, King Kong Bundy; original Kiss drummer Peter Criss turns 75 thi...

Break out the nog and join us for an epic podcast crossover event! Brittany and Martha (of But First, Let's Talk Nerdy ) are here for the holidays, with a Flopcast Top 4 1/2 List of Christmas cartoon characters! It's a super-fun, super-festive list, including a snowman (but not the one you're thinking of), a snow monster (yes, that one), our favorite Sombertown schoolteacher, assorted rabbits and...

As our holiday festivities continue, we're scrolling through a list of Hallmark Christmas movies... and fixing them. Is there any way to redeem these crazy generic holiday romantic comedies, all featuring big city career women returning to their hometowns to find true love and the meaning of Christmas? Yeah, we've got you covered, as we script-doctor these turkeys and randomly add Snow Misers, Sha...

It's been a few months since we played that horrifying game we invented for 2020, Trapped in the House. But as we creep into the holiday season, it's time for a few rounds of Trapped in the House: Holiday Edition! We have some tough choices to make, as our homes are about to be invaded by lords a-leaping, maids a-milking, sarcastic candy, singing dogs, obnoxious Rankin Bass characters, and yes, zo...

It's our Thanksgiving spectacular! But not really! We're just looking up weird facts about the stuff served at Charlie Brown's infamous backyard Thanksgiving dinner. (Remember, Thanksgiving step one: Have your dog battle an evil demon lawn chair.) So we learn about ancient disgusting toast recipes, popcorn archaeology, Easter pretzel hunts, and the jellybean battlefields of the American Civil War....

Let's wrap up our review of 1990 Saturday morning TV with a look at the bizarre lineup on NBC. We had a couple of cartoonified SCTV stars taking care of weird kids (John Candy in Camp Candy and Rick Moranis in Gravedale High), Captain N: The Game Master (with a shameless parade of Nintendo characters), movie parodies from the Chipmunks, awkward cartoon dancing from Kid 'n Play... and the beginning...

We're so amused by all those fours in this week's episode number that we turned it into a Top 4 1/2 List. So the subject is... four! Our favorite fours. (Yeah, we know. We're out of ideas.) Some of our picks are obvious - gotta go with the Fantastic Four, even if it leads to the endless debate of Human Torch vs. HERBIE the robot. And there's a four-themed cartoon, thanks to School House Rock. But...

Just a random heap of goofy topics this week, so let's go. We have zombie coffee vs. robot coffee, Amazing Randi follow-up, freaky Halloween costumes, the Aquabats, the Creature from the Black Lagoon (and several other lagoons), Markie Post (and several other Markies), ElectraWoman, Wonder Woman, Pudding Pages, Power Records, Batman finds a Picasso, Fred Flintstone goes on a diet, Lynda Carter spi...

We lost a hero this week, so this show is our memorial tribute to James Randi. As a magician, The Amazing Randi performed around the world, toured with Alice Cooper, and taught Fonzie an escape trick on Happy Days. (By the way, Happy 75th Birthday to Henry Winkler!) But Randi was even better known as a skeptic and an investigator of claims of the paranormal and supernatural. His work debunked coun...

It's another cartoon-themed episode, as we continue our look at the Saturday morning TV landscape of 1990. This time we've tuned into CBS and found some long-running favorites (Muppet Babies, Garfield and Friends, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pee Wee's Playhouse) and a couple of short-lived oddities (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures, and yes, Dink the Little Dinosaur.) Our discussion includes...

It's about time for a vaguely Halloween-themed show... so this week we're just talking about Frankenstein. Mary Shelley's novel introduced our favorite monster to the world way back in 1818 (which was also the last time we left the house). And 153 years later, the Frankenstein monster reached its final perfect form as a hideous pink breakfast cereal mascot. But there have been lots more versions a...

A few months back, we examined the Saturday morning cartoon schedules of each major TV network from the year 1980. Now we're jumping ahead by a decade for three more cartoon-themed episodes, starting with ABC's Saturday morning schedule from the ridiculous year of 1990. How ridiculous was it? Well... there was a New Kids on the Block cartoon. Television probably should have just ended right there,...

Inspired by the DragonCon American Sci-Fi Classics Track's "Hostess Fruit Pie Theater" (don't ask), we're looking at those bizarre Hostess comic book ads of the 70s and 80s. It was a time when every Marvel and DC superhero (as well as all the Archie characters, Looney Tunes characters, Casper, Richie Rich, and even Sad Sack) were completely obsessed with Hostess products. Aquaman could stop a bank...

Just a quick simple show this week, as we recombobulate post-DragonCon. (Yeah, we're even sleepier than usual.) Including: Online movie riffing with The Mads, remembering Tower Records, Fake Jan, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Ricky Schroder in a tuxedo, Kornflake on a trampoline, and Happy Birthday to one giant supertwin. Links: MST3K's Trace and Frank, The Mads! The Tower Records documentar...

We seem to have survived the first (and yikes, hopefully the last) online "virtual" version of DragonCon! This year, instead of descending upon downtown Atlanta, we all stayed home, got on the stupid internet, and made it happen. Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown (as well as lots more ESO Network personnel) were quite busy with DragonCon panels and meetups throughout Labor Day weekend, and this y...

It's DragonCon weekend, and while the convention is virtual this year, we're not gonna miss hanging out with Martha and Brittany from the podcast But First, Let's Talk Nerdy! And the Mayor of Chickentown is here too! It's a party, so get ready for some silly DragonCon talk, including: The Marriott vs. the Hyatt, a friendly dog crashing our Zoom call, our traditional Sam Adams Octoberfest, plastic...

We're just a few days away from DragonCon! Normally we'd be flying to Atlanta right about now, with our Sleestak costumes carefully stuffed in our carry-on bags. But DragonCon is happening online this year, so just stay home and tune in. (But do still dress like a Sleestak. Always.) And we have more special DragonCon guests here on the Flopcast this week! Christine and Darryl are veteran DragonCon...

As virtual DragonCon approaches, we're virtually catching up with some of our favorite DragonCon people. And our guest this week is another old friend, coming to you all the way from Tennessee: Strange Animals Podcast host Kate Shaw! Kevin and Kate met through the small press publishing scene of the 90s, before they traded in their photocopiers and staplers for microphones and digital recorders. N...

In a normal year, right now we'd be preparing to go to Atlanta for DragonCon, our favorite annual gathering of the geeks. But, as you may have noticed, this is not a normal year. We're still going to DragonCon, but it'll be an online virtual convention - just fire up your Commodore 64 and tune in! (You're old school. We like that.) And since we won't get to hang out with our DragonCon friends in p...

Never mind the humans, it's time for our ninth (!) annual robot-themed Top 4 1/2 List. And because this is not a normal summer, we're combining the robot list with our new quarantine era segment, Trapped in the House. Kevin is supplying the weird robot options, and Kornflake must choose which robots are stomping on over to her place and moving in. Are these robots angry, crazy, and super annoying?...

It's our Billy Joel episode! Which we've been meaning to do for years! (Sorry about the delay. We've been really busy and/or sleepy.) We start by celebrating the 40th (!) anniversary of the Glass Houses album, and determine if it's really still rock and roll to us. Then Kornflake presents a Top 4 1/2 List of her favorite Billy Joel songs. (It's a slightly randomized list, based on coin tosses, so...

Because we're idiots, last summer we forced ourselves to watch all the Meatballs sequels. (There were three, which felt like three hundred.) So this week, continuing the theme of disappointing follow-ups to classic Bill Murray movies, we finally watched all the Caddyshack sequels. (There was just one, which somehow also felt like three hundred.) Caddyshack II got a few things right: A script by Ha...