Raised by Rentals

Johnny 5 Is Still Alive

He escaped his original directive as a military war machine, had adventures in New York, and found a family...but whatever happened to Johnny 5? Podcaster General Dawn D'Orazio joins Mike and Josh to chronicle the fate of pop culture's forgotten A.I. hero in a what-if threequel to SHORT CIRCUIT!

Return of the Living Dead: Teenage Wasteland

Brain-slurping teenagers from beyond the grave! Special guest Samm from WNY Horror Krue and Jerry's Closet joins us to improv a totally rad sequel to Mike's all-time favorite flick, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD!

Spider-Man ’95

Despite being one of Marvel's most popular characters, it took Peter Parker decades to get a proper big-budget movie...but what if it happened sooner? For Episode 46, Mike and Josh revisit the 90s to daydream a cast and script treatment for what would have been the first silver screen feature of your friendly neighborhood SPIDER-MAN!

Alien/Predator: Revengeance Rising

Happy Alien Day! In this second part of our first two-part special, we break down two of the best-ever sci-fi franchises film-by-film and lay out a retroactive blueprint of what Hollywood should have done with ALIEN and PREDATOR!

AVP ABCs (Super Gushers)

Horror and sci-fi fans of the VHS era had an impossible choice: Who's better, the Xenomorph or the Jungle Hunter?! So of course Hollywood cashed in and gave the fans what they wanted with canonical crossovers and bigger, flashier movies...to mixed reviews. For the first part of our first two-part episode, Josh and Mike the SUPER GUSHERS critique the dual-franchise films of ALIEN and PREDATOR!

Cobra 2: Assignment Miami Beach

Genre switches and mash-ups are always a good time, especially when it comes to the Hollywood badasses of the 80s and 90s. In this episode, Josh and Mike try to find Marion Cobretti's friendlier, squishier center with a PG comedy sequel to the 1986 action classic COBRA!

Whose Improv Is It Anyway?

Audience choice! We asked our friends and listeners to participate by submitting clichés, tropes, genres, styles, etc.--random storytelling elements for a blind challenge game. Because no one demanded it, Josh and Mike fire up the randomizer to improv a story in real time from your suggestions...and boy, is it a doozy!

Toxic Fandomology (Rental Rant)

These days it's hard to just like what you like with so many negative-nelly armchair-critics poisoning the fun of being a pop culture fan. In the 10th RENTAL RANT episode, Josh and Mike brave the tip of an unfortunately deep iceberg to call out the evils of TOXIC FANDOM.

Mr. Monopoly’s Neighborhood

Save the community center! The "greed is good" trope of the 80s led to one of the now-forgotten genres of the 90s: the social activism comedy. For the 40th episode, Mike and Josh revisit that era and once again dare to dramatize a story-less board game with a film pitch for MONOPOLY!

Weirder Science

John Hughes movies are mostly classic coming-of-age films that set a standard for the VHS generation...but do they hold up to the scrutiny of 21st Century hindsight? In this episode, Mike and Josh extrapolate a ridiculous premise to its extremes by brainstorming a sequel to WEIRD SCIENCE!