A collection of podcasts exploring the culture in pop culture. Our shows range from the general (flagship show The Chronic Rift) to the specific (The Batcave Podcast). We look at literature (Dead Kitchen Radio), movies (The Weekly Podioplex), family (Generations Geek), gaming (The Cardboard Jungle), and more.

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Syndication

We celebrate All Hallows Eve with a couple of Halloween-related episodes.  First, on “The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe,” the rotund P.I., famous for almost never leaving the comfort of his house, does so to obtain some orchids and ends up in a spooky old house high on a hill.  Then on “The Jack Benny Show,” Jack throws a Halloween party.  His silk tights fail to remind anyone of Romeo.  Meanwhile, Rochester’s efforts to spike the punch are continually thwarted.

 

Episodes

 

The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe

January 26, 1951

“The Phantom Fingers”

1:46

 

 

The Jack Benny Show

October 29, 1939

“Masquerade Party”

31:54

Comments[0]

Orson Welles revived the character of Harry Lime (who dies at the end of the film “The Third Man”) in the radio series “The Lives of Harry Lime.”  In the radio show, Harry is a ne’er do well con man, as opposed to a cold-blooded killer.  In tonight’s episode, he’s conning some young lovelies with a fake painting.  Then, Lucille Ball stars as Liz Cooper, the proto-Lucy Ricardo, on “My Favorite Husband.”  In classic Liz / Lucy style, a simple request to some neighbors balloons into a classic fiasco.

 

The Lives of Harry Lime

October 29 1952

“Art is Long and Lime is Fleeting”

2:52

 

 

My Favorite Husband

June 27, 1949

“The Television Suit”

34:14

Comments[0]

“Candy Matson” was one of the few solo female private eyes of radio’s Golden Age.  Based in San Francisco, she may look like a pinup and have the most sultry voice on the airwaves, but she’s smart, tough, and fast-talking.  In this episode a Hollywood movie company is filming near her apartment, and it’s not long before a corpse turns up.  Then it’s time to visit “Duffy’s Tavern.”  It may not be the place where everybody knows your name, but close enough.  Manager / bartender Archie falls for a get-rich-quick scheme to patent electricity.  It’s a little-known fact (so to speak) that Benjamin Franklin meant to, but accidentally patented the kite instead.

 

Episodes

 

Candy Matson

August 29, 1950

“The Movie Company”

3:56

 

 

Duffy’s Tavern

February 23, 1949

“Archie Wants to Patent Electricity”

36:24

Comments[0]

Episode 49—Old World, New Vampires

 

Science fiction writer Scott Pearson continues his chat with urban fantasy author Melissa F. Olson, discussing her various novel series in part two of a two-part interview. Then his daughter Ella pops in to chat about her summer con adventures.

 

Segments

Intro :28

Geek Beginnings 1:22

Discovering Urban Fantasy 2:25

Novel Beginnings 5:50

Scarlett Bernard’s First Trilogy 6:39

Allison “Lex” Luther’s Trilogy 9:20

Scarlett and Lex and the Old World Series 11:00

Nightshades: The TV Pilot? 12:15

Vampires: Supernatural vs. Scientific 14:05

Nightshades: The Novella 18:28

The World of the Nightshades Trilogy 20:35

The Unusual Birth of Nightshades 27:45

Bram Stoker’s Dracula 33:33

Ella at CONvergence with Melinda Snodgrass 39:44

Shout Out to “Enterprising Individuals” 43:50

Sitting in the Back at Panels 44:35

Ella at Minnesota Fan Fusion 45:15

Being on Panels 46:28

John Rhys-Davies 49:08

Shout Out to “Keep on Tolkien” 51:15

Bon Voyage to Ella 53:48

Direct download: GG_Ep._49.mp3
Category:Generations Geek -- posted at: 7:41pm EDT
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On “X Minus One,” a man continually wakes up from dreams of an explosion to find that every day is June 15th.  But this is no wacky “Groundhog Day”; it’s a tense drama in which he slowly learns that the things around him are copies and he’s being watched.  Based on the classic short story by Frederik Pohl, get ready to explore “The Tunnel Under the World.”  Then on “The Bob Hope Show,” Bob broadcasts from a Marine base in Barstow, California.  Along with joking about military habits, Bob tries to get glamorous movie star Claudette Colbert to hire him as the leading man in her next picture.

 

Episodes 

 

X Minus One

March 14, 1956

“The Tunnel Under the World”

2:03

 

 

The Bob Hope Show

April 1, 1952

Guests: Claudette Colbert and Jo Ann Greer

31:04

Comments[0]

“The Romance of the Ranchos” was one of the more unusual series to be broadcast during the Golden Age of Radio.  Each episode traced the history of a certain district of Southern California, from the Days of the Ranchos – when everything was still owned by Spain and Mexico in the 1700s – up to then-contemporary times, the 1940s. Tonight, the vignettes center on Newhall, Saugus, and Santa Clarita.  Then, on “The Jack Benny Show,” the gang tells their own version of Old California, complete with rancho, Jack as a wealthy Mexican land-owner, and Don Wilson as 500 head of cattle.

 

Episodes

 

 The Romance of the Ranchos

November 26, 1941 

“The Newhall Region and the Rancho del Valle”

4:16

 

The Jack Benny Show

May 16, 1943 

“Rancho Benny”

34:13

Comments[0]

“Vic and Sade” is the driest of domestic comedies.  We present two 15-minute visits to “the small house half-way up on the next block.”  Young Rush wants to host a party that will make you swallow your shoes (so to speak) and Sade gets the guys to move two tons of coal from a neighbor’s cellar to theirs.  Then, on the dramatic anthology show “Family Theater,” the cast of a radio crime drama are moving to television as part of a summer replacement experiment.

 

 

Episodes

 

Vic and Sade

March 3, 1938 

“Official Host”

 

July 5, 1939 

“Two Tons of Coal #1”

02:08

 

Family Theater

December 1, 1954 

“Summer Replacement”

28:42

Comments[0]

Monty Woolley, the actor, writer, radio and movie star, is probably best known as the star of “The Man Who Came to Dinner.”  But he also headlined his own radio comedy, “The Magnificent Montague.”  He played Edwin Montague, once the leading light of the legitimate theatre, now reduced to acting in a radio melodrama.  In these two episodes Montague goes to Hollywood.  He’s supposed to star in a film version of “Macbeth,” but neither Tinseltown nor he are ready for each other.

 

 

Episodes

 

The Magnificent Montague

January 19, 1951

“Lost in Hollywood”

3:22

 

The Magnificent Montague

January 26, 1951

“The Screen Test”

34:21

Comments[0]

 

Science fiction writer Scott Pearson talks with urban fantasy author Melissa F. Olson about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in part one of a two-part interview. Then his daughter Ella pops in for, among other things, a spoilery mini review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

 

Segments

 

Intro :28

Who’s the Monster 1:30

Mary Shelley’s Complex Characters 6:20

Frankenstein: Reading and Teaching 8:27

Klinger’s Annotated Frankenstein and Multiple Texts 10:41

Mary’s Text versus Percy’s Text 13:50

Mary Wrote Frankenstein, Full Stop 16:32

Frankenstein Scholarship 17:57

Coincidence in Frankenstein 20:11

On Not Reading Mary’s Other Books 21:40

Nesting and Filtered Narratives 22:45

On Victor Being a Weasel 27:15

Mary and Percy’s Death 29:43

It’s Alive! 31:55

Victor Almost Never Learns 33:50

Sidebar: Dracula 2000 and Klinger’s Annotated Dracula 38:43

On Discovering Klinger and Collecting Frankenstein 43:44

Editing a Dream Frankenstein 45:57

Ella is SO Busy 47:45

The Star Trek Original Series Set Tour 49:22

Some Upcoming Fifth Season Shows 54:35

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom 55:50

Direct download: GenGeek_Ep._48.mp3
Category:Generations Geek -- posted at: 8:27am EDT
Comments[0]

Recorded on Facebook Live

July 1, 2018

 

Longtime friend of the Rift (we're talking all the way back to 1990 and the first season of the public access show) Greg Cox returns to the podcast to talk about his career writing tie-in media fiction which has lead to his receiving the Faust Award (a lifetime achievement award) from the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers.  Greg points out the long history of media tie-in fiction (going back to the silent film era) and tells us about the various elements a media tie-in writer has to juggle in order to make an adaptation happen.

John also talks about the joy of "Tiny Arcade" games.  Pick up one of these by visiting our Amazon store and help support the network.

 

 

 

GREG COX is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels and short stories.  He wrote the official movie novelizations of  WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, GODZILLA, MAN OF STEEL,THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, DAREDEVIL, GHOST RIDER, DEATH DEFYING 
ACTS, and the first three UNDERWORLD films, as well 
the novelizations of four popular DC Comics miniseries, INFINITE CRISIS, 52,  COUNTDOWN and FINAL CRISIS.  
In addition, he has written books and short stories based on such popular series as ALIAS, THE AVENGERS, 
BATMAN, BUFFY, C.S.I., FARSCAPE, FANTASTIC FOUR, THE 4400, THE GREEN HORNET, IRON MAN, LEVERAGE, THE LIBRARIANS, THE PHANTOM, PLANET OF THE APES, ROSWELL, STAR TREK, TERMINATOR, UNDERWORLD, WAREHOUSE 13, XENA, THE X-FILES, X-MEN and ZORRO.  

He has received three Scribe Awards from the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers.

Greg also works as a Consulting Editor for Tor Books, where he has edited such authors as Richard Matheson, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Harry Harrison, Tony Daniel, Rosemary Edghill, Graham Joyce, Keith R. A. DeCandido, S.P. Somtow, Christopher Bennett, R.S. Belcher, and many others.

In addition, he has written more jacket and cover copy than he can possibly remember.  ("They stood alone against galactic peril . . . !")

He lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Visit Greg's website to learn more.

Direct download: The_Chronic_Rift_022.mp3
Category:The Chronic Rift Podcast -- posted at: 5:01pm EDT
Comments[0]