The Most Popular 'Beyond the Balcony' Articles and 'The Movie Breakdown' Podcasts of 2024

 

Stat geek time!

2024 was not one of my most prolific years ever. But I did post some articles and podcasts, and my wonderful readers and listeners did check them out. Of course, I have over a decade of other articles and podcasts that have proven to remain popular thanks to the power of search engines and black magic.

Most Read 'Beyond the Balcony' Articles of 2024

The game plan is for a much better 2025, but first. Let's take a look at what were the most popular pieces in 2024.

10. Remembering Scott Hall: Say Good-Bye to the Bad Guy: Even though I don't consider this a wrestling site nor do I write about it very often, there is some clear evidence that I should sneak in a few more sports entertainment pieces in 2025. My pieces on wrestling usually perform really well as evident that this 2022 tribute continues to lure in readers.

9. Finding the Positives in 16 Years of Marriage: One of the keys to being a successful creator in the modern landscape is fostering a personal connection with the audience. When I offer a peek into my personal life with a mix of universal perspectives and advice, it connects with readers who have never met me. My yearly look at my marriage on my wedding anniversary always turns out to be a hit. 

8. The Lasting Magic of Narnia: The Latest Positive Encounter in My Theatre Journey: Every one of my anecdotes and reflections upon my theatre experiences have performed incredibly well this year, and it means a lot that my readers are interested in this journey. This was the most successful of them all, and that is fitting since it remains my favourite performance. 

7. RIP Macho Man Randy Savage 1952 - 2011: This is far and away the most-read piece on my site and one of the most popular pieces I've ever written. It helps that this was shared by some major wrestling and pop culture sites in 2011, and it has meant it continues to rank high in search engines whenever someone has a Mach Man craving. I'm not sure why it suddenly ranked so high again this year, other than I believe the WWE YouTube channel posted some Macho Man marathon videos, which got people interested in learning more about the wrestling icon.

6. Solving Back to the Future's Infamous Plot Holes: I wrote this in 2020 for NerdMuch, but the site sadly seems to have gone under in 2024. I wanted to give it a home here, and it seems quite a few readers wanted to read it again or check it out for the first time.

5. Explaining My Four-Star System: This was originally posted in 2018, and has consistently been popular on my site ever since. I don't know if it is due to people Googling explanations of what star systems mean or if my readers are curious about how I perceive the system or if I'm attracting disappointed astronomers. I won't be surprised if this one shows up here again next year.

4. Ranking 2024 Movies I've Seen: Clearly a sign my readers value my opinion on new movies, and an even bigger sign that I need to deliver quality movie reviews more often in 2025. This also was the highest-ranked piece actually written in 2024.

3. For Those Curious About 'Powder' Thanks to 'The Movie Breakdown'. . .: Apparently, there were thousands of people who were very curious about the 1995 movie about a bald, pure white, lightening harnessing teen. So curious, they sought out a throwaway piece from 2018. 

2. The Return of Misleading but Accurate Descriptions of Popular Movies: I loved writing this piece back in 2022. and happy to see it remains a huge hit. Not sure why it was so popular again, but maybe there are some other sites trying out this creative activity? It is making me believe it needs to make a comeback in 2025.

1. Disney Plus  Offering 'Mulan'  for $29.99 Could Turn Out to Be a Historic Event: I didn't consider this article an evergreen piece when I wrote it back in 2020. I didn't think anyone remembers the live-action Mulan from 2020. I have no idea how this became the most popular Beyond the Balcony article in 2024 by a significant margin. My guess is it had something to do with people being curious about the state of streaming and more specifically, Disney Plus rather than the remake. Who knows, maybe there is another Mulan movie coming our way that I am unaware of. 

Most Streamed 'The Movie Breakdown' Episodes of 2024

Now, for the most popular The Movie Breakdown podcast episodes!

10. The Breakdown of 'Desperados' and 'Color Out of Space', and Remembering Olivia de Havilland and Alan Parker: I am clueless why this episode from 2020 was so popular since we didn't review a major movie unless the Nicholas Cage horror picture has achieved cult status now. 

9. The Breakdown of the Most Underrated Movies of 2022: The episodes spotlighting the most underrated movies of the year tend to be much less popular than the 'worst of' and 'best of' episodes when they are first released. It appears they have more staying powers at least than the 'worst of' episodes, as movie fans start seeking out hidden gems. This makes me very happy.

8. The Breakdown of the Best Movies of 2022: Sadly, this was the last 'best of' show we ever recorded, as the last two years have been a mess for watching new releases and recording podcasts. I apologize for that. I am glad listeners still seek out this episode. There will be a Best of 2025 show. 

7. The Breakdown of the Highest Grossing Movies of 2023: This was the closest thing we had to a 2023 retrospective and list show, so I am not shocked it remains popular.

6. The Breakdown of Our Favourite Holiday Movies: This was posted back in 2021, and clearly, listeners dig discussions about holiday movies. We may need to make a holiday episode a yearly tradition like our Halloween episodes. 

5. The Breakdown of Dune (2021): Dune fever was rabid in 2025, and listeners were even willing to listen to an episode of the first part of the awesome Denis Villeneux sci-fi epics. 

4. The Breakdown of Dune Part 2, Spaceman, Rebel Moon, Orion and the Dark, and Remembering Carl Weather and Norman Jewison: Then they came back for our thoughts on the sequel. This also contained our review of the listener request Rebel Moon -- the pain we suffer for our fans. 

3. The Breakdown of Civil War, Shirley.  Rebel Moon Part 2: The Scargiver, and the Summer Box Office Challenge Draft: Things fell off a cliff before we were able to conclude our Summer Box Office Challenge, but for the record, I would have won. 

2. The Breakdown of The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, The Fally Guy, Unfrosted, Scoop, and Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp: This was one of the final episodes recorded with Scott. Hopefully, one day we can record another together, but glad this was so popular in 2024. 

1. The Breakdown of the Summer Box Office & A Major Announcement: It wasn't the plan, but this ended up being the final episode of the year as my mental health became an even bigger challenge and I didn't pull off the solo episodes I had promised. Sorry. 2025 will be much better.

Top Keyword Searches That Lead to Beyond the Balcony

I always get a kick out of what keywords bring the most readers to my site. I feel like most of the time the searcher does not get what they're looking for. 

10. Back to the Future Plot Holes: I'm glad I had an answer for all those seeking it. 

9. Misleading but Accurate Plot Synopsis: This is such a specific search, which either means my previous pieces have gone viral or there are several other writers who do this.

8. Tyler Perry's Homecoming: This was a review Scott wrote back in 2022, and clearly it continues to be a movie in high demand. 

7. Baby Geniuses Review: Why do people want a review on this 1999 horrid comedy? Scott wrote this as a punishment for losing a Box Office Summer Challenge. 

6. 80s All Over Podcast: I never was a part of this podcast but I did promote it a few times. Odd that my site has benefited from other's hard work. 

5. Beyond the Balcony: Hey that is this site! Kind of cool that people are Googling to find my site unless they were looking for something else. If that was the case then sorry. 

4. Maktub Movie: I was at first wondering what the heck is the Maktub movie, but apparently, we reviewed it on the podcast in 2018, and we recommended it. I don't remember it at all, but clearly, there are those who were seeking it out in 2024. This is probably one of those cases where my site benefited from reviewing a lesser-known movie that has a significant niche audience. 

3. Powder Movie: Apparently, there is an Indian movie of the same name that came out in 2024, and I guess that was the major reason my throwaway article performed so well this year. I am sure there were many disappointed Google searchers when they discovered what my site was offering. 

2. Pelicula Oh Canada: The only article on my site that I could find with the word 'Pelicula' was an article where I had no idea why 'Rodriguez and Beyond the Pelicula' was one of the highest keyword searches that led people to my site. Here we are once again where Pelicula lovers are steered in my direction and likely not getting what they wanted. It apparently has something to do with Canada?

1. The Rodriguez and the Beyond: Once again, the only article that appears to have 'Rodriguez and the Beyond' is the piece where I am confused about why my site is ranking so high on search engines for those keywords. Apparently, there is a comedy-adventure movie called The Rodrigues and the Far Side but I never watched or reviewed it for the site. 

Countries with the Most Beyond the Balcony Readers in 2024

I always find it humorous that my home country does not have the most readers and listeners for my site and podcast. I should take that as a positive as obviously most of my traffic is not friends and family who are feeling obligated to support my work, and I have many who have never met me that seek me out. 

10. Japan

9. Austria

8. France

7. Brazil

6. Canada

5. Netherlands

4. Hong Kong

3. United Kingdom

2. Germany

1. United States

I am grateful to all my readers and anyone who takes the time to read an article or listen to a podcast. It wasn't my most productive for creating new things, but it meant a lot to me that there was still an audience. I look forward to a much more exciting and creative year ahead.

What was a highlight for you in 2024?