PopCult

Today’s second entry in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is a Blu-ray collection of a British sitcom that I raved about last August.  Ann Droid comes from the brilliant mind of Diane Morgan, AKA Philhomina Cunk, and it’s a great gift for fans of Cunk, cutting-edge British comedy, or just really great funny stuff in general.

Ann Droid (2026) 2-Disc Set Blu-ray
Available from Cinema Discs.com
$21.98 with free shipping

Frist I’ll let the blurb do the talking…

In the near future, when widow Sue (Sue Johnston) is left living alone, her well-meaning but hopeless son Michael (Paul Ready) gifts her a secondhand, discontinued eldercare robot named Linda (Diane Morgan). What follows is a brilliant blend of deadpan British humor and touching drama, as the socially inept, overly attentive robot turns Sue’s quiet life upside down. Created by Diane Morgan and Sarah Kendall, this acclaimed BBC sitcom explores themes of aging, loneliness, and the absurdities of modern technology with sharp wit and genuine heart.

This 2-disc Blu-ray set includes all six episodes of the hit first season in stunning high definition. A must-have for fans of British comedy and smart sci-fi satire!

Here’s what I wrote:

Ann Droid is a brilliant six-episode sitcom, created by Diane Morgan (Cunk, Mandy) and Sarah Kendall and it manages to be fiercely hilarious and satirical while also being heartwarminig and engaging.

Ann Droid tells the story of Sue, a widow whose husband died 18 months earlier, and her new android assistant robot, whom she names Linda, after her sister…who she can’t stand.

Linda is a “pre-loved” and discontinued AnnDroid Z58/100 Basic Eldercare Robot given to Sue by her son, Michael, because he’s reconciling with a wife who cheated on him during the time his father was dying.

The series is set in 2029, so it’s not a far-flung futuristic tale. It’s quite plausible, given the rise of AI. Sue’s life is populated by a universe of realistic characters who happen to be ripe with comedic potential. We have the loser son, the overbearing friend that everybody hates, an array of cantakerous elderly friends, plus the cheating wife of the son, the guy she cheated with and the various employers of Michael.

What makes the show work, aside from the sharp and well-paced writing and direction, are the performances. Sue Johnston is well-known to Anglophiles from her work on Downton Abbey and The Royle Family, and Diane Morgan has never been less than incredible in everything she’s done. Whether she’s the dimwitted documentarian, Philomena Cunk, or the erratic underachiever, Mandy, she’s simply one of the most briliant comic actors around. As Linda, she manages to balance an almost alien-like naivety with a battery of knowledge equal to the internet, and she’s just as capable as AI of misconstruing reality and screwing things up completely.

She’s very much like ChatGPT with a body, and the comedic potential is fully-realized here.

The supporting cast is note-perfect as well, and the show is one of the rare programs that I’ve actually binged. It’s that compelling and hilarious.

Watch this preview…

Anyone who knows Morgan from her work on Cunk or Mandy knows how darkly hilarious she is.  This show manages to be both hysterical and heartwarming, which is a true claim here, unlike when they say it about other recent shows.  I’ve only seen the region-free Blu-ray at Cinema Discs.com, but it may turn up elsewhere.

Also of note, if you are already a fan of Diane Morgan, be advised that Cunk On Cinema, a three-part series, will hit The BBC on November 12, and Netflix a few days later.

It’s Godzilla Day, along with being the third day of The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide, so today our first entry is just going to send you to the Godzilla.com blog so that they can point you to all the fine last-minute celebratory Godzillery.

As they said last week…

Godzilla Day is coming, and there are plenty of ways to join the celebration! November 3, 2026, marks 72 big years since the original Godzilla opened in Japanese theaters in 1954. This year, the occasion brings everything from a remastered video game and exclusive artwork to apparel, toys, and more.

The festivities also lead into the North American theatrical release of Godzilla Minus Zero, with IMAX Early Access in theatres across North America on Godzilla Day, November 3, ahead of the wide release on November 6. Tickets are on sale now! Whether your plans involve a trip to the movies or a new addition to your collection, here’s what to look out for!

More announcements are on the way! We’ll continue updating this blog as details are revealed, so keep checking back for the latest news.

Seriously, with a new movie opening this week, tons of new merch, physical media, toys and apparel coming out, there’s never been a better time to be a fan of the big, grumpy, lovable destructive force of nature.

Pro-tip:  If you are a local, Charleston, WV movie-goer, Park Place Cinemas in Charleston has access to ALL of the special popcorn buckets, souvenir cups and other goodies.

Radio Free Charleston is Partly-NEW as we dig into our archives for two 2017 episodes of RFC Volume FourTuesday on The AIR!  To listen to The AIR, you simply have to point your cursor over and tune in at the website, or you could just stay here, and  listen to the cool embedded player found elsewhere on this page.  

You can hear Radio Free Charleston Tuesdays at 10 AM and 10 PM, with boatloads of replays throughout the week.

Here’s the deal. On Sunday, I began  running The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide here in the blog. This begiins my most labor-intensive month of work on PopCult.

However, this year I also decided to abscond with my beautiful wife for a quick trip to The Bluegrass State to see some friends and do some holiday shopping.

But I didn’t want to schedule another full-repeat in this spot because I just did that three weeks ago.  The solution was to record a brand-new first hour, and then dig out two episodes of RFC Volume Four which had not yet been recycled into Volume Five.

The fun part is that I recorded this show last Friday, on the same day I cranked out NINE POSTS for PopCult.

We have a killer show anyway.  We open with a really cool collaboration from Massing’s new Remix collection, Nothing 2 Fear. We get to hear them team up with Emmalea Deal & The Hot Mess on a track remixed by Smith. Then we bring you a cut from the new album by our old friends, The Big Bad, Hexed.

The rest of our first hour includes new music from The Pistol Whippers, Vinto Van Go, Lonely Robot and more.

Then we bring you two great episodes of RFC Volume Four that haven’t been heard anywhere in over five years.

I’m tired just thinking about it.

Check out this playlist, with links to most of the artist’s page for the first hour of the show…

RFC V5 291

hour one
Massing w/Emmalea Deal & The Hot Mess “Flattery”
The Big Bad “Romance Postmortem”
I. Jeziak & The Surfers “Twilight”
The Pistol Whippers “Punani Tsunami”
Vinto Van Go “Sometimes Maybe”
Hitchcock Circus “Cry Baby”
Payback’s A Bitch “Election Day (26 Remaster)”
Messer Chups “El Popcorno”
best dressed ghost “Citrus Kissed and Citrus Told”
Gary Myrick “Evil Men”
Lonely Robot “Twin Suns”
The Anchoress “Stop The World”
Nothing To Protect “Black Coconut”
The Surfaris “Hey Joe”

hour two
Scarlet Revolt “Bleed”
Bon Air “Cloaking Device”
Wren Allen Band “Before Hello”
Christopher QiET Vincent “Ain’t No Man Gonna Change”
Fabulous Head “C U Move”
CHUM “Angels In The Snow”
Year Long Disaster “Names of God”
Byzantine “Ancestry of the Antirchrist”
HARRAH “Blood Moon”
Chuck Biel “Turtles All The Way Down”

hour three
The Velvet Brothers “All I Know”
Bon Air “Julia”
Fabulous Head “White Trash”
The MFB “Thigh Gap Mishap”
The Company Stores “So Good”
Under Social “Dead Inside”
Treasure Cat “Battle of Britain”
Corporate Orange “New Drugs”
Wren Allen Band “Flood”
The Scrap Iron Pickers “Swamp Thing”
Groove Heavy “Feel This Groove”
No Rain “Blind”
David Synn “Regression”

You can hear this episode of Radio Free Charleston Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM on The AIR, with replays Wednesday at 9 AM,  Thursday at 2 PM, Friday at 9 AM, Saturday at Noon and Midnight, Sunday at 8 PM and  Monday at 11 AM, exclusively on The AIR. We bring you a marathon all night long Saturday night/Sunday morning.

I’m also going to  embed a low-fi, mono version of this show right in this post, right here so you can listen on demand.

After RFC, stick around for encores of recent episodes of  MIRRORBALL at 1 PM and Curtain Call at 2 PM.

At 3 PM get ready for two classic episodes of The Swing Shift, featuring the best Swing Music from the last century!

 You can hear The Swing Shift Tuesday at 3 PM, with replays Wednesday at 8 AM, Thursday at 9 AM,  Friday at 10 AM and 8 PM and Saturday afternoon, only on The AIR . You can also hear all-night marathons, seven hours each, starting at Midnight Thursdays and Sundays.

Our second pick today in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is the latest Disney Store exclusive set of Marvel MEGO figures.

Spider-Man Mego 8” Action Figure Set 2 – World’s Greatest Super-Heroes
From The Disney Store
$99.99 plus shipping

I’ve been writing about my love of MEGO action figures for most of the life of this blog, and this set is perfect for the MEGO collector, Marvel fan, or just anybody who likes cool action figures.

These vintage-style figures depict four characters from the Spider-man universe that have never been rendered in the MEGO format before (except by some very talented customizers). This is a great combination of brand-new stuff that’s still soaked with nostalgic appeal.

At the behest of Disney, Mego Corp. continues their relaunched classic 8” action figure line. This exclusive four-figure set, which includes Symbiote Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus, Rhino and Mysterio, comes in vintage-style Mego packaging inside an outer box. The set includes a collectible metallic coin with classic Spider-Man art and Mego logo.

Each figure has 26 points of articulation, exact replicas of the vintage Mego accessories, and removable silkscreen stretch costumes.

The inner boxes perfectly capture the look and feel of the vintage MEGO figures from the 1970s, and it’s great for Spider-man to have new villains to fight. The black-suit Spider-man is a fan-favorite who wasn’t created until after MEGO concluded their original run, so it’s great to have him on hand…until the symbiote gets out of hand, anyway.

Part of the Marvel World’s Greatest Super-Heroes Collection by Mego, and can only be ordered from The Disney Store, or purchased at their theme parks. Most of the time they have some kind of free shipping deal for something this pricey, so check the website for more details.

The first pick today in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is a book we first reviewed back in June.  This is the first of several books devoted to classic men’s adventures magazines that we have in this year’s Gift Guide.  It’s the perfect gift for the fan of great commercial art, or folks who yearn for the days when we had more innocent saliciousness in our entertainment.

Gil Cohen: Inside/Out Archive Collection
Covers and Illustrations From Vintage Men’s Adventure Magazines 
Art by Gil Cohen
edited by Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle
New Texture
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1943444731
$45.95

Gil Cohen: Inside/Out is an unexpected treat. It’s a treasure trove of the work that celebrated Aviation Artist, Gil Cohen, created from the 1950s to the 1970s when he was a freelance artist working for several of the top Men’s Adventure Magazines.

The Men’s Adventure Magazines were something that probably has to be explained to most folks younger than fifty. These sucessors to the vaunted “Pulp” magazines of the 1930s and 40s were magazines aimed at men, but they weren’t quite porn. In hindsight, they seem raunchy and innocent at the same time. Most of the time they told testosterone-fueled stories of big, strapping men fighting against all odds, much of the time accompanied by a dame in a bikini or her underwear.

They were soaked with a type of salaciousness that, by today’s standards, seems almost wholesome. This much over-the-top masculinity, which wasn’t quite as toxic as what we see today, is sort of charming. Aside from the more lurid stories, there was a lot of WWII adventures, and fighting wild animals. It’s fun stuff if you don’t mind the total lack of political correctness and the delightfully dated references.

But this book is not about those magazines, per se. The one feature that the Men’s Adventure Mags had that makes them so remarkable was that they featured spectacular painted covers and inner illustrations. This is where commercial art elevated itself to the level of fine art, and in the Men’s Adventure Mags, they did it without the pretentiousness or marketing savvy of the Pop Art movement, which was happening concurrently to the heyday of this type of adventure illustration.

This book is dedicated to one of the top Men’s Adventure Magazine illustrators, Gil Cohen, who went on to do several movie posters and over 100 paperback covers for the Mack Bolan: Executioner series, before turning his focuse to Military and Aviation Art, where he is considered a master, with several works hanging at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, as well as at the Pentagon.

This book, the first in a projected series, is an overview of Cohen’s work in the Men’s Adventure field (there have been several collections of his other art), and it’s stunning.

This is work that was created under intense deadline pressure. Yet, Cohen’s artistic ability and professionalism shine through. He managed to take deliberately sensational stories, filled with lurid details and PG-rated prurient interests and illustrate them with beautifully-composed and expertly-deliniated flash.

Most of the time, the illustrations were much, much better than the stories they depicted.

Cohen is 94 years old, and I believe he’s still painting. He’s been interviewed extensively for future volumes in this series, which will present his work in chronological order, but this first entry is an incredibly generous sampler of his entire Men’s Adventure career.

We get to see how Cohen manages to tell a story in a single illustration that conveys more emotion and attracts more readers than the prose that accompanies it. This book opens the door to a whole world of amazing art that hasn’t been exposed to enough people.

Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle have curated a wonderful collection of Cohen’s art, and I’m really looking forward to see more entries in this series.

Fans of fine illustration, great art and retro pop culture will love this book.

You can order Gil Cohen: Inside/Out directly from the publisher (along with a vast array of other books devoted to Men’s Adventure Mags) or from Amazon, or try ordering it from your local bookseller using the ISBN code.

This week’s art is a small acrylic painting on wood.

Did you ever get the feeling that the patio you were sitting in used to be inside…like, there was a house there, but it’s gone and now it’s just a patio?

If you want to see this image larger click HERE.

Meanwhile, over in radioland, Monday beginning at 2 PM on The AIR,  we bring you a recent episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM we do the same with Herman Linte’s weekly showcase of the Progressive Rock of the past half-century, Prognosis.

You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on the embedded radio player elsewhere on this page. Psychedelic Shack can be heard every Monday at 2 PM, with replays Tuesday at 9 AM, Wednesday at 10 PM, Friday at 1 PM,  and Saturday at 9 AM. You can hear Prognosis on The AIR Monday at 3 PM, with replays Tuesday at 7 AM, Wednesday at 8 PM, Thursday at Noon, and Saturday at 10 AM.

Tonight at 8 PM, tune in for The Comedy Vault. That’s followed by two-hour blocks of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast at 9 PM and 11 PM, and then an overnight assortment of our Haversham Recording Institute programs at 1 AM.

Today’s second pick in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is a classic of children’s television and a landmark bit of adventure puppeteering,

Thunderbirds 60th Anniversary Collectors Edition [Blu-ray]
Blu-Ray
$150
From Gerry Anderson.com

From the visionary minds of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, Thunderbirds revolutionised television sci-fi with its iconic Supermarionation style and thrilling tales of International Rescue. This 60th Anniversary Blu-Ray is the perfect gift for the Anglophile of a certain age, or for anybody who enjoys fun and exciting adventures with plenty of cool flying vehicles and only a few visible strings. It’s region-free, so it will play perfectly on all Blu-ray players in the United States.

This is the complete series, now available with the three 50th anniversary specials released together for the first time. With over eight hours of bonus content including a brand-new feature length documentary, a new mini Supermarionation adventure and all-new commentaries, alongside rare archive material, documentaries, audio dramas and vintage promos.

A 110-page episode guide booklet and six exclusive cutaway posters by artist Graham Bleathman complete this incredible package. Whether you’re a lifelong fan or discovering Tracy Island for the first time, this is the most complete and faithful presentation of Thunderbirds ever released.

This super deluxe set includes all 32 original episodes and the three anniversary episodes in an 11-disc Blu-ray collector’s set, with a 110-page episode guide and six posters, all tucked away in a rigid slipcase, for the discriminating collector.

The original episodes are restored in high definition from the film elements and presented in their original 4:3 framing. The set brings them together with Introducing Thunderbirds, The Abominable Snowman and The Stately Homes Robberies, the three anniversary episodes.

Over eight hours of new and archive bonus material explores the series’ production, people, music and continuing influence.

You can order this directly from GerryAnderson.com in the UK with free shipping to the United States, but it can also be found, usually at higher prices, from the usual online dealers in the US.

Last year, longtime readers may recall, I was very disappointed in the annual holiday HESS Truck (which wasn’t even a truck) and for the first time in well over a decade, I did not make the HESS Truck the first offering in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide.

This year, I’m very happy to say, the folks behind the HESS Trucks have redeemed themselves, first with very impressive Mini Trucks and a Special Edition (both of which are sold out already) and finally with a much-requested actual Truck.

So the video you see above is a promotional video, and the first pick in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is….

2026 HESS Waste Hauler Truck and Snow Plow

We’re just going to quote their PR here…

The Hess Truck’s back and it’s better than ever – delivering two all-new vehicle designs together in one set! The 2026 Hess Hauler Truck and Snow Plow pairs an iconic garbage truck with a speedy all-terrain plow. Together they’re revved up and poised to ‘clear the way’ just in time for the holiday gifting season.

The heavy-duty Hauler Truck is inspired by the familiar waste collection vehicles that work America’s streets every day. Pristinely presented in classic white and green with highly detailed reflective chrome-colored accents, the triaxle, 6-wheeled trash truck is loaded with over 72 LED lights that operate in steady or animated flashing modes. Each of the four cab-top buttons activate a different realistic sound effect, paired with its own animated flashing light pattern, creating a unique visual sequence with every press. A push-button release lifts the rear hatch and triggers a realistic compacting sound allowing access to the Snow Plow via the pull-out ramp which has its own dedicated sound effect, bringing the full hauling operation to life. Both the seven flashing light patterns and the six realistic sound effects are the most ever featured on any holiday Hess Toy Truck – delivering a fully immersive playtime experience!

The Snow Plow is an ATV-style quad built for off-road speed and action. With a blazing fast pull-back and release motor and an adjustable height plow blade, the Snow Plow turns every play session into an action-packed winter rescue mission. A quick turn of the rider’s helmet activates 12 steady-on lights. Designed to load into and deploy from the Hauler’s rear ramp, this unique 2-in-1 toy combination is the perfect holiday gift.

What’s Included

Together, the 2026 Hess Hauler Truck and Snow Plow include 84 total lights, 7 flashing light patterns, 6 realistic sound effects, 2026 milestone-marking license plates, and a complete load-and-deploy play system – all packaged in a keepsake, custom-illustrated holiday winter scene box. Accessories such as gifts and cones shown in images are not included. A tradition for generations, Hess Toy Trucks are among the most beloved and collectible toys of each holiday season.

HAULER TRUCK
First-ever Hess Hauler inspired by the iconic garbage truck design—one of the most requested vehicles from fans
Classic Hess green-and-white design with chrome colored detailing
72 lights with both steady-on and animated flashing modes
7 unique animated light patterns (activated via buttons, switch, rear hatch, and ramp)
6 total sound effects, the most ever on a holiday Hess Toy Truck:
Button-activated rear hatch release reveals internal cargo bay
Slide-out loading ramp for Snow Plow access.
6 Free-rolling wheels on 3 Axles for smooth, heavy-duty play
3 AAA Energizer® batteries included
Approx. size: 10.25” L x 4.375” W x 5.25” H

SNOW PLOW (ATV / OFF-ROAD QUAD STYLE)
First-ever Hess snow plow vehicle
Quad ATV-style design built for fast paced and off-road action
Pull-back motor for high-speed play.
12 steady-on lights
Rider-activated lighting (helmet-turn feature)
Adjustable plow blade height for flexible play
6 wheels on 3 axles
Loads into and deploys from the Hauler Truck’s rear ramp
3 A76 (LR44) Energizer® button cell batteries included
Approx. size: 4.75″ L x 2.75″ W x 2.375″ H

HOLIDAY-READY PRESENTATION
Signature Hess holiday packaging featuring a beautiful winter action scene
Designed for gifting, collecting, and display
Available exclusively at HessToyTruck.com
Batteries + FREE standard shipping* included

The 2026 Hess Hauler Truck and Snow Plow is sold exclusively at HessToyTruck.com for $49.99 plus tax, which includes Energizer® batteries and free standard shipping.*

I am really delighted that HESS has rebounded after the dud they released this year.  You can only get The 2026 Hauler Truck and Snow Plow directly from HESS at THIS LINK.

Let’s go back to August, 2015, for an episode of Radio Free Charleston loaded with music from The Company Stores, Farnsworth, ShockaCon, and Jake The Restaurant. This episode also has a 120 second Art Show featuring Michael McKowen’s “The World of the Willing,” a movie trailer for Austin Susman’s Killer Catfish of the Kanawha, and a promo spot for ShockaCon 4.

Check out the original production notes HERE.

The PopCulteer
October 30, 2026

It’s that time of the year again.  Halloween is right in our face, and your PopCulteer is already looking past it to the next big (non-Turkey-centric) holiday.  We have a short column this week as yours truly is already hard at work on The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide, which will begin Sunday in this blog to aide you with your holiday gift giving duties, with all recommendations having our usual pop culture slant.

Following the format we’ve used for the last few years, after two special Sunday entries this weekend, this year’s Gift Guide will have at least two entries every weekday, with the plan seeing them posted online by Noon, Eastern time. At least one item per day will be a single item, with a retail price of less than a hundred bucks. After our launch, I’m taking weekends off again, and there’s a good chance that, beginning in our second week, I may have a few days with three entries. All will have some kind of link to pop culture, which is, after all, what I write about in this blog.

There will be entries that include multiple items, and some of our suggestions will exceed that C-note level…a few will obliterate it, in fact. We will also do a few entries that shine our spotlight on some reliably excellent online retailers, and probably a few local shops, too.

Because of the quirks of this year’s calendar, the final day will fall on a Monday. Then, on December 4I’ll run the Master List of everything I recommend, complete with links to the original entries.

You can also expect all of our regular features to continue as normal with the exception of STUFF TO DO, which will become part of Friday’s PopCulteer colum for the duration of The Gift Guide.

This year’s Gift Guide will be comprised of toys, physical media (LPs, CDs, DVD/Blu Rays, real books and other things you can hold in your hands), local, regional and online retailers, plus maybe some decor, clothing items, and various and sundry objects of fine knick-knackery.

Thanksgiving will be “Turkey Gift Day,” once again, because really, who reads this blog on Thanksgiving Day?

I will try to shy away from recommending limited editions of anything. I want people to be able to find the gift ideas I suggest.

I’ve actually done some form of Gift Guide every year since I started this blog in 2005, so this is the 22nd time I’ve come up with a list of gift suggestions for my readers. It really took off about fifteen years ago, and for the last few years I’ve been winding it up in November for two reasons: First, it gives people time to order gifts that can’t be purchased locally; Second, it allows your humble blogger to be done with this massive undertaking in time to make our yearly visit to Chicago for my lovely wife’s birthday.

In fact, this year presents a fun and ridiculous new element of adventure as I will be travelling while we begin the Gift Guide this weekend. What, you may ask, was I thinking?

Another quirk of the calendar this year sees me posting the preview for The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide the day before Halloween. I have not foresaken that holiday. We’re just observing it over on our sister internet radio station today. Beginning at 7 AM Friday (that’s today) you can find Halloween editions of our music and comedy specialty programs, plus a coffinload of special presentations on The AIR.   The AIR is PopCult‘s sister radio station. You can hear these shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page. We’re going to run that stuff until Midnight, Sunday.

That is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for fresh content every day, plus all our regular features and, starting Sunday, The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide.