October 8-16, 1988

This week Ken welcomes Mike and Scot from the First Seven Inch podcast.

Ken Mike and Scot discuss obscure hardcore, punk rock, having to pivot to make the fans happy, the power of Patreon, The Equalizer, TV and movies with punks, John Wick, Donnie Yen, being an easy mark, Midnight Caller, Silk Stalkings, Nick/Forever Night, USA Network, what to do when it's "too hot to sleep", creepy work pervs, smoking, being straight edge, brown cigarettes, Brendan Tartikof, Ed Grimley, the mythical magic of the big white TV Schedule board, testing your brain at the pharmacy, Amazon Women on the Moon, Real Men, Hellraiser, anthology TV, WNDS TV 50, Weather with Al, Mary Woronov, Sledge Hammer, NBC, Alf, Stevie Wonder, TV's Blooper and Practical Jokes, Librace, Throb, the career of Jim Hanks, CT people, the Moby of Puppets, The Hogans, Mr. Rogers, Letterman, Dear John, US remakes of UK shows, Who's the Boss, Donna Mills in Outback Bound, the American obsession with Australia, 'roid free world, Growing Pains, Nova, sexy Walter Mathau in Hopscotch, why 1985 is Ken's favorite year in movies, why the early 80s made us desperate for nerds to save us, fascist eagles, Slayer, Tyne Daly and kids in gangs, Just a Regular Kid an AIDS story, Highway to Heavan, Halloween epsiodes, Michael Berryman, being obsessed with guns, Chuck Norris' uzis in the Invasion USA poster, divorced parents, Just the Ten of Us, Crossing the Mob with Jason Batemen, Philly accents, the wonder of the phrase "also starring Frank Stallone", just the Maura Tierny scenes, bad NJ accents, Bush v Dukakis debate, collar up acting, UFO Coverup, Perfect Strangers, not liking Full House, how awful Halloween is Grinch Night is, Disney Channel, spoiled cousins getting cable channels from your grandparents, being a Freddy Kruger Kid, Corbin Bernson, Amanda Payes, and finally doing the show and hoping it holds up to all your hopes and dreams.

October 27 - November 2, 1990

This week Ken welcomes former MA resident and current producer of The Last Drive-In, and owner of Not a Funeral Home productions Matt Manjourides.

Ken and Matt discuss working at video stores, MA Video Stores, Video Smith, Mike's Video, Video Oasis, Live Poultry Fresh Killed, Palmer Video, buying VHS tapes, having cable growing up, black boxes, "On Deman" video that was just 24 hours of a movie in a loop, Pay Per View, why horror almost always makes money, the video boom, PG-13 Movies with Nudity, realizing women love horror and marketing to them, the CW, Get A Life, going to school for animation, Warriors of the Wind, Fist of the North Star, the 5am Saturday morning weird local slot, 5 and 10 Store, Child World, Mr. Big's Toyland, GI Joe, Alien Nation, Return of Swamp Thing, why working with restrictions can get better results, Wes Craven, weird sleazy vibes, Day of the Dead, collecting screen used props, weird relaxing go to sleep movies, Made for TV Movies, the movie section of TV Guide, Angelica Houston's sexual explosion, Best of the New, personally killing Sadam Hussain, The Gulf War, Full House, MacGuyver, Jasmine Guy in "A Killer Among Us", when the killer is on the jury, Major Dad, Murphy Brown, Who's the Boss, Head of the Class, Coach, why Salem's Lot is Ken's favorite Tobe Hooper movie, Funhouse, Return to Salem's Lot, Sam Fuller, TCM II, Billy Connolly, Nightmare on the 13th Floor, occult elevators, USA Network Original movies, haunted item films, haunted dresses, being afraid to compete with Must See TV on Thursday, Arthur C. Clark's Mysterious World, The 1990 Flash, Quantum Leap, contempt for your audience, why Universal Studios Florida Amusement Park meant Superboy and Swamp Thing stayed on the air way too long, shared experience, and convincing a major streaming network to air "Things".

August 14-20, 1999

This week Ken welcomes writer, musician and comedian who has created the video podcast built on music, performance storytelling and Ai visuals, Skulk The Hulk, Steve "Skulk" Pasieka

Ken and Skulk discuss Mad Magazine, Steve's Dick DiBartolo mustache, Action shows on TV, Chuck Norris, WWF (WWE), Samo Hung, WCW, Chinese action heroes, Attitude Era of WCW, defining High School by wrestling, backyard wrestling, TV Guide induced vivid dreams, growing up in Chicago, heavy Italian Chicago accents, children with strong regional accents, revolting Pepto Bismol ads, disgusting ice cream photos, Judy Garland, the 90s love of the 70s, no bake Jell-O grossness, too much PB, locking up your Klondike bars, how much smarter Samo Hung is than Kevin Sorbo and Chuck Norris, Halle Berry's comebacks, Brutus the Barber Beefcakes' MBTA "Anthrax" scare, wrestlers lying about their size, Randy "Macho Man' Savage, class action suits, the shock of a Buff Bagwell photo shoot, The Tom Green Show, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, MTV's Real Life, Chyna, HHH, Behind the Music, going into animation, debating Generative AI, what is a tool and what isn't, challenging norms, controversal issues, Ken's theory of innovative amatuerishness, going to Greece, having experiences outside of America, distribution networks, wrestlers with just regular names, UFC replacing WWF/WCW, how you need rules, how having all things available to you stifles creativity, Antiques Roadshow, Celebrity Tug-O-War, Johnny Bravo, Cartoon Network, Spin City, JAWS, Ray Walston, Star Trek, Dee Snider in Strangeland, how massive David Blaine was, Win Ben Stein's Money, Leeza Gibbons hosting Smoking: Truth or Dare, requiring cigarette holders, lost Comedy Central shows of the late 90s, Steve's love of music videos, how some things don't hold up at all, appreciating Men in Black, the Roller Derby resurgence, Ska Punk, Chicago punk bands, Naked Raygun, and The Many Incessent Lives and Subsiquent Deaths Deserved of Skulk the Hulking.

January 5-11, 1985

After a long time coming Ken welcomes podcast inovater, writer, video game expert and all around brother from another mother Glenn Rubenstein.

Ken and Glenn discuss strange hobbies they explored during COVID, The Ratings Game with Danny DeVito, Double Trouble, It's Your Move, twins, not remember who is who, hunting down theme songs, testifying against Nintendo, The Game Genie, Galoob, holy grail toys, Inspector Gadget, PXL2000, Made for-TV Movies, The Mod Squad, recognizing the false sense of danger that sensationalized news stories have created, mentioning Bill Campbell pre-Rocketeer, being incredibly angry that the Love Skills VHS tape isn't sexy or instructional enough, shaming adults for renting adult films, CES, meeting John Eric Hexum as a kid, Voyagers, writing a heist movie, freeing digital archives, not living in the streaming future we were promised, getting into Spanish language pop music, Menudo, Dance Fever, the GOOD David Horowitz, Fight Back, avoiding Sam episodes of Diff'rent Strokes, meeting Dana Plato, Kids Inc, removing the adult references from songs covered by Kids Inc, having a crush on Bess Armstrong, loving a Catherine Hicks type, certain actors you always confuse, the TV version of a certain movie actor, buying and resurrecting defunct brands, L.A. Gear fantasies, Phoebe Cates in Lace, Revenge of the Nerds, Just One of the Guys, Jeff Franklin's James Brown obsession, sequel TV series, Michael Keaton, Savage Steve Holland, Jason Bateman, LA Law, shows that feel like work to watch, how somebody being a good podcast guest can make you enjoy their work, Night Court, the versatility of Fischer Stevens and Vincent DeNofrio, Jeff Altman in The Dukes of Hazard, guys an executive clearly loved, when Webster was the victim of a house invasion, Cheers, visiting the set of your favorite show, and tips for interviewing celebs.

Ken and Kendall discuss The Place of Darkness, silent horror cinema, the birth of the horror movie, Kolchak the Night Stalker, how the late 80s and early 90s mirrors the silent to talkies era, basic cable TV, thirst for content, imported horror, anthology horror, radio horror, Monster Kids, Witches Tale, Tales from the Crypt, The Hitcher, Dracula the Series, Tales from the Darkside, Dark Shadows, Monsters, Friday the 13th The Series, Video Nasties, how exposure always eventually makes horror into kiddie fair, TV movies, high concept low budget films, Full Moon Pictures, arguing about the true core elements of the Halloween series, TV versions, how Dr. Loomis could be the real villain, Blood and Thunder stories, how radio shows are like a home invasion, television ghosts, Swamp Thing, Tom Noonan's adaptation of Stephen King's The Moving Finger on Monsters, one season wonders, gothic investigators, Ken Ober, the first TV adaptation of Parenthood, official sanctioned fan fiction, The Horror Hall of Fame, taking horror cinema/media seriously, the shadow of Vietnam, how sanitized the first Gulf War was, how action movies became the new slasher/video nasties, Ken's unconventional order for the best Tobe Hooper flicks, Salem's Lot, TCM2, Funhouse, Poltergeist, 80s remakes of 50s movies, The Stand, adapting novels, Castle Rock, Dr. Sleep, the wonder of having to take what you can get, The Avengers, how great things are when they go wackadoodle, the beauty of trying things you've never heard of, horror from foreign countries, the reward of getting outside your comfort zone, how sci-fi is a grafted genre, Alien, throwing candy at children, Halloween night, Ben Cooper costumes, precious leaves, how horror works best without explanation, The Incredible Hulk, the Hulk Out List, Halloween II, the 1969 Made For-TV movie The Profane Comedy starring Chuck Connors, the sad November post-Halloween come down, Quantum Leap, The Rockford Files, the 1985 Made For-TV remake of The Bad Seed, The Hitchhiker being Paige Fletcher, KISS, Land of the Lost and the golden days of cigarettes when it was cheap and filled with carbon monoxide.

This week Ken welcomes the astounding accomplished, TV all star, casting royalty Joel Thurm on the show.

Ken and Joel discuss his book, "Sex, Drugs & Pilot Season", the importance of caffiene, Hollywood tellalls, how to guides, judging all of the NBC pilots from 80-90 ish, the Brendon Tartikoff era of NBC, Fred Silverman, making money producing old people shows, Grant Tinker, homophobia in Hollywood, producing Elvira Mistress of the Dark, NBC Films, trusting and listening to your star, how "difficult" actresses are usually just right and standing up for themselves, getting typecast casting comedy, Bicentenial Minutes, growing up in rural Brooklyn, starting out at the top, working on high quality projects at CBS, Bob Newhart, starting on Broadway, getting Charlton Heston gas, having mentors, your grandparents having a dairy farm, befriending Pearl Bailey, the choice of being fired or promoted, always having an eye for casting, strong women, moving to LA with a job that wasn't a job, Nell Carter, the creation of Gimme a Break, Baywatch, discovering David Hasselhoff, being head of talent for Spelling-Goldberg, Starsky and Hutch, only being friends with excelleng casting directors, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, casting reality TV, Pop Stars for Stone Stanley, giving Nicole Scherzinger her big break, needing to remind Nicole Scherzinger you gave her her big break, why casting directors are like fairy godmothers, having a very small part in casting the post Lorne year of SNL, casting Grease, Rocky Horror, having four hours of network TV you cast on the air every week, telling it like it is, Ted Danson's f**kability, Boy in the Plastic Bubble, being handy, charity work, and casting Cheers.

December 14-20, 1991

This week Ken welcomes former preacher, home school all star and current comedian behind the new Blonde Medicine lp "Almost a Grown Man", Jeremy Alder.

Ken and Jeremy discuss growing up religious, Hannibal Lecktor's cell in Manhunter, birthdays, being 12, growing up in Texas, having to sneak TV at grandparents and friends houses, TV Guide's excellent writing, parents vs teens views on Beverly Hills 90210, the genius of Jane Pratt, Car 54, Where Are You? and the awful movie, the early 90s boom of movies based on old TV shows, being totally traumatized by the Christian appocalyptic scare film A Theif in the Night, The Rabbit VCR multipier, not knowing who certain products are for, Christmas movies, It's a Wonderful Life, how Ken feels Frosty the Snowman is blasphemous, how Madonna was best gotten in touch with via TV Guide, In Living Color, America's Funniest People, National Geographic Explorer, Ken's ultimate fear of deep water animals, treasure hunting scams, Silk Stalkings, when it's "Too Hot to Sleep", the religious Madonna episode of MacGuyver, cults, A Place for Mom, creepy non-discript low rent ads, suckling pigs, how it's not what you're eating it's what's eating you, detention, Michael Jordan, fake names, Waco, Santa lap time, simple folk at Christmas, Unsolved Mysteries, attemps at diversity, Bob Hope, Strays, Doogie Howser, Tracy Ullman Show, Real Stories of the Highway Patrol, Top Cops, The Simpsons, Can't Buy Me Love, Ken's small handful of celebrity impressions, Youth Group "Slave Auctions" for charity, when Jamacians were the #1 villain in action cinema, Austin, square dancing, wearing a cowboy hat, Ken's quest for "The Best of the Worst" and how Beavis and Butthead will never die.

April 7-13, 1990

This week Ken welcomes author of super cool graphic novel Von Bach, and man behind the fanstic YouTube channel Hammered Out, owenhammer.com/hammered-out.html, Owen "The Hammer" Hammer.

Ken and Owen discuss Hammered out, ABC's reputation, Twin Peaks, the premiere of Twin Peaks, David Lynch, film criticism, media review, how the actors aren't always the best person to have insight into a show they are on, Jim Belushi, Jay Larson, Twin Peaks the Return, the 4 and a half hour Twin Peaks explained Twin Perfect YouTube video, how there IS an explanation for Twin Peaks, avoiding conspiracies, artist intent, the late 80s early 90s meta fiction trend, Animal Man, Perfect Blue, the only bad movies are boring and/or insincere, Donnie Yen, Star Wars, Rogue One, water cooler media, On the Air, people not expecting humor from David Lynch, Fire Walk with Me, mid-season replacements, Comedy Central the Comedy Channel and HA!, how Lost Highway is Lynch's criticism of Quinten Tarantino, superficial readings, missing the point, TM, Eastern Mysticism, Henry Rollins, Bill Cosby, Mad Movies, MST3k, loving Murder She Wrote so watching Twin Peaks, John Waters, Looney Tunes, The Simpsons, David Lynch bringing a cow and a marching band around to publicize Inland Empire, the 1977 Jesus of Nazareth, how Laura Palmer is self aware, murder on TV, what it means to be human, The Incredible Hulk, Alien Nation, Ken Johnson, Dobie Gillis, the lambada, Missing in Action III, America's Funniest Home Videos, Star Trek the Next Generation, pigs getting sunburned, being offended by bungee cord based sneaker ads, and the greatness of Nick at Nite.