Nerd Lunch

After Michael May and Robert Zerbe check in on their resolutions and predictions from last year's Nerdstradamus episode, Rob Graham, Evan Hanson, Kay, and Paxton Holley join the fun to look back on the books, movies, and TV shows of 2020 and forward to what's potentially coming in 2021. This episode is full of resolutions, recommendations, and reckonings. And a little bonus something we like to call "Tea Talk." Opening song by Andrew Bird.

Michael May, Rob Graham, and Evan Hanson reconvene for another informal conversation about what they’ve been reading, watching, and thinking about lately. Topics meander merrily, but start from: Books like Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Dickens' Christmas Books, The Devil’s Due by Bonnie MacBird, The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, and Becoming by Michelle Obama. Comics like Silver Spoon by Hiromu Arakawa Movies like the original Black Christmas, this year's Fatman, and the documentary Pilgrims. TV shows like Dicktown and Truth Seekers And real talk on Holiday Traditions, Movie Theaters, and This Podcast.

Christian Nielsen and new guest Karen Flieger join Rob and Michael to talk about their favorite Christmas episodes of TV shows. In discussions of The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, Friends, and Justice League, the Clampetts learn about the politics of gift-giving, the Stephens' help an orphan boy discover the spirit of the season, Ross tries to teach his son about Hanukkah after a lifetime of Santa, and Superman invites Martian Manhunter home for the holidays. Featuring music by Straight No Chaser.

With Disney's recent announcement that there's a new Fantastic Four movie coming that will be part of the MCU, it's a great time to discover a lost podcast episode about the four FF films so far. From the no-longer-with-us Geek Fallout: The Comic Book Episodes, host Erik Johnson leads a discussion with Nerd Lunch/AfterLUNCH regulars Paxton Holley and Evan Hanson about Fantastic Four (2015), Fantastic Four (2005), Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), and The Fantastic Four (1994).

Mike Westfall and Michael DiGiovanni join Michael May and Rob Graham to create Rankin-Bass stop-motion Christmas specials that never existed, but should have. Lots of holiday spirit AND SINGING in this episode, so gather the family, get some hot chocolate, and enjoy!

In the first of hopefully many such discussions, Michael May, Rob Graham, and Evan Hanson have a very informal conversation about what they've been reading, watching, and thinking about lately. Topics lead to unpredictable places, but include: Comics like X of Swords, Batman: Three Jokers, and The Orville. Novels like The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty, The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton, and Bonnie MacBird's Sherlock Holmes series. TV shows like The Good Wife, Dark Shadows, and Police Squad!. Movies like the Omen series, Tremors: Shrieker Island, and The Gumball Rally. And real talk on Getting Old, Biblical Apocrypha, and COVID and Thanksgiving.

On this very special episode, Rob talks with Vivian Lee, writer and executive story editor on Lost in Space (2018) about her behind-the-scene experiences helping to create the show.

Evan Hanson joins Rob and Michael to talk about the first season of the 2018 Lost in Space series streaming on Netflix. We don't all agree about the show, but we do love talking about it and we talk about everything. If you'd like to be unspoiled, be sure to watch the season before listening to this conversation. We bury ourselves in it like a Robinson buried in ice.

Remember Scooby's All Star Laff-A-Lympics where various Hanna Barbera characters crossed over to compete against each other in Olympics-style events? Even if you don't, it was really fun, so Amanda VanHiel, Shawn Robare, Rob Graham, and Michael May imagine what that would be like with characters from '80s TV shows and movies.

Kay returns to introduce Rob and Michael to the '90s cult classic Hocus Pocus starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, and Thora Birch.

Last October, we created an Expendables of Horror movie featuring only living actors. This year, Joanna from Bloody Popcorn, Evan Hanson, Rob Graham, and Michael May resurrect their favorite dead actors to create an all-star cast. They pick the actors, discuss the types of roles they'd play, and Evan writes a plot. Listen and imagine The Evil Hunters... IF YOU DARE!

Michael May, Rob Graham, Paxton Holley, and Jay Ryan have bats on the brain. Three months after the death of director Joel Schumacher, AfterLUNCH tries to solve the riddle of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. What do they do well, what do they do poorly, and how do they compare to other versions of the character?

Michael May and Rob Graham welcome Michael DiGiovanni and Kay to revisit a classic Nerd Lunch topic. We put together movie triple-features around the themes of witches, soundtracks, walking away from explosions, and movies that make us feel alive.

A palliate is something that reduces or eases the symptoms of something horrible. In this special episode of AfterLUNCH, Rob Graham talks to AfterLUNCH guests and listeners to learn what has brought them joy or relief during the uncertainty and isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tune in and find out what movies, TV, video games, creative activities, and other things your podcast friends have been into to get them through.

Before we run out of summer, let's talk about another Disney pirate movie. In this second flashback to the dead 'Casting Off podcast, Michael and David May are joined by Rob Graham to blather about Blackbeard's Ghost from 1968 starring Peter Ustinov, Dean Jones, and Suzanne Pleshette. But before we get to that, we also have a quick announcement about AfterLUNCH itself.

Michael May, Rob Graham, Jeff Somogyi, and Chad Young hit the playground to argue about who would win in four legendary match-ups between various characters. Gandalf vs Sasquatch is just the first competition (and not even the weirdest) in this hilarious discussion.

The Magnum PI panel reconvenes to discuss Season 2. It's Evan Hanson, Jeeg, Michael May, Rob Graham, and William Bruce West talking about their favorite episodes, who they ship, TC's photography skills, and of course Higgins' half-brother from Texas.

Adam Pope pitched the idea and Michael May dug it, so they invited Chris Bailey, Rob Graham, Evan Hanson, and Christian Nielsen to help create teams of fictional police characters. Each team has a leader, a detective, a ballistics expert, a wild card, a scientist, an undercover expert, a dispatcher, and a beat officer. And as an added bonus, we had to record late at night for logistical reasons, so the panelists are extra loopy.

While AfterLUNCH is officially a monthly show, Michael has been thinking about how to have fun things to listen to in the weeks between episodes. One has to do with a short-lived podcast that he and his son David did called ‘Casting Off, about nautical adventure stories. We won't rerun the whole series on AfterLUNCH, but there are a couple of episodes with some guests who’ll be familiar to Nerd Lunch listeners. This first one is a deep dive into the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl. There’s already been an official Nerd Lunch drill-down on the first four movies of the Pirates series, but this conversation is different enough that hopefully it'll be worth listening to. In addition to Michael and David, the panel includes Nerd Lunch Fourth Chair Army members Lizzie Twachtman and Mike Westfall, as well as comics writer Ron Marz. The plan was always to have this same panel come back and talk about the rest of the Pirates movies, but that never happened. Part of the reason for s

Paxton Holley pitched the idea for this episode in which he, Adam Pope, Michael May, and Shawn Robare each try to sell an idea for a movie, TV show, or product, then modify that idea based on notes from the other panelists. It's a weird and funny episode; the perfect way to kick off the new, but familiar AfterLUNCH podcast. And very special thank you to the legendary Mike Westfall for creating the AfterLUNCH logo.