Explore every episode of the podcast A Special Presentation, or Alf Will Not Be Seen Tonight

Hanna Barbera is known for ripping stuff off, so of course they tried to rip off the Muppet Show. How did it? Ehhhhhhhhhh...

Did you know that cartooning is a waste of time and paper? Janet from Three' Company sure thinks so as a reporter assigned to interview veteran cartoonist Ted Knight in this attempt to get kids to watch Saturday morning cartoons!

Did you know that cartooning is a waste of time and paper? Janet from Three' Company sure thinks so as a reporter assigned to interview veteran cartoonist Ted Knight in this attempt to get kids to watch Saturday morning cartoons!

Remember the good old days when they had to sell kids on the exciting cartoons that were going to be on Saturday morning by making a prime time special about Scott Baio opening a disco in Hazzard County, Alabama, and getting extorted by Boss Hogg and Sheriff Roscoe Coltrane? Also the Sid and Marty Kroft puppet was there? We sure do.

We're breaking our own rule to ostensibly talk about the Q*Bert cartoon from Saturday Morning Supercade, but actually we got distracted to talk about Hazbin Hotel and other stuff instead. Cuz Q*Bert suckkkks! The coloring book is way better.

Paul McCartney is, as you might know, one of the Beatles. Then he did that frog song.

Oy Vey, Toy May! continues as Mike Westfall of ⁠Advent Calendar House⁠ joins us to talk about the Huggabunch movie, a bunch of babies who have one solution for every problem: HUGGING! It can cure death too.

Oy Vey, Toy May! continues as Mike Westfall of Advent Calendar House joins us to talk about Dear Poochie, an anime about a dog who writes an advice column but also goes o globe-trotting adventures with her robot sidekick!

We continue Oy Vey, Toy May! with a look at TWO attempts to adapt Mad Balls, the classic 80s toy that combined the two great tastes that go great together (balls and grossness), to the small screen: A show about a punk rock group of Mad Balls who just wants to rock in defiance of the fascist government of the Mad Ball planet... and a show about Mad Balls telling gross jokes.

It's Toy May, oy vey! And we're looking at the VHS live-action special made to promote the very heavily promoted late 80s toy My Pet Monster, whose unique selling proposition was that he came with orange breakaway handcuffs.

LIVE from BABScon 2025! We attended the final Bay Area Brony Spectacular, where we ran a panel comparing Hasbro's 1986 box office bombs -- My Little Pony the movie, GI Joe the movie, and Transformers the movie. Were they as bad as 1986 critics thought? The answer is maybe.

This is the first time that we've looked at an AWARD WINNING comic adaptation... it's Ghost World, starring a young Scarlet Jo Hansen, a young Thora Birch, and a young Stephen Buschemi. Come for the Ghost World, stay for the UN-PC ranting about rude tourists!

We're going back to the 80s to visit the last gasp of the classic Garfield TV specials -- Garfield's Feline Fantasies. What Garfield had an active imagination and imagined that he was James Bond and Indiana Jones at the same time? It would be kind of like this.

We're continuing out look at adaptations of 1960s Underground comix with a look at this attempt to update Gilbert Shelton's Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers to this modern, cell-phone-having world of 2020. The brothers are no longer furry or fabulous, they're just the Freak Brothers. Wow, I guess you can't even be fabulous or furry anymore because of WOKE. Makes you think.

We're continuing out look at adaptations of 1960s Underground comix with a look at this attempt to update Gilbert Shelton's Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers to this modern, cell-phone-having world of 2020. The brothers are no longer furry or fabulous, they're just the Freak Brothers. Wow, I guess you can't even be fabulous or furry anymore because of WOKE. Makes you think.

They made a sequel to Fritz the Cat and it doesn't involve either Robert Crumb or Ralph Bakshi, and, boy, you can really tell! They added more farts and racism, but somehow the old magic just isn't there!

They made a sequel to Fritz the Cat and it doesn't involve either Robert Crumb or Ralph Bakshi, and, boy, you can really tell! They added more farts and racism, but somehow the old magic just isn't there!

Robert Crumb's Fritz the Cat is p much synonymous with underground comix and the 60s counterculture. Ralph Bakshi's interpretation is extremely Ralph Bakshi, and Crumb hated it. But Crumb hates everything cuz he's a CRUMugeon. We look at an adult cartoon that is extremely good at being a Ralph Bakshi joint. It beats Fire and Ice, that's for sure!

Robert Crumb's Fritz the Cat is p much synonymous with underground comix and the 60s counterculture. Ralph Bakshi's interpretation is extremely Ralph Bakshi, and Crumb hated it. But Crumb hates everything cuz he's a CRUMugeon. We look at an adult cartoon that is extremely good at being a Ralph Bakshi joint. It beats Fire and Ice, that's for sure!

We look at The Boondocks,the Adult Swim TV series adaptation of Aaron MacGruder's comic strip of the same name. In today's media environment, it may surprise you that a comic and TV show with such an unapologetic Black viewpoint (and so much George W Bush era satire) was able to get past all the old media gatekeepers. We discuss the comic strip that made all the little old ladies write scandalized letters to the editors to complain about that comic about the "kid with the angry eyes."

We look at The Boondocks,the Adult Swim TV series adaptation of Aaron MacGruder's comic strip of the same name. In today's media environment, it may surprise you that a comic and TV show with such an unapologetic Black viewpoint (and so much George W Bush era satire) was able to get past all the old media gatekeepers. We discuss the comic strip that made all the little old ladies write scandalized letters to the editors to complain about that comic about the "kid with the angry eyes."

It's finally here... after 279 episodes, we're finally doing Over the Hedge, probably the biggest comic strip adaptation of all time until Garfield the Movie. It's based on the comic strip of the same name, but, since the original strip is the biggest nothingburger on the comics page, they had to give it a major glow-up... into a star-studded extravaganza!

It's finally here... after 279 episodes, we're finally doing Over the Hedge, probably the biggest comic strip adaptation of all time until Garfield the Movie. It's based on the comic strip of the same name, but, since the original strip is the biggest nothingburger on the comics page, they had to give it a major glow-up... into a star-studded extravaganza!

For Ethan's birthday, we're looking at the NOT QUITE DISNEY classic, The Brave Little Toaster, based on the Thomas Disch story of the same name. It's about five brave appliances who go out in search of the boy who loves them. It's a weird one, but it's fun!

For Ethan's birthday, we're looking at the NOT QUITE DISNEY classic, The Brave Little Toaster, based on the Thomas Disch story of the same name. It's about five brave appliances who go out in search of the boy who loves them. It's a weird one, but it's fun!

Okay NOW we're talking about Dog City, Jim Henson's favorite thing to direct. It's about a city that's all dogs. Ladies and gentlemen, it's gone to the dogs! They're all dog puppets and also they do car chases!

In theory, we meant to talk about Dog City (part of the Jim Henson Hour) but instead we ended up talking about the muppets in general, the Jim Henson hour, the origin of homo sapiens and the inevitable death of our species because of billionaires, and also how lazy Bill Watterson is.

Tintin is the biggest thing since Asterix, but, if you live in America, you might not have heard of him. He's a boy reporter who has adventures. Kids love Tintin (except for his controversial 1939 adventure "Nazi Supermen Are Our Superiors.") Anyway, you might not know Tintin, but Hollywood still thought you'd like a Tintin movie. Here it is!

The Peanuts are back and it's another New Year's special! Apple TV has updated the Peanuts gang to tell a story of Lucy having an existential crisis. That's right. Lucy. Not Charlie Brown. It's Lucy.

Ho ho ho, garbage for all the good little children! We've got the whole gang of pals back for another quadumvirate of questionable Quistmas specials. Mike and Ethan have holiday regulars Morbiose, Rocketshark, DMXI, Fattyatomicmutant and Glumdrop, whom we're sure you're all well familiar with by now, for such wintry delights as Nilus The Sandman: The Boy Who Dreamed Christmas, The Christmas That Almost Wasn't (with Chuck E. Cheese!), Robotech: Season's Greetings, and Transformers Animated: Human Error parts 1 and 2. We know you'll want much more than the children before!

So, technically, there was a Winnie the Pooh comic strip, so it is totally within our wheelhouse to do an episode about Winnie the Pooh (2011)! Is it more or less in line with AA Milne's vision of the chubby little bear all stuffed with fluff? Check it out!

It's Thanksgiving, so we're breaking our own rule... or are we? The 1989 Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is, of course, a cavalcade of disgusting American excess, whether you're here for the Garfield balloons, the marching band composed entirely of Ronald McDonalds, the prancing majorettes, or that weird float where skeletor is riding a dragon. Most importantly, though, ALF is here! Let's join Alf for a walk down memory lane if we can think to talk about anything beyond the commercials. Stay tuned afterwards for a really long rant about Winnie the Pooh.

It's Thanksgiving, so we're breaking our own rule... or are we? The 1989 Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is, of course, a cavalcade of disgusting American excess, whether you're here for the Garfield balloons, the marching band composed entirely of Ronald McDonalds, the prancing majorettes, or that weird float where skeletor is riding a dragon. Most importantly, though, ALF is here! Let's join Alf for a walk down memory lane if we can think to talk about anything beyond the commercials. Stay tuned afterwards for a really long rant about Winnie the Pooh.

It's Thanksgiving, so we're breaking our own rule... or are we? The 1989 Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is, of course, a cavalcade of disgusting American excess, whether you're here for the Garfield balloons, the marching band composed entirely of Ronald McDonalds, the prancing majorettes, or that weird float where skeletor is riding a dragon. Most importantly, though, ALF is here! Let's join Alf for a walk down memory lane if we can think to talk about anything beyond the commercials. Stay tuned afterwards for a really long rant about Winnie the Pooh.

What if Charlie Brown went to France? That's what this, the final early stage Peanuts theatrical feature film asks. Snoopy gets into typical Snoopy hijinks, but this special explores the limits of what you can do with the Peanuts formula with some nice atmospheric mystery creepiness. Snoopy loves a mystery!

What if Charlie Brown went to France? That's what this, the final early stage Peanuts theatrical feature film asks. Snoopy gets into typical Snoopy hijinks, but this special explores the limits of what you can do with the Peanuts formula with some nice atmospheric mystery creepiness. Snoopy loves a mystery!

If it's Halloween it must be Saw, er I mean Special Presentation! Six of our regular crew, including DMXI, Rocketshark, Fattyatomicmutant and Glumdrop have joined us for the spookiest... well, not really. The most Halloween-themed... OK honestly some of these are more HARVEST themed than Halloween. But join us if you will for The Pac-Man Halloween Special, Marc Summers' Magical Mystery Special, and Spookley The Square Pumpkin!

Frank Miller was a big deal, briefly, right after Sin City and 300, so they thought, heeeey, why not let him write and direct the big screen debut of Will Eisner's superhero comic strip The Spirit? Frank Miller brings his signature style and incomprehensible fashy sensibilities to this big of hot garbage. Never have you watched Samuel L Jackson and Scarlet Johansen embarrass themselves so!

Frank Miller was a big deal, briefly, right after Sin City and 300, so they thought, heeeey, why not let him write and direct the big screen debut of Will Eisner's superhero comic strip The Spirit? Frank Miller brings his signature style and incomprehensible fashy sensibilities to this big of hot garbage. Never have you watched Samuel L Jackson and Scarlet Johansen embarrass themselves so!

Technically, we're cheating on this episode, but it's OUR show, so we can cheat if we want to: We both happened to see that new Transformers movie, Transformers One, so we thought we would talk about it. Ethan, a life-long Transformers fan and aficionado, and Mike, perpetual newbie, have big opinions on this film. In short: It's pretty darn good! If you like robots and sci fi, give it a shot!

So technically, this counts cuz the Addams Family was a comic! For legal reasons, they had to bury this episode of The New Scooby Doo Movies where Scooby Doo meets the Addams Family! Mike and Ethan have very different opinions on Scooby Doo, but first enjoy a prolonged conversation about MEAT.

We're back to our roots, watching Peanuts specials! God, there's so many of these. There's like a million of them. This week, we're looking at "You're the Greatest, Charlie Brown" and "You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown" - two Peanuts specials about Charlie Brown being forced to participate in team sports that he hates! He actually wins, though. WHAAA!??

One of our favorite recurring guests Morbiose returns to talk about Popeye... and not just ANY Popeye, but the live action motion picture starring Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall. Morbiose has good feelings for MOST of this film, except for ONE thing, and Mike is really mad about Harry Nilson's funeral dirge music.

Can you believe we've been doing this podcast for 5 years? We sure can't! Join us for a trip down memory lane where we ostensibly talk about our most popular episodes, but as usual, we get sidetracked to talk about random stuff like Piers Anthony and also babies. Mike has a new niece so he's talking about babies a lot lately!

Can you believe we've been doing this podcast for 5 years? We sure can't! Join us for a trip down memory lane where we ostensibly talk about our most popular episodes, but as usual, we get sidetracked to talk about random stuff like Piers Anthony and also babies. Mike has a new niece so he's talking about babies a lot lately!

This was never a comic strip, BUT it WAS a TV special... so this week we're looking at the long lost but recently rediscovered 1969 special HEY HEY IT IS FAT ALBERT, the special that inspired the later TV series. We talk about how it is Fat Albert time and also the complicated legacy of his creator.

Archie's big appeal is that he makes being a teenager look SO COOL. So what if Archie was middle-aged? What then, smart guy? This TV special about Archie's high school reunion posits just such a scenario -- and the crazy thing? It's not too bad. But you wouldn't think it considering that we mostly talked about Christian media rip-offs and fucking the muppets.

Archie's big appeal is that he makes being a teenager look SO COOL. So what if Archie was middle-aged? What then, smart guy? This TV special about Archie's high school reunion posits just such a scenario -- and the crazy thing? It's not too bad. But you wouldn't think it considering that we mostly talked about Christian media rip-offs and fucking the muppets.

This week, Alf WILL be seen tonight! Did you know that Alf loves a mystery? It's true! In a bizarre and forgotten ritual known as the PRIME TIME SPECIAL STARRING ALL YOUR FAVORITE SIT COM CHARACTERS TELLING YOU ABOUT UPCOMING SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS SERIES, Alf pens a caper about stolen jewels and junior gumshoes. And Foofur's in it too!!!

Hollywood Dog was a pilot for a proposed live action/animated sitcom about a dog that lived in Hollywood, based on the comic from the LA Weekly by R.P. Overmyer. For a long time, this was considered lost media - but now it's been found! It's exactly what you would expect from a show called Hollywood Dog, but join us for a discussion of early 90s commercials and our very good ideas for a political movement based on free chips.