Sunday, April 20, 2025

Flopcast 676: Breakdancing Fish Police - The Comics of 1985

We're looking back at the comic book scene of forty years ago, and we've brought in a special guest to help: ESO Network Director (and longtime comic book fan) Mike Faber. The big story of 1985 was Crisis on Infinite Earths, but we cover much more, including: The New Teen Titans, Justice League Detroit, the trial of the Flash, Elvira's House of Mystery, Secret Wars II, Heroes for Hope, the silliness of Ambush Bug, the genius of Alan Moore (Swamp Thing, Miracleman), and the independent stuff too (Love and Rockets, Cerebus, DNAgents, Jon Sable Freelance, and those crazy Ninja Turtles). This podcast should be bagged, boarded, graded, slabbed, and thrown on eBay with a Buy It Now price of zero dollars.

Sunday, April 13, 2025

Flopcast 675: Hands Off the Chicken

Just a few quick subjects this week: We recommend the improv comedy of Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation's Jean-Ralphio!), we look at some Saturday Night Live-related comic books (including when Spider-Man met Belushi), and we take it to the streets. Not because we're Doobie Brothers, but because we're angry.

Sunday, April 6, 2025

Flopcast 674: The Tent Circuit

If you grew up in or around the bizarro state of Rhode Island, you might remember the Warwick Musical Theatre. For decades, this tent-style venue (with a rotating circular stage in the middle) hosted concerts, comedy, musicals, and even wrestling. (Guess how many times Liberace performed there. No, you're low. Guess again.) And back in the 80s, this is where some of us first saw Weird Al, the Monkees, and oh yeah, Air Supply. So let's take a look at the whole wild history of the Warwick tent, which alas, has been gone for about a quarter century. (These days a giant hardware store is there, in case you need 8,000 hammers.) But in our hearts, Laura Branigan and Billy Ocean are playing there RIGHT NOW.

Sunday, March 30, 2025

Flopcast 673: Not a Normal Night - TV 1975

Continuing our look back at 1975 (which was just about fifty years ago, according to most historians), let's see what was on television. Specifically we're looking at the prime time schedule for March 30, 1975, which just happened to be Easter night. So the three networks offered a mix of special programming (The Ten Commandments, The Wizard of Oz, and a horrifying holiday Waltons rerun) and typical mid-70s action shows (Six Million Dollar Man, McCloud). Watch closely for special guest stars like John Ritter (pre-Jack Tripper) and Gavan O'Herlihy (post-Chuck Cunningham). Was it the greatest night in television history? Absolutely not. But it was 1975, and it was all we had.

Sunday, March 23, 2025

Flopcast 672: Moonrunners and Supervixens - The Movies of 1975

It's a simple enough show this week, kids. We're just looking at a bunch of movies from half a century ago. 1975 was a game-changing year in film. Early 70s trends like blaxploitation and dystopian sci-fi were about to be swept aside, as a certain giant Spielbergian shark ushered in the blockbuster era. But meanwhile, the year still offered some genuine classics (Dog Day Afternoon, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), some cult classics (Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Rocky Horror Picture Show), some Disney for the kids (Apple Dumpling Gang, Escape to Witch Mountain), giant spiders, crazy mamas, blazing stewardesses, switchblade sisters, and plenty of Pam Grier. So pop in a Glen Campbell 8-track and cruise over to your local ugly 1970s movie theater. And grab a big box of Raisinets, even though they're lousy.

Sunday, March 16, 2025

Flopcast 671: Listener Feedback - Illnesses and Injuries

As the title suggests, we have illnesses, we have injuries, and we have a quick little listener feedback episode. Including: Blip magazine, Pac-Man high scores, Activision patches, Dig Dug songs, Donkey Kong comics, Mardi Gras chickens, Sewer Sam, An Hour With Bob, Positronic Hypersonic, Sci Fi Journal, Luke Ski's Animation & Stuff Podcast, the Yummy Awards, and pizza pies for Pi Day. Enjoy, as we deal with our various aforementioned ailments. We're podcasting through the pain, just for you..

Sunday, March 9, 2025

Flopcast 670: A Camcorder and a Dream

We're just diving into the bizarre world of Rhode Island cable access television of the 80s and 90s. And our special returning guest is Kevin Cafferty! Kevin was there, and remembers it all. If you were anywhere near the Ocean State back in the day, you never knew what you'd find on local cable TV, but you knew it would freak you out. Including: awkward talk shows, befuddling children's shows, ultra-low-budget sketch comedy, backyard wrestling, high school dances, karaoke direct from Woonsocket, the intense legal drama of Providence traffic court, the Star Trek fan show we loved more than Star Trek, the Kiss fan show that was parodied on Family Guy... and the legend of Daphne's Madhouse. Why would you ever look at mainstream TV again? On cable access, your own neighbors were making the weirdest shows in the world.

Sunday, March 2, 2025

Flopcast 669: Let's Flop Again Like We Did Last Summer

We always enjoy perusing the annual list of nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, because it makes everybody angry. And this year we have a special guest: Michael Gordon, host of the DragonCon Report, Earth Station Who, and BatChums podcasts! (Clearly Mike isn't podcasting enough. So glad we could help with that.) The nominees include 70s rock (Bad Company), 80s pop (our girl Cyndi!), 90s grunge (Soundgarden), and lots more, including some long overdue legends (Joe Cocker, Mariah Carey) and some oddball surprises. (Phish? Really?) And we somehow get through the whole list without complaining about the Rock Hall's continued snubbing of Air Supply. But we have not forgotten.

Sunday, February 23, 2025

Flopcast 668: Blip Yip

In 1983, Marvel Comics launched a magazine about video games. This was not a comic book; it was a magazine. (Okay, it was a tiny comic book-sized magazine. Happy now?) It lasted just seven issues, utterly failing to make a blip, even though it was in fact called Blip. So today we're flipping through the first issue of Blip, trying to make sense of it all. On the cover is actor Matthew Laborteaux (Little House on the Prairie, Whiz Kids), looking very upset that we interrupted his game of Tron. Inside we learn the favorite video games of more Hollywood stars, assuming you define "star" as "someone who appeared on The Facts of Life once or twice." We also learn about Missile Command, Centipede, Dig Dug, Pitfall, and Bubble Yum. (That last one might just be an advertisement.) Sure, there were much bigger, much better video game magazines around in the early 80s. But only one was Stan Lee-approved. So stick with Blip, true believers.

Sunday, February 16, 2025

Flopcast 667: Piano People FlopFight - Go-Go vs. Yo-Yo

Recently we braved the lawless wilderness of New Hampshire to see a show called "Piano Men and Women," celebrating the music of Billy Joel, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, and more. (We were there because our old pal Mike is the guitarist in this show. Mike has come a LONG way since Sponge Awareness...) So now we're throwing all those classic pop stars into a silly FlopFight tournament of randomly selected competitions. Join us as we debate the merits of, say, Freddie Mercury and Barry Manilow in a snow-shoveling contest. Why, there's even a surprise wild card player who has no business in this FlopFight, but just might win the whole thing. Kids, prepare for some thrilling and ridiculous tournament action. The stakes could not be lower.

Sunday, February 9, 2025

Flopcast 666: New England, V66, and We

Longtime Flopcast listeners (those poor souls) know that every 100 episodes, we celebrate V66, Boston's own music video TV channel of the mid-80s. This time, however, we have a special guest: Eric Green, director of the V66 documentary Life on the V! And because this is episode 666, we're looking at the heavy metal and hard rock bands and videos of the V66 era. It was a time when catchy melodies and goofy visuals helped acts like Quiet Riot and Twisted Sister score huge Top 40 hits. The Kiss guys lost the makeup, Van Halen switched from Dave to Sammy, Aerosmith made their (rap-assisted) comeback, Mötley Crüe freaked everybody out, and Bon Jovi opened the floodgates for a cacophony of hair metal. Meanwhile on the local scene, V66 promoted a video filmed at a Boston-area high school by an unknown hard rock band called Extreme. And as the New England Patriots prepared for Super Bowl 1986, V66 was there with a couple of low budget quickie music videos, including the goofy metal tune "Skin the Bears." (Spoiler: The Patriots absolutely did not skin the Bears.) Also: Kevin finds V66 VJ David O'Leary at a Taylor Dayne show! Eric traces the history of Nirvana in Boston! Tom Bergeron gets in touch with the kids on Rap Around! And if you're in the Boston area, you can join us for a special screening of Life on the V at the Somerville Theatre on February 27th! Kids, it's the 40th anniversary of V66. You deserve a night out, surrounded by Junior Mint-chomping 80s nerds who know how to neutron dance.

Sunday, February 2, 2025

Flopcast 665: Why Are We Still Talking About Ted McGinley?

It's time for another Top 4 ½ List, and it's a dumb one! The subject is "Ace." We're just listing characters (from cartoons, movies, TV, etc.) named Ace. And we probably missed your favorite Ace, so let us know! (Unless your favorite is Ace the Bat-Hound. We assure you, we did not forget Ace the Bat-Hound.)