Baconsale: Hickory-smoked Pop Culture

Spielberg, Nolan, Bigelow, Kubrick, Cameron, Hitchcock—each of these directors are known for their well-crafted films and contributions to cinema. However, every car lot has a lemon and, on this episode of Baconsale, we’re taking a look at the lowest point of some of the highest-revered filmmakers. Joel, Kent, and Zack will be joined by our guest Jonathan to examine each director’s filmography and call out the weakest movie.   Does Netflix ruin directors? Has Kent lost his edge? How do you spell Scor-seysey? Press play to find out.

I Know What You Did Last Summer, you listened to our movie preview, right? Well, we’re not waiting until 28 Years Later to do that type of show again because, on this episode of Baconsale, we’re going to Bring Her Back and discuss the films that are coming out in the summer of 2025. Our (Fantastic Four) First Steps will be presenting the films we want to flop. And we don’t want to be The Bad Guys 2, so we’ll dance around some sensitive topics like a graceful Ballerina. Then, like a Clown in a Cornfield, we’ll rise up and The Final Reckoning of our conversation will be about the movies we think will be Super(man). Though our Friendship will be tested as we get closer to our Final Destination (Bloodlines) and our opinions differ.   Press play to initiate the latest live-action/computer-generated animation hybrid film remake.

It's an episode of laughter, an episode of tears, because Baconsale is talking about the music of Disneyland. Some of these soundtracks may even be more famous than the rides they come from. We’ll surprise each other (and repeat some answers) as we pick songs for such categories as Annoying Earworm, Bring it Back, Captures Disney Magic, Overrated, Pairs Perfectly with a Churro, Oddly Relaxing, and I’d Play this at My Wedding. Joel, Kent, and Zack will also share some fun facts about each attraction's soundtrack, which may include multiple references to Thurl Ravenscroft and/or Michael Giacchino.    Press play, me hearties, yo ho!   And visit Baconsale.com to find our Disneyland music playlist on YouTube.

The battle to see who will be The Listener of Baconsale is over, but the pop culture war is just beginning. On this BaconBit, Scott, Taylor, and Kris will be put to the test as they represent Team Listener and take on the semi-undefeated Joel and Kent (a.k.a. Team JK). Zack has done away with the buzzers this time, so it’s not about who has the fastest reaction time, but rather who knows the most about Power Rangers, rappers, The Matrix, Full House, Ireland, rated-R movies, Taylor Swift, and more.   Press play to let the record show what the peanut gallery has on their whiteboards.

Happy anniversary, Baconsale! We’re celebrating 10 years of our podcast by bringing on some contestants and having them compete against each other to see who will be The Listener for the next year. Scott, Taylor, and Kris have proven their pop-culture prowess and picked their walk-up music, but only one will come out victorious. Zack will be quizzing them on such topics as Disneyland rides, mall food court menus, Lost trivia, trilogy truths, brand mascots, and background Baconsale knowledge. We’ll also have them play the Parents Guide Game, a few rounds of Jeopardy, and the game of Baconsale itself.   But who will be the GOAT this year? How will our competitors fare with imaginary buzzers? What kind of off-color, off-mic comments will Babs make? How big is the trophy for this year? Press play to find out!

It’s time for Joel, Kent, and Zack to speak about the solicitors we seek out each selling season: Girl Scout Cookies! On this episode of Baconsale, we’ll be talking about Thin Mints, sounding off on Samoas (a.k.a. Caramel deLites), and debating about Do-si-dos (a.k.a. Peanut Butter Sandwiches). As we rate each of the 12 types of cookies we acquired, we will do our best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what we say and do. We’ll also discuss some cookie controversies, utilize Baconscience, reveal which treats are (not-so) secretly vegan, and occasionally talk like grandmas.   Press play to hear an on-air taste test and discover which of us is scared of coconut flakes.

Welcome to the Jungle, listener, because Baconsale has begun The Final Countdown to finish our 1980s rock bracket. The previous episode was the Glory Days, when we could Jump to conclusions relatively easily. But now Joel, Kent, and Zack are experiencing a New Sensation of stress as each matchup tastes like Bad Medicine and each decision could give them a Bad Reputation. But We Won’t Back Down from this journey we started, and in The Spirit of Radio we’ll swallow our Pride and continue on until only One band remains Alone.   Join us on this Flight of Icarus to determine who plays the best Rock of Ages by pressing play.   If you’d like to Bark at the Moon along with us, you can download the advanced 80s rock bracket at Baconsale.com.

For those about to listen to this 80s rock tournament, we salute you! This episode of Baconsale Hurts so Good, because Joel, Kent, and Zack have gathered some of the greatest Juke Box Heroes from the 1980s on a bracket to determine who is the best. It’s going to be a Heartbreaker whenever we put two amazing bands up against each other and have to decide who’s visited by the Angel of Death in the Heat of the Moment. And it may seem like a Madhouse as we share our reasoning, but don’t let our picks Rock You Like a Hurricane. Don’t Run to the Hills or Bang Your Head, either. Just keep in mind that you Don’t Know What You Got Till It’s Gone, and this is still Nothin’ But a Good Time.   Who’s gonna win? Well, Our Lips are Sealed until the second half of this tournament.   Download our official bracket at Baconsale.com to Rock the Casbah at home, and if you’re living in a Land of Confusion, you can find our sampler platter playlist on our website, as well.

Magic mirror, on the wall, who’s the most controversial live-action Disney remake of all? On this BaconBit, Joel, Kent, and Zack will be giving their thoughts and opinions about Snow White (2025), Disney’s latest reimagining/money grab. We’ll (yellow) skirt around the multiple controversies before debating if this movie is a bad apple or not, all while keeping it spoiler-free for the first 20 minutes or so. After that, we’ll wander deep into the forest of spoilers and whistle while we work to remember the various changes from the original animated film and discuss how we feel about them.   Does Snow White dwarf the competition? Press play to find out.

Hello, listener! What's the craic? We’re grand, but seein' as how we've done a few of these country-centric episodes before, we figured it was high time we talked about Ireland. And while neither Joel nor Kent nor Zack have been to The Emerald Isle before, two of them really want to go there one day. And yes, there will be some attempts at Irish (or Oirish) accents as the boys are gabbin' about the pop culture influences of Ireland and givin' answers for such categories as A Fine Irish Film, A Lad You Could Hang Out with at the Pub, Celts in Your Mouth, Quite a Lovely Lass, Top O' the Music Industry, and Wails like a Banshee. And we hope you learn a thing or two as you experience Zack's travel facts about Ireland and multiple Pierce Brosnan references.   Brúigh imirt! (That's Gaelic for "press play!")

It's a topsy-turvy world, and maybe the podcast of three people don't amount to a hill of beans. But this is our hill. And these are our beans! Therefore, on this episode of Baconsale, we’re ranking parody movies. What are those? They’re films that spoof previous works, but that’s not important right now. What’s really groovy, baby, is that we have 24 comedies that Joel, Kent, and Zack are going to be tiering, including funny flicks like Hot Shots!, Spaceballs, MacGruber, Tropic Thunder, Scary Movie, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and Waiting for Guffman. Some of them may not rank as high as you’d like, but that’s a sacrifice we are willing to make. And beware of exclamation points(!), my wife references, and the Joel genre, as we decide IF we’re going to make a sequel.   Put... the candle... back! Then press play.

Having issues logging in? If so — we’re on it! Our team is actively investigating, and we hope to have things back up and running soon. Wait, we’re Baconsale, not Hulu, so this BaconBit about the 97th Academy Awards should work just fine. Kent was the only one to watch the ceremony live this year, and Zack has regrets because he thought the clips he watched afterwards were funny. But was having Conan O'Brien as the host enough to boost viewership for the Oscars? What was in the big nominee gift bags this time? Is Timothée Chalamet cool? And who won our Baconsale Oscar ballot contest?   Press play to open the envelope and find out.

Neighborhoods are important to Zack, and he’s looking for a new place to move his family. Luckily, Kent and Joel are both creating special subdivisions of hand-selected citizens. However, the residents are all annoying families from various TV series that were suggested by you, the listener. Therefore, on this episode of Baconsale, we’ll be doing a schoolyard pick of characters from sitcoms such as Arrested Development, The Simpsons, Family Matters, The Beverly Hillbillies, Married with Children, The Goldbergs, Home Improvement, The Addams Family, Malcolm in the Middle, and more. Then it’s up to Zack to decide which neighbors he’d like to deal with. There will be plenty of theme song singing, some over-the-shoulder reading, and the shocking revelation that Kent likes blondes.   Press place to decide whether you’d like to live in Kenterville or The Sunshine Sitcommune.

Well, the 97th Academy Awards kind of snuck up on us this year. And while Kent has seen many of the nominees, most others haven’t. That’s why Baconsale is here. We’re fulfilling our duty of giving you the skinny on a bunch of lackluster movies so you don’t have to watch them, but you can still sound like an informed film geek around the water cooler. Joel, Kent, and Zack will explain why they’re predicting each category winner, and they’ll throw in a lot of architecture puns, too. And with Dylan’s/Warrens on the line, the stakes have never been higher. Will A Complete Unknown become a household name? Will the Nickel Boys change Academy voters’ minds? Will Wicked be green with envy? Does The Substance have the stuff to win? Will Anora escort some Oscars home? Will the Academy be kind to The Brutalist? Is Emilia Pérez el mal? Press play to discover the shocking truth.   Oh, and we’re also bribing you to listen. Visit Baconsale.com to fill out our official 2025 Oscars ballot for a chance to win a cinematic prize

The Baconsale interns may have been fired from their last job at an automated dating service, but some companies just don’t learn. This time, Joel, Kent, and Zack are running the applications of lonely movie villains through the high-tech D.A.T.E. machine, then determining how correct the algorithm is. We’ll decide if Norman Bates is too much of a momma's boy, if Nurse Ratched will go cuckoo for a man, if Hannibal Lecter would enjoy a taste of romance, and if a cute guy will make the Wicked Witch of the West just melt. Things get a little strange and there are a LOT of puns, but we hope this episode proves that some of us still believe in love.   Press play to be Ruthless Wainwight.

Last season, Baconsale explored the music of specific years in the past. This time, we’ve decided to put a cinematic spin on that idea and discuss the films we love, the movies we hate, and the flicks we’ve completely forgotten about from 1985. Joel, Kent, and Zack will start off sharing their Mount Rushmore of movies made 40 years ago, and then we’ll give answers for such categories as Better Left in the Past, Guilty Pleasure, Overrated, The Lesser Sequel, and Most Watched. There will be some overlapping choices, and Zack goes full hipster on two 80s babies, but we hope you enjoy the nostalgic vibes and play along as we share synopses first and reminisce about how dark children’s films were back then.   Press play to question why Out of Africa was named the best picture of 1985.

Nothing can stop us now. We’ll tell you how we’re gonna be ranking Disneyland rides again. Ka-chow! This time, Joel, Kent, Zack, and our guest Josh will be talking about Disney California Adventure and ranking the newer attractions in both parks. We have 26 rides to tier, so we’ll start things rocking with Astro Orbitor in 1998 and we’ll finish up with Tiana's Bayou Adventure in 2024. And during this adventure/voyage/jamboree, we’ll share our personal experiences with waiting in lines, riding with kids, shooting game injuries, Winnie the Puh, and terrifying water sprinkles. It’s a web-slinging, astro-blasting, Millenium Falcon smuggling, emotional whirlwind on this episode of Baconsale!   Press play to help us find Jack-Jack. Five, four, three, two, one! GO!

Since this is the second episode of a Baconsale season, you can probably predict what we’re going to do. However, you won’t be able to guess what will be said during our pop culture forecast for 2025. Joel and Kent will try to turn each prophecy into a pitch show, whereas Zack attempts to estimate actual events. We’ll chat about celebrities, expound on movies we’re excited about, and hold space for soup. We also added a new category to our sports section, and we definitely know what we’re talking about this time. But is Joelstradomus dead? Do Kent’s conspiracy theories hold merit? And how many times will Zack offer an apology? Listen to find out.    Press play if you’re #TeamSessyStitch or #Teamothy.

What should we do for dinner? That’s the simple question that spawned a spontaneous adventure for Joel, Kent, and Zack during their recent trip to California. And on this BaconBit, we’re going to share our experience going to Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament for the first time. We’ll talk about how a day of canceled plans turned into a magical & memorable evening that included an unexpected crowd, some sad horses, eating food with our bare hands, enthusiastic cheering for the color yellow, being served by a very nice wench, and a few embarrassing moments.   Join us, lords & ladies, for a look into how a ridiculous idea became a Baconsale reality.

Baconsale is back and ready to rank our favorite and least favorite movies from the previous year! Zack has decided to only opine during this first episode of our eleventh season, but Kent & Joel have each brought their top five and bottom five films to the table. After some quick cinematic stats, we’ll begin with the bad as fulfill our childhood dream of dancing with Post Malone and Satan. For the record, some of these terrible movies have good soundtracks. Then, after discussions about stabbing, misleading posters, and how jelly works, we’ll jump into the realm of good and talk about Glen Powell’s face, dark & disturbing mainstream picks, and appreciating movies even if you don’t like them.   Press play to kick off the season premiere of Baconsale!