415 episodes listed below
Retro specials, recovered and roasted.
A Special Presentation, or Alf Will Not Be Seen Tonight follows Mike and Ethan through old comic-strip adaptations, TV specials, and half-remembered pop-culture artifacts. The appeal is in the sideways route: precise memory, loose banter, and jokes that somehow circle back to a real read on the material.
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A Special Presentation, or Alf Will Not Be Seen Tonight treats old comic-strip adaptations, animated specials, and stray television relics as objects worth overthinking. Its center of gravity is the odd afterlife of newspaper comics and childhood media. Mike and Ethan move fast. A Peanuts double feature becomes a conversation about recycled plots, football, red-haired crushes, and the uneasy difference between fondness and boredom. Captain N opens the door to video-game storytelling, Kid Video comparisons, Game Boy as a character, Mother Brain's reputation management, and the strange politics of cartoon villainy. The show likes a rabbit hole. Kudzu is not just a forgotten comic adaptation; it is an excuse to test whether a long-running strip actually survives the move to animation. Iggy Arbuckle starts with Ranger Rick-style nature education and quickly becomes a run through pig rangers, false educational details, and the absurd grammar of animal-adventure cartoons. Strange Planet sends the hosts into the rare lottery ticket of webcomics becoming television. They remember things sideways. That is part of the value. The conversation frequently stops to identify adjacent media: A Boy and His Blob, Captain N, Hundreds of Beavers, Who's the Boss?, ABC preview blocks, Weird Al, The Curiosity Shop, and hard-to-find specials that once felt unrecoverable. It can sound chaotic, but the chaos usually has a filing system behind it. The hosts are less interested in clean nostalgia than in what the material actually does onscreen. They notice when a special repeats itself. They notice when a character has no main-character energy. They notice when an adaptation teaches the wrong lesson and when a throwaway commercial says more about television than the program around it. The humor is dry, teasing, and occasionally blunt. The show works best for people who like deep-reference banter with actual memory behind it. It is retro criticism for anyone who suspects the weirdest part of old television was often the most revealing part.
Made for: For listeners who know old comics, cartoons, video-game tie-ins, Peanuts specials, and hard-to-find television can reward serious attention. It especially suits people who enjoy dense reference chains and conversational criticism.
What sets it apart: Rather than treating nostalgia as a warm blur, the show studies the strange specifics: reused plots, failed adaptations, hard-to-find broadcasts, odd commercials, and baffling character choices. Its looseness hides a deep archive instinct.
A podcast where two obsessive lovers of 1980s newspaper comics discuss said comics and the 1980s animated specials based on them.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Mike and Ethan give neglected animation and screen adaptations the close, funny scrutiny usually reserved for better-known productions.
A Special Presentation, or Alf Will Not Be Seen Tonight gives Mike and Ethan room to examine screen adaptations that rarely receive such sustained attention.
A cartoon pig sends Mike and Ethan from forest rangers to Bigfoot's feet, if you're game.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Iggy Arbuckle sparks a loose, funny run through Ranger Rick, Bigfoot logic, and cartoon baking soda science.
Iggy Arbuckle sends the conversation into a relaxed sweep through childhood nature media, from Ranger Rick animal adventures to National Geographic World and the strange rules that govern cartoon wildlife.
A milestone Asterix chat full of athlete cameos, celebrity confusion, and a glue joke for battered comics.
Episode 250 uses its milestone slot to take on Asterix at the Olympic Games, framed as the third live-action Asterix film and the free option on hand.
Recaps that argue back.
Chinese drama recaps with cultural context.
PBS Kids nostalgia with teeth and context.
Asian drama talk with fandom built in.
Reality recaps with teeth.
Episode 250 of A Special Presentation brings in Jørna to talk about Asterix at the Olympic Games, the third live-action Asterix film, chosen because it was available to watch for free.
Mike and Ethan use ABC Saturday Morning Preview Park to argue that Weird Al Yankovic is being treated like a clown instead of a singer, even though his music is never played and his album is never named.
Mike and Ethan spend most of A Special Presentation, or Alf Will Not Be Seen Tonight comparing Iggy Arbuckle to Ranger Rick, Hysteria, and Animaniacs.
Mike and Ethan discuss the NES game 'A Boy and His Blob' and its influence on video game storytelling, with a tangent about the movie 'Hundreds of Beavers'.
Mike and Ethan discuss the rarity of web cartoons being adapted into TV shows or films, citing examples like Axe Cop and Lackadaisy.
Mike and Ethan riff on a fake southern farm setting before discussing the comic Little Lulu.
Mike and Ethan review two Peanuts specials themed around the Super Bowl and Valentine's Day, finding them similar and largely forgettable except for the ending of 'It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown'.
Mike and Ethan frame Doug Marlette's "Kudzu" as a 1983 TV special based on a comic strip that began in 1981 and ran in about 300 newspapers.
A Special Presentation 334: Captain N the Game Master [3 of 3] covers “Queen of the Apes,” the new Game Boy character, and the Videolympics two-parter with Mount Icarus and the three sacred treasures.
Mike and Ethan discuss a rare recording of ABC Preview Park, featuring Weird Al Yankovic and nostalgic commercials.
Mike and Ethan discuss the ABC Saturday Morning Preview Park hosted by Weird Al Yankovic, noting his lack of musical recognition and comparing it to a friend's disappointing interview experience.
Mike and Ethan introduce a special presentation about an ABC preview park special, discussing its connections to past topics like Turbo Teen and Dragon's Lair, and marveling at a young Weird Al.
Mike Westfall joins the hosts to watch and discuss old commercials, starting with one for Kenny King's restaurant in Ohio.
Two podcast hosts discuss three 1986 Hasbro movies that bombed at the box office: My Little Pony, Transformers, and GI Joe.