What A Cartoon!

Brak emerged from the depths of a crummy action cartoon of the 60s, became one of the Cartoon Network's biggest stars 30 years later, and had less than a decade under his belt before fading back into obscurity. And the tail-end of Brak's brush with fame brought The Brak Show, a send-up of lousy sitcoms meant to be the shining star of Cartoon Network's new late-night lineup. This week, join us as we look at this Adult Swim classic, as well as the phenomenon behind the whimsical cat-boy known as Brak. It'll be more fun than a bag of wigs! Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow the official Twitter, @TalkSimpsonsPod!

First, we covered Garfield's Halloween toon in 2018, then we did A Garfield Christmas in 2020, and now it's time to finish the trilogy! Yes, we're doing Garfield's Thanksgiving! Somehow turkey day ends up being spent on a vet-enforced diet for Garfield, all while Jon gets worried about his big date with Liz, and somehow the day is saved by the return of the rockin' Grandma Arbuckle. All that plus Odie blowing a whistle a lot in this week's thankful podcast! Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow the official Twitter, @TalkSimpsonsPod!

Hey folks, we've got a new exclusive miniseries for all of our $5 and up subscribers at Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons! Every Friday through the end of 2021, we'll be launching a brand-new episode of Blabbin 'Bout Batman: The Animated series—which will cover our ten favorite episodes of this legendary cartoon. And if you're curious as to what this Patreon-exclusive miniseries is like, we're giving you a free sample of our first Blabbin 'Bout B:TAS podcast, all about the classic episode, "Joker's Favor." Interested in hearing more? Sign up today at Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons to the rest of our "Joker's Favor" discussion, a new episode every Friday, and the 100+ other exclusive podcast episodes we've produced so far!

Another month has passed at the Talking Simpsons Network, and that means we've got another awesome podcast about an animated feature film! This month, our $10+ Patreon subscribers get to hear us talk about 2000's Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker! Listen now to this free extended preview, and then subscribe at the $10 level (or up your current pledge to $10) to hear the whole thing and all of our previous What A Cartoon Movie podcasts. Sign up today! (And if you like this Batman chat, be sure to sign up for our full Patreon-exclusive BTAS podcast out NOW!)

It's that time of the year again, which means that a new exclusive miniseries is hitting the Talking Simpsons Patreon. That's right, if you sign up at the $5 level or higher at Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons, you'll get to hear ten episodes of Blabbin 'Bout Batman: The Animated Series as they launch every Friday through the end of 2021! We're selecting our ten favorite episodes of this legendary cartoon take on the Caped Crusader, and discussing them with the same in-depth research and clips you've come to expect from our podcast network. So sign up today at Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons to hear it and the 100+ other exclusive podcast episodes we've produced so far!

Thanks to premium patron Duckmeat, this week we're looking at a recent Disney Channel hit that's equal parts heartwarming and hilarious. Based on the real-life story of its creators, The Houghton Brothers, Big City Greens tells the tale of a family of transplants pulled out of the country and plopped down in the big city—specifically, the Big City. And for our podcast discussion, we're highlighting one of the funniest episodes to date, in which a Billy the Big Mouth Bass clone drives most of the Green family into a state of murderous insanity! So sit back and listen in as we talk about a different bug-eyed, yellow-skinned family that's worth watching. Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow our official Twitter account, @TalkSimpsonsPod!

Chosen by premium Patreon subscriber Professor Gascan, it's our first-ever podcast on the controversial Butch Hartman and his sophomore series, Danny Phantom! How did this action series make it onto Nick in 2004? What is its online legacy with fans? And what about mocking vegetarians? All of that in one big podcast, so go ghost and listen now! Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow our official Twitter account, @TalkSimpsonsPod!

Another month has passed at the Talking Simpsons Network, and that means we've got another awesome podcast about an animated feature film! This month, our $10+ Patreon subscribers get to hear us talk about 2000's The Road to El Dorado! Listen now to this free extended preview, and then subscribe at the $10 level (or up your current pledge to $10) to hear the whole thing and all of our previous What A Cartoon Movie podcasts. Sign up today!

The day long promised by our guest (and one of our top Patreon supporters), Devin, has finally arrived! We cover one of the silliest and most banal animated shows of all time, Hanna-Barbera's adaptation of the Gary Marshall classic, Laverne & Shirley. We chart how the success of the Happy Days universe of shows in the 1970s led to this Saturday morning cartoon in 1981, plus some interesting facts about how this odd show came to be. So get ready to enlist alongside a pig in this week's podcast! Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow our official Twitter account, @TalkSimpsonsPod!

Chosen by premium Patreon subscriber Royce, we're covering perhaps the worst cartoon we've ever seen, with special guest expert, the fantastic Matt McMuscles! How did this super crappy first Mortal Kombat cartoon arrive alongside the 1995 movie? How was this marketed to kids? How well did early digital animation and motion capture age? The answers won't surprise you, so test your might with this week's podcast! Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow our official Twitter account, @TalkSimpsonsPod!

The Talking Simpsons Network ends its summer of Disney Renaissance films in stirring fashion with the biggest film of that era, The Lion King. In this extended preview, we dig into how this film came to be over a veeeerry complicated development, how it is entwined with the career of Jeffrey Katzenberg, and much more. Listen now to this free extended preview, and then subscribe at the $10 level (or up your current pledge to $10) to hear the whole thing and all of our previous What A Cartoon Movie podcasts. Sign up today!

Adam Reed and Matt Thompson have been living large thanks to 11 seasons of Archer, but it all started nearly a decade before that with their inaugural Adult Swim show, Sealab 2021. With its absurdist, Gen X remix of a "classic" Hanna-Barbera series, Sealab fit perfectly into the original lineup of Adult Swim, entertaining both stoned and non-stoned college students alike for 52 episodes. On this installment of What A Cartoon, we examine one of the most popular and self-indulgent episodes of Sealab ever made. So sit back and enjoy this week's BIZARRO podcast! Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow our official Twitter account, @TalkSimpsonsPod!

Chosen by premium Patreon subscriber Phil, we're breaking format to talk about a show that we love that may as well have been animated, The Muppet Show! We reflect on a childhood love of Muppets, the career of Jim Henson that led to the creation of the biggest show in the world (for the time), and then look at the now-eerie Star Wars tie-in episode with special guest star, Mr. Mark Hamill, yaaaay!!! Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow our official Twitter account, @TalkSimpsonsPod!

Another month has passed at the Talking Simpsons Network, and that means we've got another awesome podcast about an animated feature film! This month, our $10+ Patreon subscribers get to hear us talk about 1996's The Hunchback of Notre Dame! Listen now to this free extended preview, and then subscribe at the $10 level (or up your current pledge to $10) to hear the whole thing and all of our previous What A Cartoon Movie podcasts. Sign up today!

Thanks to the generous patronage of James Eldred, we're taking a look at the cartoon that defined stop-motion animation on TV: Gumby! Art Clokey's animated chunk of clay delighted Baby Boomers during the earliest decades of TV, and returned in the late '80s to delight their children before completely dropping off the face of the earth. This week, listen in as we explore the truly interesting life of Gumby's creator, and dig into one of his earliest, trippiest shorts. Why should you care? He's Gumby, dammit! Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow our official Twitter account, @TalkSimpsonsPod!

This week we've got two huge guests: Returning favorite (and creator of OK K.O.) Ian Jones-Quartey along with new guest (and creator of Steven Universe) Rebecca Sugar! And they're joining us to talk about one of their all-time favorite cartoons, Future Boy Conan! How did Hayao Miyazaki get to direct his first series? How many artists did it influence globally for the last four decades? Why is it so hard to see in the US? We discuss all that plus the second episode "The Journey" all on this week's seafaring podcast! Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow the new official Twitter, @TalkSimpsonsPod!

We're starting our summer of Disney Renaissance films with 1997's Hercules! And this is your sample of June's premium podcast for the Talking Simpsons Network! Meanwhile, our $10+ Patreon subscribers get to go the distance and hear the full thing! After you hear this free extended preview of the tale of Zeus' famous son, consider subscribing at the $10 level (or up your current pledge to $10) to hear the whole thing and all of our previous What A Cartoon Movie podcasts! Sign up today!

Chosen by premium Patreon subscriber Alex, we're returning to the one named Sailor Moon, only this time we're focusing on the North American English dub of the '90s. We're digging deep into the Canadian accents of Serena, Amy, Raye, Lita, Mina and the rest. Then we discuss the fun and silly episode Mirror Mirror On The Wall. Fight evil by moonlight and listen now! Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow our official Twitter account, @TalkSimpsonsPod!

Chosen by premium Patreon subscriber Professor Gascan, this week we're covering one of the infamous prime time toons that came out in the wake of Bartmania, Capitol Critters! How did Hanna-Barbera combine with the Hill Street Blues creators to try and fail to make a politics-meets-talking-animals toon? How quickly was it canceled? We'll cover all of that and more with this forgotten piece of pop culture! Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow our official Twitter account, @TalkSimpsonsPod!

Chosen by premium Patreon subscriber Loki, we're approaching a very historically important but controversial cartoon starring Donald Duck (and if you're not in the mood to hear about nazi atrocities, we understand). First, we explore Donald's 1934 debut, how he was at the height of his popularity just as global war was breaking out. Then we talk about Disney's WWII propaganda, this Oscar-winning attack on history's greatest monster, the long legacy since its release in 1943, and more! Support this podcast and get dozens of bonus episodes by visiting Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and becoming a patron! And please follow our official Twitter account, @TalkSimpsonsPod!