Flopcast 344: Wookiees in Snuggies - The Star Wars Holiday Special
Release Date: 12/09/2018
The Flopcast
We're diving back into the pages of Dynamite magazine, so we can pretend it's still 1979. (Give it a try. Set the mood with a Gloria Gaynor record.) This randomly selected issue has Erik Estrada on the cover, and inside we learn that the CHiPs star had a problem with chips. Also inside: How to ruin your lunch with weird Dynamite recipes, a bizarre sneak peek at Mrs. Doubtfire, Tony Danza back in the boxing ring, Kiss notebooks vs. Bambi notebooks, Dynamite vs. one of Charlie's Angels, the Dynamite Duo vs. themselves, a decapitated teddy bear, and much more. All we're missing is our free Bee...
info_outline Flopcast 619: Babble Like an IdiotThe Flopcast
Short show this week! We're sleepy. But during a quick visit to Northeast Comic Con, we find old friends, fancy nerd dice, and members of The Go-Go's, The Cars, and the cast of Growing Pains. We also recommend Enterprisesplaining, a silly new Star Trek podcast that doesn't care if you've ever seen Star Trek. Also: Happy Birthday to Matthew Modine. (Were you more disturbed by Matthew in Full Metal Jacket, Stranger Things, or Private School? Let us know.) And our regular links... Email: [email protected]
info_outline Flopcast 618: 1999 TV Part 2 - Lobster JusticeThe Flopcast
It's the second half of our look at every television series that debuted in the year 1999. And once again, we remember just a few of them, and only saw a couple. (Kornflake was a fan of Judging Amy, while for Kevin, this was the year of Freaks and Geeks.) But the list also includes dozens of obscure short-lived sitcoms, cartoons, talk shows, game shows, and at least one insane cannibalistic Canadian woman in the Amazon jungle. (Maybe it was just her way of preparing for Y2K.) Do you remember any of these shows? Are you still secretly hoping for a reboot of Get Real, Cold Feet, or Oh, Grow Up?...
info_outline Flopcast 617: 1999 TV Part 1 - So WeirdThe Flopcast
We're diving into television of the year 1999... which is quite recent by Flopcast standards, but yikes, it was a quarter century ago. We have a giant list of every TV show that debuted that year, and this week we only get halfway through the list. Several long-running cartoons started in 1999, including Family Guy, Futurama, and SpongeBob. But there were also cartoons we don't remember at all, starring ants, hippos, mutant babies, and more. We also don't remember a ton of 1999 sitcoms, dramas, game shows, and something with a lemur puppet. Look, we seem to be pretty clueless about almost...
info_outline Flopcast 616: Ramona and TopoThe Flopcast
Kevin and the Mayor of Chickentown are celebrating the career of comic book artist Ramona Fradon, who died this week at the age of 97. Ramona was one of the only women drawing comics way back in the early 60s, when she was the premier Aquaman artist for DC Comics, and co-created Aquaman's teen sidekick, Aqualad. Later in the 60s, she also co-created one of DC's oddest heroes, Metamorpho the Element Man. Ramona's 70s comics work included Freedom Fighters (with Doll Man, who wishes you'd stop giggling about his name), Plastic Man (Ramona's art was even seen on the Plastic Man cartoon series),...
info_outline Flopcast 615: The Flying Cow Hall of FameThe Flopcast
It's time for our annual review of the nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame... which means we could start screaming "What about the Monkees?!" at any time. But there are some worthy and long overdue performers up for induction, such as Cher, Mariah, and (finally!) Kool & the Gang. Join us as we go through the whole list for you. (Spoiler: Still no Tiffany. COME ON.) And yeah, if you think Kornflake didn't somehow work a flying cow into the conversation... you don't really know us. Email: [email protected]
info_outline Flopcast 614: The Backs of Life 7 - Big Apple BluesThe Flopcast
After a three year break, we're getting back to The Backs of Life! (As requested by absolutely no one! You're welcome!) Back in 2021, we started reviewing all the "backdoor pilot" episodes of classic 80s sitcom The Facts of Life. Now as we finally revive this very important project, we've brought in a special guest reviewer: friend of the Flopcast, Sci-Fi Explosion mastermind, and certified Factologist Chris Cummins! Kevin, Kornflake, and Chris are looking at the 1988 backdoor pilot episode "Big Apple Blues," in which Natalie moves to New York City to share an apartment with a pack of weirdos,...
info_outline Flopcast 613: Buh-Dup Doh-Doh-DohThe Flopcast
It's another goofy random little show this week, including: Kornflake finds an Oompa Loompa at the Chocolate Expo; Kevin finds a rock star at the disco; the secret language of chickens is revealed; we're less than excited about Popcorn Day; and it's almost time to revive our Facts of Life review project, the Backs of Life. Just as Tootie prophesized. Email: [email protected] This week's promos:
info_outline Flopcast 612: Dancing Queens, Disco MummiesThe Flopcast
It's a surprisingly disco-themed episode, because Kevin, Kornflake, the Mayor of Chickentown, and Ed from Sponge Awareness Foundation all met in the middle of New Hampshire for a spectacular ABBA tribute show. We were there because our old pal (and occasional SAF guitarist) Mike was onstage in the band, delivering killer guitar solos like you never heard back in the disco era. We followed the show with a visit to the Red Arrow Diner, where we hadn't been since Kornflake's notorious tooth incident a decade ago. (Longtime Flopcast listeners remember what happened... oh yes, Mr. T was...
info_outline Flopcast 611: The Super Dictionary - Be a DuckThe Flopcast
Ready for more vocabulary lessons with the Justice League of America? We're diving back into The Super Dictionary, a 1978 book that attempted to mix learning with superheroes, and succeeded in being completely bizarre. This time we'll look at entries involving: walrus baseball with Aquaman, cleaning an invisible jet with Wonder Woman, nap time with the Man of Steel, people crashing when they try to fly like Hawkgirl, the Batmobile crashing because Robin can't drive, Supergirl weirdly watching kids sleep, Luthor weirdly watching people comb their hair, a stranger in the basement, naked...
info_outlineIt's our final Flopcast movie night of the year, and Kornflake is finally suffering through the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special! (Kevin has seen it already, of course, but is doomed to repeat it again and again...) If you've experienced it too (either forty years ago on TV, or more recently on bootleg DVD), you know what's coming. Long scenes of nothing but Wookiees growling at each other! Art Carney lying to Stormtroopers! Harvey Korman as a robot, a cantina drunk, and a four-armed alien Julia Child! A Wookiee grandpa watching naughty videos! (Yikes, that part is disturbing.) A song from Jefferson Starship, because why not! The Nelvana cartoon that introduces Boba Fett! Princess Leia singing! R2D2 smoking! Harrison Ford somehow agreeing to participate! And of course, the supreme awesomeness of Bea Arthur! The whole thing is just bizarre and wrong, and we love it. Our DVD also has the original 1978 commercials, a surprising number of which are for underwear. Other commercial breaks feature the Reggie Jackson candy bar, a backward robot, cheap wine endorsed by the guy from Land of the Lost, and a weird news report about the Blizzard of '78. Hey, it's Life Day. You know what to do. Growl at your loved ones incoherently.